Online contents aren’t written for personal consumption. They are published on the web for people to see them. But with millions of contents published every day, there’s no guarantee that the piece you spent so much time and resources to put together will see the light of day. Rather than leaving it to fate, you need to go the extra mile by optimizing it.
When you think optimization, think search engines. Although content is created for audiences online, they only get to see the masterpiece you have prepared if it sits well with search engines.
Here are 4 content optimization rules you can’t afford to miss.
1. Create relevant content
Content is as good as its demand. It doesn’t just pop up on search engines, but shows up on request. Like a demand and supply chain, people request for certain contents based on their needs, and search engines oblige them. You inadvertently take your brand off the radar if you don’t create relevant content.
With a population of about 4.4 billion active users worldwide, the internet is an overly large market. To stand a chance, streamline your content to a target audience.
Google and the likes are the first point of call for answers to puzzles in people’s lives. Find those answers and make it available to them.
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2. Use competitive keywords
Identifying a target audience and their needs is only half of the work. That information isn’t exclusive to you. Privy to the same information, several brands are putting it to use. That explains why competition is still fierce regardless.
Find competitive keywords and own them. They shoot you from the back of the long queue to the very front.
Effective keywords aren’t gotten by guesswork. You might be totally wrong about what you think the audience wants. Make use of tools like BuzzSumo to know the keywords that are generating results. You can dig deeper into your site by using tools like SEMrush to know just how you are faring in regard to keyword ranking, organic traffic and backlinks among others.
Make your competitor’s business your business. If they are doing very well with optimization, you should take a cue from them, without their knowledge of course. Use the same tools to find out the keywords they are using to top Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
3. Optimize media files
Written content gets all the attention when we talk about online content. But it’s just one stick in the pack. Content cuts across several forms including videos, images, infographics and podcasts.
Infusing multiple content types increases visibility rates especially when you optimize them.
Use alternative texts (alt tags) to optimize your videos and images.
Use striking headings and captions for your videos and images. The bots crawl these items, making a strong case for your contents on SERPs.
Besides boosting your rankings, contents with good media are great for consumption. They hold the reader spellbound from the beginning to the very last word. When you are consistent with this kind of content, you’ll have return visitors who will grow to love your brand.
4. Hire expert content writers
Having known the elements of content optimization, you need to put it to work by creating high-quality content. This is nonnegotiable.
In a bid to enhance end-user satisfaction, search engines prioritize quality. Back in the day, keyword-stuffed contents were high-flyers. Hence, digital marketers wrote contents for the bots at the detriment of the end-user. And that gave rise to the influx of robotic content. Such content no longer sees the light of day. You’d be wasting your time toeing that line.
Before setting out to write, ask yourself, how can my audience benefit from my content? A good story embodies different emotional elements including curiosity, suspense, excitement and pity among others. Frankly, putting all these together, succinctly, is no small feat.
We all can’t be writers.
Everyone can’t create a masterpiece. But the good thing is, there’s room to outsource your content needs. Rather than jeopardize your brand’s reputation by creating low-quality content yourself, you can engage the services of content marketing experts. They’ll handle your content marketing needs from start to finish. With an excellent track record to show for their expertise, you are guaranteed of getting good return on investment (ROI).
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Conclusion
Everyone creates content online nowadays. But just a few are getting positive results. And that’s because they understand the secrets of online content marketing including content optimization. You too can join them. Are you ready?
Featured Image Credit: Unsplash
