Content Optimization Guide 2021

A Complete Guide to Content Optimization for SEO

Content Optimization is always a daunting topic. According to Statista, in 2021 over 70 million blogs are published EACH MONTH on WordPress. With so much content out there, is it still worth taking the time to optimize your content?

Add to that the challenges of keeping your existing content relevant: How do you decide between updating old pages and writing new articles? This guide to Content Optimization will help you overcome all these initial challenges and find a logical starting point.

What is Content Optimization?

Content optimization can be defined as making online content as interesting to both users and search engines like Google as possible.?

For users, content optimization means consistently providing excellent quality content that perfectly matches their search intent. If they ask a question, then your article or page should provide the best available answer.

For search engines, content optimization involves using SEO (search engine optimization) and other techniques to make your content machine-readable, discoverable, and well-structured.

Why Do Need a Content Optimization Strategy?

Still not convinced you need a content optimization strategy? A quick glance at the data may make you think otherwise:

Few would argue that content marketing forms the bedrock of most successful digital marketing strategies. In fact, a recent report found that 93% of successful B2B marketers remain very or extremely committed to content marketing. Yet the same report found that only 39% of B2B digital marketers actually have a documented content marketing strategy. This means?the door is wide open for strategic content marketers to prosper with optimized content.

The bottom line is that anyone regularly publishing content needs a solid content optimization strategy to stay ahead of the content curve. If you don’t have one, then make it your new year’s resolution.?

What Are the Benefits of Content Optimization?

Here are some of the benefits of content optimization:

• SEO: Well-optimized content has been proven to boost?search engine rankings.
• Traffic: Higher rankings?mean more organic traffic.
• Trust:?Optimized content?increases?topic authority?and trust, both with your users and?Google.?
• Efficiency: Updating and republishing?existing content?can save a lot of time.
• Future-proof content: Regularly optimizing your content inline with best practices?allows you to stay relevant.

What Are the Types of Content Optimization That Matter?

Take a closer look at the most important SEO content optimization factors in the guide below.?There are two main types of content optimization:?

1. Content Optimization With SEO

Some common SEO techniques for content optimization include strategically placing internal (inbound) and external (outbound) links; optimizing metadata and HTML tags; and backlink building. These techniques affect where your page appears in the search engine results pages (SERPs) and how these results appear. They do not usually affect the quality of the content for the user.

2. Non-Technical Content Optimization

Non-technical content optimization?encompasses the?overall quality?of the content. This can include readability,?article length,?topic coverage, and use of images and videos. Each piece of content can be rated on a?quality scale. Ultimately, users decide which piece of content best meets their needs.

Note: Some factors blur the boundaries.?Article length and topic coverage?are signals to?search engines?that your content is of?high quality. However, content should always be created with the user in mind.?Increasing word counts?or topics mentioned just to boost rankings will result in?bad user signals and drops in the ranking.

7-Step Guide to?Content Optimization?in 2021

This seven-step approach?to?content optimization?works for?new and existing content?of any kind. It’s aimed at?content creators?that want to produce high-quality content. You don’t need any SEO experience.

Ready to revamp your?content marketing efforts?

1) Find the Pillar Page

This may seem an odd place to start. But before you do any research or writing, you need to map out the structure of your content. Let’s take an example. Say we want to create a content campaign around the topic?social selling.?

2) Find the Cluster Pages

Cluster pages are pages that cover subtopics related to your?pillar page. These are in-depth articles. One technique to find?perfect cluster pages?is to open a new?Frase?document and query your?pillar page.

3) Competitor Analysis: How High Is the Bar?

Now you have a structure for your?content cluster, it’s time to check out the competition. Try a few search queries involving your?content cluster. You are looking to evaluate?content quality:?word length, topic coverage, authority, clarity, number of problems solved.

4) Republishing Existing Content?

To republish or not to republish, that is the question. What’s great about already having a content cluster is that you can see at a glance whether or not you have content you can re-use before content creation.

5)?Topic Coverage: Identifying Gaps in Your Content?

Start with your existing content. The goal is to find “gaps” and fill them with meaningful, authoritative content. A gap is a topic that top results have included in a similar page, but you have not.?

6) Editing Tips

Once you’ve created your pillar and cluster pages, it’s time to edit.

Craft Compelling Titles

Tools like AnswerThePublic allow you to see how users are searching for topics. Try entering your cluster articles and check out the results. Often the types of questions usersask make great titles for your cluster pages: “How to use LinkedIn for Social Selling.”

The Future of Content Optimization

As Google continues to make strides in AI and NLP, satisfying user intent will continue to be the most important factor in determining search engine rankings. The more Google is able to understand, the better the results will be.?

For content marketers this means disposing of traditional SEO approaches to content and thinking in terms of topic clusters and ordering information in a way that best meets the needs of their users.?

Key Takeaways

• Use topic clusters to divide your content into pillar and cluster pages
• Increase relevance of old content by increasing topic coverage
• Optimize your content for topic coverage
• Prioritize user experience and content quality over pure SEO