When people and companies discuss content optimization, they’re often pointing to search engine optimization (SEO). However, it doesn’t mean that one should be optimizing your content solely for search engine bots. Rather, the opposite is somewhat more true; when you optimize your content for humans, it then becomes search engine friendly.
Table of contents
What Is Content Optimization?
To summarize, content optimization is the practice of polishing your content. So it has the best possible chance of achieving the intended goal of ranking in a search engine. Some marketers use it to turn leads into conversions.
The best part is that anyone can use content optimization. You can implement a number of basic, tested methods to achieve these goals. Keep in mind that it’s not just about performing technical tasks and ticking boxes. Significant marketing and editorial elements along with web content optimization need to be covered, too.
Importance of Content Optimization
Content optimization is the real deal. Let’s say a marketer has written a great blog that’s related to their core product. Now, the goal is to get as many eyes on it as possible. This is where many brands falter. Two to three months after publishing, you can gain insights about the performance of the post only to find that nobody has seen it. This is because of the following reasons:
- The keywords in use have little to no search volume
- The topic has not been covered in any real level of detail
- There is no coherent heading structure
- Google’s bots have had a hard time making sense of the content
- The title tag misrepresents what the article is about
For those who spend less and less time on content optimization, your piece would most likely disappear into the Google vortex. Even if someone has written the best article in the world, with excellent insights and helpful advice, it can go to waste. The content game is all about search engines. If they can’t find it, nobody’s interested in it, or the pitch is directed towards the wrong audience.
Best Strategies to Optimize Content
The primary goal of digital content optimization is to be visible in search engines. To help you avoid this, we’ve come up with some helpful tips to keep you on the right content optimization path and make sure your content strategy is successful.
Finding the Right Topic and the Right Keyword
The content topic and target keywords are the primary building blocks of every content piece. It’s important to identify those before preparing and writing your piece. My advice would be to start with a bigger topic. Google has now diverted its focus on paying more attention to how topics are covered vs a single keyword. Remember, keywords are separate search queries that people use. It all depends on the size and authority of your brand. You also need to consider if the keyword is achievable and whether it meets the search intent of your target audience.
Create Website Topical Authority
Let’s try to understand how Google works; the search engine has shifted its focus away from keywords and toward topical authority. You need Google to associate your website with the topics you want to be associated with. These topics usually relate to your products or services in some way. The best way to do that is by creating small libraries or topic clusters. In specific, the small libraries must be tightly connected to your products and services so that Google can make the right associations for your business. This approach helps build topical authority in Google’s eyes, ultimately improving your SERP rankings.
Change the Keyword you’re Targeting
For longer periods of time, people can fail to recognize their long-tail keywords. One of
The strategy I use for new authority websites is to focus on long-tail keywords of a topic. Now you must be thinking, what does that mean? Let’s say you’ve identified and decided to target ‘’content blog’’ in your research. Now in this situation, the top keywords can be really difficult to rank for. Target easier to rank keywords such as “airtable blog content” as They are far easier to search for yet still have traffic potential. Plus, if the content is great, you’ll eventually rank for the head term. This is how you can start the procedure:
- Choose a page in Google Search Console.
- Sort all positions in ascending order.
- Opt for the long-tail query.
- Refresh or rewrite the copy and publish.
Channel Your Inner Writer
The funny lesson any writer learns on their first day in the advertising business is that nobody wants to read your supposed masterpiece. The industrial definition of writing is far different than the ones we see in daily life. Writing well is to provide value to readers who invest their time and attention. The statistics also back up this insight. Most people spend their time in the top half of a web page. Simply put, this way you will better capture attention with your words at the beginning of the page. There are many ways to write better; the popular way to do this is by using shorter sentences and paragraphs. My favorite one is to avoid the wall of text, paraphrase, and write definitions and answers.
Write short sentences and avoid walls of text
Avoid your page looking like a wall of text by writing short sentences and paragraphs. You can do this by incorporating short words, short sentences and concise paragraphs. Breaking down your copy into short sentences and paragraphs.
Paraphrase
Paraphrasing is another way to optimize both SEO and content. It’s to restate the same information differently, sounding clear in the process. Personally, when I complete a draft article, my instinct is to highlight every sentence of a document and review the suggestion that the paraphrasing or rewriting tool proposes.
Include a Persuasive Call to Action
It’s not ideal to leave readers hanging after they read a post. Especially when the content has massive value. I would advise you to Include an irresistible CTA, encouraging readers to take action toward solving their issues. This can be in the form of subscribing to an email list, or even booking a free consultation call. Try doing something as basic as leaving a question in the comment box. What makes a CTA powerful?
Emotion. Conversion-driven CTAs relate to the prospect’s pain and immediately trigger action. Your CTA should make them feel understood.
Credibility. Trust is always related to sales. Appeal to skeptical buyers with social proof like specific data, testimonials, and expert endorsements.
Timing. Effective CTAs align so the prospect is in the buyer’s journey. Do not be afraid to pepper them throughout the post.
Manage Keyword Density
Many SEOs will be familiar with the once-prominent practice of keyword stuffing. This “tactic” is now obsolete, so companies need to pay attention to keyword density. In practical terms, it points to finding an optimal balance between mentioning your keyword throughout the copy.
The latter strategy leads to a bad reader experience and to Google penalties. It’s important that each piece of content requires strategy more advanced than simply focusing on one single keyword.
Be Aware of Cannibalization
Cannibalization is a scary word, but it can also affect Google rankings. Keyword cannibalization is when you optimize different pages on your website for the same keyword. For search engines, this means your content is competing with itself. This makes your rankings more prone to take a hit. The trick is to ensure that your website page is targeting a unique keyword. The easiest way to find out if you are already ranking for a certain keyword would be to Google it. Use the following formula: Site: “keyword”. You can also add the ^ symbol for the exact match.
Structure Content With Header Tags
Optimizing content structure with topic headings is critical for SEO heaven. Header tags will help with organizing content and improve readability, along with enhancing user experience. Header tags are basically HTML elements used to define the top of a page. They have several benefits. For example;
- Providing proper page structure.
- Help search engines understand content.
- Organizing content into logical parts.
- Making the content easier to read and skim.
- Improving the relevancy of content.
- Helps all kinds of content rank in search results.
- Help improve content rank for keywords.
- Optimizing content for a Google Featured Snippet.
- Making content visually appealing for the audience
- Improve accessibility for visually impaired users who use a screen reader.
The six header tags in use are H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6. H1 is the most important level and H6 is the lowest, less used level. Each header also serves a different purpose. For example, H1 tags introduce your page title and describe the main topic. Search engines place a higher value on Heading 1 tags than on other headings.
H2 tags are known to introduce main topics your content covers. Experts advise using them to organize your content into well divided sections. H2 headings make it easy for users to scan your page and quickly find the content they’re interested in reading.
H3s to H6s serve as additional subheadings, used in correlation to the H2 section. You can use them to answer questions, introduce new sub-sections, create lists, and help users navigate your content.
Image Optimization is King
There is no better content than visuals. They attract more users than any other SEO aspect. Image SEO is often overlooked in a content optimization strategy. Optimizing your images plays a major role in boosting site’s performance, increasing traffic, and improving user experience. For example, optimized images are known to speed up the page loading time. They add context to any content while improving the relevancy of the article or blog. Not only that, visuals also make your content visually appealing. What else can improve user experience like aesthetically pleasing images? They are able to help search engines understand the image and enable users to both understand and engage with your content. There are several other ways images can be helpful:
- Increasing social media shares.
- Breaking up large blocks of text, making the content easier to read.
- Increase conversions.
- Boosting rankings in Google Image searches and sending more traffic to your website.
- Improving accessibility for visually impaired users using a screen reader.
- Provide ALT text when the images cannot load.
Best practices for optimizing images:
Name image files thoughtfully. Optimized image titles are easier to find in image searches and help increase traffic. Write short descriptive file names and include relevant keywords. Avoid keeping vague file names like IMG007.jpg.
Write descriptive Alt text. Alt text will aid your search engines and screen readers to understand the image. It also improves topical relevance and boosts rankings in Google Images.
Content Optimization For The Win
Simply put, there is no substitute for content. As long as there are indytries trying to attract consumers and woo them, content will be present and thrive. But optimizing what we write is integral to targeting the right audience. With an abundance of content online, creating the best quality of words is the only way to gain an edge over competitors. Use the above mentioned content optimization strategies to birth high-value content that attracts and converts visitors. Finally do not forget about the older content on the website. What you can do is revisit these pages and apply the same SEO content optimization tips to boost traffic like never before. The time is right now, so do not keep your brand waiting.
There we have it, an all important guide on why optimizing your content is important and how to achieve it without breaking a sweat. We hope you can implement these strategies and make the best out of your content. Feel free to reach out and comment in case of any queries!
Featured Image: Velocity Consultancy
