How to Create Content That Is Perfectly Optimized
When it comes to online engagement, content is still king. However, your content is only going to live up to its full potential if it’s perfectly optimized for the intended audience. Optimizing your content may seem like a monumental task, but there are a few steps you can take to make it more visible and appealing to both search engines and searchers. The experts at Saba SEO, one of the leading San Diego marketing companies, share a few tips on how to create perfectly optimized content.
Do Keyword Research
Even the most amazing content won’t perform well if keyword research isn’t part of the equation. Google’s Keyword Planner, Moz’s Keyword Explorer, and KWFinder are some of the handy tools you can use to figure out things like:
• What searchers are using to find info about your business, products or services, or topic
• How competitive your preferred keywords are
• What keywords your competitors are using to target the same searchers
Keep Your URLs Short
If searchers see long URLs with a bunch of meaningless numbers and characters, they’re likely to think the corresponding content is from a questionable site. Add some SEO power to your URLs by:
• Including your main keyword
• Shortening the URLs as much as possible
• Adding a brief description of the content and mentioning your target location (e.g. restaurant-guide/affordable-eateries/Miami)
Create Compelling Title Tags
The title tag is the headline associated with your content on search engine results pages, which is why it’s so important. Again, you’ll want to use your main keyword. You only get a maximum of about 60 characters, so make the tag as descriptive of its corresponding content as possible.
Write Unique Meta Descriptions
Google doesn’t use meta descriptions as a ranking factor anymore, but these descriptive blurbs of text still impact click-through rates (CTRs). A perfectly optimized meta description includes:
• Use of the main/target keyword
• A compelling reason to click
• A short call to action, if appropriate (e.g. “30-day free trial”)
Focus on H1 and H2 Tags
An H1 tag usually wraps around the title for your content. On WordPress, the H1 tag is where you’ll see the “enter title here” prompt. Your H1 tag will be very similar to your title tag. However, you can always add a few more details to your H1s for added impact.
H2 tags are often used for subheadings that support the main title. Avoid keyword stuffing by using natural variations of your keywords in some of your H2 (or H3) tags.
Update Your Content Every Now and Then
Google doesn’t pay attention to “last updated” timestamps for ranking purposes, but it can make a difference with CTRs. Searchers are more likely to click on the latest content.
Naturally Add Keywords within the First 100 Words
Keyword stuffing is still not advisable. However, for optimization purposes, you can naturally use your primary keyword(s) within your opening paragraph or within the first hundred words of your content.
Include Images and Videos
Searchers form an opinion about content within 50 milliseconds. Plus, more than half of all internet traffic is video, and posts with images get about 650 percent more engagement than text-only posts. The point is that your content is more likely to get attention if it includes relevant images and/or videos. Options with visual content include:
• Infographics
• Properly sized images (with alt-image text so search engines can tell what they’re about)
• Embedded YouTube or Vimeo videos
Pay Attention to Outbound and Internal Links
Outbound links can boost your content’s authority, especially if you’re linking to reliable and trustworthy sources. These links can also help search engines determine the relevancy of your content. Internal links make it easier for both searchers and search engines to navigate your site. A good way to use internal links is to include links within your content to other pages that offer more info. When appropriate, use anchor text for your internal links that includes your keywords
Increase Page Speed
Google now considers page speed an important ranking factor. Besides, it only stands to reason that slower pages aren’t going to create a very good user experience. Google’s PageSpeed Insights reports provide important details about page speed. Pingdom, GTmetrix, and WebPagetest are among the other tools you can use to keep tabs on page speed and overall website speed.
Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly
Google now looks at websites based on how they appear on mobile devices first. If you want your content to perform well, it has to be on pages that perform well on mobile devices. Boost your content’s mobile-friendliness by:
• Using a responsive website design (adjusts to whatever screen content is being viewed on)
• Avoiding the excessive use of images, HTML, JavaScript, and other elements that could slow down pages
• Fetching and rendering as mobile Googlebot (to spot potential issues)
Another issue with content is determining how long it should be. The answer will depend on its purpose. On contact or form pages, for instance, short, compelling content tends to be more effective since people visiting these landing pages are usually ready to take the desired action. However, visitors checking out your blog are likely to expect something more in-depth. With any type of content you present, put yourself in the place of your target audience and ask yourself this question: “Would I find this content useful, relevant, and compelling?”
If you need unique, compelling, and fully optimized content for your business, turn to Saba SEO. As a leading SEO company in San Diego, we have created and optimized high-quality content for organizations all over the world. Our experts are up to date with the latest Google upgrades, and we can help you create content that is sure to resonate well with your audience, encourage conversions, and boost your online visibility. We have over ten years of experience in digital marketing and an A+ rating on BBB to our credit. Call us at 858-277-1717 to schedule an appointment with one of our SEO specialists.
