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In the world of digital marketing, the cliche “search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t what it used to be” has grown widespread.

You don’t hear this much, but your 2023 SEO strategy shouldn’t be heavily focused on keywords.

The majority of businesses nowadays are aware of SEO‘s foundations and importance.

However, when it comes to developing and putting into action a solid SEO strategy for your business, it is time-consuming and, well, inaccurate to merely write content for the keywords your customers are looking for.

We’ll define an SEO strategy in this article and show you how to create one of your own to support your content marketing objectives.

The following are the sections we shall be focusing on in this article:

What is SEO Strategy?
How to Create SEO Content Strategy?
A Few Best SEO Examples
An Overview of the SEO Process
How to Make SEO Monthly Plan

Let’s jump right into it and explain each one comprehensively so that you guys can have a clear idea of what we are talking about and a complete understanding of which steps you should be taking to create an effective SEO strategy of your own.

1. What is SEO Strategy?

SEO strategy is the method of categorizing a website’s content to improve the likelihood that it will appear in search results. Basically, it’s the procedure you adhere to in order to improve your chances of receiving organic traffic from search engines.

It is crucial to have an SEO strategy since it keeps you focused when producing content. Instead of just writing what you think people want to read, your strategy will ensure that you publish content that people are searching for.

Since it affects how your material will be found in the first place, especially on search engine result pages, an SEO strategy is an important part of content marketing (SERPs). If your material is scattered and unstructured, search engine bots will have a harder difficulty indexing your site, recognizing your area of specialty, and ranking your web pages.

SEO Strategy for Mobile Devices

Mobile SEO must be considered while creating your entire strategy. In order to give mobile users the same experience and benefits as desktop browsers, mobile optimization helps make sure that your website and its content are available to and accessible by mobile users.

Since Google gives preference to mobile devices when indexing websites, mobile SEO is crucial. This implies that the algorithm will use the mobile version of your site instead of the desktop version for indexing and ranking pages for SERPs. In addition, 63% of Google search queries in the US come from mobile devices according to Statista. All things considered, your SEO strategy would be worthless if you didn’t give mobile optimization a high priority.

Mobile SEO includes unique concerns, while they are not entirely different from desktop SEO. These include tracking page performance, responsive site design, local SEO, and generating content that is of a high caliber regardless of the platform it is seen on.

What are SEOs?

Search engine optimizers (SEOs) optimize websites to raise their SERP rankings and boost organic traffic. An SEO is essentially a highly trained content strategist that works with companies to find opportunities to answer public inquiries about their specific industries.

One of the following three types of SEO can be the focus of an SEO strategist:

On-page SEO: This type of SEO concentrates on the material that is already on website pages and how to optimize it to raise the ranking of the website for particular keywords.
Off-page SEO: This type of SEO focuses on links that are made from other websites that point to the target website. The number of backlinks a site receives from reputable sites helps it establish credibility with search engines’ algorithms.
Technical SEO: focuses on the backend architecture, such as the site code, of a website. Given that Google treats technical setup and content equally, this position is critical for rankings.

Keep in mind that every company has distinct goals; therefore an SEO’s role is to research their market, identify the interests of their target audiences, and create a strategy that meets their needs.

Below, we’ll go over some things you can do to make sure your SEO strategy puts you in a successful position.

2. How to Create an SEO Content Strategy?

Creating an effective SEO content strategy is the way to achieve success with your business online. Don’t worry I’ll be walking you through a step-by-step process to create a wonderful strategy down below:

Create a list of topics.
On the basis of these topics, create a list of long-tail keywords.
Create pages for every topic.
Create a blog.
Establish a regular blogging routine.
Make a plan for generating links.
Before posting media files to your website, compress them.
Keep up with best practices and recent SEO developments.
Analyze and track the success of your content.

Now, that you know what you need to do in order to make your SEO strategy effective, Let’s walk you through the details that how to carry out these steps properly.

a) Create a list of topics

Although keywords are the backbone of SEO, they are no longer the starting point for organic development. Making a list of the topics you want your content to cover should be done as the first step instead.

To begin, compile a list of around 10 terms and expressions that describe your good or service. Use an SEO tool (a few examples are Google’s Keyword Tool, Ahrefs, SEMRush, or GrowthBar) to research these Keywords, ascertain their search volume, and generate variants that are suitable for your business.

By doing this, you may connect these topics to popular short-tail keywords without creating blog posts specifically about them. Let’s examine an illustration of this procedure using the picture below.

Consider a swimming pool business that is aiming to rank for the 110,000 monthly searches for “fibreglass pools.” The firm will also need to choose a number of relevant keywords to include in its content. For the purpose of creating their content, this short-tail keyword might function as the main subject. They can choose to use keywords like “fibreglass pool prices” or “fibreglass pool pricing” to improve their ranks for the wide keyword “fibreglass pools.”

You may develop a list of 10 to 15 short-tail keywords that are relevant to your business and are being used by your target audiences by measuring search traffic and competition. Following that, sort this list by the monthly search volume.

The keywords you’ve chosen are each referred to as “pillars,” and they act as the main structural support for a broader group of long-tail keywords that we’ll cover shortly.

b) On the basis of these topics, create a list of long-tail keywords

In this stage, you’ll begin optimizing your pages for certain keywords. Use your keyword tool to find five to ten long-tail keywords that dive further deep into the original topic keyword for each pillar you’ve found.

For instance, even though we routinely write about SEO, it might be difficult to attain high Google ranks for such a popular topic. We also run the danger of having our own material compete with that of others by creating several sites that are all targeted towards the same keyword and maybe the same SERPs. As a result, we also produce information on other SEO-related topics, such as completing keyword research, establishing an SEO plan (which you are currently reading), and optimizing photos for search engines.

This increases the diversity of prospective consumers by allowing businesses to attract customers with a range of interests and concerns.

Create blog posts or web pages explaining the different topics inside the chosen pillars using your long-tail keywords. Your long-tail keywords group together as a cluster around a central subject. Search engine algorithms rely on links between clusters to provide users with the information they require.

Consider it this way: the more targeted your content is, the more targeted your audience’s demands can be, and the more probable it is that this traffic will turn into leads. The pages that dig into the details of a broad topic are viewed as the finest answers to a person’s query and will rank higher. Google assesses the worth of the web pages it crawls in this way.

c) Create pages for every topic

When it comes to search engine placement, it may be very challenging to get one page of a website to rank for a few distinct keywords. However, here is when things start to become very interesting.

Create a page or article utilizing the core topics you came up with that offers a high-level summary of the issue using the long-tail keywords you were able to generate for each cluster in step two. These pillar pages can effectively serve as a table of contents, outlining the main topic and introducing readers to any subtopics that will be covered in more detail in subsequent pieces.

The number of topics for which you develop pillar pages should ultimately correspond with your company’s requirements, such as the number of products and services you offer. This will make it much simpler for potential customers or clients to locate you online regardless of the keywords they use.

d) Create a blog

Blogging is a fantastic strategy to engage your website’s visitors and rank for keywords. Since each blog post generates a new web page, you have an additional opportunity to rank in SERPs. If your business doesn’t already have one, think about starting one.

As you publish each blog article and elaborate on your clusters, you should do three things:

As Google no longer prioritizes exact keyword matches as frequently as it formerly did, don’t utilize your long-tail term more than three or four times on the page. In fact, if search engines find that your content contains too many instances of your keyword, they may punish you for keyword stuffing.
Second, constantly direct people to the pillar page you made for each of your topics. Your content management system’s (CMS) tags or straightforward anchor text in the post body might be used for this.
After each blog post is published, include a link to it on the page serving as the subtopic’s parent pillar. You are informing Google that there is a connection between the long-tail keyword and the broad topic you are attempting to rank for by linking both the pillar and the cluster in this manner.

e) Establish a regular blogging routine

Each blog post or website you create doesn’t have to belong to a certain topic cluster. Writing about topics that are unrelated to your subject but are interesting to your audience might help you build authority with Google’s algorithms.

Aim to blog at least once a week in light of this. Note that your target audience—not search engines—is the reason you blog, so do your market research and write about subjects that will appeal to them.

If you wish to stay consistent and keep your goals in mind, creating a content strategy may be helpful.

f) Make a plan for generating links

There are additional ways to enhance the SEO of your content on the site after it has been created, even if the subject cluster technique is the way to go for SEO.

Off-page SEO’s primary objective is link building, whereas our previous five phases were focused on on-page SEO. Encouraging other websites to link to your website is known as “building links” (inbound links, also known as backlinks). When websites with greater authority link back to your content, your rankings are affected more significantly.

Spend some time considering all the many ways you may attract inbound links. You might start by producing a few blog posts and sharing them on various social media platforms, or you could start by swapping links with neighboring businesses in exchange for connections to their websites. In order to connect back to your website, you may also contact other bloggers about writing as a guest.

g) Before posting media files to your website, compress them

This is an easy yet important step in the SEO process, especially for mobile optimization.

As your blog or website grows, you’ll undoubtedly have more images, videos, and other material to support your text. Even while these visual elements help maintain visitors’ interest, it’s easy to overlook the possibility that some of these files can be rather huge. The number of media assets you upload to your website must be monitored because page performance has a significant impact on rankings.

The higher the file size, the more difficult it will be for a web browser to render your website. Additionally, it is more challenging for mobile browsers to load these pictures since mobile devices have significantly less available bandwidth. As a result, the smaller the file size, the quicker your website will load. But how can you scale down a picture without compromising its quality?

Consider utilizing a compression tool to reduce the size of the files before uploading images, videos, and animated gifs. Images can be compressed in bulk on websites like TinyPNG, and ReduceImages can reduce image files to tiny sizes. A good general rule to follow is to keep files in the kilobyte (KB) range, regardless of the compression technique you choose for your material.

h) Keep up with best practices and recent SEO developments

Similar to marketing, the environment of search engines is always evolving. You have access to a wide variety of online resources that may help you follow the most current trends and best practices, which is an important tactic. For further details, look at these sources:

Search Engine Land
Diggity Marketing
This Blog!
Moz
SEOBook
Search Engine Roundtable

i) Analyze and track the success of your content

You’ll want to know if your SEO strategy is effective because it might take a lot of time and effort. Monitoring your metrics is essential for determining the overall efficiency of your operation and identifying any possible issues.

To track organic traffic, you may create your own dashboard using Excel or Google Sheets, or you can utilize your preferred web analytics provider. Tracking indexed pages, conversions, Return on Investment (ROI), and your SERP positions can also help you recognize your achievements and spot potential growth areas.

SEO Report

The SEO efforts you’ve made over a certain time period are summarized in an SEO report. It simply shows how successful you are as well as your opportunities for improvement. You can more easily present the facts to the appropriate stakeholders and demonstrate the worth of your SEO efforts and how they support the growth of your business if you have a thorough report.

Your SEO report can contain information on inbound link growth, organic traffic outcomes, the website’s SEO health, and any areas where growth has slowed down and needs to be addressed going forward.

An example of an Ahrefs SEO report is shown below, which provides a summary of the SEO activities’ link-building progress.

You’ll actually need to have conducted some SEO efforts to support your SEO report, and below we’ll provide some top-notch examples of effective SEO.

3. A Few Best SEO Examples

As was already said, there are a variety of things you can do for your business to put your SEO plan into practice. Below, we’ll go through several examples of this in the actual world so you may gain concepts for your own methods.

Your SEO strategy can include a variety of elements, such as:

Writing engaging meta descriptions.
Obtaining inbound and backlinks to content.
Improving the speed of your website’s pages.
Local SEO

Let’s dig a little deep into each of the above-mentioned tips.

a. Writing engaging meta descriptions

The meta description is the paragraph of text that follows a title and a link in search results. The description, well, defines the content of the page to the person executing the queries so they know what to anticipate.

The picture below was generated by a search for digital marketing.

This is an excellent meta description since it lets Google know what’s on the page, which makes your content more likely to show up in pertinent search results and lets readers know what they’re going to click on.

b. Obtaining inbound and backlinks to content

A backlink or an inbound link occurs when another website points to the content of your website or blog. It often appears as a hyperlink on material relating to your content and, when clicked, takes the user to your website.

Backlinks are a powerful SEO tactic because they convince search engines that your material is reliable and relevant, which raises your position in the SERPs. An example of a blog post from the School of Literature with a backlink to Learning Comets is shown in the image below.

c. Improving the speed of your website’s pages

Page speed is the term used to describe how quickly content on your website loads for a user when they reach a certain page. When putting your approach into practice, it’s essential to focus on page speed because Google began taking it into account in 2018.

d. Local SEO

Local SEO raises your company’s local location’s visibility in search results. A successful local SEO plan will make your content appear in local clients’ search results, informing them that your company can satisfy their demands.

A SERP result for “best restaurants in Brooklyn” is seen in the image below. Each of the three businesses that appear in the search results has a Google My Business page that is chock-full of details that make it simpler for users to locate them when looking for restaurants in the Brooklyn area.

4. An Overview of the SEO Process

You should create a system for continually optimizing for new keywords and shifting search intent once your SEO strategy has been created. You can follow the instructions listed below.

Optimize your content historically.
Watch out for evolving keyword trends and new search criteria.
Improve the editorial quality of your outdated content.
Make a content plan for the month.

You might know by now, what are we going to do. That’s right let’s discuss them a bit more.

i. Optimize your content historically

Spend some time each month updating older blog posts with fresh, current content to maintain your SERP ranking. Additionally, you can use this opportunity to add any SEO best practices that weren’t initially covered, such as the absence of picture alt text.

ii. Watch out for evolving keyword trends and new search criteria

After a few months, keep an eye on where your blog posts are ranking and the keywords they are attaining. This can assist you in modifying subheadings and copy to take advantage of recent search intent that your audience might be searching for.

iii. Improve the editorial quality of your outdated content

Sometimes a piece of writing may be completely out of date. Instead of merely performing the usual historical SEO update, you should perform a thorough refresh in this situation. This may be done by updating dated information and statistics, adding more sections for greater depth, and enhancing the article with quotations or original research to boost referral traffic.

iv. Make a content plan for the month

Making and fine-tuning a monthly content plan might be helpful for maintaining your SEO approach. You may enter it into a spreadsheet because then your teams can correctly keep track of it. An example of a monthly content strategy that incorporates the aforementioned actions is shown in the list below.

5. How to Make SEO Monthly Plan

You can develop and implement an effective SEO strategy with a monthly SEO plan like the one given below and a tracking document like a search insights report. In your industry, you can also find and use low-hanging fruit topics for discussion.

Spend some time researching keywords for your industry.
Ideas for blog posts that make use of relevant, opportunistic keywords.
Find blog posts that can be refreshed or updated.
Other SEO possibilities, such as holidays, should be noted.
Provide examples of material in a Search Insights Report.
Give your staff content to work on.
At the conclusion of each month, review your progress.