Content, for the sake of the search engines

[underscorelive]

So we all know the importance of quality content for SEO; providing content for the user as opposed to the search engines. It used to be that copyrighting for SEO was treading the line between readability and keyword density, which is obviously no longer the case.

So, my question is this, for a website which doesn't require a great deal of content to be successful and to fullfil the needs of the user, should we still be creating relavent content for the sake of SEO?

For example, should I be creating content which is crawlable but may not actually be needed / accessed by the user, to help improve rankings?

Food for thought

[underscorelive]

Assuming I'm not cloaking any content, how would the Search Engines know it's for them rather than users? Essentially I'd be adding relevant content which, as far as users are concerned, is superfluous.

I guess my point is, should I create content for users who are never going to read it, for the purposes of SEO?

Thanks

[KeriMorgret]

Generally the search engines don't want to see content that is just for them and not users, or showing the search engines one version of content and showing users a different version (which is called cloaking).

[seolearner007]

I have Done On page for my website.i want to target mu main keyword " healthy Breakfast "....i am writing weekly 5 + articles most of them 500 + words.....will you please suggest me about my On page Optimization Done or need to do more And Also Smart Optimization technique to get Good Rank.......

For checking my on page and suggesting my optimization tips i am sharing my site link

http://ahealthybreakfastfood.com

Wishing Good Answers

[underscorelive]

Less that 500 words on average on each page; fairly well optimised in terms of internal links, key word density etc confirming to most best practices.

However, almost all of the content is static - so I'm concerned that we're not getting much in the way of fresh content, hence my question about creating content just for the SE.

[irvingw]

is the onpage SEO as tight as it can be in terms of targeting? how many words are currently on each page approximately?

[MikeRoberts]

Wwe should always be creating new, relevant content for our sites. Obviously don't over do it and don't write for the Search Engines alone... but if you have pages lacking much content that you feel could better serve your users with some copy added to it then by all means go ahead and write something up. Maybe look for underdeveloped pages that could be perfect for trying to attract a longtail term you haven't put much love into or expanding on a niche page with something insightful/interesting where you may have taken the page for granted before and/or assumed no one needed an explanation.

[underscorelive]

Totally see your point and I agree. However, what if I'm looking to be pro-active and improve my rankings?

Competition is quite high and the site in question receives decent volumes of traffic but not necessarily for some of the search terms I want to target.

Thanks!

[irvingw]

If the content is not needed for rankings due to low competition, and is not of benefit to the user, then i would not create additional content just for the engines unless you see slipping in the ranks.