Coloring Outside the Lines: Mastering SEO for Content Marketing
Transcript of Coloring Outside the Lines: Mastering SEO for Content Marketing
COLORING OUTSIDE THE LINES:
MASTERING SEO FOR CONTENT MARKETING
KATY KATZ
Hello!I am Katy Katz
Senior Consultant SmartBug Media
You can find me at:@katykatztx #StateofSearch
Let’s talk SEO and Content Marketing
“I endeavored to make [my content] both entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came
to be in such demand, that I reaped considerable profit from it.”
#StateofSearch @katykatztx
“I endeavored to make [my content] both entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such demand, that I reaped considerable profit
from it.”
- Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1758)
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“Content is the reason that search began in the first place.”
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“Content is the reason that search began in the first place.”
- Lee Odden, CEO of Toprank
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THE PROBLE
MMARKETERS EXCEL AT
RUINING A GOOD THING
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Link Spamming
#StateofSearch@katykatztxImage from White Rabbit
Keyword Stuffing
Image from SEOPressor #StateofSearch @katykatztx
Over-Automating Social Media
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“Content is a game that every type of team and agency plays, so we’re all competing for a piece of that pie. Meanwhile, technical SEO is more complicated and more important than ever before.”- MICHAEL KING, FOUNDER iPULLRANK
SEOs BE LIKE
- Cyrus Shepard
(speaking about TF-IDF
)
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WRITERS BE LIKE“Language is my whore, my mistress, my wife, my pen-friend, my check-out girl. Language is a complimentary moist lemon-scented cleansing square or handy freshen-up wipette. Language is the breath of God, the dew on a fresh apple, it's the soft rain of dust that falls into a shaft of morning sun when you pull from an old bookshelf a forgotten volume of erotic diaries; language is the faint scent of urine on a pair of boxer shorts, it's a half-remembered childhood birthday party, a creak on the stair, a spluttering match held to a frosted pane, the warm wet, trusting touch of a leaking nappy, the hulk of a charred Panzer, the underside of a granite boulder, the first downy growth on the upper lip of a Mediterranean girl, cobwebs long since overrun by an old Wellington boot.” - Stephen Fry, Linguist#StateofSearch @katykatztx
Why’d we have to go and make
things so complicated?
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“I believe that more than 90% of the content marketers are going to have a long cold winter, and many of them will end up looking for new careers. I don’t want that to be harsh, but a big content marketing glut is coming. “
- Eric Enge, CEO Stone Temple Consulting (via Didit)
SHIT!
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GOOD CONTEN
T
NOW, MORE THAN EVER, YOU NEED
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“Mediocre content will hurt your brand more than nothing
at all.”
- Joe Pulizzi, Author
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“Slow the *&%^$ down and do your content marketing right – or don’t do
it at all.”
- Ann Handley, Content Marketing Institute
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People Now Use Ad Blockers- PageFair 2015 Ad Blocking Report
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SEARCH OPTIMIZED CONTENT IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE BUT IT’S MORE IMPORTANT THAN
EVER TO OPTIMIZE FOR YOUR PERSONA FIRST
AND APPLY YOUR CHECKLISTS AFTER
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“Annual growth in unique site traffic is up 7.8% for content marketing leaders compared to followers.”
- Aberdeen
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Pepsi has invested big in a state-of-the-art content studio in Manhattan.
- Image source Ad Age
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BACK TO BASICScontent
headlines
meta descriptions
on-page SEO / formatting
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MAKE IT USEFUL &
INTERESTING
THE CONTENT SECRET?
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CONTENT
GOOD CONTENT
SPEAKS TO A PERSONAYour target market needs to connect with what they’re reading to forge a relationship with your brand.
IS WELL CONSTRUCTEDUse tools or hire a real editor to make sure your content is interesting to read and follows writing best practices.
ANSWERS QUESTIONSMake sure your reader comes away feeling that you’ve added value and that their visit was worth their valuable time.
SERVES A PURPOSEThink about your end goal – amplification, lead nurturing, raising awareness, sealing the deal – define the goal ahead of time and stick to it.
DRIVES TO A CTAThe end of your content (and throughout if possible) should help point the visitor in a direction. Spell it out for them!
SHARE & SEARCH OPTIMIZEDApply your checklist at the end so that you don’t sacrifice creativity for technicalities.
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DEMOGRAPHICS+ Age+ Gender+ Salary+ Location+ Education+ Family
GOALS & CHALLENGES+ Values and fears
MARKETING MESSAGE+ Elevator pitch
SOCIAL MEDIA+ Platforms+ Behavior
NAME & JOB TITLE+ Where they work+ Details about their role
PERSONA TEMPLATE
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CRAVEABLE CONTENT
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Makes us laugh or cry
Has an unexpected twist
Reminds us dreams come true
Inspires action
Reminds us we matter
Reveals a secret
Surprises us
Encourages us to never give up
Reminds us we’re unique
Where David beats Goliath
- Content Marketing Institute
A Bit More on KEYWORDS
MAP OUT RELATED TERMS
DESIGN YOUR
STRATEGY
USE A KEYWORD TOOL AT
THE BEGINNING
FORGET ABOUT THE KEYWORDS
TILL THE END
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HEADLINES
HEADLINE MUSTS➜ CLEAR➜ RELEVANT➜ FOCUSED➜ CONCISE➜ EXCITING
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➜ Yes, start with a keyword➜ But then get creative with it!
Increase creativity by:o Using a headline tool
o Testing multiple variations (like 25)o Dropping over-used terms (*ULTIMATE)
HEADLINES
• Impactbnd.com Title Generator • Hubspot Blog Topic Generator• TweakYourBiz.com Title Generator
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NOW CHECK THE SEO
ARE YOU AT THE RIGHT
LENGTH(55-60
characters)
EXPERIMENT(test, test, and
test again)
IS THE KEYWORD UTILIZED & RELEVANT(aim for long-
tail)
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* FACT: Shorter title tags perform better in search than longer ones. – Study by Code As Craft
META DESCRIPTIO
NS
But Google said that meta descriptions aren’t a factor
in the algorithm so why should I care?
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Relevant Traffic
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➜ Again, start with a keyword➜ But then get creative with it!
Increase creativity by:o Researching competitive termso Circling in on THE WHYo Focus on benefits over featureso Keep it clear and crispo Don’t repeat the headline!
META DESCRIPTIONS
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NOW GO BACK AND OPTIMIZE
ARE YOU AT THE RIGHT
LENGTH(160 characters)
EXPERIMENT(test, test, and
test again)
IS THE KEYWORD UTILIZED & RELEVANT(aim for long-
tail)
#StateofSearch @katykatztx
* CHECK OUT THIS GREAT DISCUSSION ABOUT META DESCRIPTIONS ON INBOUND.ORG
STRUCTURE
ON-PAGE SEO & FORMATTING
KEYWORDIs it in the title, URL, introduction, conclusion, and other key spots? Is it used a natural amount?
HEADLINE TAGSDid you utilize H1 and H2 tags throughout the content? Bonus for including a keyword in an H2.
LINKSDid you utilize a variety of internal and outbound links?
IMAGEDid you include visuals that support your content and include your target keyword in the Alt Text?
AMPLIFICATIONDid you make it easy for your message to be spread on social media with prominent buttons?
CTADid you include ways to keep people on your page and clicking through to other parts of your site?
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Now is the time to break out the checklists!
Check out Moz’s SEO Checklist for more.
Great content is both CREATIVE and
TECHNICAL.
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Image Source: swelldesigner via Flickr
Thanks!Any questions?You can find me at:@[email protected]