If there is one thing we all know about SEO, it’s that keywords are the most important. Millions of people have focused their entire websites and created content based on what keywords were in focus. Slowly but surely, this practice is changing, and your SEO content strategy for the following years shouldn’t focus on keywords alone. Customers should be your focus, but instead of writing dozens of posts so that you can cover the most commonly searched keywords, you can do other things too.
What’s an SEO strategy, and why do you need it
Whatever website you have, your goal should be to show up in search engine results and be positioned as close to the top as possible. To achieve this, your website has to have good content that people need, of course. Still, that content can’t just be piled up and left on the website – it has to be categorized and organized, preferably by topic. When you do this, both visitors and search engines will find it easier to navigate it and find what they are looking for. A well-organized website means that you will have more organic traffic, which translates into a better position on the search results pages. Because creating content isn’t a one-and-done thing, you should have a solid strategy to help you stay on track and create what people need, not what you think they need.
Know your topics
While keywords are at the very heart of SEO, they aren’t as powerful as they used to be. You’ll need more than a bunch of keywords jammed together to achieve organic traffic. Instead of specific keywords, you should compose a list of specific topics that you can cover with your article. Of course, your content will still be filled with the right keywords, but they will be grouped around specific topics. In addition, you don’t have to blindly follow the given keywords but rather think of different variations that make sense for your line of work. This way, your topics will contain plenty of popular short-tail keywords, and on the other hand, you will not be publishing specific blog posts that refer to single keywords.
Long-tail keywords
You should take time to optimize the pages on your website, even if this means going back and adapting or even replacing the existing content. Of course, your focus should be on specific keywords, but instead of using a single short keyword, you should instead branch it out into five to 10 long-tail keywords. If you’re not sure how to do it, you can always use online tools to help you out, and so come up with more keywords that dig deeper into the keyword of your original topic. This will help your businesses attract more people with specific interests and concerns, thus creating more entry points for other people who might be interested in what you are offering and providing.
Start a blog
You can start blogging if you want to be ranked high for specific keywords and draw more users. Even if your website isn’t a blog, simply adding a blog page and writing blog posts will build your online presence and draw more audience. If you’re not sure how to start blogging successfully, you can always ask experts for advice. In addition, it’s important to find a company that understands your market, so if you’re from Sydney, Australia, find professionals who specialize in SEO management in Sydney. Seeing as every blog post is seen as a new web page, it gives you another opportunity to rank in SERPs. If your business doesn’t have a blog – seriously consider starting one, because each post will expand your keyword clusters.
Space out your keywords
Once you start blogging, you might be tempted to jam in as many keywords as possible in a single post or even a single paragraph. This sounds like a good plan, but it will backfire, as search engines will flag your content as one written by a machine, and you will likely get penalized for this action. If you include long-tail keywords, don’t do it more than four (preferably three) times on one page. Also, it’s a good idea to link out to your other pages throughout the text, as it better connects your content. If there is another page on your website that supports the subtopic you’re covering, you link it without a second thought. This informs Google that your posts containing long-tail keywords and the overachieving topic you’re aiming to rank for are strongly connected, thus giving you more credibility.
Blog on schedule
The idea to start blogging is a great one, but it comes with a minor inconvenience: once you start, you should keep blogging consistently. This doesn’t mean that you should publish content several times a week, but regularly posting will give your website credibility too. Of course, not every web page or blog post you create should be connected to your topic cluster, as this is difficult to achieve. Posting content about tangential topics, especially the ones your customers are invested in, will build authority with the strict and often unforgiving Google algorithms. Posting content about once a week is the best course of action, but if that’s too much for you, aim to post something at least twice a month. Don’t forget that you aren’t writing for search engines but rather for your audience, so become familiar with your target market.
Track and measure your content
One thing is for sure – good SEO will take a long time and a lot of effort on your part. Because of this, you’ll want to know whether or not the strategy you’re pursuing is working. Tracking your metrics is a great course of action since it will also help you understand the success of your overall process. Also, once you track your progress and success, you’ll notice which areas can be improved. An easy way to monitor organic traffic is by using a web analytics tool, or you can easily create your own Google Sheets or Excel dashboard.
If you’re interested in content strategy, you have to be prepared to do some serious studying before you can say that you actually understand what’s required of you. We hope that this article has helped you better understand what an SEO strategy is and how to create your own. Of course, in the world of digital marketing, nothing is actually set in stone, and you will have to try out many approaches before you realize exactly what works for you, but patience will pay off in the end.
