Keywords used to be king with regards to SEO, but those days are coming to an end. The rules of SEO are rapidly changing from a keyword-centered method to a topic-driven approach while content marketing is still a component of inbound marketing where the goal is to move a potential customer to where you want them by offering them helpful and compelling content, the content should be topic based and not packed with keywords. The fact that content should be engaging and grab the user’s attention right away is still a vital factor in creating content for a website; bounce rate still matters. But don’t drop behind your competitors with outdated thinking about how content should be crafted to improve your SEO.
There has been a shift in the SEO world, which has been ongoing. Search engines have gradually but steadily moved to more semantic-based searches. A recent study showed this trend to be true when it found little to no relationship between organic ranking and when a target keyword is in the page title. Keywords are still crucial to SEO, but there are better ways to promote your content marketing campaign by using a topic-driven approach.
Topic-Based Content
There is no doubt selecting the right keywords and topics are the most essential step to reaching your target customers and providing them value, but the dynamic has changed. Let’s take a deeper look at how topic-based content can improve your SEO.
Here is what can happen when you focus on topics before keywords:
- Discover new possibilities to create content that drives traffic and is relevant to your industry or field.
- Ranking for new semantically related keywords that you might not have discovered in your keyword planning by addressing new sub-topics.
Keywords still are and most likely will always be necessary for search engines and users. When we search for something on a search engine, we look for highlighted or bold-faced keywords which are an exact match in titles and meta descriptions which act as a guide to as which link to click.
Now let’s see what happens when we focus on topics first and then select keywords.
Here is a way to use keywords and topic selection tools to better the results of your most important webpage utilizing a content marketing strategy.
Content Clusters
You may have never heard of content clusters, but they are becoming more used in web design. They are a group of pages that orbit around a central topic. They are similar to a Hub-and-Spoke model used in transportation, telecommunications, or freight industries. A central page must be created to act as the “Hub” or “Pillar” for the content cluster and a number of hyperlinks or “Spoke” pages which relate back to the central hub or pillar page. These spoke pages are interlinked to the hub or pillar page, and the hub or pillar pages link to each of the spoke pages. This hub-spoke interlinking method tells search engines that the hub page is an authority over a given topic.
Creating Content Clusters
Find Your Core Topic
Find your core topic using keyword research.
Check SERP Results for Competitiveness
Type your core topic in Google or Bing and see which websites are listed for your topic. By checking SERP for your topic, you will know who your competitors are. Benchmark your competitor’s site and to find out what is their content marketing strategy around the topic.
Find Topics Which Support Your Main Topic
The key to finding supporting topics to your chosen main topic is to use a keyword research tool. A brief look will show that there are a few supporting topics related to your main topic. This exercise is usually a quick and straightforward process.
After you have done your research, it is time to put it all together. Make sure to monitor your SERP results so you can make adjustments to your topic-based content as needed.
Don’t get left behind when it comes to your SEO campaign; migrate your website’s content to subject based. Are your Seo Strategies working for you? If not, MosierData can help. Contact us here or call 863-687-0000 to find out more.