A Definite Guide to Advanced SEO Content Practices 2023

In today’s digital age, online prominence is the key for businesses to build, promote and sustain themselves. If the website doesn’t receive enough traffic or visitors, it is unlikely that the website will land on the initial pages of a search engine, which in turn is bound to affect the business adversely. Given the competition, having a strategy is crucial for sustaining and thriving online, and creating advanced SEO content requires in-depth knowledge of the working of search engines.

How do Search Engines Work?

Think of well-read librarians, who know about the content of each book kept in the library. They are keenly observing which book is most sought after by the visitors, which topics are most read, what kind of books and magazines are in demand.

Librarians would index these books accordingly to ensure easy accessibility of these books and magazines, to provide readers with a happy and comfortable library experience.

Similarly, like an attentive librarian, search engines too keep an eye on what is being searched, what is trending, which links are sought after, which websites are attracting traffic, and so on. Search engines then arrange an index based on the data of system algorithms that take into account the user demand and quality checks to provide users a prompt and accurate search experience.

SEO content focuses on meeting all the criteria required by the website for securing a fine place in the Search Index. These criteria are collectively known as SEO which forms the base of every high-ranking online content.

Do check out the Top SEO Trends to Ace SERP Rankings 

Understanding  SEO

                                                        Courtesy: Unsplash

Search engines like Google, Bing, etc, work on the concept of traffic. Traffic means the number of visitors or prospective buyers your website gets on average. The rule is simple, the more the traffic, the better the ranking on search engines. 

SEO is the process of ensuring the internet prominence of a website by understanding the parameters of the search engine’s operation and using it to attract organic visitors and prospective buyers/clients to the particular website or link.

Understanding the working of search engines is the key to creating SEO content. However, to generate SEO content it is mandatory to know the parameters for designing Basic SEO Content.

Check out the Best Advanced SEO Course by IIM SKILLS

Basic SEO Content

Basic SEO content techniques primarily focus on the requirements of beginners. As a content creator, one must ace these techniques to create relevant and compelling content which is useful and shareworthy. Following is the list of a few pointers to help beginners set sail as they venture through the world of SEO.

●       Understanding Keywords: 

Keywords are the queries that you enter in the search box of search engines. Keywords are divided into two categories long-tail keywords and short-tail keywords. Content containing long-tail keywords has a better ranking than ones with short-tail keywords. Short tail keywords are mostly absurd and confusing for search engines as they appear far from being specific. Whereas long-term keywords are more specific and clear to understand. 

For example, instead of using a short tail keyword like “coffee shops”, if you include long-tail keywords like “coffee shops near me” or “best coffee shops in the city”, the article with the longtail keyword will be ranked better by search engines for being clear and specific.

●       Keyword Optimization: 

One of the main ingredients to brew SEO-worthy content is to know the knack of keywords. The describing words or phrases related to your content help Google to determine if the content is relevant to the search query or not. Following the 0.5% rule of keyword density is imperative. 

●       Compelling Content: 

While creating content, it is important to keep the target audience in mind. Keep the language simple and comprehensible. While it is very important to stick to the niche to earn credibility, it’s wise to knit the niche topic and trending topic together whenever possible.

●       Write Longer Posts:

Engaging content is the core of any blog, article, or video you wish to share. It is one of the primary factors to attain a good SEO ranking. Content writers must aim to write informative articles without compromising on the quality of content. 

The best from the industry insist that search engines have an eye for long high-quality posts and the beginners should strive to attain it. Plus it also helps with the “dwell time”. 

It is expected that the reader will stay on your page long enough to finish reading the article, sending signals to search engines that your article is engaging and deserves a good ranking. Greater the dwell time higher the chances of improved ranking.

●       Use Imagery:

As it is rightly said, “ a picture is worth a thousand words ‘, don’t shy away from using ample images. It can be photos, graphics, tables, pie charts, etc. Include the relevant images to use and let them compliment your write-up.

●       Structure your Post: 

Good informative writing alone cannot keep the reader engaged for long; the blog needs to be well structured and look appealing. Use H1 for tagging the headline and H2 for the subheading. 

Maintain a clear font size like Arial or Times New Roman throughout the article/blog. A uniformly structured article looks impressive and is easy to comprehend over a cluttered and chaotic-looking piece.

●       Shareworthy Content: 

Whether you write a blog to share an experience or provide information, keep it interesting and engaging. Choose topics that are trending or are of greater concern. 

An interesting headline will make your case stronger, spelling and grammatical errors will make your blog look weak. One should always try to break down the information under the various subheadings, making it easy for the reader to take in the information served.

●       Greater User Experience:

It is prudent to keep the content useful, usable, findable, credible, desirable, accessible, and valuable. The product or services offered on the website should be of relevance and use to the reader. 

●       Title URL and Tags:

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. Tags are the word, phrases, pictures, or videos that describe the content of your blog or website. URL and Tags help search engines find your content and navigate the visitors to your page. Thus, posting the right URL and tags help ensure greater online visibility.

The above-mentioned techniques help beginners to get a jump start in the world of SEO. The greater challenge surfaces after it is to sustain and grow. Having an in-depth knowledge of SEO content is imperative to reside and thrive in the highly competitive environment of digital marketing.   

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Advanced SEO Content

The basic techniques can help you survive, but once you begin to grow it will be essential to equip yourself with the next set of SEO skills and a better understanding of the working of Google’s algorithms.

Advanced SEO content techniques are designed to promote the growth of your business. They help you dive deep into the matter and understand the functioning of the advanced SEO content like a pro. Below are a few tricks of the trade, spilled by the experts of advanced SEO content strategy.

●       Crawl Accessibility:

It is defined by the search engine’s ability to crawl to the content of a page and access it. If the webpage has an accessibility issue, the web crawls won’t be able to assess the content of the page easily. Despite having the best content, the page may suffer from low traffic.

●       Update the Existing Articles: 

It is unlikely that a fresh write-up will have a high ranking straightway. On the other hand, consider updating your old posts by making them relevant to current trends and dates.Updating an article will ensure high traffic and ranking too.

●       Managing the Keywords: 

Understanding this trick can immensely benefit the ranking of your advanced SEO content. When writing the article consider low competition keywords and once you see it ranking high add a few high competition keywords to it. This will ensure steady progress in the ranking of your content.

●       Interlink:

This concept is akin to story writing. Just like while writing a story, you web subplot around the central plot, similarly here you sew together multiple topics around the main topic and interlink them. This interlinking of topics broadens the reader base and also provides a greater opportunity for backlinking, helping the website grow.

●       Audit your Website: 

Not all pages perform equally. Some rank high, some rank low, and others may fail to meet the expectations. These non-performing and low-performing pages adversely affect the website ranking. Thus, it is only wise to conduct a regular audit of the pages on the website and remove the non-productive pages.

●       Optimize Featured Snippets:

Optimizing the snippet is a widely used technique and a recommended one too. While optimizing the snippets from the write-up, ensure that the article answers the query precisely. Back up the snippets with facts and figures and organize them well. Try to answer many similar queries in the same article.

● Optimize Google My Business Listing:

Many factors contribute to varied search results for a particular query. The primary factor is the location, of course. To meet the requirement of local search results, Google keeps updating its Google My Business [GMB] feature. 

Optimizing it will certainly boost the ranking and conversion rates. Publishing google posts, adding new related images, posting relevant questions, answers and reviews are a few ways to optimize this factor and up the ranking.

● Build your Brand’s Reputation:

As per the Google search quality guidelines, brand reputation is one of the vital influencers in the ranking process. If you thought backlinks were good enough to help the website with brand building, think again. 

Did you know, the unlinked brands and sentiments around them also have a say in the ranking process? Based on the sentiments/reputation of your brand Google draws an understanding of your authority in a particular field. Hence it is of immense importance to optimize this factor to aid the ranking and traffic. 

A few ways of optimizing it are by mentioning your brand’s performance, finding current customers and prospective buyers, who would like to talk about your brand, building opportunities for lead generation with like-minded business entities, and analyzing competitors’ growth curvature and the factors determining it.

● Accelerate Page Speed:

Page speed is another crucial ranking factor for Google and users alike. A low page speed is a major turn-off for visitors. Low page speed can be a major contributing factor to your page’s higher bounce rate and low conversion rate. 

People prefer fast online experiences, and that is why Google uses it as a factor for ranking, as the users won’t like withstanding long buffer time. The benchmark for a site or page upload is two seconds or less, anything more adversely affects traffic and ranking in search results. 

Even in cases where the website has paid ads or social media channels to attract traffic high speed is required to keep the traffic coming. If not, the user may choose to click on a competitor’s high-speed page. 

Consider using the help of a developer or a designer to improve your page speed. The developer can assist you with a few tips and make changes like compressing the images, limiting the number of redirects, and optimizing the HTML code of your page in order to acquire desired speed.

These advanced SEO content pointers are listed keeping in mind the dynamic nature of digital marketing. For further tips check out 17 advanced SEO techniques..

It’s an ever-changing, ever-evolving industry. From the time the pandemic has surfaced, the influence of Digital Marketing on people’s life has increased manifolds. It’s the new way of life. While we all constantly focus on things to “do”, we often tend to overlook the “don’ts”. Following is the list of simple “don’ts” that will keep you from making common mistakes and plunging the ranking.

Bad SEO Practices that Destroy the Ranking

● Losing Focus from the Keywords:

Readers come to your page trusting your link and snippets. If the write-up is anything but promised, you risk losing out on your reader base and traffic, eventually.

●       Not being Consistent with Content: 

Posting good advanced SEO content regularly is the key factor for establishing yourself as an authority in the eye of search engines. Irregular posts often affect the credibility and authority of the creator on the given topic.

●       Sticking to a Particular Topic:

Develop insight for analyzing the dynamics around the niche and try coming up with a new topic every time. Overdoing a particular topic may disinterest the visitors. If the site lacks variety, it is unlikely that readers would keep coming back to it.

●       Forgetting to Interlink your Work:

By consistently creating advanced SEO content around a particular niche, you present yourself as a matter expert to Google and the reader. Over some time, you tend to develop a library of Advanced SEO content and may have every information that a visitor is looking out for. By forgetting to interlink, you are letting go of the authority and advanced SEO content in vain.

●       Accepting Low-Quality Guest Posts:

 Avoid making this mistake under any circumstances. Remember, it’s your website and every post on it can credit or discredit you as a subject expert. So, accept only good quality guest posts which help enhance your credibility and ranking.

Having an optimum understanding of the working of search engines and advanced SEO content is the key to ensuring better ranking and traffic. Nevertheless, given the broad spectrum of the topic in consideration, it is unlikely to not have any doubts. Few frequently asked questions can be of great help in putting things in perspective.

Frequently Asked Question

●       How to research for a keyword?

Firstly, which keyword planner tool is being used, and second, how you go about it. For example, if you are using Google Keyword planner, then that’s the tool being used. 

Now, how you decide to use it for researching a keyword would depend on your niche and the competition category you would like to choose from. For beginners, it is advisable to choose a low competition category, as a beginners write-up may have better chances at a good ranking in the low competition category than in high or medium competitions categories. 

While choosing the keywords, prefer the long-tail keywords over short-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are easier to comprehend as they tend to be more clear and precise than short-tail keywords. For example, the search results for “good bakeries near me” will be way more precise and relevant than that of “good bakeries”. 

●       What is keywords density?

The number of times you use the keywords or phrases in your content for optimizing it is called keyword density. Keywords density is calculated by the formula ( No. Of Keywords /Total Number of content ) ∗ 100. It is imperative to maintain 0.5% keyword density as per the advanced SEO content guidelines.

●       What are heading tags?

In SEO content, heading or header tags are used for isolating the heading and subheading from the rest of the content of the website. A top-down system follows six headline labels from H1 to H6 as a part of SEO.

●       What is a site link?

The links, which appear on the search engines under the website pages to help the user attain more information about that page/website. There are two types of site links, paid site links and organic sites knowing similarly serve links. 

●       Explain the difference between Crawling and Indexing.

Crawling means when the spider or bot crawls and fetches information from a website or page to the web. Indexing refers to the next step when the information is made available on the search engine as a search result for a query.

●       What is an SEO-friendly URL?

 SEO-friendly optimize URLs aim at streamlining the word structure of URLs to make it distinctly available at the search engines. It takes into account appropriate keywords and length. It focuses on improving site positioning and optimizing accessibility.

Conclusion:

It is absolutely necessary to keep a check on not falling prey to bad SEO practices while continuing to hone the skills for creating high-quality advanced SEO content. 

Expert guidance is imperative if one wishes to excel in this particular aspect of digital marketing. It is best to seek guidance from the institutes like IIM Skills which harbor industry experts and offer guidance, support, and extensive opportunity to ace the art of designing SEO Content.