Understanding long-tail keywords is the key to enhancing your search performance and matching the needs of your target audience.

Long-tail keywords are specific, highly focused phrases that may have lower search volumes but can bring in more qualified and engaged traffic.

In this blog, we will delve into how to find long-tail keywords and why they are a valuable asset in your online strategy.

• Understanding Long-Tail Keywords
• Benefits of Long-Tail Keywords
• Using Tools for Keyword Research
• Analyzing User Intent 
• Mining Your Existing Content
• FAQ: What is the best long-tail keyword strategy for your business? 

Understanding Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are extended and precise search queries that users enter into search engines. Unlike short-tail keywords, which are more generic and competitive, long-tail keywords cater to a niche audience. For instance, while “shoes” is a short-tail keyword, “comfortable running shoes for flat feet” is a long-tail keyword.

When dealing with long-tail queries, it’s important to be discerning in your selection. Avoid generating content for the sake of quantity — opt for subjects closely aligned with your expertise or product offerings and remain within your core business objectives. The content you produce must be relevant, helpful and valuable to your audience.

Benefits of Long-Tail Keywords

Did you know that most US search queries get less than 10 searches per month? Long-tail keywords offer a specificity that attracts fewer people but leads to higher conversion rates for those people. A long-tail keyword approach is perfect for establishing a foothold in a fresh market.

When launching a new website or delving into a new subject, concentrating on long-tail keyword phrases in your content can enhance your visibility among the intended audience. Due to their unique and infrequent search nature, long-tail keywords attract users with precise intentions.

Producing high-quality content that meets these specific queries cultivates your reputation with the right individuals. It also serves as an effective SEO strategy for launching your endeavors and advancing your rankings in areas pertinent to your niche.

It’s true that each singular long-tail keyword may not inundate your website with a surge of traffic. Nevertheless, as you target an increasing number of these keywords, the cumulative search traffic will gradually amass into a substantial flow.

Moreover, considering the abundance of long-tail keywords across virtually every industry, the likelihood of running out of them is pretty remote.

Using Tools for Keyword Research

There are various approaches available for discovering long-tail keywords. Some may be more laborious than others, some could be considered somewhat “unconventional,” and a few are simply inaccurate.

Certain SEO specialists recommend obtaining long-tail keywords through Google Autosuggest. This involves inputting your primary keyword along with various alphabet letters. Google Autosuggest tends to provide predominantly popular search queries rather than the sought-after long-tail variations. Many of the suggested keywords are likely to be well-known and competitive.

To find long-tail keywords, consider utilizing keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, or even our own SEOToolSet®. These tools provide data on search volume, competition and related keywords, helping you identify valuable long-tail opportunities.

Analyzing User Intent

Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience and think about the specific questions or problems they might have. Crafting keywords around these pain points can yield fruitful results.

Analyzing user intent requires a deep dive into the mindset of your potential visitors. To do this effectively, consider conducting surveys and user interviews or using analytics tools to gain insights into your audience’s questions, needs and desires. This first-hand data can be invaluable in crafting long-tail keywords that directly address your audience’s challenges.

Another key aspect of user intent analysis is recognizing the different stages of the customer journey. Users searching for information or solutions may be at various stages, from the awareness stage (where they are just identifying a problem) to the decision stage (where they are ready to purchase or take action).

Tailoring your long-tail keywords to match these different stages can help you capture users’ attention at the right time and guide them through the entire journey. This means creating content that provides informative answers and gradually nudges them toward conversion or engagement.

In essence, user intent analysis empowers you to create a holistic long-tail keyword strategy that aligns with your audience’s needs at every stage of their journey.

Mining Your Existing Content

One of the most efficient ways to uncover long-tail keyword opportunities is to mine your existing content. Examine your current content for phrases relevant to your niche that may have yet to be fully optimized, then revise and update your content accordingly to include these keywords. This process saves time and maximizes the value of the content you’ve already invested in.

Start by conducting a content audit and reviewing your blog posts, articles and other pages for underutilized long-tail keyword options. You may find sections of your content where long-tail keywords could be naturally incorporated. Enhancing these sections with the right keywords will improve the visibility and relevance of your content.

Consider repurposing and expanding existing content to target specific long-tail keyword variations. If you identify a cluster of closely related long-tail keywords, you can create a comprehensive, in-depth guide or resource that covers the topic comprehensively. This provides valuable information to your audience and boosts your authority in the niche. Remember to update the publication date and promote these refreshed pieces to ensure they gain the attention they deserve.

Mining your existing content can yield significant gains in your long-tail keyword strategy by breathing new life into your previous work and aligning it with current search trends and user needs.

Long-tail keywords are invaluable tools in your SEO and content strategy arsenal. By catering to specific user needs and optimizing your content accordingly, you can tap into a niche audience that is more likely to convert.

Our SEO experts can help you identify long-tail keywords and incorporate them into your content strategy to improve relevance, visibility and authority. Contact us for a free consultation.

FAQ: What is the best long-tail keyword strategy for your business?

The best long-tail keyword strategy for your business depends on various factors, including your industry, target audience and the specific goals you aim to achieve.

One practical approach is to focus on informational long-tail keywords. These keywords are centered around answering questions, solving problems, or providing valuable insights to your audience.

By creating content that addresses these specific user needs, you can position your business as a reliable source of information, attract qualified traffic and build authority in your niche. This strategy is especially beneficial for businesses seeking to establish themselves as experts and nurture long-term relationships with their audience.

Another powerful long-tail keyword strategy involves targeting transactional keywords. These keywords are often used by users closer to making a purchase decision.

By optimizing your product or service pages with transactional long-tail keywords, you can attract potential customers who are actively seeking to buy.

This strategy is ideal for e-commerce businesses or service providers looking to boost conversions and drive revenue. It’s important to conduct thorough keyword research to identify transactional long-tail keywords that align with your offerings and create compelling content to convince users to take action.

To determine the best long-tail keyword strategy for your business, you must strategically combine both informational and transactional approaches. This entails providing valuable information through content while seamlessly guiding users toward conversion points.

You can effectively nurture leads and transform them into loyal customers by striking a balance between educating your audience and offering solutions that meet their specific needs. Your choice of long-tail keywords should align with your business objectives and the preferences of your target audience.

Continuously monitor the performance of your keywords and be ready to adapt your strategy to stay in sync with evolving search trends and user behavior.

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1. Understanding the role long-tail keyword phrases play in SEO is critical.
2. Identify your target audience and their specific needs or pain points.
3. Utilize keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, or SEOToolSet®.
4. Conduct keyword research to discover potential long-tail keywords relevant to your niche.
5. Analyze search volume and competition for each keyword.
6. Focus on keywords with lower competition and higher relevance to your content.
7. Consider user intent when crafting long-tail keyword phrases.
8. Create content that addresses the specific queries or problems associated with your chosen keywords.
9. Optimize your existing content by incorporating relevant long-tail keywords.
10. Ensure that your content provides valuable information to users.
11. Monitor the performance of your content using analytics tools.
12. Adjust your strategy based on the performance data.
13. Continuously update and refine your content to stay competitive.
14. Build backlinks to your content to improve its visibility.
15. Engage with your audience through comments and social media.
16. Track your rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).
17. Measure the conversion rate and ROI of your long-tail keyword strategy.
18. Adapt and evolve your keyword strategy as search trends change.
19. Stay abreast of the latest algorithmic updates and SEO best practices.
20. Reap the benefits of targeted, high-converting traffic generated by long-tail keywords.

The post How Can I Find Long-Tail Keywords and Why Are They Valuable? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

SEO is a fast-moving industry that is always evolving. One Google announcement, a current event or a change in the competitive landscape can alter how you go about your SEO strategy in an instant.

But, we do have best practices that stand the test of time. The way we go about doing those best practices might evolve, but they are still rooted in the fundamentals of good SEO. And, when following these best practices, you can better weather any storms that may come your way.

Here are seven SEO best practices you can’t ignore if you want to compete in the organic search results.

1. Create the Right Type of Content
2. Meet or Beat the Top-Ranked Content
3. Create a Good User Experience
4. Optimize Your Images
5. Silo Your Website
6. Focus on Link Earning Not Link Building
7. Manage Duplicate Content

FAQ: How does duplicate content impact search rankings and what types of duplicate content should be managed? 

1. Create the Right Type of Content

Every search query/keyword has a different intent behind it — what the search engine user is trying to do. Google knows this and serves up different types of content to meet those needs.

There will always be the blue links, which lead to webpages. But often, there are other types of content as well, like video, images and much more. This is what we call engagement objects – SERP features that engage and ultimately make money for Google.

An engagement object is a SERP feature shown on a search engine results page (SERP) that falls outside of the traditional organic search results (i.e., the blue links).

Searchmetrics keeps track of the most common SERP features that show up throughout the year with its SERP Features Monitor.

So, how do you create and optimize the right type of content to match the search query? Through what we call a whole-SERP SEO strategy.

A whole-SERP SEO strategy analyzes the features that show up most in the search results for target keywords and then optimizes for them.

The first step is to take the keywords you want to rank for, then analyze the content in the search results that is showing up for them. Is it mostly blue links? Are there videos? Images? What else?

This will help you set the content strategy for the type of content you are going to create. A whole-SERP SEO strategy gives you a roadmap for the type of content you need in your SEO program.

This strategy can also help combat the phenomenon of “zero clicks.” A zero-click search result happens when Google is able to answer a search query or facilitate an action right within the search results page.

2. Meet or Beat the Top-Ranked Content

Knowing what type of content to create is the first step. How you create and optimize the content for search engines and users is the next step.

SEO is a game of being the least imperfect. I say least imperfect because no one is going to optimize a piece of content precisely to Google’s algorithms. So, all content in the search results is imperfect when it comes to optimizing.

That said, the goal is to be least imperfect compared to your competition. All SEO programs should work to beat the competition, not the algorithm.

Here, you want to understand what makes the top-ranked content for your keyword tick. Start analyzing the top results for each keyword. Of course, you could do this manually, but SEO tools are going to save you a lot of time and effort here.

For example, you could use an SEO tool like our Multi-Page Information tool (free version) and see the on-page SEO factors of multiple competitors.

Or, if you are using a WordPress site, you can use our WordPress SEO plugin to get real-time data on the top-ranked pages for your keywords.

That means customized SEO data for your content versus following best practices that are typically generic.

It also means knowing how many words to include in your meta tags and your body content, plus the readability score — all based on the top-ranked content.

These types of tools will help you understand how to optimize the content you are creating. But you should also look closer at the nature of the top-ranked content as well before you start writing.

Google values experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) as outlined in its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. A component of E-E-A-T is to have shared attributes in the information you are sharing with the top-ranked or highest-quality webpages on the topic.

In other words, Google says in its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines:

Very high quality MC should be highly satisfying for people visiting the page. Very high quality MC shows evidence of a high level of effort, originality, talent, or skill. For informational pages, very high quality MC must be accurate, clearly communicated, and consistent with well-established expert consensus when it exists. Very high quality MC represents some of the most outstanding content on a topic or type that’s available online. The standards for Highest quality MC may be very different depending on the purpose, topic, and type of website.

I discussed what this means practically in The Complete Guide to the Basics of Google’s E-E-A-T.

For instance, say you have content that states that blueberries can cure cancer. Even if you feel you have the authority to make this claim, when competing against YMYL content, you will not be considered an expert for a query about cancer because the claim is not supported elsewhere.

And don’t forget: Once you have created a great piece of content, don’t skimp on the headline. A good headline can get you more clicks and drive more traffic than a lackluster one.

Much of the advice and tools I’ve discussed so far apply to getting data for and optimizing standard web pages (the blue links). If you are up against videos, for example, you will also need to examine them closely and think about your YouTube SEO efforts.

3. Create a Good User Experience

Once a person reaches your website from the organic search results, will they have a good experience?

You should care about user experience because you want to make sure you get the most out of the traffic that you send to your website. If all those efforts lead to a bad webpage and the user quickly leaves, then you have wasted your time and money.

Google wants to make sure websites are providing a good user experience, too. So Google has developed ranking signals to ensure only the websites that provide the best experience will compete on Page 1 of the search results.

One thing that Google may look at is when a large percentage of users from the search results go to your webpage and then immediately click back to the search results. This could be an indication of a poor user experience and may impact your future rankings.

Then you have the page experience algorithm update, which hit in 2021 and combines pre-existing ranking signals such as:

• Mobile-friendliness
• HTTPS (secure websites)
• Non-intrusive interstitials

… with new rankings signals that include what Google calls “core web vitals.” Core web vitals look at things like:

• Page load performance
• Responsiveness
• Visual stability

There is much to do in this area to optimize a website for user experience. You can download our e-book: Google’s Page Experience Update: A Complete Guide, to learn more about how to get your website up to speed.

4. Optimize Your Images

You need to optimize all your content assets so that they have the opportunity to rank. That includes images.

Visual search and Google Images have been a focal point for Google for some time. More and more images are showing up in response to search queries. seoClarity reports that in 2021, more than 55% of keywords result in image results.

Google wants to rank great images, but it also wants to ensure those images are within the context of great content, too. I wrote about this in an earlier article on how to improve image search ranking:

We’ve all had the experience of finding an image and clicking through to a not-so-great webpage. To prevent this, the Google Images algorithm now considers not only the image but also the website where it’s embedded.

Images attached to great content can now do better in Google Images. Specifically, the image-ranking algorithm weighs these factors (besides the image itself):

Authority: The authority of the webpage itself is now a signal for ranking an image.

Context: The ranking algorithm takes into account the context of the search. Google uses the example of an image search for “DIY shelving.” Results should return images within sites related to DIY projects … so the searcher can find other helpful information beyond just a picture.

Freshness: Google prioritizes fresher content. So ranking images will likely come from a site (a site in general, but we believe the actual webpage in question) that’s been updated recently. This is probably a minor signal.

Position on page: Top-ranked images will likely be central to the webpage they’re part of. For example, a product page for a particular shoe should rank above a category page for shoes.

Of course, there are all sorts of optimization techniques you can do to improve image ranking. Read more here for 17 important ways you can optimize your images for search, which includes:

1. Tracking image traffic
2. Creating high-quality, original content
3. Using relevant images
4. Having a proper file format
5. Optimizing your images
6. Always creating Alt text
7. Making use of the image title
8. Creating an image caption
9. Using a descriptive file name
10. Implementing structured data
11. Considering image placement on the page
12. Analyzing the content around the image
13. Being careful with embedded text
14. Creating page metadata
15. Ensuring fast load time
16. Making sure images are accessible
17. Creating an image sitemap

5. Silo Your Website

Creating and optimizing quality content is really important. But just as important is how you organize all the content on your website.

Google has indicated more than once that it not only looks at the quality of a webpage but also the site as a whole when ranking content.

In its Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, Google says:

Although Google’s search results are provided at a page level, Google also likes to have a sense of what role a page plays in the bigger picture of the site.

In its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, Google says it looks at the website as a whole to determine if the website is an authority on topics.

So what does this mean? When someone searches for something on Google, one of the ways that the search engine can determine the most relevant webpage for a search is to analyze not only the webpage but also the overall website.

Google may be looking to see if a website has enough supporting content for the keywords/search terms on the website overall. Enough, clearly organized, information-rich content helps create relevance for a search.

We call this SEO siloing. SEO siloing is a way to organize your website content based on the way people search for your site’s topics. Its goal is to make a site relevant for a search query so that it has a better chance of ranking.

The goal of SEO siloing is to build a library of content around primary and long-tail keywords on your website and then connect them via your internal linking structure.

Google advocates for what SEO siloing does. In its Search Engine Starter Guide, Google says:

Make it as easy as possible for users to go from general content to the more specific content they want on your site. Add navigation pages when it makes sense and effectively work these into your internal link structure. Make sure all of the pages on your site are reachable through links, and that they don’t require an internal “search” functionality to be found. Link to related pages, where appropriate, to allow users to discover similar content.

There is a lot that goes into SEO siloing, and I recommend reading these articles:

• 5 Times When SEO Siloing Can Make or Break Your Search Engine Rankings
• A Jam-Packed Guide on Internal Linking for SEO

6. Focus on Link Earning Not Link Building

Link building is not a numbers game anymore. Search engines want to see that a website has quality, relevant links.

Google’s John Mueller confirmed this in a video, stating that:

“We try to understand what is relevant for a website, how much should we weigh these individual links, and the total number of links doesn’t matter at all. Because you could go off and create millions of links across millions of websites if you wanted to, and we could just ignore them all.”

You can view that video clip here:

We have seen client websites with fewer but more quality inbound links outperform their competition. So, what does “link earning” look like?

• Avoiding all those known spammy link-building tactics, mass email requests for links, purchasing links, participating in link farms, etc.
• Understanding the “gray areas” of what could be considered link spam, such as paid guest posting.
• Creating quality content that earns relevant links.
• Getting creative with how you earn links and being diligent about how you maintain them.

You can learn more about how to create a good link-earning SEO program in our e-book, “The New Link Building Manifesto: How To Earn Links That Count.” In it, you’ll find a roadmap for earning quality, relevant links, including 50 ways to earn links safely and effectively.

7. Manage Duplicate Content

Duplicate content can impact your rankings. And, depending on what type of duplicate content you have on your website, it can even trigger a manual action by Google if it’s considered spam.

There are two types of duplicate content:

1. Duplicate content involving webpages on your site only
2. Duplicate content involving webpages on your site and other sites

When you have duplicate content involving your website and other sites, Google may flag this as spam (for example, if your site is scraping or copying content from another).

The good news is that most websites are only dealing with non-spammy duplicate content on their own websites. This is when you have content (two or more webpages) that is the same or similar.

This can impact your rankings. When Google is presented with two of your webpages that appear to be too similar, the search engine will choose the page it believes is the most relevant and filter the other page or pages out of the results.

Google’s Mueller explains in a video:

“With that kind of duplicate content it’s not so much that there’s a negative score associated with it. It’s more that, if we find exactly the same information on multiple pages on the web, and someone searches specifically for that piece of information, then we’ll try to find the best matching page.

So if you have the same content on multiple pages then we won’t show all of these pages. We’ll try to pick one of them and show that. So it’s not that there’s any negative signal associated with that. In a lot of cases that’s kind of normal that you have some amount of shared content across some of the pages.”

You can watch that video clip here:

So, what to do? We’ve found that the most common types of duplicate content are the following:

• Two site versions
• Separate mobile site
• Trailing slashes on URLs
• CMS problems
• Meta information duplication
• Similar content
• Boilerplate content
• Parameterized pages
• Product descriptions
• Content syndication

And of those common types, we tend to see duplicate meta information as a top culprit. So, it’s important to always create unique meta tags.

If you’re on a WordPress site, you can use our WordPress SEO plugin to help monitor and detect duplicate content issues in your meta tags.

For more on how to address the common types of duplicate content on your website, see Understanding Duplicate Content and How to Avoid It.

Closing Thoughts

These SEO best practices are not the end of your SEO work, but they are the beginning of creating a winning SEO strategy that will respond to any curve ball that comes your way.

Schedule a free 1:1 consultation to learn more about how you can boost your SEO profile and maximize your visibility online. 

FAQ: How does duplicate content impact search rankings, and what types of duplicate content should be managed?

Duplicate content has long been a cause for website owners and digital marketing professionals who worry that duplicated material could negatively affect search rankings. Search engines struggle to provide users with relevant and original information that meets user search queries if duplicates appear within results pages.

When search engines encounter duplicate content, they face a dilemma. Search engines must determine which version is more relevant and worthy of being given priority in ranking. They may punish pages that contain duplicate content by downranking them or penalizing their rankings accordingly. This can adversely affect website visibility and organic traffic, making it crucial for webmasters to address duplicate content issues.

Website owners should be aware of and manage several types of duplicate content. The first type is identical content found on multiple pages within the same website. This can occur when a website generates multiple URLs for the same content, leading to duplicate versions. Search engines might struggle to decide which URL to prioritize, potentially diluting the page’s ranking potential.

Another type of duplicate content is syndicated or copied content from other websites. While syndication can be a legitimate practice, ensuring that the content is properly attributed and adds value to the website is essential. Otherwise, search engines may consider it duplicate and penalize the website for duplicate content.

Product descriptions and e-commerce websites often face challenges with duplicate content. Similar products may have identical or nearly identical descriptions, leading to duplicate content issues. It is advisable to provide unique, compelling descriptions for each product to avoid these problems and improve search rankings.

Finally, duplicate content can also arise from printer-friendly versions, mobile versions, or session IDs appended to URLs. These variations in URLs can confuse search engines and result in duplicated content. Implementing canonical tags and managing URL parameters can help resolve these issues and ensure search engines understand the preferred version of the content.

To manage duplicate content effectively, website owners should take proactive steps. Conducting regular content audits to identify and address duplicate content is essential. Utilizing tools such as site crawlers and duplicate content checkers can aid in this process by scanning the website for duplicate instances and providing recommendations for improvement.

Once identified, duplicate content issues can be resolved through various means. One approach is consolidating duplicate pages by redirecting or consolidating the content under a single URL. Implementing 301 redirects or rel=canonical tags can help guide search engines to the preferred version of the content and consolidate ranking signals.

For e-commerce websites, ensuring unique product descriptions and optimizing metadata can go a long way in avoiding duplicate content penalties. Additionally, monitoring syndicated content and implementing proper attribution can help maintain a healthy balance between original and duplicate content.

Regularly monitoring website performance, traffic patterns and search engine rankings is crucial for detecting any potential duplicate content issues. Prompt action and continuous improvement will help maintain strong search rankings and enhance the overall user experience.

Duplicate content can significantly impact search rankings by confusing search engines and diluting ranking potential. Various types of duplicate content, such as identical pages within a website, syndicated content and product descriptions, should be managed effectively.

Step-by-Step Procedure:

1. Conduct a comprehensive content audit to identify instances of duplicate content on your website.
2. Use site crawlers or duplicate content checkers to scan the website and identify duplicate content.
3. Prioritize resolving duplicate content issues on the website’s pages before addressing external sources.
4. For identical content found on multiple pages within the same website, determine the primary URL and implement 301 redirects from the secondary URLs.
5. Ensure that all syndicated or copied content from other websites is properly attributed and adds value to your website.
6. Review product descriptions on e-commerce websites and make them unique and compelling for each product.
7. Regularly monitor the website for printer-friendly versions, mobile versions, or session IDs appended to URLs, and implement canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of the content.
8. Manage URL parameters to eliminate duplicate content issues caused by session IDs or tracking parameters.
9. Utilize tools such as site crawlers and duplicate content checkers to scan the website for new instances of duplicate content periodically.
10. Review the recommendations provided by the tools and implement necessary changes to address duplicate content.
11. Consolidate duplicate pages by redirecting or consolidating the content under a single URL.
12. Implement 301 redirects from duplicate pages to the preferred version to guide search engines and consolidate ranking signals.
13. Ensure that each product on e-commerce websites has a unique description and optimized metadata.
14. Monitor syndicated content and verify that proper attribution is in place to differentiate it from duplicate content.
15. Continuously monitor website performance, traffic patterns and search engine rankings to identify any new duplicate content issues.
16. Take prompt action to resolve duplicate content problems as they arise.
17. Regularly review and update your content strategy to avoid unintentional creation of duplicate content.
18. Provide a seamless user experience by eliminating duplicate content, which can confuse and frustrate visitors.
19. Stay updated with search engine guidelines and best practices to address duplicate content effectively.
20. Continuously improve your website’s content and ensure it remains unique, relevant and valuable to users.

The post 7 SEO Best Practices You Can’t Ignore if You Want to Rank in the Organic Search Results appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Life has a lot of lessons to offer. And so does your content. If you want to improve your content and have a more productive SEO strategy, here are five rules to live by:

1. ABO: always be optimizing
2. Know what your readers want or be irrelevant
3. Know what your competitors are up to so you can maintain your edge
4. Always make each and every webpage quality
5. Aim for a good balance of quality and quantity 

FAQ: How can I create an effective SEO content strategy that improves search engine rankings and drives organic traffic?

1. ABO: Always Be Optimizing

Content without optimization is like peanut butter without jelly. Sure, you can eat a peanut butter sandwich without jelly, but why would you?

Just like jelly gives peanut butter that finishing touch, optimizing your webpages puts the final touches on your content.

You can have the most incredible content in the world, but if your page is too slow to load or you have duplicate meta data, your content performance can fall short.

To make sure the content will perform for you, there is a lot to consider outside the words you’ve written or the video you’ve created.

That’s why optimized content and webpages are a cornerstone of SEO.

Read:

• What is Content Optimization?
• The Always-Up-to-Date SEO Checklist

2. Know What Your Readers Want or Be Irrelevant

Many people have asked, “Who am I?” at some point in their lives. When it comes to SEO content, however, you want to ask: Who are they?

In other words, do you know who reads your content? Do you know the unique challenges they face, their deepest desires, and what matters most to them? If not, then your content may fail to strike a chord.

Make a better connection with your audience by defining who they are. This is where creating audience personas can be key. Then, map your content topics to each persona.

Keyword research can be a great complement to this exercise. It will show you the types of queries your target audience uses when they look for what you have to offer.

Take those keywords and marry them with your personas. You’ll then have the foundation for content that can reach them at the moment they need it with what they need.

Read:

• Web Personas: Creating Jane
• What Are Keywords? 
• 7 Keyword Suggestion and Research Tools

3. Know What Your Competitors Are Up to So You Can Maintain Your Edge

All those research studies that come out telling you that content performs better if it is X, Y and Z is much too generic to follow.

In SEO, beating your competition is the name of the game. And you can’t beat your competition without first studying them.

And that means knowing who shows up on Page 1 of the search results for your target keywords and analyzing their webpages.

How are they presenting the topic and how can you stand out? What is the average length of the articles for the top-ranked webpages? What about the sweet spot for the meta data?

If you rely on general benchmarks, you will never truly embrace the uniqueness of your own SEO content strategy.

Read:

• Competitor Research for SEO: What, Why, How
• How to Do Competitor Research for SEO
• Want Customized SEO Advice Per Keyword? There’s an App for That!

4. Always Make Each and Every Webpage Quality

Any job worth doing in life is worth doing well. And when it comes to your SEO content, don’t skimp.

Quality content contributes to so many key aspects of SEO. Remember that experience, expertise, authority and trust are all factors in how Google assesses content and website quality.

This is important because you want to be able to compete in the search results. And demonstrating E-E-A-T can make your webpages more relevant to Google for a given search.

And don’t forget: If you have quality content, people will want to read and share it, which can help you earn links correctly.

Read:

• What Makes a Webpage Quality?
• The Complete Guide to the Basics of Google’s E-E-A-T
• The New Link Building Manifesto: A Complete Guide to Earning Links That Count

5. Aim for a Good Balance of Quality and Quantity

Over the years, the SEO perspective on content has changed.

At one point, it was that cranking out as much content as possible was the thing. Then Google stepped in and put its foot down; there were just too many subpar webpages out there.

So quality became a primary focus of the search engine. SEOs took a step back, played it cautiously, and adopted a quality-over-quantity approach.

But just like you need balance in life, you need balance in your SEO content.

It is true that you always want each piece to be quality, but does that mean you only publish once every couple of weeks? It depends on how fast you want to see results.

The fact is, if you want to see your website and blog drive more traffic, publishing more frequently can do just that.

To give you a real world example, we increased blog publishing frequency on our own Bruce Clay Blog beginning in early June 2023. You’ll notice in the image below that direct traffic to our blog sharply increased during that time. Our frequency increased even more in mid-July, and so did our traffic.

The Journey Begins with One Step

Every SEO content strategy is unique, but we can all learn from the wisdom of years of content creation and good SEO performance. Follow these five rules on your content journey and find out for yourself how they can improve your SEO content.

Our SEO experts can help you improve your SEO content strategy. Schedule a free 1:1 consultation here.

FAQ: How can I create an effective SEO content strategy that improves search engine rankings and drives organic traffic?

To start, thoroughly research your target audience and their needs. Understanding their preferences and pain points enables you to create content that resonates deeply.

Begin by conducting thorough keyword research. Identify relevant keywords and phrases that align with your industry and audience. A mix of short-tail and long-tail keywords will provide a balanced approach. Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush and other tools can provide invaluable insight into search volume and competition.

Quality content is non-negotiable. Crafting informative, engaging and original content is essential for retaining visitors and attracting organic backlinks. Leverage your expertise to provide value and establish credibility within your niche. Regularly update your content to reflect industry trends and address emerging topics.

Strategic content organization plays a vital role. Structure your articles with clear headings, subheadings, and concise paragraphs. This not only enhances readability but also improves search engine crawlers’ understanding of your content’s hierarchy and relevance.

Harness the power of on-page SEO elements. Optimize meta titles, descriptions and headers with your target keywords. Ensure your website is responsive and loads quickly across devices. Mobile-friendliness is a key ranking factor that directly impacts user experience.

Promote your content across various channels. Utilize social media, email newsletters, and online communities to amplify your reach. Encourage social sharing and engagement to broaden your content’s visibility and foster a loyal readership.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Creating an Effective SEO Content Strategy

1. Research your target audience’s preferences, pain points and search behavior.
2. Identify a mix of short-tail and long-tail keywords using tools like Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush.
3. Create an editorial calendar outlining topics, keywords and publication dates.
4. Develop high-quality, original content that addresses your audience’s needs.
5. Incorporate target keywords naturally within your content while maintaining readability.
6. Organize your content with clear headings, subheadings and concise paragraphs.
7. Optimize meta titles, descriptions and headers with relevant keywords.
8. Ensure your website is mobile-responsive and optimized for fast loading speeds.
9. Implement a solid internal linking structure to guide users through related content.
10. Leverage high-quality images, infographics and videos to enhance user engagement.
11. Regularly update and refresh existing content to reflect current trends and information.
12. Promote your content across social media platforms and relevant online communities.
13. Encourage social sharing and engagement to expand your content’s reach.
14. Build relationships with influencers and collaborate for mutual content promotion.
15. Monitor your content’s performance using analytics tools to track traffic, engagement and conversions.
16. Continuously refine your content strategy based on data insights and user feedback.
17. Adapt to evolving SEO trends and algorithm changes to maintain your competitive edge.
18. Focus on providing value and relevance to your audience through every piece of content.
19. Stay patient and persistent; SEO results take time to manifest fully.
20. Review and adjust your strategy periodically to align with shifting market dynamics.

The post SEO Content Rules To Live By appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Can you do SEO without knowing about keywords? Probably not successfully.

So here I’ll explain this foundational concept as we explore:

• What are keywords
• What not to do with keywords
• Why keywords are important
• How to do keyword research
• FAQ: How do long-tail keywords impact search performance?

What Are Keywords?

SEO keywords: are single words or short phrases that represent the search queries that people use in a search engine. Website owners or marketers select keywords and use them to guide content creation and optimize their webpages as part of their SEO strategy.

When you align your content creation and optimization with the words, topics, products, and services your target audience is looking for, you have a better chance of showing up in the search results.

One reason keyword optimization is important is that using keywords properly helps communicate to the search engines what a webpage is about. And that can improve the chances that a search engine will find a webpage relevant to a particular query.

It’s important to note that Google uses many signals to determine if a page is relevant for a query, not just keywords. But they are a factor; I’ll share data about that later.

What Are Long-Tail Keywords?

Long-tail keywords string together three or more words to create a more specific keyword phrase. Searchers perform long-tail queries in the following situations:

• To narrow down what they are looking for as they search for products, services, or information. When people are on a buying or knowledge journey, they often start with very broad or general keywords, maybe two-word phrases. As they begin to refine their research, search queries become much more specific and usually longer. So long-tail queries often have a higher conversion rate than broad terms do.
• When using voice search, for example, on a mobile device. Data shows that 48% of consumers are using voice assistants for general web searches. Voice queries tend to be much more conversational because people are speaking and not typing.

In a nutshell, long-tail keywords allow you to target very specific queries during every step of the searcher’s journey. So even though they have less search volume than the more competitive broad keywords do, these phrases are valuable to rank for.

What You Shouldn’t Do with Keywords

When you’re creating content for the web:

• Don’t use keywords to trick or mislead. One example is keyword stuffing. Another would be trying to use keywords that are off-topic for your page and site. Google does not respond well to keyword abuse. To be rewarded in the search results, your site’s SEO must stay within Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
• Don’t target keywords that do not exactly describe the contents of your page.
• Don’t use keywords awkwardly in your content. Keywords should be incorporated into the body text and meta information in a natural and subtle way.

Why Are Keywords Important to SEO (and Marketing)?

Keywords help you as a website owner to:

• Identify and speak the language of the target market
• Create useful content for your target audience
• Communicate to Google that a webpage is a relevant match for a query
• Improve search engine rankings by helping Google understand what the webpage content is about
• Get content in front of the right people at the right time
• Drive more qualified traffic to appropriate webpages
• Increase time on site by directing more qualified traffic to webpages
• Increase conversions by helping consumers find you rather than your competitors

All of these matter for SEO. To elaborate, keyword research helps you understand how your target audience might describe and look for your products or services. It also shows you how people ask for more information on your topics when using a search engine.

Armed with these words and phrases, you can come up with ideas for new content. You can also optimize your webpages to match a searcher’s intent and answer a searcher’s questions.

Keyword research and optimization can improve your chances of showing up on Page 1 of the search results. In fact, data from 2020 shows that most title tags on Google’s first page contained keywords that were an exact or partial match of that search query.

Aside from rankings, keyword research has other benefits that can help you better serve your consumer.

For instance, say you’re a bread company researching the keyword phrase “organic bread.” During your research, you find that there is a high search volume for the term “organic bread flour.” Could this be a new product opportunity?

When is keyword research done? If you’re wise, you make it an ongoing exercise. Trends fluctuate, search intent evolves, and even the names of things change over time. So keep at it, always looking for opportunities to meet customer needs and rank better in search.

How Do You Do Keyword Research?

There’s a lot to keyword research, but here is the process in four basic steps:

1. Start with a “brainstorm” list, also known as a “seed” list. Document anything you can think of that would describe your product, service, or the information you have to share.
2. Use a keyword research tool. Use an analysis tool that gives you data on the ideas in your seed list. (Check out our SEOToolSet as an option.)
3. Expand and refine your list. Discover suggested keyword phrases from the keyword research tool. Find out the actual words people use as they search for your products, services, or information. Find out how often the queries are used, which can help you prioritize the work.
4. Verify keyword phrases. Analyze the competition in the search results that show up for the target keywords. Do you see webpages that offer products, services, or information like yours? If so, it means you’re in the right space.

Here’s more on how to research and use keywords:

• How to Do Keyword Research: A 6-Point Checklist
• How to Select Keywords
• Search Engine Optimization Guide

Keyword research is integral to successful SEO and something we do on an ongoing basis for our clients. If you’d like expert assistance with your website, I invite you to request a free consultation and quote.

FAQ: How do long-tail keywords impact search performance?

Long-tail keywords, those specific phrases consisting of three or more words, enhance search performance. As an experienced professional in this domain, I’m here to elucidate the profound impact of long-tail keywords on search engine visibility.

Long-tail keywords are the keys to unlocking targeted traffic. By using longer, more specific phrases, businesses and content creators can align their offerings with the exact needs of their audience. Imagine you’re seeking the perfect pair of running shoes. Instead of searching for “shoes,” you might type in “best long-distance running shoes for women.” This refined search showcases the power of long-tail keywords in delivering precise results.

Moreover, long-tail keywords have the potential to elevate conversion rates. Think about it – a user who is looking for something specific is more likely to take action than a casual browser. This is where long-tail keywords shine. When you cater to a specific intent, you attract visitors and guide them toward the solutions they seek. This translates to better engagement, increased time on your website, and, ultimately, higher conversions.

Crafting content around long-tail keywords also helps in voice search optimization. As the prevalence of voice assistants grows, people are more inclined to use natural, conversational language. Long-tail keywords naturally lend themselves to this trend. They reflect how people talk, making your content more accessible to voice search queries and consequently widening your audience reach.

Transitioning from broader keywords to strategically chosen long-tail phrases requires meticulous research. Explore the nuances of your niche and identify the specific queries your audience will likely use. Incorporate these phrases seamlessly into your content, titles, and meta descriptions. This blend of relevance and specificity ensures your content is found and cherished by those who seek it.

The impact of long-tail keywords on search performance is profound. By understanding your audience’s intent and tailoring your content to match, you tap into a goldmine of targeted traffic, improved engagement, and higher conversion rates. As an expert in the field, I emphasize the strategic use of long-tail keywords as an indispensable tool for elevating your digital presence and connecting with the right audience.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Maximizing Search Performance with Long-Tail Keywords

1. Understand Your Audience: Research your target audience to identify their pain points, preferences, and search habits.
2. Brainstorm Seed Keywords: Compile a list of general keywords related to your niche.
3. Expand Keywords: Utilize keyword research tools to identify long-tail variations of your seed keywords.
4. Analyze Competition: Evaluate the search results for your chosen long-tail keywords to assess the competition.
5. Prioritize Relevance: Choose long-tail keywords that closely match the intent of your audience.
6. Integrate Naturally: Seamlessly incorporate long-tail keywords into your content, headings, and meta descriptions.
7. Create High-Quality Content: Craft informative, engaging content that fulfills users’ needs by searching for specific information.
8. Monitor Performance: Regularly track the performance of your content using analytics tools.
9. Refine and Optimize: Based on performance data, adjust your keyword strategy and content to enhance results.
10. Stay Updated: Keep up with evolving trends and shifts in search behavior to refine your long-tail keyword approach.

By following these steps, you can harness the potential of long-tail keywords to boost your search engine performance and connect with your audience more effectively.

The post What Are Keywords? Why Are Keywords Important to SEO? And How Do You Do Keyword Research? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

And this is good news for website publishers, too. More features mean different opportunities and ways to rank — but it does make it more complicated for website publishers.

In this overview, I’ll tell you what SERP features are, why they are important to SEO, and how to take the first steps in learning how to optimize for them.

And, by the way, you can count on the SERP changing soon. The features are seldom constant. And in fact, they are seldom all used at the same time, responding to user behavior, location, and history.

• What are SERP features? 
• Why should I SERP features?
• How to get SERP features
• FAQ: How can I effectively optimize my content for SERP features to improve my website’s ranking and visibility? 

What Are SERP Features?

A SERP feature is a type of result shown on a search engine results page.

Most people know the “10 blue links” — those are the organic listings that have been around the longest. But over the years, Google has integrated more features into the SERP.

Google integrates some results from vertical search engines (such as images from Google Images). Others are features that Google automatically generates based on the type of query, such as direct answers.

Here is a screenshot of a SERP with some — but not all — of the available SERP features:

The mix of SERP features changes from query to query. So no two SERPs are going to look the same.

Why Should I Care about SERP Features?

The SERP features that show up on Page 1 for your target keywords can help guide your SEO cosearcntent creation and optimization strategy.

Remember that to compete online today, you have to be savvy in the content you produce for your keywords and how you optimize it.

Some keyword search results might be heavy on engagement objects like images or videos, while others will display blue links and ads only.

It is important to know how to optimize for the search features that show up for your target keywords so you have a better chance of ranking.

For example, if Google displays a lot of YouTube videos on the SERP for a particular keyword query, you need to understand how to create and optimize videos for YouTube to have a better chance of showing up in the mix. Similarly, if images dominate the SERP for a certain query, sharpen your image SEO skills and optimize your multimedia objects for search. If it’s just the 10 blue links, how is your on-page SEO?

How to Get SERP Features

There are many search features that you can optimize for and some that you can’t.

For example, you can optimize your content for a chance to rank as a featured snippet (aka “position zero”). You can’t, however, optimize your content to compete against Google’s answer box (direct answers, like a calorie counter that shows up in the SERP).

Other SERP features are automatically generated, too, like sitelinks. Sitelinks appear as part of a website’s search result listing and are links to other webpages within the website. Website publishers cannot directly control their sitelinks but can do so indirectly. Read our Best Practices for Google Sitelinks for details.

First, it is useful to get to know the common types of SERP features to see what you are dealing with. I recommend reading our Quick Reference Guide to Common Google SERP Features.

Once you have a grasp on common search features, you’ll be able to identify which show up in your targeted SERPs. Then your next step is to understand how to optimize for them.

You can enable a lot of these features by using structured data.

Google has a handy help file that goes over how to enable search results features for your site. In it, Google covers:

• General categories of search results
• What SERP features are best for a page or website
• How to enable SERP features for your website
• Measure the performance of SERP features

SEO gets more complex by the minute. Every time search engines like Google introduce new SERP features, we need to understand how to create content for them and then optimize for them.

Studying the SERP features that appear for the keywords we are after is part of a whole-SERP strategy. It helps give us a solid roadmap for how to compete in the organic search results.

FAQ: How can I effectively optimize my content for SERP features to improve my website’s ranking and visibility?

Optimizing your content for search engine results page (SERP) features is a game-changer. SERP features go beyond traditional search results, providing users with immediate, actionable information. Mastering this optimization strategy can significantly enhance your website’s visibility and ranking.

Understanding SERP features begins with recognizing that search engines have evolved from displaying merely “10 blue links.” Today, users are greeted with diverse elements such as featured snippets, knowledge graphs, and rich media. These features offer users quick answers, making aligning your content with them imperative.

To optimize for SERP features effectively, start by identifying the features commonly appearing for your target keywords. Featured snippets, for instance, provide concise answers to user queries. Craft your content with direct and comprehensive answers, ensuring you follow structured data guidelines. This proactive approach increases the likelihood of your content being featured.

Structured data is a vital tool in SERP feature optimization. By implementing structured data markup, you provide search engines with context about your content, making it easier for them to display relevant features. Schema.org provides a rich vocabulary of structured data types that cover various content types. Leverage these schemas to enhance your content’s visibility.

Furthermore, understanding user intent is crucial. Tailor your content to match the intent behind the user’s query. For instance, if the search indicates a “how-to” query, structuring your content as a step-by-step guide enhances the chances of securing a featured snippet. Optimizing images and videos within your content can also lead to image and video carousels on the SERP.

Optimizing SERP features requires a multifaceted approach. By aligning your content with user intent, implementing structured data, and providing concise, valuable information, you position your website to capitalize on these powerful search enhancements. Stay updated with industry trends, monitor your SERP performance, and adapt your strategies accordingly. Your commitment to optimizing for SERP features will prove invaluable as the search landscape evolves.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Optimizing Content for SERP Features

1. Research and identify your target keywords.
2. Analyze the SERPs for these keywords to identify common SERP features.
3. Craft your content with concise, informative answers relevant to the identified features.
4. Utilize structured data markup from Schema.org to enhance content context.
5. Choose the appropriate schema types for your content (e.g., Article, HowTo, FAQPage).
6. Implement structured data on your website’s pages using HTML tags or JSON-LD format.
7. Use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to ensure proper schema implementation.
8. Regularly update and refine your structured data to match evolving guidelines.
9. Focus on user intent; tailor your content to match different search intents (informational, navigational, transactional).
10. Utilize the “People Also Ask” section on Google to identify related queries to address in your content.
11. Optimize images and videos within your content for search visibility.
12. Provide clear, step-by-step instructions for “how-to” content to secure featured snippets.
13. Monitor your SERP performance and track changes in the featured content.
14. Stay informed about search engine algorithm updates and changes in SERP features.
15. Adapt your content strategy based on the performance of different SERP features.
16. Regularly update your content to maintain relevance and accuracy.
17. Engage with user comments and feedback to enhance your content’s quality.
18. Continuously refine your strategies based on the success of your SERP feature optimization efforts.
19. Collaborate with other industry experts to exchange insights and best practices.
20. Stay committed to ongoing learning and optimization, adapting to the dynamic search landscape.

The post What Are SERP Features and Why Should I Care? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

But what actually determines webpage quality? I’ll outline the various aspects that impact the perceived quality of a webpage, by both search engines and users, in the following sections:

• Experience, Expertise, authority, and trust
• Journalistic integrity in your content
• Content optimization
• Technical SEO
• Tips for consistently improving webpage quality
• FAQ: How can I ensure my webpages maintain high-quality standards for better search engine performance?

Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust

Google is notoriously protective of its search ranking algorithm. As a result, much of what we accept as best practice in SEO is based on educated guesses, experience, and simply seeing what works.

When it comes to on-page SEO and what Google is looking for in a quality webpage, though, they’ve been surprisingly transparent. In its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines (SQEG), the search giant shares what its search quality raters should consider as indicative of page quality.

The SQEG explains the following are the most important factors for quality raters to consider in determining a page’s quality rating:

• The purpose of the page
• Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness
• Main content quality and amount
• Website information or information about who is responsible for the main content
• Website reputation or reputation of the person responsible for the main content

That second one — expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, also known as E-E-A-T — is so important that it appears a whopping 130 times in the SQEG.

While not a ranking factor, E-E-A-T is a great framework by which to gauge the quality of your content. Specifically, Google advises that its raters consider the E-E-A-T of the people who create the content, the content itself, and the website as a whole.

Here’s what the SQEG says to consider:

• The expertise of the creator of the main content
• The authoritativeness of the creator of the main content, the main content itself, and the website
• The trustworthiness of the creator of the main content, the main content itself, and the website

Again, this isn’t a part of the core algorithm. Rather, parts of the core algorithm look for E-E-A-T signals; for example, I believe that the Panda update was about expertise, Penguin was about authority, and Medic was about trust.

How can you make sure your webpages are trustworthy and authoritative, showcasing your expertise? For this next tip, I take a page from the most experienced content creators out there.

Journalistic Integrity in Your Content

Even if you’re fairly confident that the information you’re sharing is accurate, it’s important that you make it easy for Google (and your readers) to verify it. Journalists have “Cite your sources!” drilled into their heads from the earliest days of training.

Fact-checking should be an integral part of your publishing process. In fact, Google cares about this to the extent it provides a fact-checking tool that enables searchers to input a claim and see what’s been verified about it online.

Always consider the expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness of the sources you’re citing on your webpage, too. Restating something as fact is your personal endorsement of that information.

Another important tool for improving the quality of your content is to choose a style guide to go by. Adhering to one style guide gives your content clarity and consistency. For example, the Associated Press Stylebook is the style that journalists use when they write content.

Sticking with one style tells all of your writers, editors, marketers, and others who publish content on-site how to handle links and citations, capitalization in titles and subheadings, punctuation, presentation of statistics, and more.

Essentially, you want readers and visitors focused on your quality content, not trying to overlook omissions or inconsistencies in how the information is presented.

Which style guide you choose is up to you, and in fact, many organizations create their own style guide to maintain consistency. That’s great, too. What matters most is that you choose one and apply it to all of your web content.

Content Optimization

Once you’re satisfied with the quality and accuracy of the content on your webpage, it’s important that you optimize it. How else will Google understand that your webpage is the best answer for relevant queries?

I won’t go into great detail here, as we have an excellent, always up-to-date SEO checklist here. Work through it as you optimize new content, and soon, it’ll become second nature.

Technical SEO

We’ve focused heavily on content and other on-page SEO factors to this point. But even the best content will underperform without the solid underpinning of a technically sound website.

Technical SEO is the practice of optimizing your website so Google and other search engines can easily crawl and index your webpages. It also applies to user experience in that visitors expect webpages to load quickly and smoothly.

Google aims to give each searcher the best answer for their need, and these technical SEO considerations are part of that experience:

Site Speed

How fast your webpage loads has a massive impact on your visitor’s experience — and the actions they will take as a result.

Google’s research shows that “…faster mobile site speed makes people view more pages on the site, convert more, and buy more on most brand sites.”

Page speed has long been a ranking factor, but speed and other core metrics have grown in importance with Google’s 2021 page experience update.

Learn more about how to make your site faster: How Fast Should My Webpage Be and Why Should I Care?

Mobile-Friendliness

Is your site responsive to the device on which the visitor is viewing it?

Does your page load quickly on mobile, and is content formatted for easy reading on different screen sizes?

These are major considerations for Google and in fact, mobile-friendliness is a ranking signal within the page experience update. This impactful update also includes:

• Core Web Vitals, a set of three metrics that help Google understand the experience visitors have on any given webpage: Largest Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift, and First Input Delay
• HTTPS compliance for secure browsing status
• Intrusive interstitials — specifically, ensuring that you don’t have any

There are many technical factors that can impact your site’s mobile-friendliness — responsive design, properly configured text and buttons, and page loading speed, among them. See Page Experience Matters: The Mobile-Friendly Site to learn more.

A whole host of issues may impact Google’s ability to find, crawl, and index your webpage. Cloaking, redirects, 404 errors, robots.txt status and more are among the more common technical SEO issues that could impact your website quality.

Check out these Technical SEO Tips to learn more about optimizing the back end of your site.

Tips for Consistently Improving Webpage Quality

As you apply best practices and begin looking at all pages through a quality lens, the process will become faster and easier. Run through this list of tips with one of your existing pages and see where you can improve:

1. Focus on demonstrating E-E-A-T in all of your content — written copy, photos, videos, and other elements, too.
2. Remember that the reputation of the content creator and website as a whole matters. Include the author’s name, a short bio (either on-page or linked), and links to social profiles.
3. Fact-check all information and statistics, citing your sources in accordance with the style guide of your choice.
4. Ensure that the page’s content delivers on the expectation a reader will have upon navigating to that page from the SERP.
5. Proofread carefully! Don’t let simple typos or small errors take away from your page’s perceived quality.
6. Create a sufficient amount of content and include enough information to satisfy the need that brought the searcher to your page. (Our WordPress SEO plugin can help you know how much to write in order to compete.)
7. Optimize content to help Google understand how and why that webpage meets the needs of searchers using relevant queries.
8. Make sure preventable technical SEO issues aren’t standing in the way of your page’s accessibility and rankings.

Making a quality website is impossible without SEO-friendly, high-quality content. At Bruce Clay Inc., we have a team of experienced writers who can help meet your needs. Interested in learning more about our content development services? Contact us for a free consultation today.

FAQ: How can I ensure my webpages maintain high-quality standards for better search engine performance?

Maintaining a high level of quality for your webpages is pivotal for driving better search engine performance. In an era where user experience is paramount, search engines like Google are placing increased emphasis on ranking pages that offer genuine value. To ensure your webpages meet these high-quality standards and deliver exceptional results, consider the following strategies:

Prioritize Content Relevance

Craft content that aligns precisely with your audience’s needs. In-depth research into your target audience’s preferences and pain points will help you create content that resonates and provides genuine value.

Incorporate E-E-A-T Principles

Experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) are foundational for high-quality webpages. Showcase your expertise by offering well-researched insights, share your personal experiences and opinions with the subject matter, back your claims with authoritative sources, and foster trust by maintaining transparent and reliable content.

Implement On-Page Optimization

Optimize your content for both users and search engines. Pay attention to title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and keyword placement. Balancing keyword usage with natural readability is key to maintaining high quality.

Streamline User Experience

User experience directly influences search engine performance. Ensure fast page loading times, responsive design for various devices, and easy navigation. Users should be able to find what they need without any friction.

Focus on Technical SEO

Technical SEO forms the backbone of webpage quality. Prioritize tasks like improving site speed, optimizing images, and ensuring mobile-friendliness. These factors enhance both user experience and search engine rankings.

Transitioning seamlessly between these strategies is essential for maintaining a cohesive approach to webpage quality. By prioritizing content relevance, incorporating E-E-A-T principles, optimizing on-page elements, streamlining the user experience, and emphasizing technical SEO, you can effectively elevate your webpage quality and secure better search engine performance.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Strategies to Enhance Webpage Quality for Improved Search Engine Performance

1. Conduct thorough audience research to understand their preferences and pain points.
2. Align content topics with audience needs to ensure relevance.
3. Utilize authoritative sources to back up claims and enhance expertise.
4. Provide clear author credentials to establish authority and trustworthiness.
5. Craft compelling title tags and meta descriptions that accurately represent content.
6. Use header tags to structure content for easy readability and navigation.
7. Integrate relevant keywords naturally into the content.
8. Optimize images for fast loading times and improved user experience.
9. Ensure responsive design to guarantee usability across various devices.
10. Implement a content delivery network (CDN) to enhance page loading speed.
11. Conduct regular site audits to identify and resolve technical SEO issues.
12. Create XML sitemaps to aid search engine crawling and indexing.
13. Improve site speed by compressing images and minimizing server response time.
14. Eliminate duplicate content issues to enhance content uniqueness.
15. Implement schema markup to enhance search engine understanding of content.
16. Monitor user behavior and make adjustments based on analytics data.
17. Regularly update content to ensure accuracy and relevance.
18. Engage in reputable link-building practices to enhance authority.
19. Collaborate with industry influencers to gain credibility and exposure.
20. Continuously monitor search engine algorithm updates and adapt strategies accordingly.

This article was updated on December 19, 2023.  

The post What Makes a Webpage Quality? appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

For many years now, SEO and content marketing have been inextricably linked together. Creating content for websites is often cited as a top content marketing initiative. Yet getting search engine rankings as a result of these efforts is cited less often. Why is that?

For B2Bs that want to both create website content and get measurable results like search engine rankings and organic traffic, this article is for you. In this article:

• How B2B does content marketing
• How to do content marketing better
• FAQ: How can B2Bs align their content marketing goals with measurable results?

How B2Bs Are Doing Content Marketing

I am going to start with some interesting facts before giving you my thoughts. Content Marketing Institute’s 11th Annual B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report reveals a lot regarding content marketing and SEO opportunities.

In looking at the data in the report, we see that online content falls into the top activities of a content marketing program. Creating articles was the No. 1 type of content tactic. And posting it on a B2B company’s blog or website was among the top three channels.

Yet the majority of respondents reported their content marketing strategy was only “moderately successful.”

Sixty percent said the creation of new web content contributed to their success. However only 37% reported search engine rankings as a marker of their results. I’ll touch on this problem more later in the article.

In the chart below, you see that 78% percent used keyword research as an editorial tool while creating content. This is a promising data point. Why, then, aren’t search engine rankings either more attainable or more important as a result of their content creation efforts? Could it be missed opportunities for optimization?

In some good news, guest posting articles dropped 10 percent since the last CMI survey. From the data alone, it’s impossible to know why, but could it be that companies are starting to catch on that guest posting is bad for business?

How B2Bs Can Make Their Content Marketing Perform Better with SEO

It’s obvious to me that many B2B companies want to succeed with their content marketing strategies, but I think that their KPIs are off. Creating content is not a KPI. How that content performs is.

Of course, many may say that creating brand awareness and creating value are goals. And that is fine if you can measure them. But if your main activities are creating content for your website, one goal should be rankings — and the traffic, engagement, and sharing that come with rankings. Content unread is not a goal.

Here are several questions that B2Bs can ask to ensure their content marketing goals are supported by measurable results.

Does Your Content Prove Expertise and Authority?

What I’m about to say may sound like a broken record for some. You need to focus on the quality of your content, not the quantity. Simply creating content for a website as a goal ignores what’s most important: the contents of what you produce.

Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines detail how expertise and authority play into quality. Our article on the Complete Guide to the Fundamentals of Google’s E-E-A-T explains how to achieve it with your content.

Bottom line: Your content needs to be written at an expert level for the topic and be authoritative on the subject matter.

Are You Using the Right Tools When You Create Content?

Keyword research is essential, and it’s nice to have target search terms when you are creating content. However, how you analyze those keywords and optimize the content with them can make or break how the content performs in the search results.

For example, say your SEO person has done the keyword research. They hand this off to the content creator with instructions to include the key terms in the content. If that is the complete strategy, is it any wonder that the content doesn’t perform?

You must go deeper. You must be able to take those keywords and find out who the competition is in the search results for that query. You need to understand what they are writing about around that key term and how. Then you need to meet or beat them to have a better chance to rank.

Our WordPress SEO plugin can help B2Bs here. It gives you real-time data by analyzing the top-ranked pages in the search results with targets for things like metadata, readability score, and word count. For more on this, read: Want Customized SEO Advice Per Keyword? There’s a Plugin for That!

Why guess when you can get all the data you need to really compete?

Are You Optimizing the Content Thoroughly?

Optimizing a page with keywords is one of the most common tasks that a content creator does when creating content for a website. But the question often remains: Are they doing it well enough?

While keyword optimization happens naturally while writing about a topic, there’s always more you can do to help the content perform better.

I’m going to recommend our WordPress SEO plugin here again. It can show content creators how many times to use the key term based on real-time analysis of the top-ranked pages. Plus, it has a nice visual that shows you’ve used the term throughout the content from top to bottom (which may impact the relevance of the content to a search).

For more, check out: How a WordPress SEO Plugin Can Help you Optimize Your Content with Keywords.

It’s been over a decade since we started using the term “content marketing.” And yet, it still feels like B2Bs are challenged when it comes to how to get the most from it.

Search engine optimization is a supportive strategy for any content marketing program. It can boost results on your most important digital business asset: your website.

If you’re looking for help with your content marketing strategy or SEO, let’s talk. Fill out our quote request form today.

FAQ: How can B2Bs align their content marketing goals with measurable results?

Effective content alignment starts with setting clear and concise goals. B2Bs should define brand awareness, lead generation, or thought leadership objectives. These goals serve as a compass, guiding content creation towards specific outcomes.

Quality over quantity remains the cardinal rule in B2B content marketing. Crafting content that resonates with the target audience requires in-depth understanding. Conduct thorough research to identify pain points, industry trends, and pressing questions. Tailoring content to address these aspects enhances engagement and contributes to measurable results.

Leveraging the right distribution channels amplifies the impact of B2B content. Whether through industry-specific publications or social media platforms, reaching the intended audience is crucial. Moreover, a consistent posting schedule maintains relevance and keeps the audience engaged over time.

However, true alignment with measurable results comes from harnessing the power of data and analytics. B2Bs should integrate robust analytics tools to track key performance indicators (KPIs). This offers insights into what works and what needs refinement. Analyzing metrics such as conversion rates, click-through rates, and engagement levels provides a clear picture of the content’s effectiveness.

B2B content marketing success lies in aligning goals with measurable results. By defining precise objectives, creating tailored content, utilizing effective distribution channels, and leveraging data-driven insights, businesses can drive engagement, nurture leads, and ultimately achieve their content marketing goals.

Step-by-Step Procedure: Aligning B2B Content Marketing Goals with Measurable Results

1. Define Clear Objectives: Set specific goals for your content marketing campaign, such as lead generation, brand awareness, or customer retention.
2. Audience Research: Conduct thorough research to understand your target audience’s pain points, preferences, and behaviors. This insights-driven approach informs content creation.
3. Tailored Content Creation: Develop high-quality content that addresses the identified pain points and aligns with your objectives. Focus on providing value and solving problems for your audience.
4. Distribution Channel Selection: Choose the most relevant distribution channels based on where your target audience is active. This could include industry publications, social media platforms, or email newsletters.
5. Consistent Posting Schedule: Establish a consistent posting schedule to maintain audience engagement. Consistency helps build anticipation and keeps your audience coming back for more.
6. Data Integration: Implement robust analytics tools to track key metrics such as conversion, click-through, and engagement levels.
7. Performance Analysis: Regularly analyze the gathered data to measure the effectiveness of your content. Identify patterns, trends, and areas for improvement.
8. Iterative Refinement: Use the insights from your data analysis to refine your content marketing strategy iteratively. Adjust your content, distribution channels, and posting schedule as needed.
9. A/B Testing: Experiment with different approaches through A/B testing. Test content variations, headlines, and visuals to identify what resonates best with your audience.
10. Conversion Optimization: Optimize your content for conversions by including clear and compelling calls-to-action (CTAs) that guide readers to the desired actions.
11. Lead Nurturing: Develop a lead nurturing strategy that delivers targeted content to prospects at different stages of the sales funnel.
12. Sales and Marketing Alignment: Foster collaboration between your sales and marketing teams to ensure that content aligns with the needs of potential customers.
13. Content Audit: Periodically review and assess the performance of your existing content. Remove outdated or underperforming content to maintain a high-quality content portfolio.
14. Competitor Analysis: Monitor your competitors’ content strategies to identify gaps and opportunities within your approach.
15. Feedback Integration: Gather feedback from your audience and internal teams to gain insights and make informed adjustments.
16. Long-term Vision: Keep a long-term perspective, understanding that content marketing success often requires consistent effort and adaptation.
17. ROI Evaluation: Continuously evaluate your content marketing efforts’ return on investment (ROI) by comparing the achieved results with your initial objectives.
18. Staying Updated: Stay informed about industry trends, algorithm changes, and evolving audience preferences to remain relevant and effective.
19. Team Education: Educate your content marketing team about the latest strategies, tools, and techniques to ensure continuous improvement.
20. Celebrate Successes: Recognize and celebrate milestones and successes achieved through your aligned content marketing efforts. This boosts morale and motivation within the team.

By following these steps, B2Bs can systematically align their content marketing goals with measurable results, driving success in the competitive B2B landscape.

This article was updated on December 21, 2023.  

The post How B2Bs Can Make Their Content Marketing Perform Better appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

When some people look at the search results, they see blue links, images, and videos. I see countless ways to analyze how content is ranking on the results page. Using the search results for SEO research can give you precise instructions on how to approach your SEO strategy per keyword.

Let’s look closer at how to use the search results strategically, starting from a bird’s eye view of your competition all the way down to the nitty-gritty details of how to create a webpage based on the top-ranking pages.

How to Get Started

To get started on your SEO research, you’re going to use a mix of tools and manual work with the search engine results page (SERP) as your study guide.

For both methods, the assumption is that you’ve already done your keyword research. So, you have the words and phrases that you will plug in to analyze the search results. (If you don’t have your keyword list, check out this beginner’s guide to get you started).

For the manual piece, take your keywords, type them into the search engine, and start analyzing the results. Make sure to search while logged out of your Google accounts. And search in incognito mode in the Chrome browser or in a private window using Firefox, so that the results aren’t biased.

In this article, I’ll also show you how to use some of our tools to get even more data.

Next, let’s look at how to get started, step by step, using the SERPs for:

• Competition research
• Content research – bird’s eye view
• Content research – granular
• Links research
• FAQ: How can I effectively use SEO research strategies to improve my search engine rankings?

Competition Research

A good first step in analyzing the search results for SEO data is to see who is competing in the results for your target keywords.

It’s important to remember that who your competition is online may not be who your competition is locally or your defined market competition. So, the results may surprise you at first.

But keep in mind SEO is all about beating the competition in the search results, not beating the Google algorithms.

Now, to see who is ranking for your target keywords, you can do the research manually or use research tools.

To do it manually, enter the keywords into the search engine and check out the search results.

To do this step using our SEOToolSet^Ⓡ, take advantage of the Research Summary report, which generates an unbiased list of top-ranking domains and pages for your key terms.

Next, look at the websites and their brands to find out who is taking the top spots. Is it big name brands like Amazon, for example?

At this point, if you are a smaller company and are running into a lot of big brands ranking for your key terms, you might decide to abandon that term and go for a longer tail keyword that’s still related to what you offer.

Of course, it will always be challenging to outrank huge brands in the search results, but that does not always mean you shouldn’t try. (Here’s more about how to compete against big brands.)

If you have a website and brand that demonstrates expertise, authority, and trust in your niche, with the right data, it is possible to create content that is as good as or better than the webpages ranking for your target keywords. I’ll talk more about that in a bit.

Content Research – Bird’s Eye View

The next thing you want to do is to analyze the type of content that is displayed on the search results page. Remember, the search results page can look very different from query to query. This gives you clues on the types of content that Google ranks for each query.

To clarify: We know that there is a pretty standard set of search results features that can show up for any given query (think featured snippets, images, videos, knowledge panel, and more). Which combination of those features Google displays depends on the query itself and what Google believes is the best way to answer the intent of that query.

So, for example, here is the search results page for “how to train a cat,” which presents informational results:

In contrast, here is a search results page for “cat training supplies.” Labeling what Google presents on this SERP makes it clear that Google expects this query to have transactional intent (to purchase something).

Looking at the search results in this way is what I call a whole-SERP SEO strategy. A whole-SERP strategy analyzes the features and types of content that show up most in the search results for target keywords and then optimizes for them.

This helps you set a strategy for each keyword. Some of these strategies will require you to not only create and optimize the content on your webpages, but also create content for other search verticals that get pulled into the search results page.

Do you see images in the search results for the target keyword? Then, make sure you have an image optimization plan. Are videos showing up? Make videos for that keyword, too, and also don’t forget about YouTube SEO. Is there a featured snippet in the results? Try to optimize your content for featured snippets.

As an aside, for some useful data on how the features in the search engine results impact click-through rates, check out a recent study by SISTRIX. One interesting data nugget is that when you target longer tail keywords, you tend to see fewer of the SERP features that distract clicks away from the 10 blue organic links.

In the last section, I talked about the option of abandoning more generic keywords that are being dominated by big brands in the SERPs in favor of long-tail keywords. That’s something to consider if some keywords generate a lot of SERP features and you do not want to do a whole-SERP SEO strategy.

Content Research – Granular

Next, you’re going to get more granular in your content assessment. Look at each feature area on the search results (videos, images, blue links, etc.) and check out the top results.

You may want to focus on the top three, but particularly, the first result in each area is key. Click through and make a note of what type of content is ranking. For example, what attributes do the top-ranked videos share, if any?

For the regular “blue link” organic listings, what types of content show up there? Guides? Lists? Here, you’re looking for a common approach to the content.

And here is also where SEO tools can come in handy. Using the Bruce Clay SEO WP plugin, you can run your keywords through our patented tool and get real-time intel on the specific details of the top-ranked pages and their content.

This is especially important as you are planning and writing the content for your target keywords. So often, website publishers rely on generic data from one of those large-scale studies that says you must write so many hundreds of words to rank well. Or you need to include “x” amount of characters in your meta data.

Unfortunately, this data is not based on your specific keywords. So why guess?

Using our WordPress SEO plugin, you can get information like:

• How many words to include in your meta data based on the top-ranked pages (check out our article on meta tags to understand why meta data is important).
• How many words to write on the topic, based on the top-ranked pages.
• The readability score of the content you create based on the top-ranked pages.

This is a game-changer for your SEO program’s content strategy. To learn more about this, I suggest you check out our step-by-step article on custom SEO advice per keyword using our SEO plugin.

And, as you are writing your content, you can once again go to the search results for more ideas on what to include.

The “People also ask” (PAA) section on the search results page is Google’s way of telling you of other popular searches related to the target keyword. Use these as fuel for subsections within your content or create entire webpages around them.

You can use the exact phrases you find in the PAA section as either a subheading for a subsection in your article or as the title of a webpage. Be sure to answer those questions well, as it could be an opportunity to rank for a featured snippet (see this link for more).

Links Research

Once you know which websites are ranking in the coveted SERP spots for your target keyword(s), you want to know who is linking to them. Why? Because this is an opportunity for them to also link to your content once it is live.

You can use tools like Ahrefs or Majestic to get a picture of your competitor’s backlink profile.

Then:

• Identify the links to your competition’s webpage for your targeted keyword.
• Analyze the linking domains and choose the top most relevant domains and their webpages that might link to your new content.
• Make sure you are confident that you have better content than your competitor for your targeted keyword(s) before you do any outreach.
• Start promoting your new content with the target domains/brands by beginning to build relationships.

This is not about creating one of those “link to me!” emails. It’s about forging business relationships with actual human beings at the websites and brands that you are targeting for links. Maybe your strategy is quoting a business leader in your webpage from the target domain. The goal is to be creative here.

Summary

When you’re ready to start creating content for your SEO program, turn to the search results. There, you can get a blueprint for what type of content you need to create and how to create it based on what’s already ranking for your keywords.

If you found this article helpful, please share it! Subscribe here to receive news and updates from Bruce Clay directly to your inbox.

FAQ: How can I effectively use SEO research strategies to improve my search engine rankings?

Search engines are the lifeblood of online discovery, and mastering SEO research strategies is essential to secure a prime spot in search engine rankings. To embark on this journey, it’s vital to comprehend that effective SEO isn’t just about keywords but a holistic approach combining technical finesse, content quality, and user satisfaction.

At the heart of every effective SEO campaign lies comprehensive keyword research. Start by identifying a set of relevant and high-performing keywords that align with your content’s intent. Leverage keyword research tools to analyze search volume, competition, and trends. Integrating long-tail keywords can offer a competitive edge, as they cater to specific user queries and exhibit lower competition.

Content optimization is a cornerstone of SEO success. Craft compelling, informative, well-structured content that naturally incorporates your chosen keywords. Remember, quality trumps quantity. Search engines reward content that provides genuine value to users. Strive for readability, relevance, and originality while avoiding keyword stuffing—a practice that can lead to penalties.

User experience is a pivotal factor in modern SEO. A website’s loading speed, mobile responsiveness, and overall usability directly impact its rankings. Conduct regular audits to identify and rectify technical issues hindering user experience. Intuitive navigation and engaging visuals contribute to longer visit durations, reducing bounce rates and signaling value to search engines.

Backlinks remain a potent weapon in the SEO arsenal. Focus on acquiring high-quality backlinks from reputable sources within your industry. Guest posting, influencer collaborations, and participation in online communities can help establish your platform’s authority. However, avoid dubious link-building practices, as search engines prioritize authenticity and relevance.

Stay vigilant and adaptive. SEO algorithms and trends evolve, demanding ongoing commitment. Monitor your website’s performance using analytics tools and adjust your strategies accordingly. Keep abreast of industry news and algorithm updates to stay ahead of the curve. Remember, SEO is a patient pursuit, and results may take time to manifest.

Step-by-Step Procedure: How to Effectively Use SEO Research Strategies to Improve Search Engine Rankings

1. Keyword Research: Identify relevant keywords using tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs.
2. Long-Tail Keywords: Include long-tail keywords to capture specific user intent and diversify your content strategy.
3. Content Quality: Create valuable, original, well-structured content that integrates chosen keywords seamlessly.
4. Avoid Keyword Stuffing: Maintain a natural flow of content and avoid overloading with keywords.
5. Technical Optimization: Regularly audit your website for loading speed, mobile responsiveness, and technical issues.
6. User-Friendly Layout: Design an intuitive and user-friendly website interface for enhanced experience.
7. Engaging Visuals: Incorporate relevant images and videos to make your content more engaging.
8. Backlink Building: Seek high-quality backlinks from authoritative sources within your industry.
9. Guest Posting: Contribute guest posts to reputable websites to expand your reach and authority.
10. Influencer Collaboration: Partner with influencers for mutual backlinking and extended audience reach.
11. Avoid Black Hat SEO: Avoid using unethical practices like buying backlinks or keyword stuffing.
12. Regular Updates: Keep your content fresh and up-to-date to show search engines your platform’s relevance.
13. Algorithm Monitoring: Stay informed about search engine algorithm updates and adapt your strategies accordingly.
14. Analytics Tracking: Utilize tools like Google Analytics to monitor your website’s performance and traffic sources.
15. Competitor Analysis: Study your competitors’ strategies to identify gaps and opportunities.
16. Local SEO: If applicable, optimize for local search by including location-specific keywords and information.
17. Social Signals: Maintain an active social media presence to encourage shares and engagement.
18. Voice Search Optimization: Consider optimizing for voice search by using conversational keywords.
19. Patience and Persistence: SEO results take time; consistently apply best practices and adapt to changes.
20. Continuous Learning: To refine your strategies, stay updated with industry trends through courses, blogs, and forums.

This article was updated on December 20, 2023.  

The post How to Use the Search Results for Key SEO Research appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

Optimizing content with keywords is one of the most common SEO practices out there. Even without technical SEO skills, content creators often perform this basic SEO function.

Why is keyword optimization such a popular SEO technique? Simply put: it’s an easy way to help your content compete in the search results.

Of course, Google applies countless ranking signals when choosing a page to show up in the search results prominently. And Google is getting smarter all the time at matching a webpage to a search query. So, keyword optimization is not the only thing that matters. But it does.

I’ll show you next how you can properly optimize your content right within WordPress in a way that’s so easy anyone can do it. No SEO skills are required.

• What is keyword optimization? 
• How to optimize content with keywords in WordPress
• Bonus: View Content History by Keyword, Sitewide
• FAQ: How can I optimize my content with keywords effectively within WordPress?

What Is Keyword Optimization?

If you already “get” why keyword optimization matters or you want to get straight to the SEO plugin information, skip this section.

If you’re still here, let’s talk about optimization.

Having the right words in your content, making sure they show up often, and planning where they show up on the page can help Google understand that the webpage is a match for a search query.

If you haven’t yet picked your keywords, I suggest you read our beginner’s guide on that topic here: What Are Keywords? Why Are Keywords Important to SEO? And How Do You DO Keyword Research?

As mentioned earlier, Google gets more sophisticated all the time. Keyword optimization had more clout in Google’s ranking algorithm many years ago. But that doesn’t mean Google still doesn’t rely on keywords to understand your content.

This is an older article from Google AI, but it reveals how words can help machines understand what a webpage is about. Google likely uses some form of TFIDF, as mentioned below, to measure term frequency in its ranking algorithm:

One way to approach the problem is to look for words that appear more often than their ordinary rates. For example, if you see the word “coach” 5 times in a 581 word article, and compare that to the usual frequency of “coach” — more like 5 in 330,000 words — you have reason to suspect the article has something to do with coaching. The term “basketball” is even more extreme, appearing 150,000 times more often than usual. This is the idea of the famous TFIDF, long used to index web pages.

It’s important to note that when you write content, you are already optimizing it for a keyword. Talking about any one topic at length naturally contains the words that are relevant to that topic.

However, keyword research and keyword optimization can boost the webpage’s performance in the search results. That’s because you strategically use words and phrases with a high search volume. They are still relevant to your topic, and data backs them up.

How to Optimize Content with Keywords in WordPress

OK, let’s dive into how to optimize your content with keywords using our WordPress SEO plugin. (Get a free seven-day trial at that link if you’re not already a user.)

1. Plug in Your Keywords

Enter your target keywords within the Keywords tab in our WordPress SEO plugin. Many popular SEO plugins will only offer optimization functionality for one keyword. With ours, you can target many keywords per page.

Keywords tab in Bruce Clay SEO WP plugin

2. Write Your Content

Write the content within WordPress or upload your already-written content to the page.

3. View Keyword Count

Find out the specific goals for keyword density (how many times a keyword should be on the page). The top-ranked pages in the search results for each keyword are the basis for the advice. Any changes to the page will automatically update the goals.

Keyword goals in Bruce Clay SEO WP plugin

4. View Keyword Distribution

See how your content distributes the keywords. Highlighting them helps you ensure that the text has a thorough distribution of keywords from top to bottom. This may impact the relevance of your webpage for a search query.

Keyword distribution visual in Bruce Clay SEO WP plugin

5. Adjust and Recalculate

Make tweaks to your keyword optimization in WordPress based on suggested goals. The keyword counts are updated as you type when making changes in the content. Make sure you are meeting your keyword count goals and distributing your keywords evenly throughout.

That’s it! Our WordPress SEO plugin makes doing basic but important SEO a breeze.

Bonus: View Content History by Keyword, Sitewide

As a website ages, it has more and more content added to it. It’s not always easy to remember if you’ve written about a topic in the past.

Our WordPress SEO plugin allows you to quickly see how many pages of content you already have assigned a keyword/topic and how they are performing.

View things like:

• How many posts or pages you’ve written for each keyword
• How well those pages or posts are doing, for example, page views, impressions, and click-through rates

This allows you to better plan future content, to consider whether you’ll combine existing pages on the same topic (something we talk about here and Google talks about here), and much more.

Ready to start optimizing your content in WordPress? Get your free trial of our WordPress SEO plugin now.

Read more on how the Bruce Clay SEO plugin helps you with:

• Real-time and customized data
• Avoiding duplicate content
• Custom SEO advice per keyword
• Tracking your content performance

FAQ: How can I optimize my content with keywords effectively within WordPress?

WordPress, one of the most popular content management systems, provides numerous tools and techniques to help you achieve content optimization.

Keyword Research:
Begin with in-depth keyword research to identify relevant keywords and phrases that resonate with your content. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush can provide valuable insights.

Focus on Long-Tail Keywords:
Long-tail keywords are specific phrases that cater to niche audiences. Incorporating them into your content can yield better results, as they often have lower competition.

Keyword Placement:
Strategically place your chosen keywords in key areas of your WordPress content, including the title, headings, subheadings, and throughout the body text. Ensure they appear naturally and don’t disrupt the flow of your content.

Use SEO Plugins:
Leverage SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math to streamline the optimization process. These tools offer guidance and recommendations on improving your content’s SEO.

Optimize Images:
Don’t forget about image optimization. Use descriptive alt text for images to help search engines understand their content.

Maintain Quality Content:
Keyword optimization should never compromise the quality of your content. Focus on creating valuable, informative, and engaging material for your audience.

Monitor Keyword Performance:
Regularly monitor how your keywords are performing using tools like Google Analytics. Adjust your strategy based on the results.

Internal Linking:
Integrate internal links within your content to improve navigation and boost the SEO value of your website.

Mobile Optimization:
Ensure your website is mobile-friendly, as Google prioritizes mobile-responsive sites in its ranking algorithm.

Page Speed:
Optimize your site’s speed for a better user experience and improved search engine rankings.

User Experience:
Enhance the overall user experience by organizing your content logically, using clean design, and making your site easy to navigate.

Secure Your Site:
Implement SSL certificates to ensure your site is secure. Google favors secure websites in its rankings.

Regular Updates:
Keep your content fresh by updating it regularly. Search engines appreciate current and relevant information.

Social Sharing:
Encourage social sharing of your content to increase its reach and potentially improve your SEO.

Backlinks:
Focus on acquiring high-quality backlinks from reputable websites to boost your content’s authority.

Follow these 15 steps to optimize your WordPress content using keywords. Search engine optimization (SEO) is an ongoing process, and keeping up-to-date with industry trends and algorithm changes is integral to its success.

The post How a WordPress SEO Plugin Can Help You Optimize Your Content with Keywords appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..

As a content creator, you contribute to rankings, traffic, and conversions. So why shouldn’t you have access to the same data and optimization guidance that SEOs use?

Getting access to key SEO guidance before, during, and after the content creation process can help you create high-performing content.

High-performing content can drive key performance indicators such as website traffic, time on page, and bounce rate. Having these skills can be highly attractive to companies that want to hire you.

Upskilling now is more important than ever. The U.S. Department of Labor saw 22 million unemployment claims in the four weeks ending April 11 as a result of the pandemic, setting a new record. The self-employed are also feeling the effects.

Many professionals are thinking of new ways to market themselves. Some will be forced to take on new duties as their companies downsize. Self-employed writers will need to think about added services to help clients.

When budget cuts are inevitable, those that provide the most value will survive. We should all care that we are the best at our trade or get mixed into the crowd.

Research shows that workers with high cognitive skills experienced less unemployment, especially during recessions. And even though we’re waiting to see the long-term economic impact of the pandemic, many professionals feel the blow now. Luckily, both content creation and SEO require cognitive skills.

In times like these, using basic SEO skills during content creation can help:

• Employees pivot and come up with ways to add more value
• Service providers pivot and add new service offerings
• Brands keep their websites relevant and show up in the search results
• Everyone makes data-driven decisions that can improve results

I’m going to show you a simple way that content creators can get the same on-page guidance as SEO pros.

This guidance will allow you to boost your already great content to be SEO-ready and have a better chance of ranking in the search results and driving traffic.

• Tools
• Get analytics-driven writing guidelines
• Track content performance
• FAQ: How can I, as a content creator, leverage SEO to enhance my content’s performance?

The Tools

So how do you get the data and acquire the skills you need to create high-performing content?

An easy-to-use and powerful WordPress SEO plugin. It’s one that we designed with content creators in mind. No previous SEO or analytics experience is needed.

Get Real-Time SEO Guidance

There is a lot of guidance out there on how to optimize your content for search. And much of it is useful.

But the issue is that best practices change based on your industry, the keyword, and the type of topic (for example, a shopping page versus a medical page). Keep in mind that each search query produces different search results.

It’s important to understand that the content that is ranking in the top spots on Page 1 of the search results for a query is your competition. So it makes sense that you would want to analyze the top-ranked content and figure out how to match or beat it.

Our WordPress SEO plugin uses our patent-pending technology to get real-time information on your competition during the writing process.

This includes data on who is already ranking for the terms you want to be found for, and what patterns exist among those top-ranked pages.

Read more:

• What Is an SEO Article? Why Should You Write One? And How?
• The Complete Guide to the Fundamentals of E-A-T

Find Out How to Optimize Your Content

You may be confident in your ability to write great content, but less so in how to optimize it for search.

The good news: Creating quality content is already half of the battle when trying to rank in the search results. But Google needs a little help in understanding it better.

That’s because search engine bots (the search engine software that finds your content) can’t read content in the same way humans read and understand it. So optimizing the content helps bots better understand what the content is about.

This, in turn, gives your content a better chance of being picked to rank on Page 1 among the potential millions of other webpages on the topic.

The WordPress SEO plugin was created to give you real-time recommendations (based on your competition) on how to optimize your content.

The plug-in helps you:

Create meta information: This is one of the first things a search bot encounters on a webpage. It helps them understand what the content is about quickly. The plugin helps you to know how many words you should have in your meta title and meta description.

See optimization targets in the SEO plugin.

Optimize content with keywords: Your keywords, aka the search queries you want to show up for, should be in your content. Our plugin allows you to optimize your content with more than one keyword (a feature that’s lacking in free plugins).

This is important when a) you have a set of search queries you want to be found for (versus just one), and b) the content you are writing answers all of them.

Keywords also need to be distributed from top to bottom of the page. The SEO plugin gives you a visual of where your keywords are.

View keyword distribution in the SEO plugin.

Read more:

• What Are Keywords?
• SEO Copywriter Checklist (PDF)
• Always Up-to-Date SEO Checklist

Get Analytics-Driven Writing Guidelines

The top-ranked pages give clues on how to write content that is fit to rank. So we want to understand what “the norm” is for a particular query.

If all the top-ranking webpages are less than 1,000 words, that would be useful information to know before you plan your content.

Likewise, if you could find out what grade level the top-ranking pages are written at, you could follow suit.

The bottom line is that there’s no point in writing 2,000 words if 1,000 well-written words will do. And if all the competition is writing at a fifth-grade level, and your content is at the 11th grade-, Google may take note.

The WordPresss SEO plugin lets you:

Define a target word count: Get the target word count for your article based on the top-ranked pages in the search results. The goal, of course, is to write as much as you need to make your point. However, knowing the target word count can help you plan better and could change your approach.

See target word count in the SEO plugin.

Know your “readability score”: Different topics require different reading levels. For example, a medical article might be written at a higher grade level than one meant for entertainment. Knowing the readability score that’s natural for your topic gives you a target to hit. It is calculated automatically based on the tap-ranked pages for a search query.

View the readability score in the SEO plugin.

Track Content Performance

Most content creators aren’t privy to how their content performs once they hand it off. Having the right data puts you in a position of power. It allows you to strategically create content that will drive results, and to show it.

Our SEO plugin integrates with Google Analytics, Search Console, and our own SEOToolSet data, so you can see things like:

• Average ranking position
• Impressions in the search results
• Number of pageviews and average time on page, per page
• Top-ranked posts or pages you’ve created (so you know which content to model)
• What queries are bringing search traffic to a page
• Which pages are the top performers
• Who are the top authors in the platform (useful for when you have multiple authors on a site)

Google Analytics and Search Console data is visible in the SEO plugin.

Find out the top-performing content across all content creators.

In summary, content creators should be able to have access to the same data and optimization guidance that SEO professionals do.

While you’re not expected to bear the weight of an entire SEO strategy, basic SEO principles during writing can take the content a long way.

Be more strategic, gain a competitive advantage, and drive better results as a content creator, starting now.

Try the WordPress SEO plugin that can supercharge your content now.

FAQ: How can I, as a content creator, leverage SEO to enhance my content’s performance?

Your success as a content creator rests heavily on its visibility and engagement. Search Engine Optimization is an indispensable tool in today’s digital environment; using it effectively can improve the performance of your content and its reach.

Understanding Keywords and Research

The foundation of SEO lies in keyword research. Start by identifying relevant keywords and phrases related to your content. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to discover popular and low-competition keywords that align with your content’s theme. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your content to improve its search engine ranking.

Optimizing On-Page SEO

As soon as it comes time to optimize your content, ensure your main keyword appears in the title, headings, and meta description – as well as being utilized throughout it — using engaging meta titles and descriptions will entice readers to click your page, while header tags make the material easy for both humans and search engine crawlers to comprehend.

Quality Content Creation

Add value to your audience beyond keywords by creating engaging, high-quality content that meets their interests and needs. Assuming your search ranking increases over time, more users will remain on your page longer.

Building Backlinks and Promoting

SEO success relies heavily on promotion. Share your content, work with influencers, and engage your target audience to increase SEO rankings. Prioritize acquiring high-quality links from websites reputable within your niche for maximum exposure. These backlinks signal to search engines that your content is authoritative and trustworthy, boosting its ranking.

Monitoring and Adapting

SEO is a constantly evolving field. To stay ahead of the competition and track its effectiveness, use tools such as Google Analytics and Search Console to monitor content’s performance – such as keyword rankings, click-through rates, bounce rates, etc. The data gleaned can then be used to fine-tune and adapt your SEO strategy as necessary to remain competitive.

Content creators can utilize SEO to enhance the performance of their work. Search engine optimization allows them to reach wider audiences faster by conducting keyword research, optimizing on-page SEO, creating and promoting quality content, and monitoring results closely.

Step-by-Step Procedure

1. Start with comprehensive keyword research using tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush.
2. Identify relevant keywords and phrases related to your content.
3. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your content.
4. Optimize on-page SEO by placing keywords in the title, headings, meta description, and body.
5. Craft compelling meta titles and descriptions to increase click-through rates.
6. Use header tags (H1, H2, H3) to structure your content.
7. Create high-quality, informative, and engaging content tailored to your target audience.
8. Encourage user engagement to improve search engine ranking.
9. Promote your content through social media, influencers, and audience engagement.
10. Build backlinks from reputable websites in your niche.
11. Continuously monitor your content’s performance using tools like Google Analytics and Search Console.
12. Track keyword rankings, click-through rates, and bounce rates.
13. Analyze the data to refine your SEO strategy.
14. Adjust your content and promotion tactics as needed to stay competitive and adapt to changing trends.

The post How Content Creators Can Upskill to Add More Value Right Now appeared first on Bruce Clay, Inc..