SEO, or search engine optimization, is still a big priority for many marketers and it makes complete sense. Just think; when was the last time you searched for something without using Google? According to the article on the
Content Marketing Institute website, 61% of content marketers use their website traffic for measuring success and 39% claim that SEO rankings are extremely crucial.
Even though SEO is important, some content marketers have not yet truly mastered it. To achieve this, they need to work around Google’s never ending guidelines and try to reach higher rankings from a different set of angles. There is not a method yet that will help you achieve this, so many content marketers try by throwing a bunch of things out there, hoping that some of them will work. The best chance in getting a higher rank is to follow Google’s standards and repeat the things that have worked for others. The following tips are some of the latest and these are the ones that will help you improve your content marketing SEO.
High Quality, Original Content
Google’s algorithms always react well to high quality and original content which is based on relevant terms. Google runs through websites and determines their relevance based on the keywords that appear throughout the content. This search engine looks if your website is of high-quality, if high-quality websites are linked to yours, the amount of engagement from your users and the originality of the content on your website.
Even though the content on your website should boost your SEO ranking, it also adds benefit to the reader. Use a relevant keyword in the title and
avoid grabbing attention with clickbait. Do not forget images and videos, because they decrease the chances of a person leaving your website quickly, because if they only stick around for 30 seconds, you will have a high bounce rate. Break the content with visuals, bullet points and headers to keep your reader’s attention.
URL Modifying
Along with placing certain keywords in your quality content, you can also
place them in your URLs. When a reader hovers over your content, they will see that the content is relevant and supplied with further reading material. If there are no anchor texts, the readers will think that the content is irrelevant. These URLs appear on Google, and that can help the users decide whether they will or will not click on your website. So, the title that matches the URL is a trusted post and people will click on it. The URL needs to be short and readable, and not contain numbers, random letters or symbols, because they can confuse the users and discourage them from clicking.
Invest In SEO
Many content marketers believe that they can achieve higher ranking from linking and traffic, and discard the possibility of using paid promotion. But the truth is that they need both of these to succeed. They need to realize that hiring an outside firm to improve their SEO is an investment into their own company. Paid promotion is a great way to spread the message across and reach your core audience. Look for an SEO agency that can help you boost your rankings and, before signing up with a firm, ask for examples of sites where they have placed their clients in the past.
SEO Keywords
Like we said, keywords need to appear throughout your content. SEO used to be all about that, but now, it has expanded to broader territories, but keywords still matter. For
effective use of keywords, find the ones that are relevant to your content, and make it an ongoing practice. The popularity of keywords is changing, so always keep up with them to keep your high rank. Don’t use keywords too many times, because Google can consider that as spam, and so will your readers, but if you don’t use them enough, Google cannot know what your website is about. A good rule of thumb is including your keywords in the first 200 words of your content posts, and in the first 160 characters of the meta description.
These are the ways that have helped others achieve good SEO rankings in the past. There are a couple of others that can also be helpful, like
creating a quality website for the user. The key is making it easy to navigate, responsive and overall user-friendly.
Make sure that your website is loading fast enough, because people can get impatient, especially when using mobile devices. Implement these onto your website, and we are sure that they will help you improve your content marketing and boost your SEO.
