Last Updated on February 2, 2023 by Anthony
Modern websites are a combination of text, graphics, and videos. We seem to have shifted more to visual content in recent years, perhaps due to the prevalence of social media and sites like YouTube and Vimeo. Still, written content is as important as it has ever been.
Here at Connotations, we are big believers in writing strong content. By that we mean written content that delivers a very clear message that appeals to readers and performs well in terms of SEO. We see no reason to abandon strong written content in favour of videos and graphics. Instead, visual content should enhance written content.
Not convinced? Then check out these five reasons you should be emphasising strong written content on your website:
1. Search Engines Analyse Text
Look at the underlying code of any website and you will discover that it is all text-based. For better or worse, web browsers rely on long strings of text to figure out how to display websites. Search engines work the same way. When they scan websites in order to index and rank them, they are scanning and analysing text.
SEO experts will tell you how important it is to use certain tags when creating new content. Why? Because search engine algorithms analyse those tags to help them figure out what is found on that particular page. But searching and indexing pages doesn’t stop there. Consider this post.
Search engines will scan and index the page this post appears on. Moreover, they will analyse every word in the text to try to understand topic and context. Thus, our goal in producing this post was to create strong content that would help Google and its competitors properly analyse and rank it.
2. Text Greatly Influences Search Ranking
The second reason is actually an extension of the first: text greatly influences search ranking. As search engines analyse this post, they keep track of every word, how often it is used, and the context in which it appears. Through this analysis their algorithms are able to discern keywords and phrases.
Did you know that keywords and phrases are the single most important factor in determining search rank? If your page is 90% visuals and only 10% text, you are going to have a challenging time ranking for your chosen keywords. You need to have text in order to rank well.
3. Not Everyone is Visual
One of the reasons web developers push visual content these days is the fact that modern society is more captivated by what is seen rather than what is read. We will not dispute that point. YouTube owes its popularity in part to our obsession with visual stimulation.
Having said that, not everyone is visual. Not everyone who visits your website or blog best absorbs information through videos and graphics. There are still plenty of people whose best mode of consuming information is reading. It makes no sense to shut them out by not giving them strong written content to consume.
4. Written Content is More Detailed
Visual content certainly has its place. However, one of its downfalls is that it does not allow for a lot of detail. Attention spans are so limited these days that packing a load of detail into a video would turn people off. Too many details also make visual media too large in terms of file size. That slows down page load times.
Providing strong written content allows you to pack a lot of detailed information into a relatively small file. Of course, there is a danger that extremely detailed content will not be read. But we can overcome that by creatively formatting with headings, bullet points, numbered lists, etc.
The beauty of strong written content is that readers can consume it as they please. They can read every single word from start to finish. They can scan headings to get the main points, then dig in where they feel they need to know more. This gives them maximum flexibility to absorb as much or as little information as they want.
5. Written Content Establishes Authority
The fifth and final reason for producing strong written content relates to your authority in whatever field you are involved in. Videos can be entertaining and even somewhat enlightening. Graphics can drive home important points extremely quickly. But in the end, nothing establishes authority quite like strong written content.
You have obviously noticed links embedded in the content you read online. Some of them link back to videos and graphics. But by and large, most are links to written content. It is strong written content that gets cited as an authoritative source. It is written content that people quote on their own sites.
Written content establishes authority by giving you the opportunity to prove you know what you are talking about. Producing written content also gives you the opportunity to link to other sites capable of helping boost your authority. Strong written content can do things for your online reputation that videos and graphics just cannot touch.
We Can Produce Your Content
Have you learned something from this post? Hopefully you now understand why strong written content is so critical for the modern web. We firmly believe in it, which is why our company specialises in it. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions or need assistance producing content for your site.
Author
Anthony
Managing Director of Connotations
From humble beginnings as a freelance writer back in 2008 to setting up what is today known as Connotations, our managing director Anthony Carter stayed true to his principles to grow the business into what it is today. A tiny list of a couple of clients grew to become an international portfolio that includes agencies, government entities, charities, and other organisations.