How to create great content that improves your website’s SEO
A holistic approach is essential to a good SEO strategy. If your website is not sound from a technical standpoint, it will probably not perform well in search engines. Equally, if there is not enough quality keyword-rich content on your website that engages users and signifies to Google that you are answering searcher queries, you will find it difficult to rank for your preferred search terms.
This is why good content is a crucial part of your website’s SEO strategy. What do we mean by ‘content’? Well in digital terms it is used to cover an item be it a blog, podcast, white paper, or video that is designed to provide value to those surfing on the internet. It is often a good way to drive highly relevant traffic to your website and initiate the early stages of the buying cycle.
Building good content takes time, however, if you stick with it and promote it in an intelligent way you will be able to create content that not only improves the website but also generates quality backlinks, which are very important when it comes to SEO.
In the latest instalment of our blog, we take a look at how you can create content that ranks well in search engines and improves your website’s overall SEO.
Start with a good content strategy
Content can be a great weapon in your SEO arsenal but only if it is created, curated and produced in the correct way. If you want to create content that answers searcher queries you need to have a good content strategy. This gives structure to your blog posts, videos and any other form of content you have on the site.
Create a content calendar that lines up with any social promotions and develop themes to go with them. If you know a certain topic or theme tends to do well around seasonal trends then make sure you create a content strategy that takes this into account. Not only will this help you keep track of all your content, but it will also highlight potential gaps in the future where you may be caught short.
An essential part of a good content strategy is keyword research. This gives you crucial insight into what your target audience is searching for and the types of questions they are asking.
Use keyword research to inform your content
Keyword research is the process of using different tools and techniques to determine what keywords your potential customers are typing into Google and other search engines. They can come in the form of product searches, questions and more long-tail topics.
Whilst you will probably not want to direct short-tail product keyword searches to your blog, optimising posts for longer-tail keywords is a good way to build rankings when you are just starting out. Your customers will appreciate that you are offering content for free to assist them with whatever issues they have.
Optimise the content from an SEO perspective
After you have developed a good content strategy with the relevant keyword research it is time to start creating the content. Remember that whilst you are writing or producing the content it is also important to optimise it from an SEO perspective. Keep in mind the target keyword for each piece of content and ensure it is placed intelligently throughout the text. This will increase the chances of Google ranking your content higher for target search queries.
Beyond keyword optimisation, ensure your meta description is optimised, any images are given suitable alt attributes and that there is a good overall amount of copy on the page. Google wants to deliver good content to its searchers so you need to do anything you can to make sure Google views your content as worthwhile.
Diversify the content you are offering
Google likes diversified content that comes in different forms. As we move to a more video focused landscape, many companies are taking advantage of it as a way of getting their content and message across to customers and potential clients. If you are limiting your content to blog posts, you may be limiting the audience that you can access.
With 70% of marketing claiming video produces more conversions than text, now could be the opportune time to take advantage. Analyse the previous blogs that you have on the site and see if any of them can be turned into shorter videos that get across the same information. The video and blog can even work in tandem in a similar way to the famous ‘Whiteboard Friday’ series from Moz.
Improve and update previous content
Updating your previous content on the website is often a better option than creating new content targeting the same keywords. If it has been on the web and built up some high-quality links, improving the quality of it further can be a great way to get your website ranking higher for relevant search terms. Consider adding videos, relevant links, and additional keyword-rich content to previous blog posts to try and deliver more value to your readers.
Perform all of these steps iteratively to improve your website’s SEO
Whilst none of the steps listed above are silver bullets that will rapidly get you ranking higher on search engines, they can all help you build better content that will increase your competitiveness for targeted keywords. Consider all of these steps and analyse your website from a technical perspective to make sure it is performing as well as it can.
