Content Strategy Development for SEO Success In 2019
With 2019 approaching fast, you do not want to step off on the wrong foot. A content strategy that focuses less on SEO and more on producing content is synonymous with a ticking time bomb. This is because all your content efforts are going to blow up and not in a pleasant way. The same goes for a content strategy that lacks planning.
To tackle this task, you not only need to focus on planning but also need to direct your efforts toward making your content strategy SEO-friendly. For this purpose, we have laid out a map that will help you navigate the topic of content strategy that goes hand in hand with successful SEO.
Know Your Topic Authority
Many a time, various content writers are guilty of producing content with no sense of direction. This action can be compared with a blindfolded archer trying to hit the red spot. Just like the archer keeps missing the target, the same can be said about individuals who work hard but fail to hit it right with the readers because of the lack of content information.
Topic authority is an important aspect of content strategy. This is because, for many individuals, it acts as a foundation for finding the right audience along with the target keywords. It is not only beneficial from an SEO point of view but it also helps in identifying your content niche.
By performing this step with extreme precision, you will get your hands on such data that will help you in creating great yet relevant content.
Find Your Target Audience
After figuring out your content authority, the next biggest challenge that demands immediate attention is finding your target audience.
You may think that if you keep uploading content in a certain niche, the right audience would come running to you. However, this is not how this works! Finding your audience is a painstaking process that takes days of research. The good news is there are various methods through which you can discover your audience. Here are a few suggestions:
- Create an audience persona.
- Conduct regular surveys.
- Rely on Google Analytics as it has tons of data about your target audience.
- Engage with your social media followers and get their opinions.
These suggestions are just the tip of the icebergs. If you want to attain a deep understanding of this process, then read this article.
Find a Problem and Bring a Solution
If you want to blabber about random stuff, then a personal blog is the best place for you. On the other hand, if you want your content to be useful to your target audience, you need to find a problem. A piece of content which is successful in terms of SEO is the one that identifies a problem and determines to provide a solution.
Moreover, a great content strategy is the one that strives to remove any confusion your audience may have concerning your products/services. So, when you create content that covers a problem and provides a solution, your audience will be less confused and will see your products/services in a new light!
Keyword Research
As the name suggests, keyword research is the art of looking for a specific combination of words that is popular among your niche’s target audience. Tools like Google Keyword Planner or Moz Keyword Explorer can be used to find relevant keywords that will help shape your content strategy.
In addition, incorporating the keywords naturally in your content also helps in bumping up your ranking in search engines. For more information, you can contact any SEO company UK and they will guide you in these matters effectively.
Develop a Posting Schedule
Pumping out great content with no posting schedule is not going to take you anywhere. Once you have formed your audience through your content, they will expect you to stick to a posting schedule. But if you fail to follow your own timetable, you will lose your audience just as quickly as you gained them.
Because of the competitive nature of content niche, you need to figure out a posting calendar and maintain it throughout. Because if you fail to do so, someone else may take up this position!
Experiment and Improvise
To have a successful SEO strategy, you need to look beyond just text and experiment with other things one of which is video content! A lot of content creators may not warm up to the idea of including videos in their content. However, with the rise in video platforms and an increase in video audience, it becomes mandatory to include it content strategy from an SEO point of view.
So experiment by including videos in your content. Measure and compare the engagement rate of articles with and without videos and stick with the one that produces better results.
Social Media Platforms
Including social media platforms in your content strategy will only bring favorable results in terms of SEO. You must be thinking that Google does not directly take social media engagement into its ranking factors. However, the likes, shares, and tweets all influence those ranking factors which Google takes into consideration.
Because of this, it is important to include social media into your content strategy because the more content you share on your profiles, the more it will be shared by your followers. This will not only increase your target audience base, but it will bring more visibility to your blogs. It is a win-win situation because it not only improves your content strategy but also bumps up your ranking in SERPs.
Conclusion
With the introduction of new tools and platforms, the content development sector is shifting gradually to accommodate all these new trends. In the coming years, the content strategy will go beyond just plain text. So it becomes necessary to review and experiment the new tools to have a content strategy that optimized for better ranking as well.
With that being said, you need to come up with ways to measure your success. Of course, not everything is going to work in your favor. So you need to identify these practices and remove them from your overall strategy. Failure to do so can negatively impact your SEO ranking.
