SEO Conference And A Few Words On The Importance Of Content And Its Future In SEO - Semalt Expert
A few weeks ago, there was a special conference organized by SEO Experts called: SEO Conference 2022! We couldn't miss it because of the special program of the event and the subject matter, i.e. content optimization in a broad sense. The 3 days of the conference were a huge dose of knowledge, served by the best specialists from all over the world. There were also SEO representatives from the US, UK, and Sweden who shared their experiences working with content. And we decided to share with you the most important conclusions and a summary of the topics we remember most about this year's conference.
Content is King!
It has been a controversial issue for many years between SEO specialists, but we know one thing - NEVER, NEVER, can you ignore the optimization and development of the content during the activities on the website. This conference showed us how to facilitate the creation of an appropriate strategy, how to adapt it to the client, and what tools should be used in this work. By the way, we found out what the approach to this topic looks like among foreign specialists who have developed their own content optimization process over the years. Together, however, we conclude that the content on the page is an important element of SEO.
Planning a strategy
The content creation process must be properly planned to meet the expectations of users and SEO principles. It is not an easy procedure, as it requires compliance with many guidelines that should be kept in mind at every step. So where to start? In the beginning, it should be clearly stated:
- Who are your target customers/readers?
- What do they expect?
- Where can you find them?
- How to use your content through distribution and re-purpose?
After answering these questions, it is worth finding out directly at the source what content the users visiting the website are interested in. It is mainly about the type of information, the format of its presentation, the indication of a specific topic that would seem useful to the user at the moment, and additional issues that he/she would like to read about in the future.
A great way to establish personal contact with users is a welcome e-mail, in which the above-mentioned questions are asked. If someone wants to have a real impact on what content appears on the website, he/she will certainly be willing to answer at least a few of them to get real benefits from it. You can also think of other ways, such as:
- a question on the website in the form of a pop-up;
- periodic surveys among website visitors;
- interviews with clients;
- talking to people responsible for selling products/services.
On this basis, you can choose a method of preparing the content that will be easy to read for users, and at the same time interesting to them. At this point, you can move on to the implementation of the content, about which a few words, just below!
Keyword selection with search potential
Many speakers, in their presentations during the conference, talked about the importance of the right selection of key phrases in your content. It is not only about a large number of searches per month, it is important, but even the best-optimized content for a demanding keyword may turn out to be not very interesting for the user. During the process of selecting key phrases, you should also take into account the user's intentions (which I will talk about later) and the degree of matching the phrase to the topic being described. This is where specialized analysis tools such as the Dedicated SEO Dashboard come in. Indeed, with this tool, you can search for thematically related phrases, select a few to use, and export, for example, to a CSV file, so you can put them later in a file or a content planner.
Additionally, you can use the help of several other tools, such as:
- a program presenting the most frequently asked questions by users;
- forum-type applications where users can ask questions and answer;
- social media and local communities.
However, the most important thing is to observe your own website - its analytics, social media and paid ads. You need to constantly check where most users are coming from, what content has interested them and what keywords are reaching specific entries. Thanks to this, you can choose the right direction when you choose a topic and associate a set of key phrases with it.
User intentions
The keywords should always be tailored to the user's intentions. What does that actually mean? The best way to show this is with an example. The user opens Google, enters the phrase "summer dresses" in the search engine, presses enter and receives a list of results. What do you think exactly he/she wants to find in this list? This is a typical product phrase, so the most accurate result will be shops pointing to the "dresses" or "summer dresses" category.
However, it can happen that among several articles, the user comes across a blog post where he/she will not find any information related to the product he/she is looking for. He/she will then enter the page and leave it immediately, which will increase the bounce rate. The owner of this website which is displayed after the phrase "summer dresses" will have given him/her something to think about - the blog page does not match the user's intention that he/she associates with this phrase.
Appropriate optimization of the product subpage should significantly increase the traffic on the website, and thus also the conversion, which is why the user's intention is extremely important when placing the phrases on the website.
Semantics in Content Marketing
Many of today's internet users only associate SEO with spam articles, such as those on the theme of Shopping Sunday. You don't have to look far, just the first example from the search engine.
We usually find the answers to questions asked only at the end of articles, which is very troublesome for Internet users. That is why the conference could not miss a presentation on the semantics of the content - how to prepare it so that it is legible and user-friendly, and not just prepared for work.
So we return to the stage of phrase selection. You should go through it taking into account the 3 most important factors:
- phrase type;
- user's intention;
- the page type assigned to the phrase.
Google organizes the presented data in this way, guided mainly by the intention of the user. However, it is related to the type of phrases that meet the expectations of the searcher. Therefore, these data are divided into 3 types:
After choosing a phrase set, we focus strictly on semantics.
The most important feature of the content is that it is readable for the user, which is why we focus strongly on the visual aspects. We divide the text - we create the h1 heading, break the main content into paragraphs and add h2 headings to them, but we cannot forget to create metadata that will encourage the client to enter the link.
In most of these elements, the key phrase you want to be visible must not be missing, but you cannot make such a phrase to be used in every sentence and headline, as it is in the case of articles about trading Sundays.
So how do you find a compromise?
Andy Crestodina in his presentation touched on a few short rules that are to help in creating semantically correct content. Talking about:
- using the phrase only once at the beginning of the title tag;
- using the phrase only once in the H1 header;
- using a phrase 2-4 times for every 500 words - this is an assumption, however, there is no rule regarding the frequency of phrases in the text.
When creating content, you should focus on its quality, providing users with texts that meet their expectations, and at the same time, ensuring high marks from robots. However, we know that dense keyword placement is not the way to increase traffic. What counts is the topic - its presentation, compliance with the user's intention and weaving a few key phrases into an interesting description. It is not around key phrases that the text should be created, but words that will fully fit into it should be selected around the topic of the content.
At the final stage of creation, it is worth taking care of the visual qualities of the text. The enormity of the content, exhausting a specific topic, may turn out to be too tiring for the user and after some time, instead of reading to the end, the user will leave the page. Each editor creating a text should remember the following:
- to break it down into paragraphs, sections, chapters;
- the use of headings separating parts of the topic discussed;
- adding a few graphics/photos/charts/tables - depending on the length of the text;
- weaving visually interesting quotes into the content, if they are to appear;
- using bullets, creating lists, and adding other available formattings.
The most important rule for content creation!? Do not use only keywords, find and use semantically related words and phrases in your text.
Storytelling
Content creators need a story to sell - these are the words of Ryan Foland, who made an incredibly interesting presentation on storytelling. A creative approach to writing texts will surely influence their reading and the feeling of readers. So if we present them with an interesting story in an appropriate way, presenting our experience as specialists and years of work in the industry, we can gain a new group of customers.
By describing your experience, you build an opinion among others, and by doing it well you become an expert in a given field in the eyes of your customers or readers. Therefore, when creating a story, you should use both your previous experience and share the knowledge gained through years of experience. The best way to do this is by storytelling, i.e. presenting your story, which will make the creator an expert and attract crowds.
Through storytelling, we give people the opportunity to get to know themselves and their products, while building their trust in us. Because it is trust that is the success of every sale. However, the point is not to focus solely on yourself, the story should be written in such a way that every reader sees himself/herself in it.
We tell stories practically every day, answering the questions "how was your day?", "What happened at work?", Or even the usual "how are you?" We create a story that stimulates the listener and encourages him/her to ask new questions. This is exactly how you should approach content creation! Do it so that the reader sees a lesson in the story for himself/herself so that he/she can get the most out of it and feel that he/she wants to trust you.
Summary
Content has always been and will be an important element of SEO. This conference was a great example of how we can approach the topic of content in different ways, just to find one that will help us reach users. We learned not only where to start, but also how to arrange the entire content creation strategy, how to choose key phrases and, above all, how to meet the expectations of Internet users who enter words in the search engine in order to obtain a specific result.
We hope that this is not the last such event, bringing together specialists from many countries. The exchange of knowledge and experiences is very valuable, especially when we can learn a lot from each other.
If you need to learn more about the subject of SEO and website promotion, we invite you to visit our Semalt blog.