SEO Content Creation 101 By LinchpinSEO for Small Business in Chicago

SEO CONTENT 101 It’s About Competing For Value

Today

¨  What is SEO? ¨  What is SEO Content? ¨  Developing Your SEO Strategy ¨  Competitive Analysis ¨  Free Content Tools ¨  Q/A

What is SEO?

SEO is a business strategy inclusive of publishing, branding, marketing, and traffic acquisition.

The TLCs of SEO

Personas

For our purposes, we create personas, or example users, as tools to represent the needs, desires, skills and environment of one or more classes of users.

Who is the Googlebot Persona?

Googlebot Persona 15 Years Old | Experienced Information Gatherer | Mountain View, CA

•  Googlebot is a passionate information gatherer. •  Over 3 million people come to it each day to get answers to their questions. •  It however, has it's weaknesses, it can only gather and present the information if it can access

the information on a website. •  It loves when users give it paths to new content, and tells it what that content is about. •  When determining what a website or page should be ranked for, the Googlebot Persona has

evolved from using what a website says about itself, to what other personas say in their social channels or on their websites.

•  It has become very good at determining what users will find valuable based on what users have told it over the years.

•  If a website gives it a lot of bad information or information that is not valuable it will start to ignore the website and not use the information when a user asks for it.

Googlebot Persona Continued

Persona's Mentality

¨  Enjoys Finding and Organizing Content

¨  Likes When Others Tell It What's Best or Relevant

¨  Person Pleaser

¨  Needy

Goal ¨  Match the other personas with the information they are

searching for.

Needs

¨  Needs a focused path to follow to find new content

¨  Needs people telling it what's relevant through constant feedback

¨  Needs high value keyword focused content

¨  Needs users to find value in what it tells them

Issues ¨  Has difficulty finding, understanding, and presenting content

that is located in places it can't access.

¨  If a link is present it will crawl it, unless told not to, which often sends the persona into places of low value where it gets lost.

Googlebot Persona 15 Years Old | Experienced Information Gatherer | Mountain View, CA

•  Googlebot is a passionate information gatherer.

•  Over 3 million people come to it each day to get answers to their questions.

•  It however, has it's weaknesses, it can only gather and present the information if it can access the information on a website.

•  It loves when users give it paths to new content, and tells it what that content is about.

•  When determining what a website or page should be ranked for, the Googlebot Persona has evolved from using what a website says about itself, to what other personas say in their social channels or on their websites.

•  It has become very good at determining what users will find valuable based on what users have told it over the years.

•  If a website gives it a lot of bad information or information that is not valuable it will start to ignore the website and not use the information when a user asks for it.

Evolution of SEO

1999-2002 2003-2005 2006-2009

2010 Early 2011 Late 2011

2012

On-Page SEO Anchor Text Authority & Link Diversity MAYDAY & Social Integration Panda Update Freshness Update Search Plus Your World

Why Does Googlebot Evolve?

The goal of the the Googlebot Persona is to find and present content that is both valuable and relevant to a

searchers keywords.

% of Googlebot Persona

25% is content based. This might seem low but if this is not done well, then the other areas will not bring value.

Technical 5%

Content 25%

Links 55%

Social 15%

WHAT IS SEO CONTENT? It’s About Competing For Value

What is Content?

Content is a value metric. ¨  Adding keywords to a page doesn’t necessarily improve the ranking of a

page for the added keywords.

¨  Content provides value for inbound marketing efforts (link building & social) ¨  Low quality content on a website reduces search engine visibility by

lowering the authority and value for the Googlebot Persona and the user.

“Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration”

– Jeffrey Zeldman

Types of Content

Brand

Marketing Information

SEO Anatomy of a Page

1.  Title Tag 2.  H1 Tag 3.  Content 4.  Images 5.  URL

1

3

2

4

5

Title Tag

Title tags signal content to the Googlebot and should: •  Closely match the title

of the page (H1 Tag) •  Be less than 80

characters •  Contain the keywords

that the page is targeting.(1 primary 2 supporting)

1

Header Tags

2

¨  Describe the content

¨  Should contain

the primary keyword

Content

3

¨  How does it stack up against the competition?

¨  Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?

¨  Is this the sort of page

you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?

¨  Would you expect to

see this in a magazine, journal or book?

Images

4

Images add value and context.

Considerations: •  Alt text •  Relevance •  Integration

(included in article)

URL

5 ¨  Social Implications:

They align with social sharing principles.

¨  Google Persona Focus: Giving the search engine a focused path through the website.

¨  User’s Search Intent: Matching user search intent will increase CTR and have a positive effect on user metrics and rankings.

What Defines Value?

¨  Content Depth ¨  Links into that content ¨  Social shares ¨  User metrics ¨  Author value

CONTENT STRATEGY It’s About Competing For Value

Field of Dreams

“If you write it, they will come”

Is not true anymore.

Tips To Create Value

¨  Visual Content & Interaction Points ¤  Content with videos will attract 3 times more attention.

¤  Content with all three media types (videos, images, and lists) will attract almost 6 times attention.

¨  Increase Content Length and Depth ¤  Contrary to common beliefs, large posts seem to attract more links than

posts with 900 words or less. ¤  Content with between 1800 and 3000 words will attract 15 times more

attention than those with less than 600 words.

Tips for Creating Viral Content

1.  Write for Power Skimmers

2.  Create Valuable/Catchy Headlines

3.  Add Numbers and Data

4.  Add Pictures

5.  Use Sub-Headlines

6.  When in Doubt, List it Out

7.  Quotes are Powerful

8.  Use Bold and the Italic

9.  Getting buy-in from influencers

10.  Including influencers in the creation process

Ask Yourself

¤  Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well? ¤  Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?

¤  Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?

¤  Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?

¤  Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic, or are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?

¤  Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?

¤  Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?

¤  Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?

KEYWORDS AND STRUCTURE The Second Tier of SEO

What Makes A Good Keyword

1.  Conversion Value 2.  Search Volume 3.  Matches User Intent 4.  Matches Brand Focus

Keyword Types

¨  Primary ¤ A article should target a primary topic.

¨  Secondary (Supporting) Keywords

¤ An article should target up to 5 secondary keyword ideas

¨  Long Tail ¤  This should include long tail key phrases such questions about

the topic.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS You Don’t Have To Outrun Lions

Competitive Analysis

Two guys are in the jungle when they see a lion running towards them. Frantically, one of the men starts putting on his running shoes. Surprised, the other man says " What are you thinking, you can't outrun a lion!!!” " I don't have to outrun the lion," said the man, " I just have to outrun you."

What Does This Mean?

We are competing with other sites for a group of valued keywords, we aren’t competing with the

algorithm.

Finding True Online Competition

Two types of competition 1.  Theoretical: Based on product set 2.  True: Based on keyword set

Competition is defined by the keyword set that a site is

attempting to target in the search results.

Define Keyword Set

1.  Define high value keyword set. •  Conversion Value •  Search Volume •  Matches User Intent •  Matches Brand Focus

Segment Keywords

1.  Segment keywords based on: •  Marketing •  Brand •  Informational

Competitive Output

Find a tool that can give you a clean set of search results.

SEOmoz Tool

Analyze the Ranking Page

¨  Look at content length ¨  Social signals ¨  Link metrics ¨  Topics covered ¨  Keyword diversity ¨  Content structure

FREE CONTENT TOOLS It’s About Competing For Value

¨  Google Adwords ¤ Used to get

approximate search volume.

¤ Used to find supporting ideas

Google Keyword Tool

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

¨  UberSuggest ¤ Use to expand

article ideas ¤ Use to build

supporting and secondary keywords

¤ Use to come up with ideas around a specific topic.

UberSuggest

http://www.ubersuggest.org

Wordtracker Question Tool

¨  Wordtracker Question Tool. ¤ Find long tail

questions to answer and add to your article.

https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/keyword-questions/

Copyscape

¨  Copyscape ¤ Used to find

copies of articles or parts of content within an article.

http://www.copyscape.com/

Final Thoughts

¨  Content is a Value Metric ¨  Create Value ¨  Write Complete Articles ¨  Socialize Your Content ¨  Build Value For Your Content by Building High Value

Links

QUESTIONS? CONTACT: BILLROSS@LINCHPINSEO.COM TWITTER: @BILLROSS