Content Marketing Hack: Invest in Content Optimization
- Elin De Vits
- Oct 6, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 2, 2023
Do you already have many pages of valuable content live on your website? And do you share them through newsletters or social media but are disappointed with the organic search traffic coming in through search engines like Google and Bing? Then this concern is valid. Many content marketers and content managers focus on creating new things. They prefer testing new formats, exploring new channels, and delivering different messages. That's fine. However, undoubtedly, there is significant potential in optimizing your existing content. Want to know the best way to approach this? Keep reading!
What is Content Optimization?
Content optimization is an important yet often underestimated component of content marketing. Content optimization is the process where you adapt and structure your written, visual, or other forms of content to ensure that they are optimally visible and appealing to both search engines and your target audiences. It's all about finding the right balance between providing valuable and relevant information to your audiences while simultaneously meeting the criteria of search engines to perform well in the rankings of search results and to be visible. It goes without saying that you will apply your content optimization strategy not only to existing content but also ensure that all new content adheres to the same rules.
"It's all about finding the right balance between providing valuable and relevant information to your audiences while simultaneously meeting the criteria of search engines to perform well in the rankings of search results and to be visible. "
Where to Focus When Optimizing Content? A Checklist.
Make sure your content is very valuable for your audiences.
Strategically use keywords without engaging in "keyword spamming."
Improve the readability of your pages.
Adjust the meta-information and check if the sitemaps (a kind of blueprint of how your website looks) are neatly structured and updated.
Invest in internal and external links.
Optimize technical aspects, such as loading speed and mobile accessibility.
Also, consider: do you want to purely inform with these pages, or do you want to lead people through the marketing funnel towards a purchase? Are these pages standalone pages where you share engaging information? Or are they part of content clusters with a lot more interesting information on a particular topic? And do they also have commercial purposes, and would you like to introduce people to your company and engage them? In that case, they need to be part of a content strategy and a larger plan.
The Basics of SEO
Do you already have an SEO content strategy? SEO or search engine optimization is a specialization in which experts use a range of strategies aimed at improving the visibility of a website in the results list of search engines. Simply put, being in the top ten of the search results makes you much more visible and attracts a lot more attention (traffic to your website, visitors, and purchases) than those found on page six.
SEO is about getting higher rankings so that people land on your website and not on your competitors'. Key elements include using the right keywords, on-page optimization, off-page optimization, and technical SEO. And although all of this sounds very technical, and to some extent it is, SEO primarily revolves around offering good content that is interesting and easy to consume for the target audiences. Search engines analyze relevance, the quality of shared content, and user experience to determine rankings.
How to Go About Content Optimization?
In the following, I'll share the key components of how to approach optimizing your content.
1. Keyword Research
If you want to work on optimizing your content, start with thorough keyword research. Keyword research aims to map out the search terms and phrases (long-tail keywords) that your target audience enters into search engines.
Which words and phrases do your potential customers use to search for information about your products? Use various keyword research tools like Google Trends, Ahrefs, and Conductor to discover valuable keywords, both short and long-tail keywords (phrases, long-tail keywords). Long-tail keywords are particularly valuable as they often face less competition.
You'll notice that your target audiences sometimes use very different words and ask very different questions than the ones you could have come up with. A treasure trove of information, indeed. Because the more you use the words of your target audiences in your content, the better you'll be found.
2. On-Page Optimization and SEO-Friendly Content
I once heard someone refer to SEO-friendly content as simply "pleasing Google." That person wanted to convey that the quality of the content is not relevant as long as you meet certain SEO criteria. As mentioned, this is not true. Search engines like Google primarily aim for very good user experiences and high-quality content. Someone visiting your website should quickly find what they are looking for and should be offered valuable content in a pleasant manner. A second important check during your content optimization is: how strong is your content? How relevant are your blogs? And how does it cater to the needs of your target audiences? Are you mainly communicating from the company's perspective (inside out)? Or do you manage to communicate from the potential customers' needs (outside in)? Creating high-quality content is, therefore, the basic requirement for any content manager or SEO expert. Other important checks in content optimization include:
Did you use clear headings and subheadings?
Did you use short paragraphs?
Did you use bullet points to make longer enumerations clear?
Did you add relevant internal and external links to your pages?
Did you integrate the identified keywords naturally into the text
In addition, so-called on-page optimization is all about improving everything that can be found directly on your web pages or is attached to messages in the back office towards the search engines.
Did you work on attractive meta-tags and descriptions that appeal to users to click?
Did you optimize images by using descriptive alt tags?
Did you reduce file sizes?
Did you ensure that the files you share and the photos you add seamlessly align with the content of the page?
Did you pay attention to the structure of your URLs? Are they user-friendly, and did you use relevant keywords?
3. Technical SEO
Technical SEO focuses on improving the technical aspects of your website to enhance performance and visibility. Important aspects include:
Website speed and performance.
Setting up a robots.txt file for proper indexing and implementing canonical URLs to prevent content duplication.
4. Off-Page Optimization
Off-page optimization involves all initiatives you can take outside your website to enhance its visibility. Building a strong backlink profile by obtaining high-quality, relevant backlinks from important websites is crucial for Google. Additionally, engage in guest blogging, promote your site through social media, and manage online reviews to enhance your online presence and reputation.
Measuring the Impact of Content Optimization
To know if your efforts are paying off and to understand if and how it can be improved, analyzing your results is crucial. The days of old-school marketing where you spent enormous budgets on barely measurable campaigns are over. Today, you can neatly map out the results you generate and the impact of your content optimization. Monitor website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates closely. Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to gain a clear understanding of the impact of your content strategy. These insights provide very important information that can help you refine your content strategy and take your content optimization to a higher level.
In conclusion, the guide for content marketing and the way you optimize your content as efficiently as possible are evolving rapidly. Search engines regularly update their algorithms. Companies are constantly developing better tools to facilitate the lives of content marketers and SEO experts. To stay informed, you need to be aware of the latest trends, algorithm updates, and success stories. Follow reputable SEO blogs, follow industry experts on Linkedin, and participate in webinars and online conferences to keep your knowledge up to date.
Feeling motivated to start optimizing your content? Great. Just develop your own content optimization strategy and boost your online visibility. Good luck!
Need some assistance? Feel free to reach out.