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Any company that’s starting to learn more about marketing will soon realize how crucial search engine optimization is. Besides handing out flyers and getting an ad to play on the TV, investing in SEO is another type of advertising that is known to bring in customers.
However, if you’re new to the SEO game, you probably don’t know where to start. You should probably start by learning about the various benefits of search engine optimization, such as bringing organic traffic to your website, increasing brand awareness, getting you ahead of the competition, building trust, and optimizing your website for mobile. Then, you need to learn about different types of SEO, including on-page, off-page, and technical SEO. Once you’ve conquered or at least familiarized yourself with these aspects, you can move on to some more in-detail optimization.
One aspect that you should be thinking about if you want a successful search engine optimization strategy is SEO content. But, what is it exactly, why is it important, and what can you do to create it? Read on for some useful information and tips.
The Essentials Of SEO Content
For starters, let’s go over what SEO content is and why it is so important to your overall marketing strategy.
SEO content explained
If you’re not sure what SEO content is exactly, it’s part of on-page SEO. It is the content you create in order to rank on the SERPs. SEO content can be anything from blog posts and product pages to guides, glossaries, and interactive tools.
The importance of SEO content
As someone who is doing their own SEO, you might not be aware of why SEO content is so important. While you can also turn to experts and have them explain everything in detail, you can also look into educating yourself further. For example, it’s vital to understand that not all types of content will rank and produce organic traffic. Only the content you created specifically for searchers that are looking for something in particular will be able to rank.
Creating SEO Content
When it comes to creating content, there are a few tips that you should keep in mind if you want it to be successful. For instance, being informative, educational, and entertaining is a bit plus. On top of it all, your content needs to be unique and “sticky”. Here are more details.
Define what you want to achieve
First of all, you need to determine what you want to achieve. Is your goal to increase sales through your site? Do you allow ads and thus monetize your website, so all that matters to you is traffic? The goals will help you decide which kinds of content you should use. For example, if you want to drive sales, you need an attractive, minimal, and sleek product page that includes all the information a potential buyer might need before deciding to purchase something. To supplement this, you should also have a blog with content that will describe how and when to use the products you advertise, and link to it when relevant. On the other hand, if your goal is to attract readers through search, you need rich content like videos and long-form articles that are informative, entertaining, and “sticky” (we’ll explain later).
Think about who your audience is
Then, it’s vital that you know your audience. You can get to understand your buyers better through surveys and analytics software. By forming a marketing persona, you should be aware of who your typical and ideal clients and visitors are. With that in mind, you should think about what type of content they would like to see. If you’re targeting young people, you might want more images and videos and less text as well as a website that is properly optimized for mobile. On the other hand, if you want to work with other businesses, you should look into what kinds of materials they might benefit from the most.
Research keywords that you can use
With some audience research, you will also be able to see which keywords are the most popular among your readers. That will allow you to see which ones should be regularly used in your content as that will allow you to rank higher in their searches. Moreover, keywords should not be only in the title but throughout the entire piece of content. You can look up your competition to see what they are doing, but steer clear of copying what they’re doing. There are different online tools that will allow you to do keyword research while you can also look for professional help from agencies that specialize in SEO.
Decide on a good topic
Having done keyword research, it should be easier to come up with interesting topics that you can focus on. You want something that will drive traffic, increase your business potential, and boost your SERP ranking. For instance, if you run a hardware store, you want articles that will provide readers with DIY articles on how to do various things around the house. You can incorporate various product pages in this way, such as garden tools and hoses, paint, power tools, plumbing essentials, and so much more. There are online resources that can help you see which keywords and topics are in demand.
Do search intent analysis
To understand search intent, you need to know what the searcher is searching for. This is important as you want your content to align with what they’re looking for. The intent is often easy to find in the keyword. If someone is looking for “SEO content tips”, we can assume they need some tips about SEO content. If they type in “how to make pizza dough”, they’re probably making a pizza at home and need a recipe blog.
However, for some other keywords, it’s a bit less obvious, which is where using the highest-ranked pages as a proxy comes in really handy. That means inferring intent from articles and pages that are already ranking. For this, you want to analyze content type, content format, and content angle. The types will tell you if it’s a blog post, a product page, a landing page, or something similar. The format refers to how-to guides, tutorials, recipes, listicles, and so on. Finally, by analyzing the angle, you can see what a dominant selling point is; it might be its simplicity or low price.
Understand your expertise
Google has certain strategies that it uses to see how much expertise certain content has. If a topic could impact one’s health, wealth, or happiness, expertise is essential. These are called Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) topics. For YMYL topics, formal expertise is crucial, but for some topics, everyday expertise can be enough. For instance, someone explaining their experience with lupus might be able to better convey it than a doctor. In terms of non-YMYL topics, everyday expertise is seen as enough. Any type of life experience can be enough to make someone an expert on a particular topic. So, no matter which group you belong to, there is surely something you can be an expert in.
Provide as many details as you can
Now it’s time to actually produce the content you will show to others. By analyzing search intent, you will see what readers are expecting. There are several things you have to cover when creating content, and one of them is being very detailed. For example, when you open an article, you can typically see a few subheadings and the things they cover. If possible, you want your posts to be just as detailed. Cover the topic from various angles and consider everything that might play a role. Use keywords in your subheadings for people to see what they can expect and stick around longer.
Create something unique
In addition to it being very detailed, you also need your content to be unique. You don’t want to simply copy everything that the leading websites put out. This way, you are at risk of accidentally plagiarizing something and being penalized by search engines. Moreover, users will not stick around longer and read what else you have to offer. Having copycat content means that no one will link to your website, and links are vital if you want to rank higher. To prevent copying others, make sure to do your own research – everything from polls and surveys to studies works. Then, try giving your opinion or a unique perspective on a certain topic. You can also expand on various ideas, dig deeper, and offer different alternatives.
Produce “sticky” content
We talked about “sticky” content earlier. This is another factor that you need to take into consideration when producing posts. If something is unclear or difficult to read, readers will not stick around. If people leave your website quickly, it signalizes to search engines that something is wrong with it, which affects your SEO. When making your content more “sticky”, keep it simple by avoiding complex sentences and fancy words. Use terms and jargon that your audience will understand. You should also break up long chunks of text with photos and videos. Use tools like Grammarly and Hemmingway to check your spelling and tone, to make sure it fits your purpose.
Make it permanently relevant
Finally, you can’t expect all content to be relevant forever. This can be an issue when you want to take part in a fast-moving topic, meaning that you’ll have to work hard to make sure your content is always updated. On the other hand, not all topics demand fresh content. While people want a newer article to read, you can also provide some evergreen content that will always ring true. This is not possible in every industry, however, so you might have to keep updating your content with the latest innovations in the field.
As you can see, there is plenty to cover when it comes to SEO content. If you’re a complete beginner, it can be confusing to start. In that case, turning to experts in the field that are always in the loop with the latest innovations and trends is a good idea.
