Content forms the foundation of SEO. If you want to rank, you first need content. If you want to rank well in a competitive environment, you likely need an exceptional content strategy. Content can take many forms: blog posts, product pages, pdfs, videos, forums, and more. Almost anything you put on your website for your audience counts as "content."
Content Marketing is the practice of creating and marketing content for the purpose of driving traffic, increasing awareness, and/or supporting a brand.
In SEO, good content can also drive links to your website, which in turn helps to increase your search traffic from Google.
The Beginner's Guide to Content Marketing : If you’re brand new to content marketing, start here. We’ll explain the basics from A-Z.
Content Marketing Learning Center : Our free content marketing learning hub. Here, we’ve gathered our top resources in one place.
Thought Leadership : Chima Mmeje shows you how to craft a thought leadership strategy that complements your content marketing efforts and positions your brand as the source of truth.
How to Create 10x Content : Wondering just how to go about creating that ten-times-better content? We have a Whiteboard Friday for that.
How to Do a Content Audit : A thorough content audit can reveal your site's opportunities and pitfalls while providing actionable ideas for improvement. This comprehensive guide shows you how.
The past few years have seen numerous discussions raised about the pros and cons of hosting your own blog vs. riding the snake that is WordPress/Blogger/whatever. While it's safe to say that growing your own is the best practice (I think I'm still talking about blogs here...), I've never seen anyone in SEM successfully play devil's advocate on the matter. Or the "devil'...
The Foolproof Method for Great Blogging Don’t become an expert by acting like one - This might sound counter-intuitive, but it really does make sense. Many inexperienced bloggers try to make their work sound important and reputable even when it is not. This is an easy mistake to make because emulating the industry leaders is a logical path to success. Don’t be fooled. Real success comes from distinguishing oneself in a useful way, not by pretending to be something one is not.
I'm getting to like this series :-) (see #1 and #2). This week, I thought I'd talk about a tip that might cause mild concussions if you haven't been doing it. That's right, it's the ultra-simple "research before you post" technique for bloggers. The basic tenet goes something like this - if your blog has any reasonable quantity of link equity and ranking ability, chances are t...
Forget Google Analytics. Toss your SEO Elite. These tools can only go so far in writing text for a well-optimized site. The tools I find most useful aren’t digital. They’re 100% analog, guaranteed to cut any assignment down to size. Check your SEO copywriter’s tool kit for the following: A ball peen hammer. The ball been hammer ...
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There’s been talk here and there about the right kind of preparation for SEO professionals. My degrees are in linguistics, and I want to be the first to suggest that this is good preparation for SEO. For one thing, hardly anyone knows what it is. I spent all those years having conversations like this:“What’s your major?” “Linguistics.” Pause “Oh....
It amazes me that Keyword density is still touted as an important on page metric, the argument in its favor goes something like this: "The more times a term appears in a document the higher the keyword density for that term. The higher the keyword density the more relevant a document becomes for that term." The calculation used to back up this claimThe k...
As soon as search engines became relevant, copywriting changed. Maybe you didn’t notice it. Content quality took a back seat to SEO and today, copywriters have to understand the basics of SEO/M so the content they produce appeals to spiders and humans. A lot of SEOs sub-contract this facet of a job to professional copywriters who can produce optimized copy ...
A recent spike in traffic reminded me to keep my eye on the calendar. While the season or rather the SEOson hasn't drastically changed recently, in many parts of the United States students are graduating and it's basically officially Commencement season. As a result, people online are doing more searches on topics related to graduations, Universities, High Sc...
I’m lucky, sort of. I write four blog posts a week for web design companies and a hosting company. No complaints, here. However, because I’ve been undertaking these assignments for 18 months, that works out to over 200 articles on SEO/SEM topics. At that rate, you have to slice the baloney pretty thin. So, a...
Earlier I stated that Google was like the reviewer used to moderate the Blog posts on Youmoz. I also said that one way that you could write quality content was to write good content, and not keyword stuffed hype. However, this time I will give some more specific examples of how to write good, quality, content for the SEO efforts on your website. As I said last time, qu...
What is the best degree to get when starting a career in Search Engine Marketing?MarketingBusinessAdvertisingCommunicationEnglishThe History of Art Before 1746Okay, I made the last one up. When I was starting college, I don't think I would ever dream of having a career in Search Marketing. Why? Didn't know about i...
1. Attention Spans Are ShortThe average TV commercial is around 30 seconds to a minute long, not only because commercial time is expensive but also because that is the optimal attention span for the normal person nowadays (sadly). As you watch a commercial you'll notice that many are mini-stories, starting with a build up, resolution, and conclusion. It's important to remember yo...
<p>One of the most important things you can do to help create a successful web site is to build a site that provides a remarkable experience. If we look past the popular phrase "linkbait" (a term I don't like because of its negative connotations) we need to answer the question: "why would someone link to our site?".</p><p>When I first talk to a clien...
My brother, a Long Haul Trucker with a Bachelors Degree in English Literature, happened to be passing through Denver Friday and dropped by for a visit. "Any reason for a home cooked hot meal and a sleep in a room not equipped with shock absorbers," I would chide. Late Friday night we were discussing the economy and the like, as fuel costs have affected his business rather drast...