Optimise around topic not keywords
Keywords are without a doubt the most commonly recognised aspect of SEO. Since marketers first began optimising online content, keywords were the MUST
HAVE. However times have changed and, more importantly, Google's Algorithm's have changed.
Say, for example, you're in need of a Carpenter in London. Rather than force the words 'Carpenter London' into your content as many times as possible,
take a step back and work with the topic rather than singular words. By including keyword phrases like 'Best Carpenter in London', 'Cheap Carpenter
in London' and 'Bespoke Carpenter in London', you're opening your content up to be found by anyone browsing through the topic, rather than just one
or two keywords.
So, will your site still show when someone searches 'Carpenter London'?
Yes! Even better, when you scroll to the bottom of the search page, you'll see this:
This means your site will cover a huge variety of search terms, whilst also being recommended by Google in their Related Searches at the bottom of each
results page.
Low Word Count on Content
Thanks to social media, texting and a number of other direct messaging services, we have normalized laziness when it comes to word count. The microblogging that we've become so familiarised with since social media's sudden growth, has affected
our overall ability to write lengthier content.
A study by serpIQ proved that an
article less than 1000 words long 'Won't do too much for your SEO'. The average content length of the top 10 results showed the highest ranking blogs/articles
sat at around 2450 words. Whilst this is important if you're looking to produce a piece solely to rank on search engine result pages, if you're not,
then don't stress!
Depending on what you're writing about, a microblog, 200 words or 1000 words blog may be perfect. Every person, business and reader is different so you
need to adjust evenly for each article you write. This said, to produce evergreen content (content which stays high in search engines rather than fades
after a short amount of time) the larger the word count, the higher the chance of an Evergreen article.
Confused Consistency rules
Consistency. How often should you blog? As much as possible? Once a month? Weekly? Whenever you feel like it? Truth be told, there's no right answer. However,
to maximise inbound traffic, HubSpot researched the topic and came to the conclusion that 'Companies that published 16+ blog posts per month got almost 3.5X more traffic than companies
that published between 0-4 monthly posts.' So there it is: The secret ingredient to organic traffic.
I'm sure that within 3 years, I'll be re-writing this very article as SEO continues to change, but until then, be sure to follow this guide.
Here at Website Success, we offer a number of SEO services so if you're interested, head over to our Contact Us page and find out what we can do for your business.
