Q U I C K S T A R T

G U I D E

Content Optimization:Better SEO Content &

K ey w o r d s

Our latest best practice paperdoesn’t beat about the bush.Nope. It’s our QuickStart guide toContent Optimization and how toradically improve your Search Engine‘Indexibility’ (…and hence your SEO)by creating better, more search enginefriendly web site content.Without further ado…

Roger Warner, Managing Director, C&M

September 2009

QuickStart Guide:

Content Optimization: Better SEO Content& Keywords //

C&M

//September 2009

The New York Timespublished a great article acouple o years ago thattotally nailed the questiono why Keywords andContent Optimization are soimportant to search engines.The piece was written bya reporter who was coming to grips with the act that he was no longerwriting just or his editor and his readership ….but also or a new, thirdreader called Google.Here’s his leader:

“

Journalists over the years have assumed they werewriting their headlines and articles for two audiences -fickle readers and nitpicking editors. Today, there is a third important arbiter of their work: the software programs that scour the Web, analyzing and rankingonline news articles on behalf of Internet search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN.”

Read the rest o the articlehere.It’s a great introduction to how and why we need to rethink our web sitecontent in order to make it perorm better or SEO. In short, creatingSEO-riendly content requires two changes to

everyone’s

writing habits…In order to understand and address an audience via search, it’s criticalto understand the language that they’re using everyday on Google. Inother words, instead o just crating witty headlines, a large part o thecreative work becomes a matter o aligning what you want to say withthe langauge that you know your audience is using.Tools like GoogleSuggest help us do this Content Optimisation research withpinpoint accuracy.Google (and others) ‘read’ web content in certain ways. For example,page titles, the things that sit in the top (grey) bar o your browser window– are extremely important. Google takes them as an important indicationo what your content is all about. From a technical perspective, mostgood CMS’s will take this title rom the headline that you give to yourpage. At the same time, Google preers to read blocks o title text thatare 70 characters or less. As such, the scope or creativity in headlinesis somewhat changed…. And this is just one Google ‘reading quirk’amongst many. (Don’t worry, we’ll explore some more o them below…) As such, i we want our content to be more attractive to search enginesthen these two thoughts – keywords and good content optimization –should inorm every single piece o content that we generate or the web.Your aim is to structure your content using the words that your audienceis using to search the web – so that you improve your chances oeaturing on the rst couple o pages o Google in relation to a givensearch query.

Why KeyWords &Content optiMization are so iMportantto seo

QuickStart Guide:

Content Optimization: Better SEO Content& Keywords //

C&M

//September 2009

For example, i you’re in thebusiness o IPTV and youraudience is searching around yourbackyard using phrases like ‘IPTVcontent management sotware,’ then you need to align the language youuse to describe yoursel with these terms. At the same time, you need to be aligning yoursel with a set o keywordsin a ‘win-able’ arena amongst competitors: some keywords will have nocompetition, others will be red hot.In simple terms, this last point creates a ‘keyword index.’ You need to

place a calculated bet on where you want to play. Your choice should becalibrated by the ollowing ormula:

Volume of daily searchers on any given key word (…divided by)Volume of other web pages that are optimised around those keywords

You want to engage with as many people as possible that are usingsearch terms related to your products / services. At the same time, youwant to position yoursel where you can compete, given the resourcesyou have to hand.The challenge is best illustrated by a quick experiement….I you’re in the business o sotware apps or sales support, you mightchoose to optimise around the term ‘CRM.’ This would currently giveyou an audience o 563 searchers per day on Google. Unortunately,it would also put you in direct competition with 129 million other webpages that are optimised on that term. Alternatively, i you were to ocusyour keywords around the concept o ’sales management sotware’ you’dhave a total audience o around 50 searchers a day; and using this route,you’d be up against approximately 150,000 other pages.Clearly the chances o capturing the attention o a ‘sales managementsotware’ searcher are ar more likely than or a ’CRM’ searcher…But choosing keywords is not just a question o running the numbers.Other branding considerations are also essential to a successulkeyword strategy.For example, you need to consider the ollowing things…

Your brand equity

What’s does your overall investment in non-web language mean tothis work? What about your sales patter and your product namingconventions? Do these things t with your keyword ndings?

Market maturity

Does your current searching public really refect where the market isat? Are you leading them or ollowing them? What stage is your marketin terms o possessing a common body o language to describe itsproblems and requirements?

Influential people

Are industry analysts setting the market terms? Or are they just spinningar-etched yarns? Do you need to ollow or ignore them? What infuencedo they have on your customers? Will this infuence matter tomorrow?Has it already had an impact?

Your resources

Can you aord to compete in hotly competed areas? I you have a mega-budget, why not just nuke it out? I your resources are small, can you ndsmarter keyword arenas to play in?