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October 3, 2022 Content Chat Recap: How To Improve Your Content SEO in 2022 (And Beyond)

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A Content Chat header image that says today's topic is what content marketers should know about NFTs (non-fungible tokens) with guest Brian Fanzo, who is @iSocialFanz on Twitter.

Creating content that reaches the most people possible—including your existing and potential new community members—requires you to focus on SEO from the earliest content planning stages. No, SEO will not guarantee that your content is successful, but SEO is a vital way to help your content rank high on a search results page and best reach humans that are searching for content like it.

Now comes the big question: how can you optimize content for SEO, especially given the seemingly ever-changing rules and best practices?

In this #ContentChat recap, Liam Carnahan (@LiamCarnahan), an SEO and content marketing specialist, and owner of Inkwell content, and the community explain how to improve your content SEO, including for when you’re creating new posts or optimizing old content. Read the full recap below to learn:

  • What you need to know about Google’s Helpful Content Update
  • Commonly overlooked SEO elements that can drive significant results
  • Tools to help you address SEO needs and resources to learn more

Q1: How can content marketers know if their content can be improved for SEO? What signs or metrics should they look for?

Before publishing content, Liam recommends you use the below tools to give your content an SEO score. We share more tool recommendations in Q6, too.

Download Liam’s free SEO checklist to help check your content SEO.

After your content is published, look for organic traffic, backlinks, and social shares and comments to gauge if your content has good SEO. Continue to assess how you can update your evergreen content to keep its value high.

Is your content driving its intended results? If not, you may have an SEO problem.

Look for these core SEO elements in all of your content.

Q2: Now that it’s been a few weeks since it rolled out, what do we know about Google’s latest update, the Helpful Content Update?

What changes did Google’s Helpful Content Update bring? Luckily, most sites saw no change or a positive change—reinforcing that their teams were already creating high-quality, helpful, and unique content.

Low-quality AI-generated copy will continue to perform poorly (what a surprise).

Q3: What are common reasons that a site may be deindexed by Google or other search engines?

Google Search Console or SEO tools can help you understand why your site has been deindexed by Google. Typically, a site is deindexed if it has duplicate copy or bad code that is hiding pages.

Be sure to not break Google’s rules for site. Often, duplicate content is an issue, as well as low-quality copy and questionable backlinks.

Q4: At a high level, what should content marketers know about optimizing their content for SERPs?

There are a lot of factors that affect where your content will appear on a search engine results page. At a high level, choose a primary keyword and use it in your header, first paragraph, page title, and URL. Sprinkle your secondary keywords throughout the content, including in subheaders.

Include images, videos, graphics, etc. to diversify your content, and include descriptive alt tags on all visuals. Be sure to use clear and accessible language to benefit your SEO.

Ensure that all content has a unique page title, human-focused meta descriptions (why should someone read this content?), and backlinks to relevant content.

Research the top-ranking content for your primary keyword and content topic. Assess how you can include similar elements but also differentiate your content and provide more value to readers.

Q5: What are the most commonly overlooked SEO elements that can drive significant results for content marketing teams?

First and foremost, invest in talented writers and editors.

Also, don’t forget about content promotion. Continue to promote your content across channels, and find ways to repurpose that content to extend its value.

Include links within your content to other helpful content and resources. Ideally, your value-rich content will earn backlinks from other sites.

Q6: What are your favorite SEO tools for content marketing, and what do you use them for?

Liam and the community share plenty of SEO tools and browser extensions to help you address SEO across your content creation stages. Did we miss your favorite SEO tool? Let us know in the comments or tweet us using #ContentChat.

Q7: What should we do today to prepare for the phasing out of Google Analytics UA next year and the switch to G4 analytics?

There are many free trainings to learn about Google Analytics 4, as well as paid ones. Liam shares a few links below to get you started.

Liam finds G4 a bit more “clunky” than UA, but you’ll get the hang of it with some practice.

Q8: Are there best practices for choosing colors or fonts for your website content?

Focus on readability. Everything should be clear and large enough to read, and pay attention to contrast and spacing.

About Alek Irvin

Alek Irvin is a content marketing professional with a rich history in social media management, executive thought leadership development, and media relations. As a consultant at Erika Heald Marketing Consulting, he creates human-focused content and thought leadership platforms that help brand leaders connect and engage with their communities. Alek has worked with a range of startups and Fortune 500 companies across the B2B technology and consumer spaces, including IBM, Dell Technologies, Hitch Works, Emtrain, Integrate, and Frameable. Connect with him on Twitter @AlekIrvin.

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