Understand how good content sets the ground work for allowing your website to rank faster. Take the time to think about and research your keywords before you write.
Transcript: Today in episode #19, we’re going to be discussing, “How Good Content Can Rank Your Website Faster.” I’m going to share a little more of what Joost de Valk said at WordCamp US last week because his topic is applicable to all platforms and touched on key points that when implemented will help your website rank better and faster.
Even before discussing keywords and content, Joost stressed two things. “You need to have a website that is mobile friendly,” and “You’ll always need some form of cache,” he said. Without these two essentials you will lose your ability to rank well as search engines value mobile functionality and speed. You can test your website to learn how it performs (and get other insights) at https://search.google.com/search-console/mobile-friendly
Once you’ve completed that step, you should move on to analyzing your content and you can find a lot of the information you need using Google’s search console. Study the search analytics so you can see what search terms are bringing readers to your site, as well as your internal and external links. You can see which of your pages have been indexed and if your site has errors. Joost urged that everyone who cares about their website become familiar with the search console.
Next he brought up a topic that I get a lot of questions on… which keywords should I use. Most businesses want to be found for their company name, however as Joost explained, “You need to do keyword search and 9 times out of ten, that’s not the name that you gave your company.”
We’ve talked before on this podcast about the importance of thinking like your reader when choosing keywords you use in your posts and pages. Joost stressed the importance of thinking about keywords BEFORE you start writing. “You simply cannot be found for new words that you never use. This is the most important truth in SEO,” he shared. So when you create a list of words you want to be found for, you need to find a way to work each into your posts and pages.
Joost went on to define that each topic needs a post or a page, saying, “Don’t try to cram 50 different things on each page.” What he meant is that each page can only have one targeted keyword or keyword phrase – and you should only try to rank for that keyword or phrase on that one page, not all pages, in your site.
I often say that keyword strategy and website creation is like a puzzle. You have to figure out your cornerstone pieces and place them within your site. After that, you build good content from there until you’ve created a masterpiece.
Joost suggested that all bloggers review their current websites for older content that performs well. Once found, that content can be updated with a new publish date. He also advised that webmasters view their websites as a library, with organized categories and tags.
Many of you will find solace in the frequency of posting recommended by Joost. Rather than trying to blog daily, Joost advised, “I really, really, really would prefer any of you to write good content once every week or every two weeks and have one good post. It’s so much more preferable.” He continued to emphasize, “Good content takes a lot of time to create. Don’t look at the time spent, look at what it will get you.”
If you need help figuring out how to make your content work better in the new year, reach out to me @jenblogs4u on Twitter or through NeedSomeoneToBlog.com. Thanks for listening to episode #19 of Be Seen Blogging. Look forward to talking with you next week!
Jen Miller has been writing since she was a child and spent her early career years soaking up all the information she could discover as a journalist of newspapers and magazines. Getting out the message and spreading truth has always been a high priority for Jen. Jen began writing website content for clients in 1996 and started blogging in 2008 for Today.com. That experience created a love for the blog and she has been an avid blogger ever since. Today she writes for her clients on a variety of topics as a ghostwriter/ghostblogger and connects their messages with personality through social media to deliver the most impact possible.
Thank you for sharing Jen. I will review this a little later today.
Thank you, Jay. Let me know how the tips work for you. 🙂