SEO Checklist- The Ultimate Guide for Content Marketers
What is SEO marketing?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is the process of optimizing your web pages and content to increase the quantity and quality of your web traffic. Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo are where about 81% of internet users find their desired destination. In short, SEO marketing means that you are improving the visibility of your web page, as well as the accuracy of the types of searches it appears in.
For example, if you are an independent bookkeeper (someone who provides licensed record keeping of financial transactions) you wouldn’t want potential customers to be brought to your web page while searching for their nearest Barnes & Noble (a bookstore).
Even the most brilliantly curated content can go unnoticed if proper SEO marketing tools haven’t been utilized. To optimize your search engine rankings, take a look at some of the tips below.
The SEO Checklist
Our SEO Checklist is divided in 3 categories, or stages of content optimization.
1. The SEO Checklist Before you CREATE CONTENT
a) Establish a Call To Action (CTA)
- The CTA is a statement designed to get an immediate and specific response from the person receiving it; AKA your overall motivation for creating content
(i.e. If you’re a YouTube influencer creating a quality video with the goal of boosting your subscribers, simply make a point to ask viewers to subscribe to your channel. Why do you think almost every YouTuber says “Make sure you like and subscribe to my channel!” in every video they post? Because it works.)
b) Audit Your Topic
- Is it relevant and interesting to your targeted audience?
- All the content you create should provide value to your ideal customers
c) Do Some Keyword Research for your SEO
- Research words related to your topic that your ideal customer might search for when browsing the web, paying attention to variations in phrasing
- Using keywords in file names, headlines, subheadlines, meta descriptions, URLs, tags, etc.
- Avoid keyword stuffing! (Overloading a web page with keywords in an attempt to manipulate the Google algorithm)
- If it’s in your budget, try investing in a research tool like keywordtool.io shown below
d) Spend Some Quality Time with Your Headlines and Sub-headlines
- You only have about 3 seconds to catch your viewer’s attention and make your content spread!
- Be sure to use a keyword within the first 60 characters so it can be shown in search engine results
e) Set up Your RSS Feed
- RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication
- An automation method that allows you to share your online content on social media, within community forums, or other social networking sites as soon as it is published to your website
So, your work is done? Here’s what to do BEFORE you publish it...
2. The SEO Checklist Before you PUBLISH CONTENT
a) Proofread and Edit
- Check Spelling and Grammar!
- Grammar or spelling mistakes are bound to happen here and there but, too many can be distracting and take away from the value of your content
- Human eyes can only do so much, use an editing tool (like Grammarly) to triple check your work, especially for bloggers!
- Check Formatting
- Does your vlog flow?
- Is your blog ‘skimmable’? Most readers don’t read through online content, they skim it for the specific information they need
- We recommend using subheadings and highlighting key points to help with this ‘skimmability’
- Is your educational eBook easy to follow?
- Review Content (yes, again)!
- Did you stay on topic?
- Is your CTA clear?
b) Add Interactive Content
- Allow room for comments from your viewers and readers.
- For text-heavy work, insert things like pictures, videos, and visual data (like graphs) every few sentences to keep your reader’s attention.
- Make sure pictures/memes/videos/gifs are the right size and resolution for the social media channels your audience uses
c) Tend to the Meta Description
- This is the short description that accompanies your web page when it appears in search engine results
- If you don’t write it, the search engine will do it for you.
- You only have 160 characters, make it count (be sure to throw in a keyword or two)!
d) Use Tags (a.k.a. hashtags)
- These are terms (preferably keywords) linked to your content that describe the type of information it will provide
- Usually 1-2 words in length
- Makes it easier to locate other related content and helps with link building
e) Link Building
- Create internal links to previously published content related to your current post
- Create external links to references and other resources
- Accumulate Backlinks
f) Check that URL
- Make sure the URL is search engine friendly
- Use a URL shortening tool like Bit.ly or Ow.ly (these also offer analytics to monitor the performance of your shortened URLs)**
**Shortened URLs are great for sharing content to Twitter (where your character space is limited).
3. The SEO Checklist After you PUBLISH CONTENT
a) Share with Other Experts or Influencers in Your Niche
- Ask other bloggers or vloggers to share your content and reciprocate their promotional efforts (AKA build relationships)
- Connect with other bloggers, experts, or influencers you reference in your content, and thereby, ask them to share it with their audience!
b) Share via Email
- Use an email automation tool like HubSpot or Mailchimp and start an email campaign
- Attach a link to your most recent content to your email signature
- Link in your next eNewsletter
- Create a lead generating landing page to increase your viewers and subscribers
c) Share on Social Media Profiles
- Tailor your status updates to each social channel and targeted audience
- Seek and assist on Twitter- search for people seeking help on Twitter explore pages and share your content with them
- Put a link to your most recent content in your biography or story on Instagram
d) Monitor and analyze Performance
- Invest in a tool like Google Analytics to monitor search engine traffic
- Invest in a social media analytics tool like Hootsuite to monitor social media traffic
- Be mindful of built-in analytics of your website
- Use SEM Rush to study your competitor Keywords strategy
Phu Concepts recommendation to stay SEO Checked!
- Re-share content after a few days, and then again after a few weeks; no one ever said you could only share it once!
- Post to Social Bookmarking sites like Digg or StumbleUpon
- These are sites where users are allowed to edit and share bookmarks of their favorite web documents
- Similar to reposting on social media, users who value your content can bookmark it here for other users to see
- Repurpose and Update Previously Published Content
- Update old posts with any newfound information
- Repurpose old content into new content
- Remove outdated content
- Continue to Perfect Your SEO Marketing and Create Timeless Content!
Further Questions?
While this post offers tips on how to easily improve your SEO content marketing skills, it’s best to start with an SEO audit of your website. Furthermore, paying attention to things like SEO-friendly domain names, internal link structure, and optimization tool extensions are all just as important as the content you produce.
Finally, if you’re struggling with your website’s search engine optimization, contact Phu Concepts’ highly skilled marketing team for an SEO audit today!
References:
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/blog-search-engine-optimization
https://moz.com/learn/seo/what-is-seo
https://www.newmediacampaigns.com/page/seo-vs-ppc—which-provides-you-the-better-value
