Content is key when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It is this content that search engines use to rank you higher than the competitors. In addition, other websites link to you because they like the content that is in there. It is also this content that other people share with their friends through social media. These days, most companies and people use content to share their insights, analysis, and other observations with other people. This article will explain a holistic view on the best strategy to come up with quality content for SEO.
Understand Your Audience
As you think of the content to write, it is essential for you to understand the audience you are targeting. This is because the readers of your content are not all the same. For example, a blog on weight loss will have a different audience than one on technology. Similarly, an article on corporate governance will be different from one on celebrities like Kim Kardashian. Having a good understanding of your audience will help determine a few things like the grammar you use, the length of the article, the font you use, and the keywords you use.
Think of the Type of Content
There are a number of types of content that you can write for your website. We recommend that your blog page should incorporate all these types of content. The most common types are:
- How to. An example of this is: how to rank high in all the search engines.
- An example of this is 10 simple methods you should use to rank high in search engines.
- Long-form article. This is when you chose a topic and write an article that is more than 2,000 words. In this, your aim is to cover as much as you can on a given topic. This is also known as pillar content.
- Newsjacking post. Regularly, you will see a captivating story in your industry and decide to cover it on your own.
- Slideshare presentation. This is when you decide to create a presentation with a number of slides.
- SEO-driven post. This is a post that is intentionally created to make you rank high on the search engines. Ideally, this type of post should be long, informational, have different headings, and have specific keywords.
- Infographic post. This is a post that is focused on an infographic.
Research The Keyword
The main keyword that you will use is very important for SEO purposes. For starters, a keyword is a two or three-word phrase that Google will use to rank your webpage. Remember, it will be difficult for your website to rank higher on the search engines if your content does not have specific keywords. Some examples of good keywords are losing weight fast, SEO services in Cyprus, dentist in London, and furniture store in Madrid. Essentially, these are the phrases we use to search the internet.
Before you settle on a keyword, it is essential for you to do some research. This is because of two important reasons. First, some keywords are too difficult to rank. For example, a keyword on losing weight is difficult to rank because of the number of websites that cover the topic. For example, searching for losing weight fast in Google presents more than 280 million results. The same is true with a keyword like gain weight fast and make money online. Second, you might focus on a keyword that no one is searching for.
One keyword is not enough. You should come up with alternate keywords that you will use in the article. For example, if your keyword is benefits of dating, your alternate keywords should be things like advantages of dating, dating benefits, and why be in a relationship. By having alternate keywords, you will be in a good position to capture more viewers. This is simply because a person who is searching for benefits of something can also use the term advantages.
Brainstorm and Research
After coming up with a keyword and research, the next thing you need to do is to brainstorm and research. This is the step where you gather all the materials that you want to include on your blog post. You simply don’t want to repeat what other people have written. It will be a bit boring and unsharable.
As you research, you should be writing down the key points on a piece of paper. Alternatively, you can use the popular note-taking apps like Evernote, Google Keep, and even Google docs. If you are an expert in your field, this should take just a few minutes.
Write the Content
After doing your research, you should now start writing. Sit in a quiet room, tune down the music and start using the notes you just did to write. As always, the most difficult part will be the introduction. To solve that, you can first write the main body of the article and come back to the introduction. As you write, there are a few things you need to do.
- Make the article comprehensive. To achieve this, ensure that it has at least 700 words. An article shorter than that will likely not have all the details you want to share.
- Avoid keyword stuffing. I get it. You want Google to rank your content higher based on the keyword that you selected. Repeating the content many times is known as keyword stuffing and it will have the opposite results.
- Ensure that you avoid plagiarism at all cost.
- Use active content. Only use passive content only when it is necessary.
- Use graphics like images, infographics, and videos.
- Reread the content and possibly have an editor go through it before you publish it.
Summary
Content is very important for you as a business owner or manager. These days, most people are using the strategy to rank higher. However, only a few of them are succeeding because of how competitive the internet is. Therefore, using the points mentioned in the article will help you come up with quality and sharable content.