What’s the point of publishing content on your website if it’s not going to drive traffic? The competition is the most difficult it has ever been in search. 

When 4.4 million blog posts are being published every single day, how do you get your articles to stand out and rise above the competition? 

There’s no quick solution but to invest the time into researching your audience to provide highly relevant solutions to the problems they are experiencing.

Content that provides extreme value has the best chances of ranking highly in the search results. A user is 131% more likely to buy from a company after reading an educational piece of content from a company. 

When developing an article to publish, the first thing to establish is what solutions people are looking to find and what words they are using to find them. SEO content is published to address those problems and rank for specific search terms. 

Although some things should be left to the professionals, you won’t need an SEO Toronto company if you follow these steps in creating content that ranks.

Keyword research

Researching keywords to target is a large part of the content creation process-especially when traffic is the overarching goal. Keyword research will inform you on:

• The depth of your audience for specific keywords.
• The commercial value of a search term.
• The strength of your competition.
• The type of content that ranks highly for your target phrase.

To publish content that ranks highly, your content should be optimized for a keyword topic while targeting a specific keyword. As part of your keyword research, you need to collect groups of keywords with similar intent. 

Use these keywords within your content to contribute to the overall optimization of your keyword topic. It’s not only the additional search phrases help but by writing about the content associated with the search phrases.

Collect related search terms from a few different sources, the first one being Google itself. Google can give you hints to what users are also searching for when they search for your target keyword.

For example, if you were writing about keyword research, a Google search for “keyword research” displays a section for Related searches. For this keyword, we see search terms such as “best SEO tools” or “content marketing tools”. 

Keyword tools are important for completing keyword research. They can give you a lot of information about a search term as well as a lot of suggestions for alternatives. 

Therefore, if you’re targeting the search term “keyword research” Google’s suggestion is that you include keyword tools in your content.

Incorporate information from keyword tools in your content creation

The volume a search term receives on a monthly basis can help determine whether it’s worth pursuing a keyword when compared to the strength of the competition. The commercial value of a keyword is also gauged by the cost per click. It reflects the market value of what businesses are paying for a single click.

Having this information at your fingertips contributes to identifying the keywords that drive the most traffic with the least amount of competition.

These tools also help to reverse engineer how a website is achieving a top ranking for a specific keyword. Analyzing a site’s backlink profile will give you an idea about how to approach your link building strategy.

Analyzing the keywords the competition ranks for will give you an indication of the content needed to create a top-ranking page. The thought process is that any keyword a page ranks for has to be supported with content. By identifying those keywords, you are picking up important clues as to what to include in your own article in order for it to rank highly.

Keywords lay the foundation for your content creation. Effective keyword research provides a strong indication of the content needed to rank a page highly in the search results. 

Topic and industry research

The top two ranking factors are backlinks and the ability to satisfy search intent. A well-researched article provides up to date facts, statistics and can answer the questions users are asking. These are the major characteristics of a top-ranking page.

Research the places your audience is going to find answers. Get familiar with the most common issues that are being discussed. Identify the pain points of your target audience and how they are reaching out for answers.

When you know exactly what it is that people are looking for, it’s easier to provide a more in-depth solution. The content you create becomes infinitely more effective when you have a specific audience in mind.

Explore the most popular websites to get first-hand knowledge of the language being used within your keyword topic. It’s much easier to relate to people when you use the same manner of speaking.

You can find a ton of different issues all associated with your keyword topic on niche forums, Reddit and Quora. Type in your keyword on any of these sites and look for discussion threads that start with questions or help!

Content that truly provides value gets shared and linked to the most. Include relevant stats and linkable data to attract more links and move your ranking higher as time goes by.

Incorporate multimedia

Users need to be entertained and stimulated. The numbers are in and plain text is losing the battle against articles that incorporate multimedia. Include engaging media within your content to maintain your audience’s attention and stimulate their learning.

Images

Include interesting and relevant images. Breaking up text to illustrate the points you’re making is a good way to keep your audience connected to what you’re saying.

Infographics

Infographics are a prime example of the effectiveness of data visualization. They generate 1.72 times more backlinks than regular articles. People retain more information because of the visual component, making them ideal for B2B marketing.

Videos

Videos can improve conversions by up to 80%. They keep users on your page for a longer period of time and are the most shared type of content on Facebook.

Audio

Podcasts are steadily growing in popularity. Including an audio version of your page gives users the option to digest content while driving or multitasking.

For each type of media, you incorporate in your content you are creating a different way of connecting with your audience. Combining the different forms of media within your content boosts the quality and value you’re offering.

Optimize for the target keyword

Content that is optimized for a target keyword has a higher chance of ranking in the SERP. Thanks to updates like Hummingbird and BERT, Google has a deeper understanding of what a page is about. However, you will still need to place your keywords in the most important parts of your page to enhance the optimization of your content.

Place your keyword at the beginning of your title

Include a keyword in your title-preferably at the beginning of your title to indicate the importance of your keyword. Placing your keyword at the beginning of the title also ensures it doesn’t get off in a search result. H1 titles should typically be 60 characters or less to ensure the full title is included in a SERP.

Make your keyword appear a few times throughout your content

Sprinkle your keyword a few times within your content. Stuffing your content full of your keywords won’t improve your optimization. In fact, it may work against you. Keep the first instance of your keyword within the first 100 words of your article.

Use your keyword and keyword synonyms in your subtitles

Use your keyword and related phrases in the subtitles of your content. H2 tags indicate the content that follows is directly related to the main purpose of your article. Using keywords and synonyms in your H-tags strengthens your optimization.

Include the keyword in your URL

Use your keyword in the URL of your page. Avoid computer-generated numbers and long-winded URLs. It’s ideal to shorten the URL to include 5 words including your keyword.

Optimize your images

Optimize your images by using your keyword in the alt tags. Write a natural and descriptive summary of the images in the alt description with your keyword included. Give your images a title and use the keyword in the filename. 

The longer it takes a page to load, the likelihood of a user leaving your site increases by 123%. Reducing the file size will also contribute to faster page speed and a well-optimized page.

Choose quality, create value and publish content that ranks highly

Every day there are a million new websites that are created and millions of articles that are published. In order to stand out from the masses, you have to provide value to your user with entertaining, or educational content.

If Google is going to recommend that people visit your site, there needs to be a good reason for placing your content in the number one position in the search result.

Spend time making high-quality content that is deeply valued. Publishing well researched, well-written, SEO optimized content will inevitably find it’s way to a top ranking.