Are your pages among them? And, if so, do you know why your SEO content isn’t performing as well as it could? A leading reason may be that you don’t have a well-defined SEO content strategy in place.
Sure, you’ve probably looked into ranking factors that can help you improve your SEO game. But you’re probably not taking the action needed to rank in the search engines.
Let’s walk through a 7-step framework for creating a high-performing SEO content strategy. We’ve also included our best SEO content writing tips for you as you create new content.
Let’s start.
What is SEO content?
SEO content is content meant to drive organic traffic from search engine results pages (SERPs).Content optimization is a big part of accomplishing that goal. It’s what helps your content rank on page one of Google and, preferably, within the first few organic slots. (That’s where it can be most easily found by our audience.)
However, the kind of content that deserves to rank well isn’t optimized for search engines alone. It also keeps the reader's experience in mind. It answers all audience questions about the target keyword or phrase.
“The kind of content that deserves to rank well isn’t optimized for search engines alone.
It also keeps the reader's experience in mind and answers all audience questions about the target keyword or phrase.”
But why worry about optimizing for your target audience? Isn't it easier to just optimize for a keyword?
In reality, SEO writing and writing for your audience are synonymous. Search engines like Google prioritize satisfying their users. So when your content does that, it ends up ranking well. A win-win.
For instance, when a searcher finds their answer on your page, they are likely to spend more time on your site. This increases your click-through rate and reduces your bounce rate. Both are leading ranking factors so improving them can improve your SEO results.
The obvious answer is that high-ranking SEO content generates website traffic. But traffic is a secondary goal. It often leads to the bigger objective of converting customers or users.
So it’s more accurate to say that SEO content generates relevant, quality website traffic. It helps the people with the most potential of converting to find your website. And this visibility and accessibility boost also has benefits.
For example, say your website constantly shows up in search results for a topic your audience is researching. If your content is engaging and meets their needs, it can boost your credibility (and memorability). Your target audience will begin to see you as an authority, which means more chances to engage and build relationships. Both can lead to sales or other important outcomes in the future.
SEO content types you should consider creating
What types of SEO can you create to enjoy the benefits above? Here are some of the most common SEO-friendly content types:
Lists. For example: “101 newsletter ideas to try today.”
Guides. This is in-depth content on a topic that’s spread over multiple pages. Moz’s guide to SEO is a good example of this.
Articles. These could be interviews, news, or features commonly published by news publications.
Blog posts. These often target specific keywords or queries and either answer a target audience’s questions or explain processes.
Infographics. These visualize data and help capture organic traffic of searchers looking for quick answers to their queries.
Product pages. These offer product descriptions while also serving as landing pages for PPC campaigns.
Images and slideshows. These could be anything from supplementary and explanatory graphics to a PowerPoint presentation.
Videos. These could be bite-size clips or long-form videos explaining a topic comprehensively. YouTube is one of the most popular ways of making video content widely discoverable.
Good to know: YouTube—the second-largest search engine in the world—has its own SEO structure. If you plan to use or already use this distribution channel, it’s worth researching how to do YouTube SEO specifically.
7 steps for creating an SEO content strategy
The worst thing you could do is pick one or more of the content types above and start creating. As with your overall marketing efforts, strategy is essential to enjoy the full benefits of SEO content. To make sure you’re doing SEO right, follow these steps.
1. Revisit your audience
To create a successful strategy, you must first know who it’s for.
Start with identifying your target audience. Then, look for common threads across:
Their pain points, their impact, and their severity
Their goals or the outcomes they’re after
The way they speak about the pain points and goals they have
The solutions they’ve looked into and how they feel about their options
These and other audience details will guide your keyword research and content creation.
2. Identify your goals
Write down your goals for creating SEO content. Do you want to drive organic traffic or do you want more conversions?
According to David Farkas, Founder of The Upper Ranks, your goals can include:
Obtaining certain rankings for target keywords and especially those that are high priority
Increasing organic traffic and conversions by a certain percentage within a certain timeframe
Increasing average time on site and user engagement
As you set goals, though, be sure to look at the big picture. Wins like increased traffic and better rankings are great. But only if they lead to more meaningful outcomes that grow the business or further your cause.
3. Research keywords and validate ideas
Your audience research can be a goldmine of keywords, phrases, and frequently asked questions. Start there.
Jake Peterson, Senior SEO Manager at Go Fish Digital, advises researching variations and questions related to a seed keyword. From there:
"Create a large spreadsheet along with the keywords’ estimated search volume, keyword difficulty level, and estimated cost-per-click (CPC). Also, put the top URL in the spreadsheet to see what kind of competition the keyword has. Sometimes, keywords run into big brands or high-authority sites which tells me to not go after that specific keyword or variant."
Good to know: If you’re only starting out, you may want to target mainly long-tail keywords. These are typically less competitive, giving you a better chance at ranking well in search results.
Once you have a list of target and secondary keywords, brainstorm content topics. To choose the right topics, you must understand each keyword’s search intent. From there, there are many tools you can use for brainstorming. According to Adam Gingery of Majux Marketing, you can:
"Find topic ideas in Ahrefs’ question generator, Google Keyword Planner, by scouring Google’s People Also Ask feature, and by reading through forums on Reddit, Quora, etc."
For each keyword, also decide the content type. Will it be a guide, a how-to piece, a short-form article, or something else?
4. Audit any existing content
At this point, you’ll have a clearer understanding of the topics you’ll need to cover. But don't start planning new content based only on your keyword research. Before you get ahead of yourself, audit your existing content. Have you already covered a topic surfaced in your recent research? If so, there are four buckets it might fall into.
In need of minor updates: Especially for a high-priority keyword, is there a piece you could freshen up with new stats or info? Insightful quotes from subject matter experts? Or could you improve writing quality, formatting, or other details?
In need of major updates: Large updates may include expanding a piece, optimizing for a different intent or audience, or updating your organization’s stance on a topic.
Able to be merged: You may find that you have several pieces on a topic that overlap significantly. In that case, combine them into one in-depth post. This may make it easier to rank for the keyword with the best traffic and/or conversion potential.
Able to be deleted: If a piece is too dated, no longer relevant or miles off from your current quality standards, scrap it. Whether you plan to rewrite it or not, it’s better—both for user experience and SEO—for it to be removed from your site.
Taking stock of the content you have helps you use your resources wisely and see results faster. (It’s usually easier and takes less time to update existing content than to create it from scratch). Plus, it keeps existing content from competing with any new pieces you create on the same topic.
5. Create an editorial calendar and content briefs
With your list of target keywords and topics ready, organize them in a publishing schedule. For each topic, add a due date and assign a content writer—whether in-house or freelance.
Good to know: GatherContent allows you to assign dates to your content projects. It's an easy way to get an overview of what’s due in a calendar format.
GatherContent helps you create editorial calendars easily and effectively
To ensure writers create high-quality content, provide high-quality content briefs. These should distill information such as:
How each piece of content will meet the audience’s needs and
Good to know: Create template briefs in GatherContent. Then, add embedded instructions for writing each section of the content piece. This way, writers are more likely to stick with the guidelines.
Embed SEO content writing instructions into your GatherContent content briefs
6. Create a link-building plan
Link-building boosts your site’s domain authority and improves rankings. In fact, creating a comprehensive post on a target keyword and waiting for it to rank naturally is rarely enough—particularly if you have a new site.
The solution? Actively build backlinks to each piece of content. Identify relevant websites that link to others’ content on your target keywords. Then, reach out to them explaining that you offer a better resource that’s worth linking to.
7. Publish and track results
Once you hit publish, review the results.
For example, monitor Google Analytics to understand:
How much traffic your posts are driving
How long visitors are staying on the page
What visitors are clicking on and patterns in the journey across your site
Which pages convert better
How can you be sure you’re tracking progress the right way, though? Pre-select the metrics you'll monitor based on your goals. Every quarter or so, review progress against these metrics.
Finally, an important piece in the SEO content strategy puzzle. Keep refreshing old, evergreen content.
The Google algorithm loves fresh content and prioritizes it when ranking results. Be sure to add this step to your content marketing workflow.
Here are our 12 best tips for writing SEO content. You’ll see many of them in action across an excellent piece of content from Semrush, which we’ll use as an example.
1. Write for your readers first
For SEO content to do its job, it has to give readers the information they need in a way that’s easy to consume. You must understand readers’ intent so that you can cover the right topics thoroughly.
Second, avoid keyword stuffing. If your content reads like a robot wrote it, readers will be more likely to bounce. This can indirectly have ill effects on your SEO results in the long term. So use your target keyword (and variations of it) naturally.
"No longer can you create content for SEO and expect it to perform well. Rather, you need to create content for people and optimize it for search. That may mean creating multiple pieces of content on the same subject, each piece geared towards a different experience level (this is not duplicate content)."
Stephen continues: “It means going back to basics. Like writing an article about one subject as opposed to targeting multiple keywords simultaneously, which may not even exhibit the same intent. And it means keeping SEOs out of content development, which is how it should be. SEO should support content, not determine it.”
2. Add keywords strategically in your SEO content
We mentioned the importance of using keywords naturally and you should. Yet, if at all possible, aim to include them at least once in each of the following:
Your H2 headings (or H3s)
The introduction
Throughout the content
The last paragraph
Using keywords strategically helps search engines confirm the topic and depth of your content. This helps them rank your content so that the people you want to find it can find it.
Semrush uses focus keywords strategically to help search engines understand the content
You can see the main keyword and a variation of it mentioned in the intro, first H2, and in the body of the content. It’s also mentioned elsewhere in the content but not overused.
3. Create content based on the questions readers have
The key to good SEO content writing is answering all the questions readers have on a given topic. Find these by looking at what searchers are asking about in the People Also Ask section. (You can find this section in Google search results for your target keyword.) Then, answer them thoroughly in your content.
For instance, here are a handful of questions people ask about content optimization.
Google’s People Also Ask section for the keyword “content optimization”
Now, look at the Table of Contents from Semrush’s content optimization guide.
Semrush answers its audience's most common topic-specific questions
As you can see, it answers a few questions from the People Also Ask section. These include what content optimization is and why it matters. And the rest of the content takes a deep dive into the keys to content optimization.
4. Structure content for readability
Making it easy for readers to navigate and understand your content is essential. Divide content with subheadings, organize those sections in a logical order and use short paragraphs and sentences.
Semrush uses short sentences and paragraphs, as well as clear headings for ease of reading
Additionally, use bullet points where possible and use bolding to highlight key points.
5. Write direct, to-the-point subheadings
Direct subheadings help visitors see at a glance if your content answers their questions. They also improve readability. And, if you frontload main points within your paragraphs, they can help you snag featured snippets on Google.
6. Write keyword-enriched meta descriptions
Write inviting meta descriptions that give readers a reason to click to read your content from the search results. Mention what aspects of a topic your content covers and how the information is beneficial. Also, use action verbs such as “learn,” “dig in,” and “read” to encourage searchers to read.
Also, include your focus keyword as close to the front of the meta description as possible, along with other relevant terms. To illustrate, Semrush uses the main keyword immediately while also highlighting the importance of optimization. Then, while using other related keywords, it sets the expectation for what readers will learn and encourages them to read the content.
Semrush’s meta description frontloads the main keyword and encourages searchers to click through
7. Add alt text to all images
Make sure all your images include alt text explaining what’s in the image. These short descriptions make content accessible to a wider range of readers. They also make it easy for Google to understand and rank.
8. Create compelling page titles
Include your target keyword in the page title tag. This will give search engines another cue as to what your content is about, helping them rank it properly in search results.
Semrush’s title uses the target keyword and sets clear expectations for readers
It’s also important that your headline entices people to read. Answering what’s in it for them can help with this. For example, can you spot the promise in Semrush’s case? It's that the content will be in-depth (since it’s an ultimate guide and includes an infographic).
9. Break text up with visuals
A large part of writing content for SEO involves creating visuals. Why is this so important? Images and other visuals help with readability and ranking. Explanatory visuals such as concept maps further readers’ understanding of a topic.
They break up text, support learning, and keep visitors on-site longer. Plus, other sites may feature your images and link back to your content. More backlinks can boost your search engine rankings.
10. Write short URLs
Keep your URLs simple and as short as possible. Rather than using your whole headline, use your focus keyword as the URL slug.
But it’s worth mentioning that, if your target keyword includes words like “the” or “a,” you can remove them. And, in some cases, you can also add words as needed. For example, Semrush’s URL adds the word “guide” even though the main keyword is just “content optimization.”
Semrush’s URL is short and simple with the target keyword front and center
Good to know: Using numbers in your URLs can complicate future content updates so avoid using them. And, yes, this includes years (e.g. /content-optimization-guide-2022).
11. Add transcripts to all video content
Do you produce video content? Add transcripts to the videos as you upload them. They tell search engines like Google what was said in your video. This can help the content rank for relevant search queries.
12. Add internal links to your content
Linking to related pieces of content on your website has a couple of benefits. It:
Helps and educates your audience, giving them the info they need. It also keeps them on-site longer and promotes engagement. All of this can be good for your SEO and help you earn your audience’s trust.
Shows search engines the extent to which you cover relevant topics. The more thoroughly you cover industry topics (via high-quality SEO content), the more authoritative your website seems. In turn, the higher search engines may be willing to rank your pages.
Create SEO content that works
With that, we’ve reached the end. You now have the know-how to create a solid SEO content strategy and write content that ranks. All that’s left is to put that knowledge into action consistently.
On the consistency front, GatherContent is an invaluable tool. It can help with:
Creating your publishing schedule and managing your content calendar
Briefing in-house or freelance SEO content writers on individual content pieces
Maintaining your standards for optimization and style thanks to content templates and embedded style guidelines
And those are just a few of the features loved by the more than 2,000 businesses that use our platform.
Are your pages among them? And, if so, do you know why your SEO content isn’t performing as well as it could? A leading reason may be that you don’t have a well-defined SEO content strategy in place.
Sure, you’ve probably looked into ranking factors that can help you improve your SEO game. But you’re probably not taking the action needed to rank in the search engines.
Let’s walk through a 7-step framework for creating a high-performing SEO content strategy. We’ve also included our best SEO content writing tips for you as you create new content.
Let’s start.
What is SEO content?
SEO content is content meant to drive organic traffic from search engine results pages (SERPs).Content optimization is a big part of accomplishing that goal. It’s what helps your content rank on page one of Google and, preferably, within the first few organic slots. (That’s where it can be most easily found by our audience.)
However, the kind of content that deserves to rank well isn’t optimized for search engines alone. It also keeps the reader's experience in mind. It answers all audience questions about the target keyword or phrase.
“The kind of content that deserves to rank well isn’t optimized for search engines alone.
It also keeps the reader's experience in mind and answers all audience questions about the target keyword or phrase.”
But why worry about optimizing for your target audience? Isn't it easier to just optimize for a keyword?
In reality, SEO writing and writing for your audience are synonymous. Search engines like Google prioritize satisfying their users. So when your content does that, it ends up ranking well. A win-win.
For instance, when a searcher finds their answer on your page, they are likely to spend more time on your site. This increases your click-through rate and reduces your bounce rate. Both are leading ranking factors so improving them can improve your SEO results.
The obvious answer is that high-ranking SEO content generates website traffic. But traffic is a secondary goal. It often leads to the bigger objective of converting customers or users.
So it’s more accurate to say that SEO content generates relevant, quality website traffic. It helps the people with the most potential of converting to find your website. And this visibility and accessibility boost also has benefits.
For example, say your website constantly shows up in search results for a topic your audience is researching. If your content is engaging and meets their needs, it can boost your credibility (and memorability). Your target audience will begin to see you as an authority, which means more chances to engage and build relationships. Both can lead to sales or other important outcomes in the future.
SEO content types you should consider creating
What types of SEO can you create to enjoy the benefits above? Here are some of the most common SEO-friendly content types:
Lists. For example: “101 newsletter ideas to try today.”
Guides. This is in-depth content on a topic that’s spread over multiple pages. Moz’s guide to SEO is a good example of this.
Articles. These could be interviews, news, or features commonly published by news publications.
Blog posts. These often target specific keywords or queries and either answer a target audience’s questions or explain processes.
Infographics. These visualize data and help capture organic traffic of searchers looking for quick answers to their queries.
Product pages. These offer product descriptions while also serving as landing pages for PPC campaigns.
Images and slideshows. These could be anything from supplementary and explanatory graphics to a PowerPoint presentation.
Videos. These could be bite-size clips or long-form videos explaining a topic comprehensively. YouTube is one of the most popular ways of making video content widely discoverable.
Good to know: YouTube—the second-largest search engine in the world—has its own SEO structure. If you plan to use or already use this distribution channel, it’s worth researching how to do YouTube SEO specifically.
7 steps for creating an SEO content strategy
The worst thing you could do is pick one or more of the content types above and start creating. As with your overall marketing efforts, strategy is essential to enjoy the full benefits of SEO content. To make sure you’re doing SEO right, follow these steps.
1. Revisit your audience
To create a successful strategy, you must first know who it’s for.
Start with identifying your target audience. Then, look for common threads across:
Their pain points, their impact, and their severity
Their goals or the outcomes they’re after
The way they speak about the pain points and goals they have
The solutions they’ve looked into and how they feel about their options
These and other audience details will guide your keyword research and content creation.
2. Identify your goals
Write down your goals for creating SEO content. Do you want to drive organic traffic or do you want more conversions?
According to David Farkas, Founder of The Upper Ranks, your goals can include:
Obtaining certain rankings for target keywords and especially those that are high priority
Increasing organic traffic and conversions by a certain percentage within a certain timeframe
Increasing average time on site and user engagement
As you set goals, though, be sure to look at the big picture. Wins like increased traffic and better rankings are great. But only if they lead to more meaningful outcomes that grow the business or further your cause.
3. Research keywords and validate ideas
Your audience research can be a goldmine of keywords, phrases, and frequently asked questions. Start there.
Jake Peterson, Senior SEO Manager at Go Fish Digital, advises researching variations and questions related to a seed keyword. From there:
"Create a large spreadsheet along with the keywords’ estimated search volume, keyword difficulty level, and estimated cost-per-click (CPC). Also, put the top URL in the spreadsheet to see what kind of competition the keyword has. Sometimes, keywords run into big brands or high-authority sites which tells me to not go after that specific keyword or variant."
Good to know: If you’re only starting out, you may want to target mainly long-tail keywords. These are typically less competitive, giving you a better chance at ranking well in search results.
Once you have a list of target and secondary keywords, brainstorm content topics. To choose the right topics, you must understand each keyword’s search intent. From there, there are many tools you can use for brainstorming. According to Adam Gingery of Majux Marketing, you can:
"Find topic ideas in Ahrefs’ question generator, Google Keyword Planner, by scouring Google’s People Also Ask feature, and by reading through forums on Reddit, Quora, etc."
For each keyword, also decide the content type. Will it be a guide, a how-to piece, a short-form article, or something else?
4. Audit any existing content
At this point, you’ll have a clearer understanding of the topics you’ll need to cover. But don't start planning new content based only on your keyword research. Before you get ahead of yourself, audit your existing content. Have you already covered a topic surfaced in your recent research? If so, there are four buckets it might fall into.
In need of minor updates: Especially for a high-priority keyword, is there a piece you could freshen up with new stats or info? Insightful quotes from subject matter experts? Or could you improve writing quality, formatting, or other details?
In need of major updates: Large updates may include expanding a piece, optimizing for a different intent or audience, or updating your organization’s stance on a topic.
Able to be merged: You may find that you have several pieces on a topic that overlap significantly. In that case, combine them into one in-depth post. This may make it easier to rank for the keyword with the best traffic and/or conversion potential.
Able to be deleted: If a piece is too dated, no longer relevant or miles off from your current quality standards, scrap it. Whether you plan to rewrite it or not, it’s better—both for user experience and SEO—for it to be removed from your site.
Taking stock of the content you have helps you use your resources wisely and see results faster. (It’s usually easier and takes less time to update existing content than to create it from scratch). Plus, it keeps existing content from competing with any new pieces you create on the same topic.
5. Create an editorial calendar and content briefs
With your list of target keywords and topics ready, organize them in a publishing schedule. For each topic, add a due date and assign a content writer—whether in-house or freelance.
Good to know: GatherContent allows you to assign dates to your content projects. It's an easy way to get an overview of what’s due in a calendar format.
GatherContent helps you create editorial calendars easily and effectively
To ensure writers create high-quality content, provide high-quality content briefs. These should distill information such as:
How each piece of content will meet the audience’s needs and
Good to know: Create template briefs in GatherContent. Then, add embedded instructions for writing each section of the content piece. This way, writers are more likely to stick with the guidelines.
Embed SEO content writing instructions into your GatherContent content briefs
6. Create a link-building plan
Link-building boosts your site’s domain authority and improves rankings. In fact, creating a comprehensive post on a target keyword and waiting for it to rank naturally is rarely enough—particularly if you have a new site.
The solution? Actively build backlinks to each piece of content. Identify relevant websites that link to others’ content on your target keywords. Then, reach out to them explaining that you offer a better resource that’s worth linking to.
7. Publish and track results
Once you hit publish, review the results.
For example, monitor Google Analytics to understand:
How much traffic your posts are driving
How long visitors are staying on the page
What visitors are clicking on and patterns in the journey across your site
Which pages convert better
How can you be sure you’re tracking progress the right way, though? Pre-select the metrics you'll monitor based on your goals. Every quarter or so, review progress against these metrics.
Finally, an important piece in the SEO content strategy puzzle. Keep refreshing old, evergreen content.
The Google algorithm loves fresh content and prioritizes it when ranking results. Be sure to add this step to your content marketing workflow.
Here are our 12 best tips for writing SEO content. You’ll see many of them in action across an excellent piece of content from Semrush, which we’ll use as an example.
1. Write for your readers first
For SEO content to do its job, it has to give readers the information they need in a way that’s easy to consume. You must understand readers’ intent so that you can cover the right topics thoroughly.
Second, avoid keyword stuffing. If your content reads like a robot wrote it, readers will be more likely to bounce. This can indirectly have ill effects on your SEO results in the long term. So use your target keyword (and variations of it) naturally.
"No longer can you create content for SEO and expect it to perform well. Rather, you need to create content for people and optimize it for search. That may mean creating multiple pieces of content on the same subject, each piece geared towards a different experience level (this is not duplicate content)."
Stephen continues: “It means going back to basics. Like writing an article about one subject as opposed to targeting multiple keywords simultaneously, which may not even exhibit the same intent. And it means keeping SEOs out of content development, which is how it should be. SEO should support content, not determine it.”
2. Add keywords strategically in your SEO content
We mentioned the importance of using keywords naturally and you should. Yet, if at all possible, aim to include them at least once in each of the following:
Your H2 headings (or H3s)
The introduction
Throughout the content
The last paragraph
Using keywords strategically helps search engines confirm the topic and depth of your content. This helps them rank your content so that the people you want to find it can find it.
Semrush uses focus keywords strategically to help search engines understand the content
You can see the main keyword and a variation of it mentioned in the intro, first H2, and in the body of the content. It’s also mentioned elsewhere in the content but not overused.
3. Create content based on the questions readers have
The key to good SEO content writing is answering all the questions readers have on a given topic. Find these by looking at what searchers are asking about in the People Also Ask section. (You can find this section in Google search results for your target keyword.) Then, answer them thoroughly in your content.
For instance, here are a handful of questions people ask about content optimization.
Google’s People Also Ask section for the keyword “content optimization”
Now, look at the Table of Contents from Semrush’s content optimization guide.
Semrush answers its audience's most common topic-specific questions
As you can see, it answers a few questions from the People Also Ask section. These include what content optimization is and why it matters. And the rest of the content takes a deep dive into the keys to content optimization.
4. Structure content for readability
Making it easy for readers to navigate and understand your content is essential. Divide content with subheadings, organize those sections in a logical order and use short paragraphs and sentences.
Semrush uses short sentences and paragraphs, as well as clear headings for ease of reading
Additionally, use bullet points where possible and use bolding to highlight key points.
5. Write direct, to-the-point subheadings
Direct subheadings help visitors see at a glance if your content answers their questions. They also improve readability. And, if you frontload main points within your paragraphs, they can help you snag featured snippets on Google.
6. Write keyword-enriched meta descriptions
Write inviting meta descriptions that give readers a reason to click to read your content from the search results. Mention what aspects of a topic your content covers and how the information is beneficial. Also, use action verbs such as “learn,” “dig in,” and “read” to encourage searchers to read.
Also, include your focus keyword as close to the front of the meta description as possible, along with other relevant terms. To illustrate, Semrush uses the main keyword immediately while also highlighting the importance of optimization. Then, while using other related keywords, it sets the expectation for what readers will learn and encourages them to read the content.
Semrush’s meta description frontloads the main keyword and encourages searchers to click through
7. Add alt text to all images
Make sure all your images include alt text explaining what’s in the image. These short descriptions make content accessible to a wider range of readers. They also make it easy for Google to understand and rank.
8. Create compelling page titles
Include your target keyword in the page title tag. This will give search engines another cue as to what your content is about, helping them rank it properly in search results.
Semrush’s title uses the target keyword and sets clear expectations for readers
It’s also important that your headline entices people to read. Answering what’s in it for them can help with this. For example, can you spot the promise in Semrush’s case? It's that the content will be in-depth (since it’s an ultimate guide and includes an infographic).
9. Break text up with visuals
A large part of writing content for SEO involves creating visuals. Why is this so important? Images and other visuals help with readability and ranking. Explanatory visuals such as concept maps further readers’ understanding of a topic.
They break up text, support learning, and keep visitors on-site longer. Plus, other sites may feature your images and link back to your content. More backlinks can boost your search engine rankings.
10. Write short URLs
Keep your URLs simple and as short as possible. Rather than using your whole headline, use your focus keyword as the URL slug.
But it’s worth mentioning that, if your target keyword includes words like “the” or “a,” you can remove them. And, in some cases, you can also add words as needed. For example, Semrush’s URL adds the word “guide” even though the main keyword is just “content optimization.”
Semrush’s URL is short and simple with the target keyword front and center
Good to know: Using numbers in your URLs can complicate future content updates so avoid using them. And, yes, this includes years (e.g. /content-optimization-guide-2022).
11. Add transcripts to all video content
Do you produce video content? Add transcripts to the videos as you upload them. They tell search engines like Google what was said in your video. This can help the content rank for relevant search queries.
12. Add internal links to your content
Linking to related pieces of content on your website has a couple of benefits. It:
Helps and educates your audience, giving them the info they need. It also keeps them on-site longer and promotes engagement. All of this can be good for your SEO and help you earn your audience’s trust.
Shows search engines the extent to which you cover relevant topics. The more thoroughly you cover industry topics (via high-quality SEO content), the more authoritative your website seems. In turn, the higher search engines may be willing to rank your pages.
Create SEO content that works
With that, we’ve reached the end. You now have the know-how to create a solid SEO content strategy and write content that ranks. All that’s left is to put that knowledge into action consistently.
On the consistency front, GatherContent is an invaluable tool. It can help with:
Creating your publishing schedule and managing your content calendar
Briefing in-house or freelance SEO content writers on individual content pieces
Maintaining your standards for optimization and style thanks to content templates and embedded style guidelines
And those are just a few of the features loved by the more than 2,000 businesses that use our platform.
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