How to Create a Content Plan with SEO in Mind
Making sure your content ranks well in Google isn’t the only thing to think about when creating a content plan or writing content, we want to create content for users, but if there’s search demand, we might as well make the most of it!
Set Clear Objectives
Setting clear objectives when writing content is the key to making it effective. A major step in this process is the setting goals and objectives for a content plan and then creating it. Clear objectives provide you with a roadmap of where you want each piece of content to go and give it a purpose. Within this you should define the goals for the content, is it to increase brand awareness? Drive website traffic? Or engage a specific target audience? By outlining the objectives you can shape the tone, style and topics of the content.
Find your target audience
Finding and understanding the target audience for the content you’re creating is key for your content's success. The importance of identifying your target audience lies in making your content meet their specific needs, interests, and preferences. An understanding of the target audience allows you to craft messaging within your content that engages and connects with the intended readership. This involves demographic research, analysing consumer behaviour, and considering factors such as age, gender, interests, and online behaviours. By honing in on the characteristics and preferences of the target audience, you can create more relevant and impactful content. Ultimately, this targeted approach enhances engagement but also increases the likelihood of achieving your desired goals.
Content Types and Formats
When it comes to content and the reason for creating it, not all types are created equally. For a well-rounded and engaging content strategy you should include a variety of content types, such as blog posts, newsletters, videos and infographics, and more. Diversifying your content types not only caters to different audience preferences but also enhances the overall user experience. Blog posts allow for in-depth exploration of topics, newsletters provide curated updates, videos offer visual storytelling, and infographics present information in a visually appealing manner. Each content type serves a unique purpose and appeals to different learning styles. By diversifying content, you can capture the attention of a broader audience.This approach not only keeps the audience engaged but also increases the likelihood of reaching and resonating with a wider demographic.
Understand why SEO is important
SEO involves strategically optimising your content to improve its visibility on search engine results pages. Even the most informative and well-crafted content may go unnoticed if not optimised for SEO. By optimising your meta tags, structuring your content well and… well a lot of other things, you can significantly increase your content visibility. Essentially, SEO works as a guide for search engines to find your content.
Keyword Research
With that in mind, keyword research is a key part of content creation if you’re wanting to gain more traffic via search engines. To conduct keyword research thoroughly, use a tool such as SEMrush, which you can use to find search volumes of not only the words and phrases that you can think of but also generate similar keywords that people search for, giving you the search volume for them all (and a whole load of other information). You can use this information to choose the keywords you want to target for each piece, depending on what is best for your company. By doing this, it helps ensure that each piece of content has a higher chance of being ranked higher in search results, attract targeted traffic and ultimately contribute to the success of your content.
It’s also worth speaking to subject matter experts, as they’ll also know what could be a trending topic, what will become of more interest in the future as well as what will be of general interest to your audience that doesn’t necessarily have search demand.
On-Page SEO Optimisation
When looking at on-page SEO optimisation for content, there’s a lot to look at! Here are just a few things to look into:
Page titles
Meta descriptions
H1s
Content structure
Image optimisation
Alt text
Tailoring content to your audience
Reading age
Keywords
And there’s a lot more that can be added to that list!
Monitoring and Analytics
Monitoring and analytics play a key role in content creation, providing important insights into content performance and engagement. The importance of utilising analytics tools is in their ability to track key metrics, such as website traffic, user behaviour, and content interactions. By regularly monitoring these metrics, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of what resonates with your audience and adjust strategies accordingly. By extracting insights from analytics reports, you can make informed decisions for ongoing content optimisation. This data-driven approach facilitated by analytics tools ensures that content strategies evolve together with audience expectations, ultimately contributing to the long-term success of a content marketing strategy.
Mastering the levels between content creation and optimisation is key to carving a successful digital presence. As mentioned above, in the world of SEO, setting objectives, conducting keyword research, understanding target audiences, diversifying content types, and implementing on-page SEO strategies, are key to the effectiveness of your content marketing strategy.
