[25 Questions About Content & SEO] that help a layman understand the connection between two

DISCLAIMER

Copyright ?2021 by Rohit Mittal | [email protected]

All rights reserved by the creator of the document. Publication Date: April 2021. Rohit Mittal reserves the right to change the contents of this article and the features or scope of the content at any time without obligation to notify anyone of such changes. The content has been adapted using secondary research from various data points via “Google Search”. Infographics and Images used in the document are the property of the respective owners and have been used for indicative purposes only. The author reserves the right for authorization and usage of the Intellectual Property contained in the document.

Introduction: -

Content and SEO are complementary to each other. According to Heidi Cohen content can be defined as “High quality, useful information that conveys a story presented in a contextually relevant manner with the goal of soliciting an emotion or engagement. Delivered live or asynchronously, content can be expressed using a variety of formats including text, images, video, audio, and/or presentations.”

SEO efforts are complimented by Content if it’s

• Useful and Informative.
• More valuable and useful than other sites.
• Credible.
• High Quality.
• Engaging.

The truth of the matter is that Content and SEO overlap to a great extent.

Question 1. What is Organic Content?

Organic content entails pages of a website that are found primarily by users when they type keywords or search terms into search engines like Google and Bing. Unlike newspapers or magazines that have a loyal following of their readers and subscribers to stay relevant. Organic content coupled with quality SEO (Search Engine Optimization) allows web publishers and website owners to be on the ‘front page’ of the SERPs.

Long Articles (Between 1500 – 2500 words) that are non-plagiarized, videos, infographics, blog posts, all add to the visibility and traffic of your website or blog on the web and search engine rankings.

Question 2. What are Keywords?

Keywords lend an identity to your content based on certain predefined criteria in the eyes of the Search Engine Algorithms. In the SEO parlance, these are words and phrases that searchers input via their "search queries." All the content elements of your web pages such as images, video, copy, etc. when converted into simple words and phrases, unravel into your primary keywords.

It is a no-brainer that we want keywords that are relevant to what users on the net are searching for so they have a better chance of finding our content among the results.

Question 3. What is the Importance of Keywords?

Keywords are like the heart of SEO initiatives. They are the bridge between what internet users are searching for and the content you are providing to fill that search intent. The goal is to rank on search engines to divulge organic traffic to your site from the search engine result pages (SERPs), and the keywords chosen to target will ensure what kind of traffic comes your way.

Keywords are all about your content and the target audience. The very simple reason is that you will articulate it differently than the people with the intent to search for what you are proposing or offering. It is imperative to understand the buyer persona pretty well to drive traffic to your site. You can do this by establishing a dialogue with your target audience, frequenting the common forums and community groups, and doing your keyword research in the right direction.

Question 4. How To Do Keyword Research?

With a little effort and the following process, you can zero in on a desired list of Keywords

• Brainstorming Sessions – Think like a customer as to what terms they will use to reach out to you for the services and products you are offering. Talk to your friends, family, industry peers, and professional friends to get an idea of how they will approach in their search for the keywords relevant to you. If you are a business leader of an established marketing department then you can with your colleagues build a list of specific and relevant keywords.
• Google Suggestions and Related Searches – Whenever you put a search string in Google, check out the suggestions given by Google and also related searches at the bottom of the SERPs page.
• Use Keyword Research Tools – Some of the free and good resources are

1. Keywords Planner using Google Ads.
2. Ubersuggest. 
3. Moz Keyword Explorer.
4. Wordstream Keywords Research.
5. Spyfu.
6. AnswerThePublic.
7. Google Trends.
8. QuestionDB.

Question 5. How To Optimize Your Site For Organic Keywords?

To attract traffic through organic search to your website Site organization and On-Site Optimization are very critical. You have to be strategic and mindful of the use of keywords.

Create content that is highly relevant and beneficial to each set of semantically related keywords. For example, if you run an E-Commerce store related to organic farm products and groceries then your keywords should be “Organic Pulses”, “Organically Grown Vegetables”.

Never compromise on the quality, Search engines, and users both adore content that is genuinely helpful and different. You need to incorporate your keywords in some pertinent places of your website as shared below:

• The URL
• The title and H1 tags
• The first sentence or at least the first paragraph
• Subheads
• Image file names and alt text
• The meta description
• In links to related content

Question 6. What Are Long Tail Keywords?

Long Tail Keywords are specific combinations of several terms. Singular keywords are highly competitive, costly, have high search volume, and can be vague too. Long-tail keywords in most of the instances have a very clearly defined intent. Long Tail keywords with lower search volume often have better conversion rates.

Question 7. What is Keyword Stuffing?

According to Google’s guidelines, the definition of keyword stuffing is, in simple terms, the practice of excessively filling a web page with keywords with the ultimate goal of gaming the search giant’s ranking system. Types of visible keyword stuffing include:

• Unnecessarily repeating words or phrases
• Adding words that are out of context
• Inserting blocks of the same keyword
• Using keywords that are not relevant to the topic of the page

One of the factors that need to be kept into consideration is Keyword Density. It is the percentage of times a keyword is used in the copy. There are no benchmarks for proper keyword density but as a best practice, it is recommended to have the keyword density at 2%.

Keyword stuffing should be avoided at all costs as it can lead to a Google Penalty and removal of your pages from SERPs.

Question 8. How To Use The Keywords Optimally?

As per Google’s Quality Guidelines “Focus on creating useful, information-rich content, that uses keywords appropriately and in context”. The following steps will help in ranking your content

1.   Assign a Primary Keyword to each page.

2.   Write 1500 – 2500 words.

3.   Use the appropriate primary keyword density in the copy.

4.   Add secondary keywords, synonyms, and long-tail keyword variations in the copy.

5.   Place keywords in the right page elements.[As shared in Question 5 Above].

6.   Check your On-Page SEO.

Question 9. What is the Tripod rule of Keywords?

According to this rule, three aspects have to be ensured when it comes to choosing the keywords to target

1.   Popularity – High enough volume.

2.   Rankable – SEO difficulty isn’t too high.

3.   Relevance – The search intent is in conjunction with your content.

Question 10. Based on the volume how to choose the keywords?

The higher volume keywords are the ones dominated by big brands that have big pockets for spending. This is where a focussed and intensive beforehand research into mixing your target keywords and selecting the middle of the funnel option can surely help.

Question 11. What is Search Intent?

Search intent (or user intent, audience intent) is the sole premise why someone gets onto the internet to conduct online research mostly related to a specific need. The pertinent questions to understand are Is someone on the lookout for answers? Do they wish to explore a specific website? Or, are they looking to make online purchases? These searches form different stages of what is called the “Buyer’s Journey”. There are four different types of search intent

1.   Information Intent

2.   Navigational Intent

3.   Transactional Intent

4.   Commercial Intent

Question 12. Why is Search Intent Important?

When web users get online to conduct searches, they intend to find relevant information that feeds their hunger for information. This helps in driving leads to relevant content on your webpage. This whole process, in turn, will motivate you to optimize your content to match the search intent. The important reasons why user search intent complements and expedites your SEO efforts are enumerated as below:

1.   Their desired needs are getting fulfilled.

2.   More relevant leads.

3.   Positions yourself as an authority.

4.   Catapults Brand Awareness.

Question 13. Why the content should be “More Scannable”?

According to Forbes “To Offset the challenges created by screens and layouts, few people actually READ online content; 79% of them Scan”. Following are the ways to make your content more scannable:

1.   Use headings.

2.   Format important sentences and words.

3.   Use images in your content.

4.   Use bullet points.

5.   Highlight the important text.

6.   Download a shortcode plugin.

7.   Write in sentences. 

8.   Write shorter paragraphs.

9.   Avoid using long words that have a shorter alternative.

10. Make good use of blockquotes.

Question 14. What is Content Curation? 

Content curation is repurposing online content and presenting the best pieces in a better structure. One thing to note here is that no new content is published. Instead, you are researching and sharing content created by others that your target audience will engage with. It helps in creating lasting relationships with your customers.

Question 15. How Important is Video Content for SEO?

According to study companies that leverage video content make 49% more revenue than their competitors who do not. Websites that make judicious use of video content are 53 times more likely to rank on the first page of SERPs. Three important ways of how video help improve SEO rankings

1.   It enhances the depth and quality of SEO content.

2.   It improves the User Experience and Bounce Rate.

3.   Videos help you earn more backlinks.

Question 16. How does duplicate content hurt SEO Rankings?

Never encourage or practice Plagiarism. Plagiarism or copying the content of others and sharing it using your digital property is a serious offense in the eyes of the Search Engine algorithms. It should be avoided at all costs. A minuscule overlap between two to five percent is permissible. Copyscape is a great tool to check plagiarism. There are many others.

Question 17. How to Optimize Images for SEO?

Images are a crucial part of the content. They make it more accessible, attractive and engaging for the users. They help the search engines by giving them contextual information and optimized images help in speeding up the page loading. Some of the best practices for Image Optimization are:

1.   Resize Your Images. Pick the Right file format. JPEG and PNG are the best bets. Choose the right compression rate.

2.   Optimize Image File Names. Use hyphens when creating an image file name.

3.   Use Alt Tags.

4.   Optimize the image title.

5.   Include Captions.

6.   Use Unique Images.

7.   Ensure that the text complements the images.

8.   Add Image structured data.

9.   Use Site Maps.

Question 18. What are LSI Keywords?

LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) is a natural language processing technique that was developed in the 1980s. Computers do not have their intelligence to understand the word relationships like a human brain. LSI solves this problem by way of complex mathematical formulae.

Question 19. What are Seed Keywords?

Seed keywords are short and are typically one or two words, without modifiers. A seed keyword is a base, a starting place. Seed keywords are often used to grow, other keywords. A seed keyword is what you might put into the Keywords Explorer Tool on Ahrefs or the Keyword Magic tool on SEMrush to generate a long list of keyword phrases.

Seed keywords and the associated keyword phrases they generate are useful for several reasons. These keywords can become ideas for articles or videos. They can also help you better understand the topics most important to your business.

Question 20. How To Optimize Content?

Optimization of the content helps in the ranking, generation of traffic, and lead generation. The best practices to do so are

1.   Knowing your audience.

2.   Zero Tolerance For Quality Compromise.

3.   Tailor content around Keywords.

4.   Don’t depend on Keywords completely.

5.   Leverage Headings and Subheadings.

6.   Optimize the Title Tag.

7.   Include keywords in Meta Description.

8.   Optimize Images.

9.   Keep the URLs simple and informative.

10. Ensure it’s optimized for Mobile.

Question 21. What is Topic Clustering?

It is also known as the “Pillar-and-Cluster” technique. It was first detailed by Hubspot Research in 2017. It’s used by both B2B and B2C organizations to streamline their content marketing strategy.

The core focus is on topics rather than keywords. This is an intent-based approach that simplifies blog archives by creating content around one central topic – referred to as the “pillar” page or post.

Then several supporting blog posts – clusters – are written to explain sub-topics based on your pillar content and generate internal links to the pillar page. The structure turns out looking a little something like this:

Question 22. How does content clustering increase site traffic?

The main purpose of Google’s algorithm is to match all of the info it’s indexed to the user’s search query. Content Clustering in this way will increase your page’s relevancy to a particular term that the user is searching for.

Question 23. What is KEI? How does it Help?

KEI (keyword effectiveness index) is one of the quickest ways to find keywords that show potential - that is, those keywords which are likely to help your site attract more traffic. The formula to calculate KEI is

KEI = No. Of Results / No. Of Searches

KEI is directly proportional to Ranking. The lower the KEI, the better your chances of ranking and vice versa.

Question 24. How Does Blogging Help SEO?

Blogging helps in boosting SEO quality by positioning your website as a relevant answer to your customers' questions. Blog posts that are specific and use a variety of on-page SEO tactics boost the opportunities to rank and drive traffic to your website.

Question 25. How does Guest Blogging Help SEO?

Guest Blogging and SEO go hand-in-hand if they are following Google’s guidelines. Guest blogging is a tactic to grow referral traffic to your website. Publishing on high-quality and relevant websites is likely to benefit your search engine ranking position by bringing more traffic to your website. In turn, this will hopefully result in more revenue for your business.