An effective content strategy is the lifeblood of your SEO efforts. While it’s certainly not an end-all to ranking well in search engines, it can be a huge help. Content marketing takes time, but if you’re consistent and patient after some time passes, you should see results begin to trickle in.
I’ll go over what good content is, why it’s essential for both SEO and conversions, how to implement a successful program yourself, and share some tips for measuring success along the way.
What makes “good” content?
Good content doesn’t have to be lengthy or super professional. If your website offers recipes, helpful information could come from anywhere – video tutorials, infographics, even links back to previous recipes that can help people make informed decisions.
How can you keep track of who’s looking at your content?
Google Analytics is the best tool for this. You need to install a small snippet of code, and it will tell you what keywords visitors used to find your site. After seeing these results, this data is invaluable for understanding where your website ranks in search engines and how many people find your website.
Additionally, it will show how much traffic you’re getting from social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. It takes some time to set up properly so you can get accurate information, but Google Analytics is free and extremely helpful once configured correctly.
Why should companies care about SEO?
In short – organic searches don’t cost anything. Companies spend money on paid searches because it’s a quick way to get immediate results. This is why companies like Groupon offer coupons and daily deals – people use Google to search for “Groupon” or other terms like that and end up clicking one of the results.
“Organic” doesn’t mean no money exchanges hands; it just means the business you’re ranking for has invested time over money.
How can you use SEO to benefit your business?
There are three main components to SEO;
- Crawling: how search engine crawlers find, follow, and gather information about your site.
- Indexing: adding information found on your website into databases that allow users to interact with said data.
- Delivery: how search engines display your data to users.
Once you’ve got these three components down, you can start optimizing for search engines. It’s the work of adding the proper keywords and information to bring up your site in relevant searches.
How are social media sites related to SEO?
Social media sites are essential because they’re free advertising channels companies use to increase brand awareness. Additionally, more shares on social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest can help improve rankings for specific keyphrases.
A lot of what you’ll see is “viral” content – posts about funny cats, stories about pets saving lives, etc.- it’s prevalent but not always super informative. However, if a company has a great deal or something similar, people will take to social media sites to tell others about it.
What are some of the most important aspects of writing content?
Great content needs to be interesting. If your content isn’t good, then no one will read it. It’s important to post new information regularly, but not so often that people get bored with you. A strong call-to-action is also crucial for getting users to take action on your site.
Your CTA could be “like us on Facebook” or “subscribe via email” – whatever helps your particular business model the best. A great CTA gives readers an easy way of supporting your website and participating in what you’re doing.
How can companies improve their writing strategies? Social media sites are the best place to start. Companies need to understand their target demographic – what kind of information are they looking for? What do people keep coming back to your website for? The key is analyzing that data then creating content based on what you learn.
Why does Google encourage companies to create valuable, informative content?
Search engines want companies who offer great smartphones or tablets, not just phones and tablets. There’s so much contradictory information because everyone wants different things; it makes sense for search engines to reward companies who take the time to write up unbiased articles that ultimately give users more than just keywords about a product.
If someone searches for “buy iPhones online”, he doesn’t want 8 million results telling him to buy a phone. He wants a list of all the relevant online retailers and their prices.
What does Google want out of its search algorithm?
The goal of every search engine is to give users the best results. It’s about providing people with exactly what they’re looking for as quickly as possible, whether it’s an answer to a question, information on how to fix something, or where to find popular products.
The more content you can offer on your site that gives users this information, the higher Google will rank you. Just make sure not to stuff keywords everywhere – it makes your site look like spam and isn’t suitable for user experience. For the best SEO content strategy to suit your business, talk to an expert marketing agency that understands your needs and long-term objectives.
