Writing SEO-focused content is not an easy task.
You cannot just dive into the writing phase, write about a particular topic, include some keywords, and expect it to appear in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
Driving huge traffic to your website demands comprehensive research, proper planning, and a top-class SEO content strategy.
Once you have researched the right keywords, now is the time to write content that best fits the audience’s needs and fixes their pain points. In order to make your content valuable, you first need to know who your potential audience is and what they actually demand from you.
This step will assist you in crafting top-quality content with a definite purpose. Once you know the writing intent, you can effortlessly attract more visitors to your site.
How do I craft a solid SEO content strategy that boosts traffic? If this query is your key concern, your search ends here. Content writing basics and SEO parameters should be at your fingertips.
Let’s dive into this guide to creating an SEO content strategy that will help you write tailor-made content.
1. Know your target readers
First things first! Before writing SEO-centric content, you have to identify your target readers. It will help you make a positive user experience.
Ask yourself these questions:
Who your current clients are
Familiarizing yourself with your target audience will help determine who your ideal prospect might be. You should identify the key characteristics of your present customers. For example:
- Gender
- Age
- Location
- Educational level
- Purchasing behavior
- The time they spend on your site
These attributes of your current clients will help you identify your potential prospects.
Which class of people is attracted by your competitors?
Now, you have to analyze what types of people are purchasing products from your competitors. You can read their blog comments and customer reviews.
Of the people who are disappointed with your competitors’ services, can your particular product or service fix their challenges? For those who are quite satisfied, what is in their services that they like the most? This research will help you grow your business like a pro.
2. Pen down your topic area
After identifying the group of people you are going to reach, you can start brainstorming crucial ideas about your topic. Your main purpose should be to write content that people are willing to read. Therefore, you should have everything in your mind.
What type of information can you provide to your audience that gives you an edge over your competitors?
That will be your topic area!
It will help you write around your audience’s interest. As a result, it will assist you in creating winning content that actually converts.
3. Pinpoint all the keyword using a standard tool
If you want to catapult your content to Google’s first page, you must know who you are writing for and what content will satisfy their needs.
After that, you can start researching keywords related to your topic. It’s time to use keyword research tools like Moz, Ahref, and SEMrush. In this way, you can pinpoint all the trending keywords.
4. Optimize your content at every step
Now that you are equipped with quality keywords that will help you rank the content, you can use them in your content to strengthen it. As you start writing the content, you have to write an enticing Meta title and description.
Use a word counter to craft a meta title and description
These two components are the must-haves of optimized content. Hence, you should write them carefully.
They have particular lengths:
- Meta Title’s length = 60 characters
- Meta Description’s length = 160 characters
You have to stick to this character limit. If you do not write within this length, Google will not show all the exceeding characters. Instead, it truncates them.
Accordingly, professional content writers and copywriters use an online word count tool to write killer meta titles and descriptions within this character limit.
This tool instantly counts the total number of characters, words, sentences, and pages of your written text.
It is absolutely free! This word counter tool offers you the following features:
- Auto-save
- Keyword density checker
- Built-in grammar checker
- Formatting options
You should build your brand identity by publishing content regularly. This step will encourage people to look for your newly published content. Plus, it will also build customer loyalty.
Optimizing your content at every turn will push your content into the SERPs and increase its visibility. How amazing it is!
5. Update your content regularly
Some writers stop optimizing their content once they publish it. Avoid following this practice! Undoubtedly, writing SEO-focused content is necessary for your site. However, it is also equally important to keep it updated.
You know that market trends are changing at a rapid speed. As a result, linking to them can become out of the field instantly.
Readers will bounce back from your site if its content contains outdated information. Hence, you have to keep the content in the best position. Let your readers feel that your content is fresh, unique, and worth reading.
6. Focus on back linking
Link building will help you rank your site. It is an off-page SEO technique. In this process, you can attract backlinks (inbound links) to your site from other websites.
When higher authority sites link back to your content, it will considerably impact the SERPs. Hence, you should take the back-linking strategy into account.
7. Measure your performance
Developing a well-structured SEO content strategy is a time-taking task. It can become a cornerstone of your business if it delivers the ultimate results.
So, you have to track the performance of your content strategy. How? Monitor the following parameters:
Organic traffic
Use a reliable web analytics tool to check whether your content drives the desired search results.
SERPs
Keeping track of these metrics will help you measure success.
Conversions
Your business will gain more conversions if you make an impressive content strategy.
Index pages
Top ranking unveils the perfect use of content. Check whether Google is marking your content as credible.
Wrapping up
A killer content strategy enriched with SEO principles will drive conversions and leads to your brand. While building your SEO content plan, your research will help you identify your audience and your topic area.
In this way, you can start writing content with a purpose in mind.
The above-mentioned seven steps will help you attract more audience and strengthen your position in the SERPs.
That will be a huge win!