You therefore have the skills and knowledge to produce exceptional content. However, to be successful, an SEO-centred strategy is essential. Let's take a look at how you can ensure you're using your resources effectively.
- Determine who your target audience is
First of all, you need to determine a crucial question: Who is the individual you are communicating with? Analysing customers is crucial to a successful SEO content marketing strategy. To achieve this, ask yourself these essential questions:
- Who are these individuals?
- Where can they be found (Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, etc.)?
- What are their demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, location, etc.?
- What catches their eye and what difficulties do they face?
Once you have a complete understanding of your audience, you can then start creating buyer personas. These profiles symbolise your perfect customers and will serve as a guide to help you adapt your content to their specific needs and preferences.
- Use a variety of content formats
Offering a variety of content formats to your customers is essential to maintaining their involvement and interest. Relying on just one variety can easily become boring, not only for the people you're targeting, but also for you. What's more, people have different ways of consuming content, so including a variety of formats is a wise decision. When considering different formats, it's advisable to focus on the following:
- Video. These are ideal for simplifying complex concepts in a direct and engaging way that is easily understood. The demand for brands to produce more video content is increasing, with more than 80 per cent of customers expressing their desire by 2024;
- Online magazines. Perfect for in-depth articles that thoroughly examine important issues. Blogs are essential in content marketing, helping to position your brand as a thought leader in your field;
- Audio recordings for digital distribution. An excellent choice for connecting with audiences who prefer to listen rather than read. Podcasts allow you to connect with your audience on a deeper, more intimate level, making them a valuable resource for your content strategy;
- Graphical representations of information. Great for visually illustrating data, processes or concepts. As well as being visually captivating, infographics help simplify complex information into more accessible and engaging segments;
- Digital books. They are ideal for offering in-depth perspectives on a subject and can be used strategically to boost lead generation. Distributing ebooks allows you to exchange important content for contact details, helping to expand your customer list;
- Content that allows interaction. Enhance your brand by integrating polls, quizzes, calculators and other interactive features. This type of material is fun and interactive, encouraging your viewers to participate and spread the word.
Visual and interactive content is seen as the most engaging type of content by more than 40 per cent of marketers, which makes it especially powerful. This proves that the way your message is communicated is crucial to distinguishing between being ignored and being recognised.
Don't limit yourself to texts and blogs. Experiment with different styles to discover the most effective way to engage your audience.
Once you've determined your target audience and chosen the types of content to use, the next step is to come up with creative topic ideas. To create effective content, you need to take two key factors into account:
- What are your audience's main interests?
- What questions are they asking?
Your content should reflect your audience's interests and provide solutions to their questions. Start by generating more general topics related to your field. For example, if your company produces 3D printers, you could start by discussing general topics such as ‘resins’, ‘cutters’ or ‘3D models’.
After that, you can narrow your focus to more detailed and achievable content concepts. You could look for topics such as ‘Selecting the right resin for your 3D printer’ or ‘Detailed instructions for printing a 3D model in resin’. Try niche topics, as they can attract an engaged and dedicated audience.
- Collect and integrate relevant keywords
We've now reached one of the most important elements of SEO - keywords. Their function is to recognise the phrases and words that your target customer is entering into search engines while browsing the Internet. Optimising important keywords can significantly increase your position on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Keywords create a link between your content and your customer. If carefully selected, they can help present your content to the right audience at the right time.
The initial step is to localise the right keywords. Here's how:
The Google Keyword Planner tool. This is one of the best options you can find, and it doesn't cost anything. Google Planner provides keyword suggestions directly from Google, which is beneficial for discovering relevant phrases.
Ahrefs is an SEO tool. Ahrefs stands out among the many existing keyword research tools. It helps identify phrases that have a high search volume but little competition, increasing the chance of a good ranking. It also shows the possible amount of traffic that can be attracted. Although it's a paid tool, Ahrefs offers important information that makes your investment worthwhile.
Once you have the keywords, the next step is to integrate them into your content. For best results, we recommend that you take the following tips into account:
- Emphasise broad search terms. These are specific phrases that generally have less competition and higher demand, making them easier to target and with greater potential to attract your favourite customer;
- Always try to find keywords with a high search volume but little competition. Although popular keywords can be appealing, they often face strong competition. Alternatively, you should look for keywords that have a combination of low competition and high search volume to improve your chances of ranking;
- Maintain a natural appearance. Include your keywords in a natural way and don't overuse them. The content should be easy to read and flow smoothly. It is recommended that the frequency of keywords be limited to 1 per 100 words;
- Think strategically. Make sure the keywords are spread evenly throughout your content. Integrate key terms into essential sections such as the meta title, description, headings and even the URL. This strategic alignment will increase your visibility in search results.
- Define a consistent schedule for publishing content
Consistency plays a key role in SEO. Regular updates are essential if you want to create a successful content plan. However, it's common knowledge that work and private life can sometimes interact with each other. A content calendar is important because it allows you to stay organised and on track, ensuring that your strategy remains consistent.
Here's a step-by-step guide on how to create one:
- Set your goals. Do you want to increase conversions, boost traffic or improve engagement? A clear definition of your objectives will guide your content strategy;
- Create a strategy for your content. Choose the categories of content you're going to create and the frequency of your publishing schedule. To do this, you need to have a solid knowledge of your sector, your rivals and your target market;
- Plan your content calendar. Set exact dates for the production, modification and publication of your content. This schedule will ensure that you are responsible and stay on track.
- Producing original content optimised for search engines
Before you start creating, make sure you have the content and keywords ready. However, there is one caveat: you can't just produce standard information and expect a high ranking. Instead, what you need to do is produce content that is useful, reliable and prioritises the needs of individuals. To achieve this, remember the following points:
Carry out thorough research. Every research effort broadens your knowledge. Make sure you gather all the information you need to produce complete and detailed content.
Give it a special touch. Your topic has probably already been covered. However, that doesn't mean you can't give it your own personal touch. It could be your brand's unique opinion, a new strategy or a new vision.
Provide references from reliable sources. Always make sure you cite reliable sources when sharing data, statistics or statements. This will increase your credibility, leading to many shares online.
- Participate in blogging activities
Blogs play a crucial role in strengthening your SEO strategy. Constantly updating your content tells search engines that your site is dynamic, relevant and worthy of better rankings. However, blogs have more advantages than just keeping your site fresh.
Initially, it greatly improves your SEO strategies. With blogs, you can effectively reach specific audiences by targeting a variety of keywords and topics. What's more, attractive and valuable content attracts visitors to your site and keeps them coming back. Exploring diverse topics in your area of expertise will help consolidate your
reputation as a trusted source.
We also wanted to share some ideas and have compiled the following crucial SEO tips to bear in mind:
- Make sure you pay attention to internal links. Make sure your blog posts include direct links to other pages and blogs on your site. This keeps visitors interested and improves your SEO;
- Add eye-catching photos. Images are an indispensable element of every blog. Make sure you add visually appealing images of the right size to speed up loading times and optimise alternative text to improve accessibility;
- Promote sharing on social media platforms. Include social sharing icons in your posts to reach a wider audience. During engagement, individuals have the ability to re-post and distribute content online, resulting in greater exposure.
- Increase content credibility
Authority plays a crucial role in SEO and is closely linked to the E-E-A-T principles: Experience, specialised knowledge, authority and reliability. Google values content with these qualities and you should prioritise them too.
Here's one way to raise your authority level.
- Show off your skills. The content you produce should be developed by a person who has specialised knowledge of the subject and the sector. Whether you're creating something yourself or collaborating with a competent copywriter or agency, make sure the content is accurate, insightful and demonstrates authentic knowledge;
- Link to other sites to boost SEO. Acquiring backlinks from reputable sources can considerably increase your site's visibility and authority. Make sure you don't get backlinks from spammy sites, as this damages your authority rather than improving it;
- Give correct attribution to your sources. Whenever you incorporate data, statistics or statements into your content, make sure you refer to reputable and reliable sources. Citing reputable studies, academic research or top industry publications will increase the credibility and authority of your content.
- Monitor content performance
Once you've invested some time and energy in perfecting and developing your content, you need to evaluate your performance. Evaluating progress allows you to detect successful aspects and areas for improvement. Here's how to monitor the performance of your content:
- Use Google Analytics to monitor the data. Google Analytics is a comprehensive tool that provides all the information you need to understand the performance of your content. The GA application makes it possible to create customised reports to monitor important metrics such as number of users, bounce rate and session duration. Although mastering this technology can take time and effort, the benefits of learning it make the investment worthwhile;
- Closely monitor your keyword rankings. If you notice that certain keywords aren't yielding the expected results, consider reviewing and re-optimising your content. Constantly monitoring this performance helps to keep your data competitive in the search results;
- Examine engagement. As well as just looking at traffic figures, it's also important to assess how your content is read by your staff. Pay attention to parameters such as the length of time spent on a web page and the number of pages accessed during a session. However, a lower level of engagement may suggest that you need to make changes.
- Frequently analysing and reviewing current content
Last but not least, let's talk about auditing. The fact that your content has been launched doesn't mean that your responsibilities are complete. Although you may have achieved a high ranking, nothing guarantees that your page will remain at the top. Regularly auditing and updating your current data is crucial to maintaining its freshness and relevance, as well as ensuring continued high performance in the search rankings.
Here's how to efficiently review and keep your content up to date:
- Update old content. Over time, information can become outdated and lose its relevance. Frequently review previous publications and update them with new knowledge, data and trends. This improves the quality of your content and helps increase your position in search results;
- Evaluate performance. Use tools such as Google Analytics and GSC to analyse the performance of your content. Identify the publications that aren't getting the desired results and look at ways of increasing their performance. This may involve updating content, focusing on keywords or user experience;
- Update timeless content. Keep a close eye on your best-performing content. Even publications that are related can improve if they are updated to stay current and continue to attract visitors. Updating allows you to maintain the importance of your content and be a valuable resource for your customer.
Reviewing your content can be challenging and time-consuming, especially when it comes to analysing information and making informed choices. If it's difficult to do this on your own, consider seeking help from professional SEO auditing services. At Studio.351, we offer a comprehensive analysis to help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your content, assisting with the necessary updates for optimum impact.