With the evolution of consumer behavior and the sheer volume of content produced, content marketers cannot rely solely on historical SEO performance data as an indicator of future success.
Google's mission hasn't changed – it simply wants to provide the best answer to every query. However, that ability to provide the best answer has evolved so that it can give the best answer more often.
Given 71% of marketers says that organic search plays an important role in their business, it is important that you learn as much as you can about how search connects with the business, target audience, etc. Here are seven areas to explore.
1. Market details
In HubSpot's Marketing Report Not another state 2021 , 83% of marketers say they conduct market research and 88% of that group use that research to inform business decisions. Of those surveyed, 67% of marketers plan to increase spending on market research in the next year.
Understanding your market in detail can help you better determine your content's ranking and traffic potential. Keyword research is the detailing activity needed here as it helps identify terms and phrases used by customers to find content, products, and services like yours.
Understanding your market in detail can help better determine the rankings and traffic potential of your content assets, @JimYu said via @CMIContent. #SEO Click To Tweet
You also need to know the sites that appear at the top of the results for those search terms. It may not be a traditional business rival. For example, top content might come from a major media publication, educational institution, or government agency that creates relevant content about your topic.
Rank tracking and market insights analysis can help you spot macro market trends and category-level opportunities to optimize content for more specific intents, keywords longer tails and SERPs less competition .
2. Searcher Intent
Know why Your target audience's searches allow you to deliver content they'll want to use.
Knowing why finding your target audience allows you to provide # content they'll want to use, @JimYu said via @CMIContent. #SEO Click to Tweet
Mapping your existing content with the customer journey. See the holes in your coverage. Maybe you're doing a great job creating top-of-the-funnel awareness and informational content, but not content that answers commercial or transactional queries. (Or maybe the resource exists but has a bad rating and could use a round Other optimizations .)
You can also evaluate the queries people use to find your content . When you clearly understand the reasoning behind the queries you're targeting, you can ensure that content continues to provide the best and most comprehensive answers.
Finally, you can go deeper to look at small moments – one's thoughts at the time of the search. In 2015, Google released a series of white papers around four key moments of search behavior – knowing, going, doing, and buying.
Fast forward to 2021, micro-timing strategies are still super relevant. Analyzing SERP results through a micro-momentary lens can help you better tailor content to your customer journey and content marketing strategy by:
- Understand how video images and quick-reading content should be used
- Know how the target audience and keywords differ in every little moment
- Improve the alignment of keywords with their customer journey faster
- How to determine paid content strategy can complement SEO in many small moments to dominate targeted keywords and categories
- Helps you prioritize spending on content that's close to converting.
3. Search Types
How does your target audience find content? This can make a huge difference in the format and even the information to include.
How your target audience searches for @JimYu via @CMIContent says: #content can make a difference in how you format your content. #SEO Click to Tweet
If you find 85% of your blog traffic finds your content through a mobile example, you should really prioritize providing a quality mobile site experience. The impact of ranking factors such as page speed external links, technical factors, and on-page factors vary by industry:
For example, if you operate in the financial sector, external linking is most important for rank and position of content in search results. In travel, page load speed is an important content ranking factor.
4. SERP Positioning
Search engine results pages don't look exactly the same for every search. In addition to traditional results with headers, search code and links, they can now include dozens of features, including rich snippets, video and image results map packs, people-also-questions and answers, etc.
It is essential that you understand the types of results that appear on the SERP for the queries you are targeting. For example, if the results page includes a listicle-style featured snippet that contains older, less authoritative content, it could be a great opportunity for your brand to create and optimize a listicle article. better topic targeting. Or, if you're after a topic where the video appears on the SERP, you can create and optimize the video to win a spot in the rich results that appear above the fold in valuable real estate. .
In many cases, you can learn from trends in your industry, as I cover below, in healthcare, education, home improvement, finance, travel, and e-commerce. death. For example, healthcare and education see a section of searchers appreciate quick answers, but that type of content doesn't even show up as a home improvement, financial, or commercial priority. electronic.
5. Content Type
SEO Insights can also help decide which content types and platforms are best suited for targeted keywords and audiences.
For example, a searcher would click to view an in-depth guide to what B2B buyers might expect from an e-book on a blog post. Although searchers wanting a general overview will likely expect a high-level blog post on the topic, not a controlled download.
You may also discover the type of original content that is not suitable to attract searchers. For example, your market and keyword research tells you that the guide published last month will work a lot better than it does now. However, your search results show that it doesn't work as expected. To extend its appeal, you repack it into different types of content – a Videos on YouTube SlideShare presentation or a series of blog posts.
Use your spot analysis reports and industry trends to inform what types of content are relevant and work best to meet different user needs. Use these SEO insights to inform new content and ensure each existing section is performing to its full potential.
Use #SEO insights to inform new #content and ensure each existing section is working to its full potential, @JimYu via @CMIContent said. Click to Tweet
6. Real-time user behavior and automation
This advice is a bit trickier because you can't necessarily optimize content in response to what people are doing on your site in real-time. However, research from Part, Accenture and other indications that consumers are frustrated when content feels non-personal, and most are more likely to shop with brands that offer they offer personalized recommendations .
AI enabled SEO technology can be a huge help in doing this at scale. After all, by the time you look at web analytics and discover exactly what visitors are looking for, they are long gone.
We worked with Campbell's, where recipe content was a key driver in product awareness and sales. Using our company's tool, their site automatically generates relevant internal links in the footer, labeling them as “members also viewed…” on all recipe pages eat. Within weeks, Campbell's content had turned to page one for 4,000 keywords.
7. Engagement and conversion insights
It is important to know which one key performance indicators (KPI) will tell you whether a piece of content is doing its job. For example, site traffic and ranking reports are great, but are visitors engaging with your content or just skimming?
Establish conversion tracking in Google Analytics to track whether visitors are completing your targeted goals.
You can also take a look at your social media platforms to understand what content attracts the most engagement. Can you replicate that success in search by targeting a different intent or topic area?
Putting it all together
SEO is an ongoing process; no good results. Your SEO content strategy should always be at the forefront of changing consumer behavior, from targeted keywords to mobile optimization and from searcher intent to categories. content.
Are you making the most of an SEO opportunity? As you intend for 2022, also prepare to go deeper. Search for areas to streamline content optimization, get more granular in your personalization, and scale your efforts with intelligent automation.
Cover photo by Joseph Kalinowski / Content Marketing Institute
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