When you create content, search engine optimization should always be on the forefront of your mind. Content creation has two main purposes: (1) inform the reader (2) help your company get ranked by search engines. And both of these must be true in order to consider your content marketing efforts a success.
In this post I’m going to review the 5 steps in an SEO driven content creation process. I’m going to talk about what you need to do to ensure your content is not just reader friendly, but also search engine friendly. The process is not difficult, but like the competitive analysis process, it can be time consuming.
Write for Your Audience First
While your content serves two masters, only one can be the primary. Your content should address the needs of your readers first and foremost. This means you should write legible sentences and structure your content in such a way that it makes sense to your readers. This means stay away from using your keywords over and over again with the hopes of getting ranked by search engines. When you create your content, remember the reader and make sure your readability levels are sufficient.
Make Headlines That Pack a Punch
Search engines love, love, love headlines. And actually so do readers. See, readers aren’t actually reading your content. In fact, most of the people that come to this page are probably just going to skim it. And so, short sentences, small paragraphs and powerful headings is how you capture people’s attention.
In addition to capturing people’s attention, search engines use these headings as a way to better understand the main points of the website. Because of this, you will want your headings to be powerful and focused on the keywords for that section of the post. Use your long-tail keywords when writing your posts. Search engines will love you for it.
Use Keyword Rich Phrases
You’ve heard me mention long-tail keywords before. But, long-tail keywords are keyword rich phrases, usually 4 to 8 words that describe a topic. For example, the long-tail keyword for this blog post would be “SEO Driven Content Creation Process”. So if you search for content creation process or seo content creation process, this post should show up (assuming I’ve done everything else correctly with respect to optimizing the post).
Structure Your Posts
To make your content more palatable to search engines, structuring your posts into an easily scannable format is going to be key. This would mean you have many headings introducing each section of the post. And then under each heading are short, succinct paragraphs using the appropriate keywords.
Propel Content with Social Media
Lastly, let’s talk about using social media to propel your content. Be sure to post your newest content to all of your social platforms, using properly optimized titles and descriptions. You’ll also want to encourage website visitors to share your content. This will drive more traffic to your website, which in turn is great for your SEO efforts.
And that’s it folks. These are the five steps in the SEO driven content creation process. Like I said at the beginning, it’s isn’t difficult, just time consuming. If you don’t have time to write SEO strategic blog posts and content, you may want to outsource to a great SEO focused writer. This will save you time and set you up for success.
