In a world of constantly changing algorithms, it’s always important to stay one step ahead of the search engines to ensure that your content is easily accessible to your target audience. If Google’s recent and proposed algorithm changes are anything to go by, they are still maintaining their focus on ensuring that their audience (people searching for things) can find accurate information as quickly as possible. So, with that in mind and more changes from Google winging their way to us in May 2021, how can you ensure that your blog and website content stay accessible to your potential customer base?
Read our top tips for 2021.
All of your content needs to be relevant and consistent.
A few years ago, one could easily rank a webpage or blog simply by stuffing a lot of keywords into the first paragraph. This was because search engines only ever scanned the first paragraph of text. Technology has moved on though, and now Google can index passages on a page and pinpoint them to your audience. Since October 2020, you might have noticed that Google has directed you to highlighted sections on websites.
What this means is that every piece of content on your page is now important. Search engines will scan those bits that are lower down the page. So, throughout everything you publish, you need to consider your content’s quality and relevance and who your target audience is.
To quote Google, “By better understanding the relevance of specific passages, not just the overall page, we can find that needle-in-a-haystack information you are looking for”. The roll-out of this technology has only just started, but Google anticipates that it will improve search queries by 7%.
Think about sub-topics and longtail keywords.
When we work on keywords and content, we like to use a funnelling technique. If you take our website as an example, ‘marketing agency’ might take you to our home page, whilst this page could be reached by something like ‘how to improve your SEO in 2021’. Using subtopics and longtail keywords (that’s keywords that are three words or longer) can help to channel-specific search requests to your answer.
You should also remember that you don’t need to continually repeat longtail keywords. Include them in your content and then support them with similar phrases. If you need help with creating exciting and interesting blogs that aren’t repetitive, look at our blog on the subject.
Keep SEO in mind when you are creating new content.
Remember, quality content doesn’t immediately mean you will have SEO success. You could publish the greatest book ever written online, but without tweaking your keywords, page titles, headers, and backlinks and optimising your images and alt-text, no-one would ever see it.
This should really be best practice, but when you create any new content, keep SEO in mind as every new thing published on your site is an opportunity to get it right. This should include optimising page titles, headers, subheadings, and file and image names.
Throw out the padding.
You don’t need to pad out your message. Excuse the pun, but that’s the long and the short of it. Some of your blogs will be lengthy, and some will be short and sweet. There really isn’t a magic rule for blog length, but there is one for keeping the reader engaged, and that simply is “if they get bored, they will click away”.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that if your readers like your content, the search engines probably will do too.
Are your keywords realistic?
This is one of our favourite blog tips. Having realistic keywords means that you will attract the right audience to your content. In the simplest terms, there is little point in going after a keyword that gets thousands of hits a month when your top ten keywords are searched hundreds of times a month.
Research and explore your keywords and create content that relates to them. You could even look for spin-off keywords that could bring in new customers.
Keep your URLs short.
Searchers prefer shorter URLs. They look professional and make a slight improvement in search rankings. Keep them short, sweet and to the point, including relevant keywords that provide the most impact.
If you would like any help and assistance in improving your SEO through blogging, want someone to write and market your blogs for you, or simply want some more blog tips, get in touch with the NAMA team.
