5 Tips to Build an SEO Content Strategy in 2023

These days, the most effective way to market most products and services is through content marketing.

With content marketing, you get to educate the audience about your products and services, talk about industry trends, unique selling points, and even add a little humor to the day. However, you need to produce content within a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) content strategy to get good results.

The Importance of an SEO Strategy

SEO doesn’t come easily. Half the internet works hard to get that coveted (and necessary) spot on the first page of search results. Without a strategy, it’s difficult to be successful because you won’t know how to structure your content for success. Worse, you might waste time competing for keywords where you have little or no chance of success.

A major part of the SEO performance of your website is the content you post there. For this reason, a content strategy for SEO is critical if you want your website to get significant organic traffic from the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). On the other hand, with an SEO content strategy, you know where you’re going and what metrics you’ll measure, and you’ll have a clear plan on how to reach your goals most efficiently.

However, you can’t develop these strategies overnight. It takes careful research and planning, along with some trial and error, to gain the best results. Luckily, following these tips will help you craft a great content strategy for SEO.

1. Define Your Audience

It’s difficult to craft a good SEO content strategy if you don’t know whom you’re trying to reach. While there’s no question that everyone wants to connect with potential customers, it’s important to define your ideal audience. Marketers call this a “buyer persona”, and it’s a fictional character that represents the people whom you want to be your customers. Although some people outside those parameters may also want to do business with you, the people who define your buyer personas are your best potential customers.

3. Choose Your Keywords

In some ways, this is the hardest part of writing a content strategy for SEO, because you can say the same thing several ways. Each way has different keywords, and these can be more or less competitive. Generally speaking, you should choose keywords that are consistent with how your target will look for information relevant to your industry and the products or services that you want to offer, but without as much competition. This makes it easier to perform well on search engine results.

Furthermore, many experts recommend that you use long-tail keywords. These are somewhat longer phrases that are more specific and give Google more information about what’s in your content. For that reason, you’ll have a better chance of ranking well and consequently getting more traffic.

2. Choose Your Topics

Based on your buyer personas, your industry, and the best keywords for your business, research and brainstorm for the best content topics. In this case, find out what your target audience would find the most appealing about your products or services based on their pain points and desires. A great starting point if you’re trying to educate your audience, both in B2C and B2B industries, is a how-to piece of content. This format lets customers learn more about their interests or challenges and start wondering about the best options to deal with them (that is, your product or service). 

4. Use a Content Calendar

Armed with keywords and topics, craft a content calendar. This is a document that lists what you are going to publish and when you intend to publish it. For instance, we already knew what date this article was going to be published before it was even written. Having a calendar helps you keep your SEO content strategy on track by making sure that you publish at regular intervals.

5. Don’t Forget About Link Building

One thing that Google considers when it ranks a web page is the backlinks it has. A backlink is a link on other websites that come back to yours, typically citing it as a source of information. This is important to Google because high-quality backlinks demonstrate your information is valuable or important, rather than spam or just the same old thing.

Final Thoughts

Building an SEO content strategy might seem complicated, or even overwhelming. However, if you have a strategy for your content, it’s much easier to succeed in your content marketing efforts. And just as importantly, you need to review your strategy periodically to see if you can make improvements.

If you need help with your SEO content, WriterArmy can help. We have a team of SEO content strategists and writers who can help you build and implement a customized strategy for your business. Better yet, our writers are experts at crafting landing pages that can turn curious readers into great new leads. Contact us today for a free consultation.