Don’t believe me on how important SEO is for a Web site?

My most popular post today was not written this week. Or last. No, it’s a post from all the way back on Feb. 11.

Ironically, that post was about how “Newspapers need to learn SEO for headlines.” Yes, I would say it’s one of the strongest posts of this month, but that’s not enough to justify it being by far the most popular post on the JI today, especially since that post hasn’t gotten serious traffic in about a week. It’s safe to say that SEO has something to do with the post’s continued popularity (it has gotten traffic every day since its release).

It’s not enough to just produce good content on the Web. Without proper consideration being given to search engine traffic, a Web site will miss out on a lot of users and audience growth.

Some sites get a majority of their traffic from search engines. That’s the organic nature of the Web. Users pull content on the Web, unlike traditional mediums which push content to users.

Look at the headline for the post in question: “Newspapers need to learn SEO for headlines.” It’s not a cute headline by any stretch of the imagination. It’s very matter of fact, which works very well for SEO.

It has newspapers, learn, SEO and headlines in the headline. A headline filled with keywords will drive a lot more traffic. More traffic = more money.

Name one Web site that would benefit from that formula?