I’ve been creating content for almost 2 years and the vast majority of the traffic to my site comes from search engines, primarily Google. I get over 200,000 visits a month from Google alone.
The good news is that this is all free traffic I don’t pay Google anything at all to rank in their search results.
The bad news is that because it’s free traffic, it often takes a while to start getting it. There are certain steps you can take to make sure that your content gets indexed by Google quickly and is able to rank well in the search results.
In this post, I’m going to walk you through the exact process I use when creating SEO content so that you can start generating traffic for your website with minimal effort.
| Key Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Effective SEO content can lead to substantial free traffic. |
| 2. Crafting high-quality, valuable content is essential. |
| 3. Targeting relevant keywords enhances search engine visibility. |
| 4. Incorporating backlinks from authoritative sources boosts credibility. |
| 5. Consistency and patience are key to sustainable traffic growth. |
Pick A Topic
It’s important to pick a topic that you’re passionate about, because if you aren’t interested in the content you’re writing, it’s going to be difficult for you to stay motivated. Passion is what will keep you consistently putting out new articles on a regular basis.
It also needs to be something that you know a lot about and have some experience with. There are plenty of people who want to start their blog but don’t know anything about it.
And they end up just sounding like idiots when they try writing about topics they’ve never even thought critically about before. If this sounds like your situation, then this guide might not be for you!
You should also choose something relevant to your business (if applicable), or at least something related enough that people searching for similar things will find it when searching for things related in some way down the road (even if there are no direct keywords).
Finally: pick something seasonal or timely if possible! It’s important because these types of posts tend to get shared more often when there’s some sort of event happening around them;
Plus they will help attract free traffic from outside sources like Google News/Google Trends etcetera which can be incredibly valuable over time as well as being good exposure while promoting them too 🙂
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Brainstorm Angles
Next, you want to brainstorm the main points of your article. The best way to do this is by using a concept called the inverted pyramid method.
The inverted pyramid method breaks down what you’re talking about into bite-size chunks and then goes into greater detail as you go further down the page.
To start, write one word or phrase that describes your topic at its most basic level: “How,” “What,” and “When.”
When you’ve done that for every major point, write three sentences about each of those topics one sentence for each point below in your article that expands on each of those topics (each sentence should be two to five sentences long).
Then move on to another point at a higher level by writing three more sentences about it (again, between two and five). You can keep going until everything has been covered or until there’s no more space left on one page!
Identify Your Top 10 Competitors
To reach the top, you’ll need to know what’s working for your competitors.
Identify your top 10 competitors. The first step is figuring out who is ranking for the keywords you want to rank for.
That way, you can see what they’re doing differently from yourself and how they might be better than you are at building links or writing content that converts visitors into buyers.
Find their domain authority and age. If they already have a high DA score (e.g., 90+), then it will be harder for them to move up in the SERPs (search engine result pages) than it would be if they had a low score (e.g., 70).
Similarly, if it looks like their site was just created yesterday versus having been around since 2005 or longer.
This also impacts their ability to rank well because Google wants newer websites with more relevant information on them instead of older ones that may not contain any new updates at all!
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Brainstorm 10-20+ Post Ideas
Let’s say you’re a blogger who wants to write posts on “how to make money with your blog”. This can be a pretty broad topic, so it’s best to narrow it down. You might start by asking yourself: What are some ways people can earn money online?
Then ask yourself: What are the different types of content I can create around this topic?
You could also brainstorm topics based on keywords that have already proven popular in your niche.
If you publish blog posts in the fitness industry, for example, then search for keywords like “best exercises” and “best workouts” on Google Trends and see which ones have grown in popularity over time.
You could do something similar with any market where there is an audience for content about specific products or services (e.g., travel).
Create Post Outline
To start, you need to create an outline for your content. This is critical because it will help you organize your ideas and make sure there’s a natural flow of information from one point to the next.
For example, if your goal is to explain how SEO works and what it does for businesses like yours, then start by creating titles for each of these sections in the following order:
- What Is SEO?
- How Does It Work?
- Why Is It Important For Me To Learn About SEO?
- Who Can I Talk To About This Stuff In My Industry Or Niche?
You could also use subheadings if you have time (and space):
- What Is SEO And How Does It Work? * How Do I Get Started With SEO For Free? * Tips For Getting Started On Your Website!
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Write Your Post
Your next step is to write your post. Make sure you write for your audience and make it clear what the reader will get from reading your content.
Use subheadings, bullet points, tables, quotes, and images to break up large chunks of text and make it easier for readers to scan the page.
Use videos or infographics if they help illustrate a point further than just text would be able to do on its own.
If possible, try including calls-to-action (CTAs) that encourage people to subscribe or purchase an item mentioned in the post directly below it so they don’t have any trouble finding them when they’re ready!
Also, remember that SEO keywords should be included in each article title – as well as any other keywords related specifically towards whatever topic you’re writing about.”
Optimize Metadata And Image Alt Tags For Each Page
Keywords in metadata, image alt tags, and URL: Add keywords to the, and other headers of your article.
Keyword stuffing is not only unnecessary but also undesirable; instead, focus on adding relevant keywords naturally within your content so that you don’t come across as spammy.
Use keywords in title tag: The title tag is the first thing that people will see when they visit a website or blog post.
Make sure it’s clear what you’re trying to say from the first glance by using specific terms related to your topic of interest as well as some variations of those terms to rank higher in search engines (for example “My Article About SEO” instead of just “My Article”).
You can also use keyword-rich subheadings if needed!
Use keywords in URL slug: The slug refers specifically to a web page’s URL (Uniform Resource Locator), which includes its name along with any additional information such as file type extensions (.html) or language codes (.fr).
When choosing a URL slug make sure it includes relevant keywords along with an easy-to-remember structure like https://www./blog/seo/.
Find People To Link To Your Content
Find people who are influential in your niche. If you have a good idea of who the influencers are in your niche, reach out to them and see if they would be willing to share your content with their readers.
Influencers can help boost the authority of your content by sharing it on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, which will bring more traffic back to your site.
Find people who are writing about similar topics as you but linking incorrectly or not at all. You might find some great content on other websites that have already been written but haven’t been linked properly through citations (otherwise known as citations).
These websites may not even realize how valuable these citations are when it comes time for Google’s algorithm ranking system (but we do!). This type of content needs some fixing before you can start earning links from other sources.
Find people who aren’t writing about similar topics as yours but could benefit from knowing what you know!
If there is someone else out there doing something similar and better than what YOU’RE doing go ahead and send them some love and let them know how much better off they would be by following YOUR advice instead…
Publish The Page And Promote It On Social Media And To Your Email List
After you’ve created the piece of content, the next step is to publish it. You can do this by putting it on your site (if you have one) or publishing it on Medium or LinkedIn Pulse.
It’s important that when you’re publishing your work you make sure that it’s highly shareable. If people aren’t going to share your post with their friends and followers, then no one is going to know about what you’ve created and they’ll never read more of your work!
Once that’s done, the next step is promoting your content across all channels: email list, social media profiles, and even paying to advertise if needed.
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My Process For Creating SEO Content
Before I get into the actual steps, it’s important to understand the overall process that I use when creating SEO content.
I start by picking a topic and then brainstorming angles on it. Once I narrow down my angle and prove my hypothesis with data.
I’ll create a top 10 competitor analysis (and identify any gaps in their content strategy) before doing some competitive analysis of my site. This helps me come up with 10-20+ post ideas before writing any posts!
Once you have an idea for a post, create an outline so that you know what points you want to make in each section of your article. Then write out the whole piece with supporting evidence and examples where necessary.
Once done, optimize metadata and image alt tags for each page so Google knows what’s happening on each page this will help increase rankings over time!!
Lastly, find people who would link back to your content if they liked what they read because this increases authority which leads us back into Google’s algorithm again…
Determine Your Topic. Keyword Research
The first step is to choose a topic that you can write about for a long time and that will be interesting enough to keep people coming back for more.
The topic must have enough search volume to make it worth your while, so make sure you do some research into how many people are searching for information on your subject before deciding what to write about. A
also, try not to assume too much about what other people need or want the internet is full of beginners who don’t know what they’re doing and experts who think they’ve seen everything;
Neither group is particularly interested in reading from someone somewhere in between those two poles.
The best way I’ve found is to get in touch with potential readers directly via email surveys or interviews (if possible);
Ask them what their biggest struggles are and which questions they have related to the topic at hand and let them guide you toward topics where there’s a demand-based opportunity but no clear solution yet on offer from anyone else online!
Outline Your Content With A Table Of Contents
A table of contents is a great way to organize your content. It can help the reader navigate your article easily, and it’s also a great overall tool for organizing your ideas into sections.
I’ve used tables of contents in my ebooks and articles since I started writing back in 2014, but it wasn’t until recently that I realized just how important they are for Google search engines as well.
The more specific you get with your headings, the better: if you use broad headings (such as “Introduction”) Google won’t be able to tell what kind of content lies below them.
Headings such as “Chapter 1: Introduction” or even more specific ones like “Chapter 1: Introduction To SEO Content Writing” will help optimize your page for search engines and make it easier for readers to find exactly what they’re looking for on your site!
Create Your Copy In A Word Processor, Not In WordPress
Your content strategy should be developed with a word processor in mind, not WordPress.
If you’re not already familiar with it, Scrivener is a great piece of software for writers to use when writing long-form content. It allows you to organize sections of your story and assign them a hierarchy.
You can also create an outline for each section, which will help make sure your ideas flow in the right order as you write out your article or book chapter by chapter.
The reason I prefer using Scrivener over other programs like Microsoft Word is because of its ability to format my document correctly when exporting it from the program itself (other programs often require additional work after export).
It also makes it easy for me to edit multiple posts at once without having my laptop constantly crashing due to trying too many tabs open at once!
I believe everyone else should do this to create their SEO copy in a word processor like Scrivener rather than directly on WordPress itself!
Write To Help People First, Then Search Engines Second
- Take a look at this sentence:
- “Write for people first, then search engines second.”
Now take a look at this one:
- “Write for search engines first, then people second.”
Huh? Which is it? Should you write first for the user experience or search engine optimization (SEO)? The answer is both!
You should always be thinking about how your content will make the user happy, but if you want to get the most out of your SEO efforts and ensure that your blog posts are ranking highly on Google’s SERP (search engine results pages), you’ll need a strategy.
Use Headings And Formatting Elements
I’ll go through some of the most popular techniques and how to use them.
Headings And Formatting Elements
Headings are a great way to break up your content into different sections, but they have other uses as well. They help search engines understand what each section is about so they can give you more relevant results in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
Use headings like H1s and H2s because they will help rank you better in Google when it comes time for them to determine which pages deserve higher rankings on their site.
Bold, Italics & Bullet Points
The bolding text helps make certain words stand out from the rest of the text on your page. It also makes it easy for people who skim read through a page quickly (which is something that happens often) because those important words will stand out more than other parts of the article do.
You can also use italics when quoting someone or citing sources within your writing; this has become a common practice among many writers online today.
Because it helps establish credibility with readers by letting them know where one source ends and another begins without having each one labeled separately as such (something many writers forget about!).
If there’s anything else about an article that needs emphasis too like bullet points–then consider using those instead!
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Don’t Be Afraid To Be Long Form
Long-form content can be very engaging and will have a higher chance of being linked to, shared, and read on social media.
The concept of long-form content might feel foreign to you if you’re more accustomed to writing short blog posts. However, in my experience, long-form content outperforms shorter posts by leaps and bounds when it comes to traffic generation and engagement.
I’ve seen this happen in my blog (and other blogs) many times: Longer articles are often shared more often on social media than shorter articles even if they aren’t higher quality or better written!
Here’s another reason why you should consider using longer forms for your SEO content: In general, people prefer reading longer articles over shorter ones.
A study conducted by HubSpot showed that the average word count for an article was between 1,300 and 1,800 words! As shown below in their data from the last year alone:
Conclusion
Long-form content has been a big focus for me over the past few years. I get more free leads and sales from long-form content than anything else I do.
The organic traffic numbers drive the point home. If you’re trying to figure out how to make money with a blog, make sure you have at least one piece of long-form content in your arsenal.
I hope that this post gave you some ideas on how to create SEO content that will bring in more organic traffic and revenue. If there’s something I didn’t cover, feel free to ask me in the comments section below!
Further Reading
Here are some additional resources to further explore the topics mentioned in this article:
SEO Case Study: How We Increased Our Organic Traffic by 89% in 3 Months Learn from a real-life case study that demonstrates effective SEO strategies leading to an 89% increase in organic traffic within just three months.
Increase Blog Traffic: How to Get More Visitors to Your Blog Discover actionable tips and techniques to drive more traffic to your blog, ensuring that your content reaches a wider and engaged audience.
Publishing 100 Pages of Content Per Month: A Step-by-Step Guide Delve into a comprehensive guide outlining the process and strategies for consistently publishing 100 pages of high-quality content per month.
FAQs
What is the key takeaway from the SEO case study?
The SEO case study highlights practical strategies that led to an impressive 89% increase in organic traffic within just three months, demonstrating the effectiveness of targeted SEO efforts.
How can I boost my blog traffic?
The resource on increasing blog traffic provides actionable insights, including optimizing content, building high-quality backlinks, and utilizing social media engagement, to attract more visitors to your blog.
Is publishing 100 pages of content per month feasible?
The guide on publishing 100 pages of content per month offers a step-by-step approach to manage the process efficiently, ensuring consistent creation of valuable content without sacrificing quality.
What were the main tactics used in the SEO case study?
The SEO case study utilized a combination of on-page optimization, high-quality backlinks, and strategic content planning to achieve the remarkable 89% increase in organic traffic.
How can I effectively distribute my published content?
The resources on blog traffic increase and content publishing provide insights into leveraging SEO, backlinks, and content distribution channels to maximize the reach and impact of your content.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.