What is content optimization. We optimize the content of the resource. Other Factors of Good SEO Content
The key element on any website is content. It is on him that such important characteristics as the quality of the resource, usefulness for users, newfangled added value, etc. depend. Content has the greatest impact on site traffic and income, which means it is worthwhile to approach its creation in as much detail as possible.
Today I will share with you my thoughts on creating, writing and optimizing content on the site. This material is included in a series of articles about.
Today I want to tell you about the things that are really worth paying attention to when SEO content optimization in the conditions of existing algorithms, based on my personal experience. In my opinion, these are exactly the things that most affect the promotion of articles in the search.
5 golden rules for optimizing your website content
Rule # 1... The text of the article should reveal the essence of the user's request in as much detail as possible. This is the most important rule in today's reality, where links play a secondary role.
First of all, when writing an article, you must understand for yourself what you yourself would like to see and learn from the material on the chosen topic. After personal reflection, be sure to look at the TOP 5-10 by the question asked and study their materials. Only after such an analysis will you already present the main outline of the article.
It is important to understand that content should be created only if it is an order of magnitude better than that, which is already in the top. If you rewrite (rewrite) a once again hackneyed topic, then your article will hardly even get into the index, not to mention the extraction of traffic to the site from the search.
How I came to such conclusions from personal experience. If earlier women's article writers went with a bang to rewrite for requests in the amount of 2-3k characters and brought a lot of clever people / day, now this is even indexed with difficulty. And new sites generally go to the ban \ ags after several updates.
And all because they do not have added value. There is nothing in the new articles that could improve the search quality. And therefore, such articles do not occupy the top places and are not useful.
How to add added value to your article?
There are many options here and it is better to use several at once to enhance the effect. Can you describe your personal experience on a given topic (your key request) by uploading your own images. This approach is good for shop themes.
For example, you have a query "which TV to buy for the kitchen." The best option for driving traffic to an article is to write your own personal (unique) experience with feedback, prices and problems that you solved during the purchase. Such information will be much more useful than a rewrite / copyright with water and hackneyed definitions.
Second trick - write an extensive review article based on articles from competitors that are already in the top. In this case, you study their material and write your own, which incorporates the most detailed analysis of the topic. You help the visitor of your site by selecting the most valuable and useful information for him.
To add more value you can get real reviews from people... For this, you already need to try, but it will very well affect the ranking of your article. The presence of several comments or reviews perfectly raises traffic and brings the article to the top - it has been checked by more than one webmaster in practice.
You can also note the presence of video or audio content On the page. It will be very good if you add a thematic video at the end of the article. This will not only add that very value to you, but also increase the behavioral factors on the site, which will also have a positive effect on your site.
Content added value is the most important thing to look out for today. Don't forget this point, relying only on classic SEO. Today it no longer rules and does not bring past results. It's better to immediately invest in quality content and then get traffic without a single link than to write a bad article and spend money on a link for it. But ideally it is better to write well and get used to links.
Rule # 2... Structure and format. You should definitely bring your articles in the most easy-to-read form.
Everything is simple here. The first thing a visitor does when visiting your resource is evaluating the convenience of presenting information. If he sees a sheet from the text, then he immediately goes back to the search results, and you are left without an audience and income.
If you have tried and formatted the article, then the user is yours. Plus, search engines love structured content. For this to be the case, you need:
- break the article into short paragraphs;
- highlight the main / key points (in a different color, in the form of quotes, etc.);
- use subheadings;
- apply markers;
- use lists;
- other.
Rule # 3... The number of characters in the article must be exactly such that it is enough to reveal the topic (key request). If you take an extensive request, then here you need to describe it in as much detail as possible (4-10k characters). If this is a small low frequency, for which you cannot collect a lot of information, then you can limit yourself to 1000 characters.
I want to tell you about several SEO myths that the earth is full of. They have long lost their relevance, but still many beginners love to believe in them.
Myth # 1: Articles of 1-2k characters do not bring traffic and lead to overlapping sankits (poorly indexed).
Myth # 2: The more characters there are in the article, the more traffic they collect.
Myth # 3: The more content on the page, the better.
I consider all this to be complete nonsense. Stop believing it! Do not get fooled by these statements. It is important to understand only that the article should answer the user's request and nothing more.
Imagine this situation. You order articles on the exchange, specify keywords and set the required article volume. Where do you get it from? Of course, based on the three myths described above. And what do you get with this approach? I'll tell you now.
The first thing a copywriter pays attention to when working with your order is the number of characters. At the initial stage, he drives himself into a frame. He already has to work at the expense of quality in order to get into your framework. If the key query (topic of the article) is quite extensive, and the volume of the article is 1-3k characters, then you get a flawed article in the exhaust, in which the topic is not disclosed and there is no worthy introduction or conclusion.
Or another option, when you give a topic for an article on which there is very little information, but you set the volume of 3-5k characters (while thinking that the more characters I order in the article, the more traffic I will collect later). In this case, the poor writer writes 1-2k characters on the case, and then he has to pour so much more water, which then negatively affects the overall quality of the material.
I think you get the point. When ordering or personally writing material, you do not need to rely on any specific number of characters. You just need to make sure that exactly as much is written as needed.
Rule # 4... Don't pay too much attention to keyword density and other technical tricks. Now search engines have learned to bypass all this, focusing on the quality of the article and its orientation for the end reader.
Today, in SEO optimization of articles, only the title and the presence of keywords in the article itself play an important role. You can read about all the tags that affect ranking. Therefore, you need to monitor the presence of the key phrase in the title of the article and its location in the text itself (it is possible in a single copy). This will be more than enough to write seo article correctly and take good positions.
Rule # 5... Forget everything you read earlier! A-la, you need to use a direct entry there, then in the first paragraph we use the keyword again and then again in the subheading. Then there is a picture with the desired one and then a few more similar ones. We highlight all keywords in the text in bold, watch for their nausea, etc.
All this will only lead to the imposition of sanctions on your site, which will lead to the loss of your time and money. This is already outdated and hardly works. If you want a really white project for people, then you only need to rely on the rules described above. You need to benefit your readers!
If you disagree, want to supplement this information or just comment on it, then I will be glad to have constructive thoughts.
If you want to carry out competent internal optimization, you cannot do without work on the content. In this case, you need to pay attention to the rational distribution of key queries for the text located on various pages of the site. If you skip this point, then high lines of rankings in search engines will not be available to you, and it will also be difficult to earn the trust of users.
There are several basic rules that will allow you to competently carry out internal optimization and work on content:
structuredness and consistency of the text will be important criteria for indexing the site. Compact, capacious sentences, as well as a logical bundle of paragraphs and headings will benefit the site;
the most important elements, such as headings, will need to be highlighted using special levels: H1, H2, H3, etc.;
requests that fit into the text should not be illiterate, contain the wrong arrangement of punctuation marks, they should have a natural occurrence. You cannot count on the loyalty of search robots or visitors if your page says: "buy a penza house" or "city administration";
the main condition for all texts should be uniqueness. Its indicator should not be lower than 98%;
no need to write large texts, they will be difficult for users to understand. A volume of 1000 - 1500 characters will be optimal in order to concisely tell about a service or product. For Internet catalogs, 150-250 words will suffice;
if your site has pagination, then the text should be placed exclusively on the main page. If this is not done, then this text will be duplicated on all other pages, making the site unattractive either for users or for search robots. Search engines are negative about content spam. Therefore, the level of occurrences should not be higher than 4%, and the density of the entire text should not be higher than 18%. Otherwise, there is a risk of falling into the spam filter;
words and word forms of the key request should be evenly distributed, both in the headings and in the text itself. It will be effective to use several forms of the word;
it is best to use not only the queries themselves, but also their synonyms, which will help search robots to regard the site content as useful for visitors and increase positions in search results;
The main page of the site should contain small, but very capacious information about what services or products you offer, why you need to buy them in your online store. In this case, such an opportunity will make it possible to correctly position the offer for visitors and search robots, allowing you to effectively enter the online market.
The texts need not only be written, but also correctly positioned. It also plays a role for proper optimization.
On the home page of your site, text can only be placed after you have posted all offers for sales or promotional items.
If you have product catalogs, then you need to place the text at the bottom of the page, after the entire list. Otherwise, the text will distract from the purchase, and therefore users will buy and visit the site less, to which search robots will also react.
How to get quality content
There are several ways to get good content for your website:
use the help of professional copywriters who will be able to create unique and competent content for your site that can correctly respond to users and search engines;
create it yourself, but at the same time you should have sufficient knowledge in the field of content optimization, be able to correctly and logically express your thoughts, avoid spelling and punctuation errors;
order content on special resources-exchanges.
How to write tags and titles
If we talk about meta tags, then the main one will be title - it is also the name of the page that search engines will reflect in the search results:
Also, the title is displayed in the browser:
For the correct spelling of this meta tag, it is better to adhere to the following rules:
the title of the page, which will be displayed in the search results, must include high-frequency keywords;
you can get such keys from the request pages that were received and generated at the stages of preparation for optimization;
The title should be capacious and not exceed 60-75 characters, but reflect the most important information.
At the same time, you should remember that a unique title for search results should be contained on each page of the resource.
It is worth paying attention to HTML meta tags, which carry service data about each page of the site. They are needed by search engines, which will read the data and take it into account when performing ranking.
One of the main meta tags of the page will be déscription, which is a short description, as well as the meta tag kеywords, which contains the keywords used on the page.
A short description (déscription) is often used to display information about a page in search results.
However, this is not a 100% guarantee, since search engines most often independently form search results, so déscription may not be present there. When writing déscription, follow the guidelines below:
in the first sentence, it is desirable to place a key query used without changes and declensions;
the description should be short, so it shouldn't be more than 200 characters.
As mentioned earlier, déscription can be used in a snippet when returned by a search engine. Therefore, it is better to include in this description several key queries that can tell about what you are offering, the advantages of cooperation, attractive words that will not leave users indifferent, forcing them to choose your resource. If the commercial proposal is composed correctly, then you don't even have to worry about competitors.
When compiling the page, some developers do not prescribe the keyword meta tag, believing that it is not needed if it will not be visible on the page. But this is a very important element when ranking by search engines, so it cannot be ignored.
For the rational writing of this meta tag, it is better to adhere to the recommendations below:
length should not exceed 250 characters;
do not prescribe keywords on pagination pages. For pagination, you need to register all three meta tags only on the first page, for the rest you need to use only the name and indicate the page number in it (page 1,2,3,4,5 ...).
Internal linking
In this complex of actions, work will be carried out with the internal link mass, which will redistribute the static weight and direct it to the most important pages. The more different links you have on your site, the more convenient navigation will be, and therefore search engines will be more willing to rank the site and give it high positions in the search results.
If the linking is done correctly, the indexing of the resource will be significantly increased due to the fact that the search engines will be more willing to find such resources, and users will be able to stay longer on the resource. If the linking is done incorrectly, then this can be a problem for the PS and promotion in general.
To properly organize the linking of a resource, you can use several basic methods:
Links can also be placed in a menu, which itself will represent a whole block of various cross-links. It can include sections of the resource containing key queries. Upon transition, the visitor will find himself in the category of goods or services he needs:
“The competitors have a resource already in the TOP, and mine is on the 2nd page of the search results” - similar thoughts flashed in your head, right? There is only one reason for this: your counterparts have great content. If there is good content on the site, there is a chance of getting into the TOP. Otherwise, all efforts are in vain.
You can use SEO tools to turn ordinary beautiful text into a really working tool. A bunch of "SEO-CONTENT" - this is what is in perfect harmony with each other and really works. In this article, I'll talk about the SEO value of content and the possibilities for optimizing it.
What is content?
Opinions differ as to what content is, so using the only correct definition is not possible.
Current marketer Heidi Cohen describes the content as follows:
“This is high quality, useful information that is a little story for the client. Its purpose is to evoke emotions or nudge to take action. Content can contain text, images, video, audio and / or presentations. "
If you use this definition when analyzing a site, then you can understand that not all content meets quality requirements. Most of the information on the Internet is of no benefit to the consumer.
Social Triggers founder Derek Halpern gives content a shorter definition:
"The content is provided in any form (audio, text, video) carries informational and entertainment load, helps users to gain new knowledge."
As you can see, Derek Halpern is also betting on the benefits of content for the target audience. At the same time, it is important to present information not one-sidedly, but using different means.
As you can see from the infographic, there are many ways to make your website content interesting and engaging. If you use them, you can increase the number of regular visitors to the resource. To do this, I provide you with 22 proven tools for creating high-quality website content.
But what is the SEO value of content, and why is it so important that the two complement each other?
SEO value of content
Google, the king of search engines, processes over 3.5 billion queries per day. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who founded the company in 1998, set a clear and understandable goal for themselves: to structure all information in the world, to make it useful and accessible to everyone.
The mission remains the same, but the way information is organized and structured has changed significantly. Google's algorithms are constantly evolving and deliver the most useful and relevant results to the client in a fraction of a second.
“Relevant and Relevant Results” refers to certain pieces of content that are available across the Internet. They are assessed according to certain criteria. And if you want the information on the site to be properly analyzed by search engines, you need to take care of SEO.
Google itself cites a number of criteria for the quality of site content, claiming to be high in SERPs.
- Benefit and informational value... For example, if you are in the restaurant business, then the site should contain information about the location, opening hours, contact information, menus, as well as news about upcoming events.
- Advantage over other resources... If you are teaching users how to train a dog, then make sure that your material has greater value than numerous articles on the internet.
- Credible... Show users that the content on your site is trustworthy. Enrich it with quotes, links, reviews, excerpts from original research and evidence. This will increase the reputation of your site and the likelihood that it will be linked to on the Internet.
- Quality. Site content must be unique, high quality and relevant. It should not look like "cloned" content located on other resources. Remember that Internet users need really useful information that can help them solve a specific problem.
- Involvement. Make sure that there are no barriers between you and the client in the form of programming errors and stylistic inconsistencies. Images, videos, text - everything must be consistent. Don't let your visitors feel "unnecessary": update information, constantly take care of the usefulness of the content. Do not forget about adding social media widgets: the visitors themselves will disseminate data about your resource.
When your content meets all of the above criteria, then you are maximizing your SEO potential. If there are few or no matches, then the content of the site will have no meaning either for the search engine or for the client.
However, creating a wide variety of content is not the only challenge. There is a technical side that you need to be aware of.
For example, spelling out the title meta tag is the second most important ranking algorithm after content.
According to research by Neil Patel, 80% of publications do not open due to the unattractive title.
On the this moment we can conclude that the value of SEO content depends on how useful, informative, believable, and engaging it is.
The importance of content optimization
What is the value of optimized content? Simply, without it, your resource will not rank in search engines.
Part of content optimization is about targeting data to a specific target audience and following the above criteria. But what does “audience targeting” mean? This means that you should not just say what you want, but fill the site with the data that consumers need.
On the other hand, optimization includes such components as title, URL, description, keywords. Here are 8 ways you can correctly identify your keywords to create quality content.
How to optimize your content?
- Decide on the topic and choose the right keys
While we've already established that your primary goal is to create audience-focused content, keyword matching is essential for your content to be correctly identified by search engines.
A few things to consider when choosing keywords and topics:
- focus on low-frequency keywords;
- avoid highly competitive keywords;
- use proven keyword research tools;
- ensure that your keywords are relevant to the topic of the material.
- Make it easy to read
The main content of the site should not look like a "canvas". Make it comfortable to read, break it up into small parts. Remember that the attention of Internet users is short-lived. For them, it is sheer torment to read an article that is one large paragraph.
Break the material into paragraphs 1-2 sentences long. In some cases, expansion to 3-4 sentences is acceptable. Don't forget about subheadings and images: use them every 150-300 words. This will pique the interest of the reader and will not let him get bored.
Here's an example to follow:
And here's an example of how you don't need to style the text on a page if you don't want your readers to fall asleep:
The text presented in the example looks like a "sheet", is practically unstructured, and the keywords in it are too noticeable. To control the content and promotion process, use the website promotion checklist.
- Do not deviate from the topic and the main key
When filling your site with content, don't forget the importance of following the topic and targeting your main keyword. You should not write about everything at once and within the framework of one article - this will not allow the reader to concentrate on something specific and understand the material.
Trying to fit a huge amount of facts on one page is a waste of time. You will not create useful and relevant content on the topic of your choice, but only waste energy.
Support the information you provide with links on the topic. They will engage the user in your content and present you as experts in your chosen field.
- Use backlinks to content you've created
Google has made it clear that customer trust is an important factor in SEO. Therefore, linking to trustworthy and reputable sites can ensure that search engines will correctly perceive the content you create and place your site in the TOP.
However, make sure that the words you are using for the link are actually relevant to the site the user will be sent to. In most cases, it is recommended to use no more than 6 words to create a link.
Let's get down to the technical part of content optimization
Now let's turn our attention to the "technical" part of content optimization. First of all, you need to correctly spell out:
- Title;
- Description;
Optimizing Title
Not only users who click on the most striking and laconic names pay attention to Title. This SEO attribute is also important for search engines: it allows them to understand what the page will be talking about.
When optimizing your Title, keep in mind the following principles:
- Title size should not exceed 60 characters;
- use one keyword in your title, not several;
- be specific in the content;
- the keyword must be placed at the beginning of the Title.
Here is an example of a good Title: everything is specific, clear and succinct.
Optimization Description
Description is a small piece of text that appears below the title and URL.
While Google has stated that Description has no direct impact on rankings, it does affect user choices. It contains short information about the content of the page.
When creating a Description, follow these tips:
- optimal size - no more than 320 characters;
- This should be a short and specific overview of the content on the page;
- the attribute must contain relevant keywords.
Below is an example of a well-formed Description. It was created in accordance with the listed rules.
URL optimization
The URL is another SEO component that has an indirect impact on rankings. It can become a determining factor when a user chooses your resource.
A long and confusing URL can scare potential customers or blog readers. Concisely designed can inspire confidence and encourage reading of the material.
Conclusions: so why is content important to SEO?
When content is optimized, it dramatically improves a resource's visibility on search engines. Without optimization, the article you created will be lost and will take on the fate of millions of others like it. No one will notice her. Nobody will share your views. Nobody will ask for your services.
What needs to be done to properly optimize content? To summarize:
- decide on a theme and pick up the keys;
- make the material readable, include infographics, tables, diagrams;
- do not deviate from the chosen topic and remember about the main keyword;
- take care of the technical side of optimization: take care of the correctness of the Title, Description, URL.
Optimized content is an important condition for your resource to reach the TOP. With it, you show your customers that you care about their comfort.
Guest article by the SeoQuick team.
Tweet
send
We have released new book"Content Marketing on Social Media: How to Get Into the Heads of Subscribers and Fall in Love with Your Brand."
SEO content is such material on a website that is optimized for search engine queries.
More videos on our channel - learn internet marketing with SEMANTICA
What is SEO content
SEO content is textual materials on the site that meet the requirements of search engines. Thanks to such materials, the site will be better indexed by search engines, and its position in the SERP will rise.
SEO - Search Engine Optimization, search engine optimization. The better the text is optimized, the more often users will find it. Optimization of text articles is done by using keywords.
A keyword is a word in the text that, together with other keys from the text, can give an understanding of what the text is about. Search engines use keywords to determine how much the material suits the user's request.
You cannot optimize one text for all queries on your topic at once. Analyze what the user is looking for and how. Identify his needs. Examine your search terms. And then collect the semantic core for future material.
Key usage in SEO content
Semantic core (CY) - a list of key phrases.
These key phrases should be used organically in the text. To collect such keys, you can use the Yandex Wordstat service. Focus on queries that show a person's interest in the topic of your article.
For example:
The term + (what is it + is);
term + definition;
term + where (applies || used || works);
term + why is it needed.
How to use keys from the semantic core in the text?
- It is enough to insert a phrase from SJ in the text once.
- Words can be inflected, interchanged.
- You can use other words to make the key look natural.
- Prepositions and conjunctions do not affect the key - they can be removed or added.
- It is undesirable to separate the key with a comma, you cannot separate it with a period.
- You cannot use a key without reworking it. The phrase should be natural.
What should be the structure of SEO content
Heading H1
Each article on your portal should have a clear structure. The article should have a title - heading H1. It is the only one on the page, it is usually placed above the article. The title should contain the main key for which the page is optimized. All the rules for using key phrases from the semantic core, which we wrote about above, work.
Title meta tag
The title meta tag is another required element of the content page. This is an alternate name for the material that appears in an open browser tab. It is also taken into account by search engines, and therefore must contain the main keys from the core.
Importantly, the content of the H1 heading and the title tag must be different. But they should not contradict each other. If their content is the same, search engines may consider the site a dishonest resource and pessimize it. There is no period at the end of the title tag.
Description meta tag
The Description meta tag is a description of the site page. Its content does not directly affect the position of the site in the search results. Search engines often take the description text into account when generating snippets in the SERP. A snippet is a small explanation for each search result. The better it describes the content of the page, the higher the likelihood that the user will go to that particular page. Thanks to this tag, search robots can quickly index a site or page, rank it.
Filling in the description tag does not greatly affect the site's ranking. Although Yandex marks this as a mistake, in practice it has almost no effect on the search results of this search engine.
It was noted that when filling out this tag, the rank of the site in the Google system increased. For example: after filling in the description tag for each page, traffic to the site from this search engine increased by 20%.
Importantly, the content of the description tag must not match the H1 heading and title tag. Otherwise, its content will be ignored by the search engine. Ends with a dot.
Lists
Search bots are very fond of lists. When styling lists, use html tags. Do not write the item numbers by hand, otherwise the search engine will not understand that this is a list. It is recommended to use at least one of the lists in the article - bulleted or numbered.
However, do not forget that people will read your article. And if there is no way to make a list, you should not forcibly draw up it. The text should be natural.
Headings and subheadings
We said that it is important to fill in the H1 heading - the title of the entire article. Equally important is the correct use of subheadings.
Each article should have a structure and hierarchy.
Firstly, it is easier for the user to read such material, easier to perceive. We read most of the articles diagonally. We grab the essence, not paying attention to the details, run through the text with our eyes and close the tab. But you’re writing an article so that the user doesn’t just read it, but extract something useful. And spent more time on your site. The use of headings and subheadings encourages the user to move from simply viewing the article to reading it.
Second, the search engine pays attention to whether your article is structured. If the material is just a wall of text, then this is a good reason for the search engine to pessimize the site. He just thinks that your site is being used for black promotion.
You can't just make headlines where you want. The use of each subheading must be justified. Follow the logic of the story. If you first talk about how cat food is made, and then move on to how to feed a cat, these two blocks must be separated from each other by subheadings. The subheading should reflect the essence of the block. For our example, the first block can be called "How cat food is made", the second - "How to feed a cat properly." It is possible that the reader does not care how and from what food for his pet is made. It is important for him to read only how to feed a cat correctly. The headline will help him find the answer exactly to his question. If there are no subheadings, then the user will simply see a wall of text and leave the site to look further. He will not bother and spend time reading all the material, but will simply look for another article where the problem of interest to him is highlighted.
Also include search terms in subheadings. This will speed up the indexing of your site. But don't invest deeply. Three levels of headings should be sufficient.
Other Factors of Good SEO Content
In addition to structure, good SEO content must have other important qualities.
Uniqueness
Uniqueness is one of the most important criteria for a well-optimized content. Only sites with unique content are included in the top results.
The user cannot tell if the article is unique. But search engines immediately spot duplicate content. Copy-paste is a direct route to the margins of search results.
Often, sites with non-unique content fall under the filters.
Sometimes they resort to the services of copywriters. You can get unique texts from them. But be careful anyway. Even if the service of checking the text for plagiarism shows 100% uniqueness, the material itself may be of poor quality, contain factual errors.
Thematic
Check the topic of your article for compliance with key queries. If you are optimizing material for the query “How to feed a cat properly”, then the article should also be about how to do it.
At the beginning of the article, we said that one article should be optimized for one search query. This is indeed the case. But you can include multiple contiguous keys. They should be morphologically similar to the primary key.
Watch out for overspam. If too many keywords are used in the text, it is likely that the text will be pessimized by the search engine.
Literacy
All texts must be written correctly, without errors. If there are many errors in the material, the risk of getting a filter also increases.
Writing competently can be easily learned. And now there are many online spelling and punctuation checking services.
If you still missed something, it is better not to leave it that way. Add a widget to your site that allows users to indicate where a mistake or typo was made in the content. Always perfect your materials.
In order for your materials to be useful, and not hang like a dead weight on the site, they must be optimized. For both people and search engines. SEO-optimized content is the key to successful website promotion, its presence will provide you with a constant flow of traffic to the site.
When optimizing content, you need to pay attention to both the audience for which it is intended and the search engines. But how can this balance be maintained? What should you pay attention to the most? And what is the biggest mistake a webmaster makes when working with content? This article presents a translation of a survey of foreign experts on content optimization. So what do the professionals advise?
Alan Blaweis
(Alan Bleiweiss, SEO Consultant)
Everything you do for SEO must pass the CROUD test: Quality, Relevance, Authority, Uniqueness and Trust. At a minimum, each signal should reinforce quality, uniqueness, and relevance. Authority and trust are vague terms, but they definitely need to be worked on. Typically, the latter are a byproduct of what you do.
A grave mistake in content optimization that I see among webmasters is looping on certain signals: inbound links, use of keywords, percentage of uniqueness, and so on ... They limit themselves to one thing instead of realizing the need to channel their energy / efforts / resources in different directions.
Eric Enge
(Eric Enge, Managing Director of Stone Temple Consulting)
Do some simple semantic analysis to determine “what language” people are speaking in when discussing a topic of interest. This will allow you to better determine the direction of the content, as well as to compose the correct title of the article / document. And then, let your subject matter expert write cool content without distracting their attention with different keyword variations. The number one goal should be to create content that suits the needs of the user.
Many SEOs try to cram different variants of key phrases into each paragraph, they need to make sure that the main key is used in the text as often as possible. But this is a 100% way to kill content and make it unusable for the user.
If you let an expert on your topic write the content you want, they naturally make the text rich in various semantic constructs.
Melissa Facch
(Melissa Fach, CEO of SEO Aware)
You must have SEO and business goals for the entire site and each of its pages. Then you can start thinking about the strategies that will achieve these goals and about creating the right content.
The most important part of a content strategy should be that every piece of that content builds trust, addresses user needs, and is essential. Without trust, you have nothing, if you do not satisfy the needs of the user, then he does not need you, and the necessity and relevance will not allow customers to leave without saying goodbye.
It is very important to direct the content to convert the visitor into a customer. Driving traffic doesn’t end without conversion.
Rand Fishkin
(Rand Fishkin, Moz Country Wizard)
Conduct an audience survey. Gather around the guys who might be interested in your content topic, and then ask them what they are most interested in knowing, will any of your creative ideas resonate with them? People will tell you what information they were disappointed with and which of your ideas they admired. If your content doesn't resonate with your audience, it's worth rethinking the plan and redoing everything.
It is a mistake to think that if you build it, they will come (the famous American expression “If you build it, they will come”, approx. Devaka). I meet a lot of marketers and brands who stop investing in content because they “tried and it didn't work”. You haven't really invested in content if you haven't bad experience and multiple repetitive efforts. This business requires constant investment.
Edge Con
(AJ Kohn, CEO of Blind Five Year Old)
The main rule is readability. People mostly do not read, but browse the content. Therefore, use headings and subheadings with interesting titles, use short paragraphs, separate them with images, and make the content easy to remember.
A common mistake is to give up quickly. When blogging, social media groups, or other types of content, many people try it for months and then admit defeat and mumble that “it doesn't work” or report back to managers that “there is no corresponding ROI”. Success comes slowly and for a long time.
Pete Meyers
(Dr. Pete Meyers, Marketing Specialist at Moz)
This sounds like Captain Obvious, but many people don’t devote the time and energy to composing headlines, or they spam them with keywords.
Google currently displays fewer characters in the title (about 55) and the characters at the beginning of the title will have more value, and more will affect users. Ditch the old SEO rules and think about headlines that they can actually attract targeted clicks. If you repeat some elements here, for example, the name of the site or the name of the category, then put the unique elements first.
Blunder: People want every page and page variation on their large site to be indexed, hoping unsuccessfully that they will all rank well. This leads, at best, to blurring, at worst - to problems in ranking (including the Panda algorithm).
The same goes for internal linking. The picture is such that 20% of your pages (services, products) generate 80% of visits / sales. If you concentrate on everything, it will lead to concentration on nothing.
Mat Siltala
(Mat Siltala, managing director of Avalaunch Media)
When focusing on current trends, I would recommend setting it up correctly for content. All content you publish - videos, slides, graphics, just text - must be associated with the author on Google and correctly set up technically.
In terms of bugs, I work with a lot of visual content, from infographics to videos, and I often find that when people share visual content, people don't provide it with text. While good graphics are a visual insight, you need to add accompanying text to help search engines recognize what the graphics are about.
David Wallace
(David Wallace, Search Rank Manager)
The first step in optimizing your content is to conduct semantic analysis. This is not to say that the keywords themselves should determine the title of your content, but if possible, it will be correct to use popular or trending search phrases. I myself rarely conduct such an analysis, but it can significantly help in ranking text, attracting traffic and related sharing on social networks.
Another important thing is header optimization. It is often neglected when creating content.
Since social networks based on images and photos are becoming more popular now, graphic content should also be given attention and supplemented with textual content. This will diversify the page, as well as involve the visitor and allow him to easily distribute the content on his social network. Make sure to use the ALT and TITLE attributes for your images. For infographics, add an embed code to your site (as, for example, YouTube does for videos).
Monica Wright
(Monica Wright, Director of Audience for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land).
The content is for the people you attract. This implies practicality, even though the purpose of the content may be to entertain, educate, or evoke emotion in the reader. Don't create content just out of the need for a “strategy”. For example, a blog is not a content strategy. If you can understand the needs of your audience, it will be much easier to create and optimize content. We have often tried to conduct search optimization, but answering these questions, you will understand what kind of content you really need to create: “How can…”, “What is…”, “Where can I find…”, “Which is better…”, "Who it …".
The main mistake is to first create design and functionality, inserting content as something secondary. Content is a product, a valuable contribution. When creating a product, one of my bosses constantly asked: "Is this some kind of our feature or benefit for the user?" Think of content as a benefit.
What do you pay most attention to when optimizing your content? What rake have you already stepped on? Share your experience in the comments.
