In a recent post titled “SEO Advice: Writing useful articles that readers will love” Matt Cutts talks about his use of on-page SEO techniques to rank one of his posts in a niche market.

Why does this matter? First off, Matt is one few people in the world who has a pretty good understanding of many of the elements of the Google ranking algorithm (Google pays him to know) - so when he is talking about SEO, we should pay attention. Secondly, Matts post discusses how to rank for “long-tail” keyword queries - an area where our affiliates tend to operate.

Many people are starting to doubt the importance of on-page content in the Google algorithm. With one of the accidental experiments (read - mistake) we conducted here at InsureMe, we found that a dramatic change/reduction in content on one of our important pages made little to no difference in our Google rankings. This could have been a fluke, but I have a feeling that the importance of on-page content for a competitive keyword isnt all that important. My impression is that as the more links it takes to get to the number one position for a keyword, the less important content becomes in the overall ranking algorithm. I also think that competitive keywords on Google require a good amount of positive age related elements such as a domains age, the age of links, the age of pages linking to you, etc.

However, when you are talking about a less competitive, or niche term - I think that Matt and I would agree that content can play a big role in your pages ranking. (I should point out that even in a competitive keyword space it is important to have as many factors working in your favor as possible, so quality content should be a part of your optimization plan).

In Matts example, he describes the reasons behind why he created a blog post about changing the default printer for FireFox on Linux. Matt did a Google search and did not find any good/relevant result for his query. With that, Matt knew he had found a niche area where he could provide content that would drive traffic to his site. With that knowledge, he deliberately created a blog post that used things like an optimized post title and carefully selected keywords to increase the chances that he would show up for his query. Also, Matt made sure that he used different variation of the keywords throughout the article to makes sure he would have a good chance of showing up if someone didnt type his exact query. Also, and most importantly, Matt created a quality article that would help people who happened upon his post.

Matt also give this interesting hint when it comes to optimizing a page in a niche space:

Im targeting a long-tail concept where someone will be typing several words, so Im probably in a space where on-page keywords are enough to rank pretty well. I dont need anchor-text for “linux default printer” or similar phrases; in the on-page space, Id recommend thinking more about words and variants (the “long-tail”) and thinking less about keyword density or repeating phrases.

Near the end of the post Matt gives this advice:

But the larger point is that if you put in time and research to produce or to synthesize original content, think hard about what niches to target. My advice is not to start with an article about porn/pills/casinos/mortgages-its better to start with a smaller niche. If you become known as an expert on (say) configuring Linux or hacking gadgets, you could build that out with things like forums to create even more useful content. Look for a progression of niches so that you start out small or very specific, but you can build your way up to a big, important area over time.

Good advice from the search communitys most famous spam cop.

Today ask yourself this - “what niche market can I create content for that will help people and make me some money? By finding an open niche you have the chance of becoming the first, and in turn, trusted source for that niche…and in the information age trust = dollars.