Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Before the links: SEO and Content Writing


keyword-research
by Mike Nolls
Your search engine optimization strategies need to be implemented from the very start of your website. The creation of your website’s content and how it networks within the site is the entire foundation for your SEO efforts late on. This network of URL’s from both page and post, will describe the most relevant keyword phrases and sets for your search engine rankings. Building relevant and powerful keyword structures requires planning and taking the time to do your research.
Before you write any of that great unique content, you’ll need to open up Google keyword tools or your favorite niche finding software. Nothing is more important for the success of your website and/or blog, than keyword research.
Keyword Research Goals:
A) To find low-medium competition “primary” keyword or phrase >25,000+ exact local monthly searches (micro niche can be much smaller >1,000)
B) Then find at least 20+ related keyword phrases >1,000 exact local monthly searches
C) You can target any competition level for part 2, of course lower is ideal but you may want to tap into higher CPC segments that may be impacted
primary keyword
Now this may seem pretty straightforward, but depending on what format of monetization you are looking for, the chances of finding success at number 1 could be very difficult. Often times they have very low cost-per-click for AdSense, or do not have any affiliate offers that you could tap into. Maybe the keyword says low-medium competition, but there is an exact match domain and brand name that are controlling the SERPs. Don’t just trust Google’s competition meter, make sure to look at the backlinks, quality, and authority of your competition, be reasonable. Start small if you’re new to the game.
Blog Structure: On-page SEO Strategies
1. Domain name = (A) keyword, EMD is often best for niche sites, brandable domains can also be great for medium to authority sized sites
2. Home page meta keywords, description, titles, etc are targeted for (A) keyword above
3. Content on home page is written for (A) keyword (especially if static front page)
4. Categories should outline all of (B) keywords and keyword phrases with matching/relevant meta tags
5. Write a post/page for each of (B) keywords, using the keyword inside the URL i.e. http://www.keyword#1.com/keyword#2/
6. All meta data needs to be relevant to (A) keyword and (B) keyword(s) on each post and page
keywords
By building your link structure in this manner you will help Google to better connect the relevancy and strength of your content with various keywords that you should be able to rank well with. This will also improve the rate in which Google will “trust” your site in a certain niche. Quality syndication of content, meta data, URL structures, and keyword targeting toward researched SERPs is a wonderful recipe for success in building organic traffic.
Content Writing for your Optimized Site:
Now that you’ve got your site completely dialed in, Google, Yahoo, and any other bot that runs through your sitemap is going to recognize the wealth of diverse, yet relevant, content about your niche. This will help you by picking up long-tail keywords that will produce small amounts of traffic early on in your website’s life.
Content writing is pretty simple, make sure it’s unique and on topic with your site. Use bold for keywords and phrases and make sure your writing is natural. Do not spam keywords, Google is really cracking down on this. Use some sort of “interlinking” plugin or tool that will deep link your keywords to other pages on your site.
Stray away from writing too many “shallow pages”. These are posts or pages with very low content and usefulness for the reader. Google wants to see well over 300 words per page, ideally I recommend writing 550+ at all times.
Lastly keep your content well rounded and diverse. Yes, you do want to stay on topic and inside your keyword targets. But, you do not want to be writing the same “iPad 2 Review” in 20 different ways. Google does not want webmasters that write many variations of exactly the same subjects, this is basically duplicate content.
Hopefully this post has helped some of you beginners out there get a better sense on how to correctly plan your blog or website’s creation to do well in the SERPs. Your chances for success are a lot greater with quality keyword research, it takes patience but there are plenty of great keywords out there still!

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