For many business owners and marketing managers, SEO is top of mind but at the bottom of to-do lists. They know it’s important, but the technical aspect and nuances of providing relevant content, in the moments audiences are searching for it, can make SEO marketing an intimidating skill set to acquire. At its most basic, however, SEO marketing is just that – the creation of search-engine-friendly web content to meet marketing objectives.
Professionals expect engaging, informative web content, so that’s where most writers start. Headlines are revised, taglines workshopped, and paragraphs edited and re-edited. To writers and nonwriters alike, crafting a brand’s verbal identity is an opportunity for creativity and expression. For novice writers or marketers, however, creative drive can be a pitfall. Too much brand messaging is written without thought to basic search engine optimization techniques, like subject relevance, keyword research, and keyword placement, let alone audiences and how they will encounter it.
What Is “Optimized” Content?
Most webpage hits are referrals from search engines. For web copy to produce results (i.e., generate visits, leads, and sales), it must be optimized to the interests of a given audience and the preferences of Google’s algorithm. This process is known as search engine optimization (SEO), and adhering to basic SEO principles informs successful brand writing that reaches its audience.
Learn more about why proper content optimization is important for websites, here.
Basic SEO Principles
Choosing Relevant Subject Matter
Everything from topics to keyword placement is planned then produced on timely turnarounds. Monitoring website / social media analytics, the news, social media discussions, and entertainment gives insight into subjects that capture and hold public interest. Social listening software, which allows marketers to monitor trending social media topics in real time, can yield an even deeper understanding of what is important to a particular audience.
Understanding & Selecting Keywords
What Are Keywords?
Once you select a topic that is credibly related to your organization, you must next select keywords – relevant terms likely to be searched by those seeking information on a subject. Keyword placement within the content of a webpage signifies to Google’s algorithm (or that of the given search engine) that the page is related to the topic searched. The algorithm then suggests the page to users among their search results. The more relevant the content, the higher in the results the page is placed. This is how most visitors arrive at websites.
Selecting keywords is not as simple as choosing words related to the topic, however. Data must show that audiences are, in fact, searching for those words. Rather, listing such terms provides “seed keywords,” words that help identify more precise keywords.
For example, “vegan bakery” is likely too broad of a search term to yield helpful results for users. However, if you’re a woman who owns a sustainable vegan bakery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, optimizing website content for the keywords “woman owned bakeries upper east side” and/or “sustainable vegan bakery ues,” will put your information in front of consumers who are heading uptown and looking to give their business to entrepreneurs who share their values.
Understanding your audience and the differentiators that set your organization apart from competitors, then optimizing online content accordingly, allows you to reach interested consumers at their moment of need.
Choosing Relevant Keywords
With so many possible combinations of terms related to your business, choosing which ones to use as keywords and determining how commonly they are searched is daunting. Fortunately, services like Google Ads and SEMrush offer tools that suggest useful keywords and provide insights into:
- Search volume (the number of monthly or annual searches in a region)
- The relative ease or difficulty of successfully optimizing for a given term
- Audience intent when searching a given keyword
Assessing these variables will help you choose the keywords best suited to your content and audience and learn how to effectively integrate those terms into your writing.
Types of SEO Keywords
The keywords suggested to you by website content optimization tools will fall into one or more categories, based on an audiences’ purpose when searching for those terms. The different types of keywords are typically categorized as follows:
Search Intent Keywords
- Informational– Searcher is seeking information on a given topic (“vegan baking tips”)
- Navigational– Searcher is looking for a specific website or webpage (“food network vegan baking”)
- Commercialinvestigation – Searcher is researching a specific product (“best vegan baking ingredients”)
High Intent – Searcher is close to making a purchase (“betty crocker vegan baking cookbook”) - Transactional– Searcher intends to make a purchase (“order betty crocker vegan baking cookbook”)
Low-Competition Keywords
Keywords that are easier to rank for in search engine results
Long-Tail Keywords
Low-competition, low-search-volume keywords that speak to a searcher’s specific intent
Niche Keywords
Keywords related to specific topics that appeal to a relatively small audience
Geographic Keywords
Localized keywords that refer to / target a specific geographic location or region
Unbranded & Branded Keywords
Branded keywords attract searchers who are looking for information about a given brand, while unbranded keywords attract searchers who are looking for products and services but do not have a particular brand in mind.
Competitors’ Keywords
These can be determined by using a service like Google Keyword Finder to analyze competitors’ web content and extract keywords. Knowing which keywords your competition might be using provides insights into keywords your organization might have missed and allows you to appear in search results alongside your competitors.
Primary Keyword(s)
The main topic of a page or blog and the main keyword(s) for which the page is optimized
Secondary Keywords
Keywords related to the primary keyword and that bolster the ranking of a page
Optimizing the Page
Keyword Placement within Content
Once you have established a list of appropriate keywords, the terms must be seamlessly integrated into the page’s content. The primary keyword should appear in the headline and throughout the body copy (especially within the opening). Secondary keywords can be placed in subheadings and within body paragraphs. The goal is for the content to read smoothly, without keyword placement feeling forced.
Additional Considerations for Optimizing Content
SEO rankings are based on more than the presence of keywords. Algorithms look for credibility, too. Beyond tailored keywords, successful content optimization for websites will include links and images, as these often reference sources or provide additional information.
Appropriate imagery can range from stock photography of the subject matter to educational infographics. Links, however, are more nuanced. Ideally, a well-optimized page should include at least two links: one internal and one external.
The internal link should be to a page related to that being optimized and is meant to provide information that expands on the topic. An external link indicates that the page’s content is rooted in research and is likely credible. When used properly, both types of links signify to algorithms that a given page is meant to inform rather than strictly promote, which increases the page’s ranking in search results.
Behind the Scenes
Backend & Meta Tags
Optimizing website content for search engines involves more than keyword research and writing, however. For optimized content to be added to a website in a way that makes it searchable, work must be performed in the website’s backend via the content management system.
“Backend” simply refers to the interface by which developers and other authorized users create or modify content for a website. Here, content can be pasted and further edited before page changes are taken live. While the textual content has already been optimized by this point, additional steps must be taken to optimize the page itself.
For instance, page descriptors known as meta tags must be added. Meta tags are bits of code that contain the page’s keywords, content topics, and other help information. This code is kept separate from the page content and is not seen by users. Rather, they remain hidden in the top of the webpage for search engines to read and evaluate. This information, along with the optimized content, helps Google (or another search engine) determine a page’s ranking in search results.
Beyond basic SEO skills, setting meta tags on a page’s backend typically requires basic coding knowledge or the help of professionals. However, there are plugins available, like Yoast SEO, that can assist noncoders with meta tagging.
Backlinking
An often-overlooked aspect of content optimization for websites is backlinking – links on other websites which lead back to a given page on your site. While not part of the page’s content, from the perspective of search engines backlinks speak to a page’s authority or relevance to a given topic.
An easy way to think of it is to consider that each external link you place in your page content is actually a backlink to a page on another organization’s website.
Pages with high numbers of backlinks from other sites tend to rank better in search results, so linking your pages within social media posts and working with corporate partners to link to each other’s sites will give your SEO strategy a competitive edge.
What’s Left?
Patience & Adaptability
Even for the best optimized pages, results are not immediate. SEO marketing is a process, and it can take up to 90 days before significant changes in metrics like page views, bounce rate, session duration, and conversions are seen. In this sense, one of the most basic search engine optimization techniques is patience.
Also, because timeliness and relevance are fundamental SEO principles, your marketing team will need to regularly review website analytics to assess which topics are resonating with your audience. A vigilant marketing team will monitor current events and entertainment, looking for opportunities to merge the organization’s narrative into cultural discourse.
Most business owners and marketing managers do not have schedules that allow for detailed attention to their organization’s SEO. Done thoroughly, SEO is a group effort, drawing on the talents of marketing strategists, writers, developers, and even designers. Niki Jones Agency, Inc. is comprised of just such a team whose clients (and their website analytics) continue to benefit from our SEO resources and expertise.
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