By now, most businesses and writers have heard about SEO (search engine optimization) and SEO content. That said, they may have made attempts to create it, but without fully understanding it—and that can have disappointing results.
What is SEO Content?
To put it simply, SEO content is content that is optimized with keywords and phrases so it can be found when people perform searches online. There is a balance to SEO content; it needs to be something people are interested in reading, but also contain keywords and phrases that are frequently searched. It’s essential to fit those optimized words in naturally; otherwise, it may deter the reader.
You might be wondering, what types of content can you optimize? The answer is easy: any type of content you put on the Web. However, some of the most frequently optimized content includes:
- Blog posts
- Website content
- Articles
- Lists
- Guides
- Whitepapers
- Infographics
4 Steps to Better SEO Content Development
Now that you know what SEO content is, you can start implementing a better plan to create it. There are four steps you should take.
Step One: Define goals.
What is your content for? Is it to drive traffic to a website? Send people down the sales funnel? The answers will provide the information you need to decide on what content you’ll be focusing on and optimizing. For example, if you’re looking for a long-term readership that supports a product, service, or industry, you’ll probably want to create long-form content, like a blog. While making these goals, also keep your audience in mind. That will take fine-tuning the content one step further. A younger demographic probably won’t want a whitepaper, but someone in a technical field might. If you already know what content you'll be creating, look at how you'll implement the keywords. Use the header, bodies, descriptions, or captions.
Step Two: Find topics and keywords.
This will probably be the lengthiest step. Here is where you’ll want to roll up your sleeves, pull out the toolkit, and dig in. Some of the things you’ll do in this step is figure out the topic and format of each piece of content. You’ll need to do some title development in there if the piece requires it. Research your keywords before you write, and look for keywords and phrases that flow naturally. Think about how people search for things. If you went to Google to learn how to build a DIY treehouse, you may look for, how to build a treehouse. For dog care, you may enter, best pet sitting services in Portland, OR. Look at things like the number of monthly searches and competitive scores. Don’t be afraid to use keywords with a high competition score—just realize you’ll need excellent content to compete.
You can support these keywords and phrases with content promotion. Accomplish this by using social networks and building internal and external links into your content.
Step Three: Make an editorial calendar.
Editorial calendars go a long way toward keeping you on task. Sort out which SEO content you want, then plan when you’ll have it done, when it will be uploaded, and when it will be promoted. Stick to your calendar. If you have something ongoing—like a blog—it should also be consistent and regular.
Step Four: Review and revise.
Your final task is to analyze how your content is working. Which SEO content worked, and which didn’t? Figure out why the successful content worked so you can recreate it. Also, refresh old SEO content from time to time, so it remains current.
The more time, thought, and effort you put into SEO content, the more likely your success. It isn’t always as simple as knowing what search engine optimization means, but rather having a solid SEO content development plan.
