There is no SEO without content, and in today’s digital-first business world, there should be no content produced without SEO in mind. Adding new product pages and publishing blogs without optimising them for search can make it difficult for you to achieve your goals. Audiences won’t be able to find your content and potential new customers will be lost.
And it makes little sense to overlook SEO when 61% of B2B marketers say it generates more organic traffic and leads than other initiatives. With two-thirds of all online experiences now starting with a query in search engines, you can put yourself front and centre with SEO content. This guide will cover the most important aspects of the creative process so you can start using content to boost your visibility and rankings in Google.
Start with searcher intent
The content that will be optimised for SEO needs, first and foremost, to be valuable for an audience. Google ranks content it believes is the most relevant for a particular search query, and from a brand perspective, the journey begins with search intent. What content does your target audience need and why do they search for it? Answering that question will immediately give you the power to deliver content they want to read.
There are four primary types of search intent – navigational, informational, commercial and transactional. Based on the type of intent, you can create content that searchers crave. When they want to buy (commercial), a review of a product in a blog form might work, while if they want to know something (informational), a long-form article that also ranks in “rich results” could be best. Thinking about how intent is linked to a buyer’s journey will also help you to create the right content.
Conduct keyword research
From intent flows topic and keyword brainstorming. Keyword research is a key part of content creation. While intent is the reasoning behind a customer’s behaviour, it’s the keywords that they use that enable you to rank on the first page of Google results. By adding these words to your content, you create landing pages that can be found more easily when they search for something.
The aim is to target keywords that have an appropriate search volume for your objectives. While it’s tempting to focus on singular “head” keywords, these are often very competitive in search rankings and may already be dominated by large corporations. Long-tail keywords with a defined intent are easier to rank for, but there needs to be the right trade-off. There is little point in ranking for keywords with very low search volumes. You can use tools like Google Search Console and Google Keyword Planner for research to find the right mix.
Decide on pillar pages
SEO content should also flesh out and support the structure of your site. That will be difficult if you create multiple articles based on one specific topic, as these will be competing against each other in search, and Google will struggle to determine which one is most important. The solution here is to create “pillar” pages that act as a deep dive into a particular topic and then a handful of “cluster” pieces that explore that topic further and answer niche questions. You should also use internal links between the two to create a hierarchy.
Pick content formats
There are different types of SEO content you can use for your pillar and cluster pages to engage prospective clients and customers. They include:
- Blog posts – Thought leadership, guides, how-tos
- Articles – Listicles, news, interviews
- Product pages
- Videos
- Infographics
- White papers
- Case studies
Focus on creating
Now that you’ve conducted your research and decided on a format, the task of crafting content is next. Coming up with an editorial calendar with a schedule for when you want to publish content and the exact formats you want to use will enable the teams involved to plan accordingly. Document this using Outlook and Google Calendar and distribute it to everyone involved.
Then you can finally start putting everything into action. A recent study by Casted found in-house marketers are often overwhelmed by the scale of creative processes, so you might want to consider outsourcing to an SEO agency if this is the case for your business. Either way, you will need to create briefs with keywords and guidance for writers to ensure they create the targeted content you need.
Think about on-page and technical SEO
Expectations go beyond just the words written within a blog or article, though. Research by BrightEdge found that certain aspects of SEO can be more important to audiences than others, depending on the industry. For example, page speed is shown to have the greatest impact on search engine rankings in the travel sector, but a minimal influence in education and home improvement. Meanwhile, external links are the main factor in finance.
This highlights how there is more to SEO than keywords, and that you will need developers, engineers and webmasters to support your creative efforts. Elements you need to consider include:
- On-page optimisation for titles, images, headers and tags.
- Technical optimisation to improve page speed responsiveness.
- Site structure.
- Adding internal and external links.
Don’t forget about content promotion
A final, often-overlooked aspect of SEO content is using other tools, specifically social media, to promote it and amplify its power and reach. Even the best resources can get lost in the shuffle without the right promotion. That’s why it’s important to cross-post your content via social media accounts and include it within email marketing to spread the word and engage customers at exactly the time they need your content.
Analyse and make changes
After publication, you can move on to data analytics and the task of analysing the performance of your content. The metrics you use to gauge success should be linked to your initial objectives, which could be organic traffic, conversion rate, comments or shares. Both regular content audits and website audits are recommended, as these help you determine what is working and what might need changing in the future.
When you have finished, you can loop back to start the whole process again, but this time with the knowledge you have gained from your first campaign, and with teams and infrastructure in place to craft more content. If you need assistance with writing content, adding links and optimising it for search, Atlas SEO can help. Our content creation and outreach services will get you noticed on Google. Contact us to find out more.
