The Simple SEO Content Framework

In my last post I highlighted how a simple SEO focused content strategy could lead to genuine business impact, but I left out the step-by-step framework that I follow to generate these results in order to keep the article concise.

In this latest article I will highlight that 6-step SEO content framework I use to identify opportunities and then gradually work towards closing them down. I don't want to suggest its always as simple as 1,2,3 but this is really the foundations on which any SEO project should start from.

My 6 Step SEO Content Framework

As some of these steps are significant topics in their own right I will likely cover these off in later posts as time allows or via the comments section if anybody jumps in with questions, but these are the fundamental steps I take:

Step 1 - Understand Consumer Search Behaviour

The first step in any SEO engagement should focus on understanding the search landscape for your business and industry. In effect this revolves around you building an overview of the search queries that consumers use in your industry to find the products and services that you offer.

The end goal of this 1st step is to put a stake in the ground that enables you to articulate the search queries you want to focus on as a business and the total opportunity that exists. At this point don't expect it to necessarily be all encompassing, you can refine it over time. In some industries you may also find there is many thousands of keywords, but I suggest you refine down initially to something manageable (i.e., maximum 400-500 keywords) and learn/adapt your focus later.

To give some example context - for Asian Art Platform, which is an art gallery in a small market (Singapore) I track around 156 keywords, which I gradually add and remove over time depending on focus and opportunities.

In order to build this view I typically use a mixture of data sources, and in truth your ability to use each of these will vastly vary depending on access, budget and the existing marketing activities of your business. It will also massively depend on your market of operation as sadly most tools in the industry are still limited in their data capture outside of major markets like the US.

Here are the data sources I typically use where possible:

PPC Campaign Data - this can be a fantastic data source if your company has already driven success from paid search marketing. From here you should be able to extract a bunch of search queries, along with their respective impression, visit and performance data if tracked properly in your web analytics tools. This is particularly valuable because if you know for example 2 keywords drive high ROI from paid, then its a very good bet they would drive positive impact if they also ranked in organic.

*Plus added benefit, if you move ranking in organic, maybe you could consider reducing investment in paid or shifting it to other opportunities.

SEMRush / SimilarWeb - both of these tools can be used to generate competitive search query data. In effect they'll give you some insight into what your competitors are ranking on and the relative search volume they're generating from those keywords. Naturally you need to focus on 'online competitors' and not necessarily your traditional bricks & mortar ones who may themselves suck at SEO and would not be a good benchmark to work from.

As an example, here is an overview for Q&M Dental in Singapore via SEMRush. This gives me tons of keyword data for dental related terms that I could use to drive not just my own query selection for search, but actual business strategy, because it tells me demand for various dental services in Singapore (teeth whitening, implants for example). If I was a dentist and I was wondering how to grow revenue, then maybe I would use this data to expand my product offering.

Internal Brainstorming - depending on the size of your company and support you can extract internally, its usually a good idea to just brainstorm some search queries that different people within the business think are important for their area. This is important where products are perhaps technical in nature and you don't always know enough detail yourself to work out how consumers might search for them.

Google Keyword Planner - whilst this tool is now far less useful for those not spending money on PPC campaigns, if you do have proper access it can be a useful way of extracting additional queries you might not have considered.

Below is an example which shows the average monthly searches* in Google Singapore for the search query 'singapore plumber' along with some other related search queries to consider, such as 'toilet repair'.

*Note that the monthly search ranges are rather broad, i.e., 1K-10K this occurs when you aren't using an active paid search account. Google only shows more accurate data for higher spending Adwords accounts.

Google Search Console - this is a very useful source of search query data for pre-existing sites as it will feed you with genuine search query exposure in Google, including impressions, clicks, CTR and average position on your already live website. This of course assumes you have implemented it - learn more here.

Below is an example extract for Asian Art Platform, highlighting the number of times the website has appeared and been clicked on against specific search queries in the last 28 days. Sometimes you may find keywords in here you never even realised were important drivers of visits.

Once I have all this data combined into a single master list, I like to push it into an excel spreadsheet and then use Google Keyword Planner to get a rough gauge on potential search opportunity. Here is a rough example for reference whereby I have categorised some hypothetical keywords into categories for a handy man company:

Step 2 - Check Existing Keyword Rankings

Once you have your representative list of search queries that you want to focus on, the next logical step is to enter these into a rank tracking tool so you can assess how your current website (if you have one) ranks for those keywords.

There is many tools available to facilitate this rank tracking, but my preferred tool at the moment is via Moz.com, which comes with a 30 day free trial if you just want to run it once initially.

Step 3 - Identify Quick Wins & Major Content Gaps

Once the rank tracking has run (typically takes around 30 mins) you will get your first glimpse at the current situation by target keyword. Below is how this kind of view will look over time with each of the coloured bars representing a different position bucket (ranking area) within Google.

For context, we can generally see the number of keywords ranking in positions 1-3 has grown since December 4th - good news!

I typically like to export the keywords and their rankings into a spreadsheet, and then combine with my search volume data to build a clear picture of my current state of play and then prioritise with all the data to hand.

Combining search volume data with ranking data also allows you to make some estimations on current visits by taking the search volume and multiplying by the CTR % of a given search ranking. Likewise you can also use this methodology as a means to estimate potential incremental visits if you were to rank in a new position.

*Calculations are based on research around CTR of each position in Google, whereby position 1 typically receives over 30% of the clicks (though this research may need updating soon!).

From here I categorise the keywords into two buckets:

Bucket 1 - Keywords within 'Striking Distance' (positions 4-30)

Bucket 2 - Keywords with very poor or no ranking at all (positions 31+)

In the list above there is 7 keywords in striking distance, and 3 keywords with major ranking challenges. Those that already rank represent your potential quick wins, vs. those others which may need much greater time/resource investment to change their current plight.

Step 4 - Optimise Existing Content

At this step you should have a list of your striking distance keywords mapped against specific landing pages. From here you want to assess the following:

1. Are the current pages that rank for my keywords the optimal ones? I.e., if someone searches for 'samsung refrigerator repair' is that page I currently have ranking, providing the best current experience or is there another page which would be better suited?
2. If so, how well optimised are those pages for my target keywords from an SEO perspective?
3. If not, do I have a major content gap to fill? or is there another page I can utilise?

Referring to the 2nd point in particular, there is again various tools you could choose to use here to speed up the process of identifying and making changes. For example, if you use Wordpress then you can consider the Yoast SEO Plugin, and for other platforms you could try the Moz Chrome Plugin. Both tools are designed to help guide you through the process of optimising on-page content and are mostly free.

Here is an example of the MozBar for reference - you can see recommendations for on-page improvements based on a given landing page and its target keyword of 'framing':

Work through all the pages and the respective target search queries and get them into an optimised state. Now lets move onto the more significant ranking challenges - positions 31+

Step 5 - Plug Major Content Gaps

This is relatively straightforward, if you want to rank on the search query 'teeth whitening' but you currently have no ranking, the most likely reason (not always) is that you have no content that targets this search query, so its time to create some and get it live.

You need to follow a similar journey to step 4, but this time potentially create the initial content from scratch and then follow some basic on-page optimisation steps to get the ball rolling.

If the content is important, for example it refers to service offerings or products, then consider how you link it into your existing site hierarchy. As an example, a new page about implants could fall under your services menu such as this example below:

Which in turn links to a page that talks all about tooth implants and has the potential to rank on many different keyword combinations such as:

• Dental Implants
• What is a Dental Implant
• Dental Impact Singapore

Long story short, you can't enter a horse race without a horse, so likewise don't expect to enter the search space without first having some content.

Step 6 - Measure & Act Accordingly

As you start executing changes to your existing content or creating new content to plug major gaps, you should be taking note of when changes were published and then following the trend of rankings and visits (and/or other appropriate KPI) to see if your changes are driving incremental improvements.

In Closing.....

Ranking in search, at least within a zone that provides genuine visit and business impact is not easy, and I don't want to suggest that simply following this 6 step framework will bring you everything you desire, but it will certainly implant the right process from a content stand point to set the foundations on your journey to success.

On many occasions these basic on-page improvements have resulted in huge incremental wins and I am sure if you implement in your own business you will see positive improvements as well.

Good Luck!