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Three steps to advance your content optimization
Anybody whose job revolves around writing knows the agony or occasional exhilaration of spilling their thoughts into the white space, whether scribbling in a personal notebook, typing onto a laptop screen, or writing on a scrap of paper.
One might spend hours or even months editing, trying to encapsulate their thoughts to perfection, hoping to inspire the anonymous reader on the other end of the screen. Seeing your content published is gratifying, as it validates the creator’s effort and dedication to crafting a well-written piece.
Yet, in the ever-changing digital landscape, it is likely that the blog post you have meticulously crafted might get lost in the swarms of content without a reader — without being searchable. To help prevent this from happening to your articles, here is a breakdown of search engine optimization (SEO).
What is SEO?
According to Google, SEO is the process of making your site or digital content better for search engines to improve its visibility and ranking in the results pages.
For example, in our ordinary routine of searching for “the best places to eat” or “the best places to go on a date,” the top results on the list are typically those that have implemented the most effective SEO practices.
What’s the importance of SEO?
“SEO is the optimization of content in order for it to be found,” said Lesley Mailman, Senior SEO Manager at Dash Hudson. “It’s important because you can write the most useful piece of content or have an amazing website or business, but if people can’t find it when they need it when they’re searching to solve whatever problem or query they have at that moment, then it doesn’t really matter.”
As Mailman explains, the value of the content, website, or business becomes irrelevant if they are not discoverable through online searches. Nobody clicks the eighth or ninth page of content on Google when searching for “the best burgers in town.”
Step one. Keyword research
Writing with SEO in mind comes with practice. Like any other research when creating a strategic communication plan as a PR professional, keyword research is the first step for SEO. As an SEO expert, Mailman suggests looking at broad terms first to assess the search volume and ranking difficulty. Then investigate in more specific, long-tail terms with high intent that best match the content you want to create.
For example, while writing this blog, my initial research begins with searching “What is SEO?” using Google Trends or WordStream.
WordStream keyword results for “What is SEO?”
Next, I search “content optimization” and check the monthly search volume.
WordStream keyword results for “content optimization”
According to MRS Digital, a good keyword search volume is 100 – 1000 searches a month, as this would provide good levels of organic traffic. My blog to rank highly for the broad keyword such as “What is SEO?” is an impossible challenge with a search volume of 49.5k. However, I can strategically decide to include ‘content optimization’ or ‘SEO optimized content’ in my blog to rank for organic traffic — which is a much more achievable task with a lower search.
When creating content for a particular company, Mailman further suggests analyzing what keywords their competitors rank for in Google, particularly those relevant to the industry. Similarly, to discover new keywords, Mailman advises reviewing the keyword rankings of competitor websites and exploring them for ideas.
Step two. SEO content audit
To optimize your content, Mailman recommends searching the primary keyword — the keyword you’ve identified during your keyword research — on Google to discover the top three ranked results and conduct a content audit of those top-ranking URLs, as Google ranks them highly for a reason. During the content audit, focus on identifying the primary and other crucial supporting keywords.
“First, we pull all the metadata for our page, and the top three or four ranking pieces of content on Google, compare, and see what we should add or subtract to please Google,” Mailman explains. “That’s the simple version. There’s a lot of strategy and knowledge of your niche market that needs to be applied to the process — but that’s basically it!”
Step three. Content optimization
After conducting keyword research and performing a content audit to determine what content should be included on the page, optimize the flow of your content. This step is important to establish a well-defined structure using the researched keywords as headers in the blog.
Break down the topics into subtopics to help readability and divide them with headers and subtitles. Readers of your blog will have an easier time navigating and identifying the depth of coverage you’re providing.
An advanced heading structure makes it much easier for search engines to understand what’s important in your article by breaking it into sections with code that they can crawl. Additionally, if you can, incorporate relevant keywords into the page title and meta description to further optimize your content.
The meaning of being searchable
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? What about books that exist in a closet with nobody to read them? Or blogs in the digital space without being searchable?
Irish Empiricist philosopher George Berkeley once wrote that the objects of sense exist only when perceived. The meaning of being searchable in today’s age of digital information overload can mean the very existence of one’s content. Knowing the basis of SEO can ensure that your work is discoverable and stands out amidst the sea of information.
SEO resources
While this blog is just a starting point for understanding SEO, there is a wealth of information to explore and learn. If you’re interested in mastering this skill, consider exploring the following free online training resources:
Industry experts and their blogs can also provide valuable insights and knowledge on SEO:
by Sophia Hong, Alumni Contributor
