Choose Your Own SEO Strategy Adventure

Four different SEO strategies for you to tackle I know a lot of us are always trying to configure our SEO and tweak it here and there to really suck the juice out of it. And I encourage that. SEO is an ongoing puzzle. It’s not just “set and forget” type of marketing activity. So with that in mind, I’ve proposed four overarching SEO strategies or components of an SEO strategy that I encourage you to look at this year. Now, depending on the size of your site or your brand, this can be a really overwhelming task. It might even take a whole team to action if you don’t have the resources; I suggest picking one of the following four strategies and really perfecting it to the best of your ability this year. Anything you can do will make a difference. Like I said above, if you don’t have the resources to tackle all of this yourself or have a team to help you, I recommend picking one of the four above, focusing on it and getting it really right before moving on to the next. You are better off diving in and making something work rather than doing bits and pieces here in there. So my recommendation is to pick either one or four above if you haven’t done a deep dive on either before. SEO strategy 1 – keyword optimisation Keyword optimisation is the process of researching, selecting, and incorporating keywords into your website content, meta tags, and other elements in order to improve your website’s visibility and ranking on search engines such as Google. The goal of keyword optimisation is to identify the keywords and phrases your target audience is searching for and to make sure that your website appears as high as possible in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for those keywords. The process of keyword optimisation involves researching and identifying the right keywords, analysing the competition for those keywords, incorporating the keywords into your website content in a natural and effective way, and continuously monitoring and refining your keyword strategy to ensure maximum results. Keyword optimisation is an important part of search engine optimisation SEO, as it can help drive more traffic to your website and increase your online visibility and credibility. The following are some techniques and methods you can apply if keyword optimisation is your chosen SEO strategy for this year. Again, if you work with limited resources, pick one and perfect it until you move on to the next.  Keyword optimisation techniques for 2023 I want to explain a few of these terms a little further since they may be new to you.  What are LSI keywords? LSI (latent semantic indexing) keywords are semantically related words and phrases that provide context and meaning to the main keyword. They help search engines understand the content’s topic and theme and can improve search ranking for the target keyword. The use of LSI keywords can also help avoid keyword stuffing and make the content appear more natural and relevant to the user. Examples of LSI keywords for the main keyword “pizza” could include “toppings”, “delivery”, “New York style”, “crust”, etc. What are topic clusters? Topic clusters are a content marketing and SEO strategy that organises related articles into interlinked groups, with one main piece of content serving as the “pillar” that provides comprehensive information on a particular topic.  Each cluster consists of the pillar content and several “cluster” articles that are linked to it, providing in-depth coverage of specific subtopics related to the pillar content. For example, where my main page (and SEO keyword and content focus) is “copywriter“, I would focus on creating and improving content (specifically blog articles) that are directly related to “copywriter”. That might look like topics such as “what’s it like being a copywriter”, “how to become a copywriter”, “what you need to know when hiring a copywriter”, etc.  Using topic clusters helps establish the website as an authority on the subject (which we know is vital for the EEAT formula), improves user experience, and increases the chances of ranking higher in search results for relevant keywords. What are local keywords? Local keywords are words that include a geographic location, such as a city, region, or neighbourhood. They are used to optimise content for local search queries. These keywords are used to target users who are searching for products or services in a specific area. Examples of local keywords include “pizza delivery in Adelaide”, “best hair salon in Melbourne”, and “coffee shops in Sydney”.  The use of local keywords can help improve a website’s visibility in local search results, attract local customers, and drive more relevant traffic to the website. If you’re a brick-and-mortar business, you would absolutely make this one of your SEO strategy priorities. Especially if you rely on face-to-face service as your business. When you run an online and remote business like mine, it’s not so important. But I still occasionally look at doing as, say, a third-level priority when it comes to improving my keywords and SEO activities. The way to tell whether you need to invest your time in this is by doing good quality SEO keyword research, and if you notice a lot of search volume for, say, “copywriter Adelaide” (if that is your local area), then it’s definitely worth popping it on your to-do list. What is user intent? User intent refers to the goal, need, or purpose behind a user’s search query. Understanding user intent is crucial in providing relevant and valuable content that satisfies the user’s search request. User intent can range from informational (searching for information), navigational (searching for a specific website), transactional (searching to purchase a product or service), or commercial (researching products or services before making a purchase).  By understanding and targeting user intent, marketers and content creators can optimise their content to better match the user’s expectations, improve search ranking, and increase user engagement and satisfaction. You can see in the image below that SemRush tells

Three quick content writing tips

1. How do you develop rich content writing for your demographic? Research! In depth research about your client or customer should always form a part of your marketing and content writing plan. Otherwise you may be anticipating needs and wants that may not even fit your target demographic. Ask them… through surveys, focus groups, feedback, industry research etc what they really want to know, what they are feeling as part of the customer journey and what they need and meet those needs for them. 2. Engaging readers and customers is a life long journey Although this depends on the industry, a good content writing campaign should be ongoing and nurture the customer/client every step of the journey. From before the decision making process has even begun, to post purchase and beyond. The term “life long” refers to the life of the customer journey, rather than the life of the customer. Although in some cases this can be one and the same. For example, if you had a product or service that your customer requires from infancy to old age, then you would adapt  to suit their changing needs throughout their lifetime. An example of this might be a medical/doctor service. 3. Content writing needs to be fresh but reusable Again, industry and topic dependent but well written content is usually evergreen or at least, able to be repurposed. If it’s news content that is being uploaded straight to a website, for most clients the content can stay on the website perpetually. Unless it harms the company (perhaps there has been a change in research or they no longer offer the product or service) there’s no reason why it cannot be archived. In terms of fresh content writing, it really does depend on the client’s audience. Some may be content hungry and others are “slow burners”. As long as fresh content is going out at least weekly (for most industries), then it depends on the audience. For professional SEO content writing, hire one of the best Australian copywriters today.