Do you feel like your website goes unnoticed, like a small island in a big digital sea?

You have great content, but you need more visitors. What if there’s a way to get more online traffic? This is where an effective backlink strategy helps.

Think of each good link as a bridge from your website to the bigger internet world.

Each link brings more people and gets your site noticed by search engines. It’s not just about getting lots of links. It’s about getting strong, useful links.

See the opportunity ahead?

This means better search rankings, more people visiting your site from other sites, and becoming more trusted online.

Ready to set sail?

Understanding Backlinks: A Key to Effective SEO Strategy

To improve your website’s visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs), you need to know about backlinks.

A backlink is simply a link from one website to another.

Backlinks are very important in SEO. They are like “votes” for your site.

They tell search engines like Google that other websites value your content enough to link to it.

This improves the credibility of your website and can help it rank higher on SERPs.

The Role of Backlinks in Your Website’s Authority

A well-executed content marketing strategy can get you high-quality backlinks.

When reputable sites with high domain authority link to yours, it boosts organic traffic and can help it rank higher on SERPs.

Domain authority (DA) is a term by Moz. It guesses how likely a website is to rank on SERPs based on links from other websites.

Creating an Effective Backlink Strategy

An effective backlink strategy is a cornerstone of successful link building strategies. It involves creating content that others want to link to.

This could be blog posts, infographics, whitepapers—anything valuable that people in your industry or audience will want to share.

Another part of the strategy involves reaching out to other websites or influencers in your industry. Offer them content that their audience would appreciate.

This helps their readers and can give you backlink opportunities.

The key here is relevance and quality.

A few good backlinks from related sites are better than many from low-quality or unrelated sites.

Google can distinguish between natural, earned links and those that are bought or not genuine.

These are called “black hat” SEO techniques.

Developing a Robust Link Building Strategy

Think of your website as a digital city. Your link building strategy is like the roads that lead people to your city.

The more paths, or backlinks, you have from diverse and reputable places, the easier it is for search engines to trust and rank your site.

Diversifying Your Link Profile for SEO Success

It’s better to have traffic from many different routes, not just one.

A variety of links shows Google that your website is valuable to different visitors. It’s not just about having many links. You want to have different types of links.

If all your links come from similar sites, it’s like a neighborhood where all the houses look the same.

This can look suspicious… and you don’t want that.

Using Anchor Text Effectively

Anchor text is the clickable text in links.

It’s like giving directions using landmarks instead of street names. It helps people know what to expect when they click.

When you use keywords in your anchor text, it tells Google what your page is about.

But if all your anchor text is the same, like “best coffee shop,” it looks fake, like too many signs for the same tourist spot.

To keep it real and not trigger search engine filters, vary your anchor text.

What I mean is, use different words, your brand name, or even simple phrases like “click here” sometimes.

Remember that an effective backlink strategy focuses on variety and authenticity in your link building efforts.

Reaching Out to Journalists: A Powerful Backlink Strategy

In digital marketing, backlinks help make your website visible and trustworthy.

One effective way to gain high-quality backlinks is by reaching out to journalists.

Yes, journalists.

Don’t you just love symbiotic relationships like this one?! 

Building Relationships With Journalists

Don’t just contact journalists for backlinks. Try to build real, lasting connections with them.

Follow them on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) or LinkedIn and interact with their posts before suggesting your ideas.

Pitching Your Story Idea Effectively

When pitching your story, focus on how it helps the journalist’s readers, not just promoting yourself.

Write an interesting subject line and a clear email explaining why your story is important.

Finding The Right Contact Information

Use tools such as Hunter.io and Voila Norbert to find the email addresses of journalists.

Here’s something important: send your pitches only to journalists covering your industry.

That said, getting backlinks through journalists takes time and effort. But it can really improve your website’s SEO and make your brand more visible online.

Using Guest Blogging for Better Backlinks

Guest blogging is among the most impactful link building strategies.

It’s like being introduced to new people at a party.

You write an amazing post for someone else’s blog, and boom—you’ve got a room full of new pals linking back to your website.

Writing a Good Outreach Email for Guest Blogging

Pitching a guest post is like asking someone out on a date. It needs charm, personalization, and something enticing.

Your outreach email should be more than “Hey there, I’d love to write for you.”

Add some zing with why they’ll benefit from your content as much as you will from their audience. Give them a taste of your expertise without spilling all the beans—leave them curious.

Remember, popular websites get a lot of guest post offers. Stand out by showing you know their work. Compliment their recent articles.

Suggest topics that fit both your audiences.

Explain how guest blogging with them can bring more visitors, not just another link. It’s about working together to get noticed in Google searches.

Finding Blogs to Write For

Before you send any email, do your homework.

1. Use tools like Content at Scale’s Topic Report to find out who’s talking about your topic.
2. Suggest topics that fit both your audiences.
3. Research the style and preferences of each website owner. You know why? Personalized emails get noticed more than generic ones. Put some thought into it. 

Getting good backlinks isn’t just luck.

It’s about networking, research, and good communication. And it really works!

Getting Backlinks with Free Digital Resources

An effective backlink strategy is sharing free downloadables like ebooks or web apps.

Why Freebies Work

Everyone loves free, useful things.

If you offer high-quality resources for free on your website, other websites might link to you.

This could be an ebook with helpful tips, a handy checklist that simplifies a complex task, or a web app that solves a common problem in your industry.

Making Your Content Worth Sharing

To make this strategy work, keep in mind:

• The content must be high quality and useful. If it’s not well-written or doesn’t offer new information, people won’t share it.
• It should be relevant both to what you do and your audience. If not, those who download it might not come back.

Promoting Your Resource

Once you have a great resource, you have to share it.

Start with promoting it on social media channels where your potential customers are. Consider guest posting on popular blogs within your industry as well.

Don’t forget to email people about it, too!

The goal is to show your resource to as many people as possible. The more people see and find value in it, the higher the chances they’ll link back to you!

If done right, giving away free digital resources can be a powerful strategy for building quality backlinks and driving traffic toward your website.

So, think about it: what valuable content can you offer today for free?

Using Broken Link Building for More Backlinks

Think of yourself as a digital explorer, finding broken links on websites.

These broken links are like missing pieces in a puzzle, and you can help fix them. This is known as broken link building, and it’s an effective backlink strategy.

The Hunt for Broken Links

Start by looking for broken links in your field. Use Google or tools like Ahrefs’ Content Explorer.

When you find a link that doesn’t work, you’ve found a chance to help.

Now, don’t just tell them about the broken link. Offer your own content as a new, better link.

You see, it’s not just about fixing a link. It’s about making their site better, improving their user experience, and connecting to yours.

Why This Works

This helps because search engines want to show working, up-to-date information at all times.

By replacing old or broken links with your content, you get backlinks from thankful website owners. Often, these websites have a lot of influence and a high domain authority.

Your goal is to do more than just change a link. Think of it as filling in gaps in information and making your online presence stronger, one good backlink at a time.

More Than Just Fixing Links

The real benefit is not just in fixing these broken links, but in turning them into paths that lead people to your website.

By keeping in touch and building relationships from this, you can start more collaborations. This could lead to guest posts or other opportunities.

This method is popular because it changes forgotten links into valuable parts of the online world.

You’re not just fixing a link—you’re adding a new, useful part to the internet’s story.

Using Social Media to Improve Your Backlink Profile

Social media is not just for cat videos and viral dances.

It’s a strong tool for getting brand mentions and building links. This makes social media an effective backlink strategy.

When you share content on social media, it can open doors to interactions that can lead back to your site, especially if people like to share and talk about your content.

Social Shares and Link Building

Even a simple tweet or Facebook post can reach a lot of people.

Every time someone shares or likes your content, there’s a chance someone will see it and link to your website.

This isn’t just a guess…

Data shows that good social media posts can lead to more website visits—making social media an effective backlink strategy.

Getting Your Brand Mentioned With Engaging Content

Create something people want to talk about. Then, watch as it gets shared and talked about on social media.

When your brand is mentioned a lot on social platforms, search engines consider you an authority in your industry.

This can lead to better SEO rankings and more backlinks, as every mention could lead to a new link.

Working With Influencers For More Reach

If you connect with influencers, they can share your content with their followers. This can get your content seen by more people than normal ads.

This kind of networking doesn’t just get more eyes on your content. It also builds relationships that can lead to high-quality organic links.

Using Analytics to Track Social Media Success

Use tools to see how much traffic you get from social media. This helps you understand the real impact of your posts.

Look at things like how many people click through to your site (click-through rates) and how long they stay after coming from social media. This shows if you’re really connecting with people’s interests.

Change your strategy based on what the data shows. Maybe Instagram stories work better than Twitter threads for some topics. You need to track this to know.

With the right use of analytics, you can find out how to use social media better for link building. Tracking data can change the way you use SEO.

The Power of Content in Attracting High-Quality Sources

Creating content is like fishing in the vast internet sea. You never know who might find your content and link to it.

Making interesting and useful content is key to getting attention from good sources. 

This kind of relevant content acts like a beacon, attracting high-quality sites that want to link to authoritative sources.

Making Top-Notch Content

Each time I create content, I aim to create the best  —content so valuable and informative that it stands out in search results.

When you make really good content, Google notices. Their algorithms are always scouting for top-notch stuff to rank higher.

Think about creating detailed guides or case studies that pack an informational punch. These are an effective backlink strategy—and a very natural approach at that.

Earning Links through Valuable Content

A post goes viral when people can’t help but share—it has something special.

It might answer important questions or explain complex topics in an easy way.

This virality of your post can lead to other website owners and bloggers linking to it. They do this to share your insights with their readers.

This not only brings more visitors to your site but also improves your SEO.

Using Analytics and Alerts

To stay on top of things, use free tools like setting up Google Alerts for keywords related to your niche.

This lets you know when your brand is mentioned without a link. You can then kindly ask for a link to be added.

Also, using tools like Content at Scale’s Keyword Research can help. It shows where people are talking about topics related to your content.

This lets you create content that fits into these conversations, attracting potential linkers.

By making great content and using tools to find linking opportunities, you can build quality backlinks and improve your website’s authority.

Replicate Competitors’ SEO Backlinks

Learning who links to your competition can be a big help in developing an effective backlink strategy.

The links to your competitor’s site are likely from sources relevant to your industry. These can be great for improving your own website’s ranking in search results.

This might seem hard because of all the data, but there are tools to help. Some are free, some you pay for.

They simplify this process by analyzing the backlink profiles of any website. For instance, the Free Backlink Checker by Ahrefs is easy to use for finding these link opportunities.

An image showing Ahref backlink checker

Here’s how to use it:

• Step 1: Open Free Backlink Checker by Ahrefs or a similar tool.
• Step 2: Put in the URL of a competitor.
• Step 3: Click “Check backlinks.”
• Step 4: Look at the results, like the total number of backlinks and whether they are dofollow or nofollow.

The tool gives you a list of all the active links to that domain.

This helps you find the best links to try to get for your site. Once you find good links, you can ask those sites if they’ll link to you too.

But first, check if they have already linked to your site.

Backlinks are not a “set it and forget it” solution. They can vanish, become less helpful, or less relevant.

So, you need to keep looking for new backlink opportunities to keep your website’s search ranking high.

Using Personal Case Studies: An Effective Backlink Strategy

Creating and sharing your own case studies is an effective backlink strategy.

These are not just ordinary blog posts or articles. They are detailed stories about specific projects or experiments you’ve done.

Why Case Studies Attrack Links

Case studies are unique and valuable.

They offer real examples, facts, and insights you can’t find elsewhere. That’s why they are so attractive to link to. 

Other websites would jump a chance to link to your case study as a resource for their readers.

Case studies work because they are authentic and trustworthy. People appreciate when businesses open up about their experiences, whether they are successful or not.

This honesty builds trust and gives readers useful information for their own projects.

This mix of practicality and openness is why others want to link to your site.

How to Create A Compelling Case Study

1. Pick a Topic That Fits: Choose something that relates to your work. It should interest both your usual visitors and new ones coming from external links.
2. Do Thorough Research: The more detail, the better. Include everything relevant—numbers, timelines, challenges, etc. This adds to your credibility.
3. Share Real Results: Be honest, whether the results are good or bad. People respect and value honesty.

Content at Scale AI Content Writer can write a compelling case study for you. Neil Patel also has a guide on creating case studies.

In short, personal case studies can be an effective backlink strategy.

They provide valuable information for your audience, position you as an authority in your field, and attract high-quality links from other websites.

FAQs About Effective Backlink Strategies

What is a good backlink strategy?

A good backlink strategy combines creating high-quality content, reaching out strategically, and building networks to get links that improve your search rankings.

This involves understanding where your target audience spends time online and connecting with those platforms and influencers.

How do you create effective backlinks?

You can create effective backlinks by writing guest posts, finding and fixing broken links, and producing content that’s so good others want to link to it.

These are all effective backlinking strategies.

You may also engage with others in your industry, participate in relevant online communities, and use social media to increase visibility.

What are the 3 main features of a quality backlink?

A quality backlink usually has three main features:

• Reputable Source: It comes from a well-respected and authoritative website
• Content Relevance: It fits naturally and relevantly within the content
• Varied Anchor Text:  It uses varied but relevant and keyword-rich anchor text, which helps in contextually aligning with the linked content.

Which backlink is most powerful?

Dofollow links from well-known, respected websites pack the biggest punch.

They are valuable in SEO because they pass on the most ranking power to your website.

Conclusion

You have learned that an effective backlink strategy can help boost your site’s authority and improve its rankings.

The key is variety—get links from different sources.

The way you use anchor text is important. Vary it to avoid any negative attention from Google.

Guest posts are also a great way to get credible backlinks and show search engines you’re legit.

Broken link building is a clever way to make quality connections. Social media also plays a role—it’s not just for socializing. It can strengthen your backlink profile too.

Create content that shines, and watch high-quality sources ready to share what you have.

Embarking on this SEO journey isn’t easy, but using these strategies is where the real adventure begins.

The post Boost Your SEO: A Guide to Effective Backlink Strategy appeared first on Content Hacker.

By 2024, that number is expected to explode to 8.4 billion devices.

That’s a lot of people using their voices to find information.

So, if you’re not optimizing your website for voice search, you’re missing out on a big opportunity.

In this blog post, we’ll break down everything you need to know about voice search SEO. We’ll cover:

• How voice search differs from traditional text-based search
• The unique traits of popular voice assistants
• How to use long-tail keywords and conversational language to make your content more accessible to people searching by voice

By the end of this post, you’ll have a solid understanding of how to optimize your website for voice search and start attracting more visitors to your site.

Ready to get started? Let’s dive in!

Table of Contents:

• What is Voice Search Optimization?
• Voice Search Devices and Their Impact on SEO
• Why is Voice Search Optimization Important?
• Why are Voice Search Queries on the Rise?
• Tips for Optimizing Your Content for Voice Search
  • 1. Choose the Right Keywords for Voice Search
  • 2. Create Engaging and Informative Content—with a Conversational Twist
  • 3. Optimize for Local SEO
  • 4. Incorporate Schema Markup
  • 5. Mobile Optimization for Voice Search
  • 6. Try and Capture Featured Snippets for Your Keywords
• The Future of Voice Search Optimization is Here

What is Voice Search Optimization?

Voice search optimization is an SEO strategy to increase the chances of ranking for verbal search queries. With more people using voice assistants searching for information on the go, optimizing for voice search is crucial to having an impactful online presence.

FYI, voice search differs from traditional search, particularly regarding how queries are phrased.

• For example, a user looking for a restaurant will typically type “restaurants near me” in the search box.
• However, with voice search, they’re more likely to say, “Hey, Siri! What’s the best restaurant nearby?”

The main difference is that voice searches are longer and more conversational. While these slight nuances may seem insignificant, they make a massive difference in SEO, especially for competitive search terms.

Voice Search Devices and Their Impact on SEO

Our world is growing increasingly verbal. With devices like the Amazon Echo and Google Home, we’re seeing a rise in voice searches that are altering the landscape of SEO.

The reason?

These smart speakers offer convenience to users who want immediate answers without having to type into a search bar.

This has implications for businesses needing to adapt their SEO strategies for this shift towards vocal queries.

As a business, you can’t ignore the fact that voice search devices are taking over from traditional screen-based search devices. Doing so will cause you to become virtually invisible online.

Understanding how these devices work and their impact on SEO is key. So, let’s adapt and embrace this evolution together – because we all know that change is the only constant in our digital world.

Voice search optimization is no longer just a trend; it has become integral to any business’s online marketing strategy.

Why is Voice Search Optimization Important?

According to Statista, the number of voice search assistants (smart assistants) worldwide will reach 8.4 billion units by 2024.

That’s even more voice assistants than the world’s population!

And a study by PWC revealed that 71% of consumers would rather use a voice assistant versus typing to search for something online. And 36% of respondents said they’d rather use a voice assistant to shop than visit a physical store.

And those numbers are growing.

As a business, you can’t afford to ignore the rise of voice search.

You have to develop a voice search optimization strategy to help you capture every voice search query related to your product or topic.

Why are Voice Search Queries on the Rise?

Voice search has become increasingly popular in recent years, with 72% of people saying their voice-activated devices are part of their daily routine.

But why are voice search queries on an upward trajectory?

Here are 3 of the most significant reasons:

• Convenience: With just a simple command like “Hey Siri” or “OK Google,” users can instantly access information from their favorite websites without having to type anything out themselves.
• Ease-of-use: Since most people are already familiar with using their voices when communicating with others, they find it much easier than typing out queries on small screens or keyboards.
• Faster results: Voice searches often provide faster results than traditional text-based searches because they rely on natural language processing algorithms that better understand user intent than keyword matching alone.

And with voice assistants becoming better at understanding and processing search queries, the adoption of voice search will only explode.

Tips for Optimizing Your Content for Voice Search

Now that you understand the importance of voice search optimization, let’s dive into some actionable tips to help your website rank higher in these searches:

1. Choose the Right Keywords for Voice Search

The first step to effective voice search optimization is to choose the right keywords for your voice search optimization strategy.

Since voice searches are typically more conversational and longer than text-based queries, targeting long-tail keywords in your content is essential. This will increase the chances of ranking high for specific phrases users might ask their virtual assistants.

Finding those perfect long-tail and conversational keywords can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. But it’s essential to optimize your site’s content for voice search.

Thankfully, with the right tools, you can uncover these hidden gems

When people speak into their devices, they use more natural language than when typing queries into a search bar. They’re more likely to ask full questions or use phrases that mimic how we talk in everyday life. That means traditional keyword research tools might not cut it.

To help with this, consider using tools like Answer The Public, Also Asked, and others. These provide visualizations of questions related to your seed keyword.

It’s like peeking inside the minds of potential customers.

You could also get valuable insights from forums and social media platforms where users discuss topics relevant to your business. This will give you an idea about what kind of specific queries they are making.

Besides these techniques, Google Trends is another tool that allows marketers to analyze changes over time in how certain terms are being searched. For a business, this is invaluable information.

The goal here isn’t just finding any old keyword but uncovering those golden nuggets: high volume yet low competition ones (long-tails). These make all the difference between visibility on page one versus getting lost in the sea of content on page 2 and beyond.

2. Create Engaging and Informative Content—with a Conversational Twist

The key to successful voice search optimization is creating high-quality, valuable content that answers users’ questions effectively. Producing helpful, researched content can help you become an expert in your field and improve your rankings.

For your content to rank for voice search queries, dive deep into conversational queries.

In voice searches, many people start their sentences with words such as “how,” “what,” “where,” etc., forming longer-tailed queries that provide context beyond short-tail counterparts.

This means your content must be built around question-based keywords and follow language people use in conversations.

So remember – keep things conversational while optimizing. Use complete sentences or questions as keywords, not just single words or phrases.

For instance, instead of focusing on “best pizza,” consider optimizing for the whole question: “Where can I find the best pizza near me?” This helps search engines better understand and match your content to voice queries more accurately.

The growth trajectory for voice search can be attributed mainly to breakthroughs in Natural Language Processing (NLP). It enables machines not just to understand spoken words but also to interpret their meanings accurately, especially in these days where artificial intelligence (AI) use has exploded.

This means search engines have evolved beyond just relying on keywords and can now comprehend complex phrases beyond simple commands while considering syntax nuances and regional dialects, too.

This means for your content to be voice search friendly, it must be conversational.

3. Optimize for Local SEO

Many voice searches have a local intent. This means people often use voice search to find nearby businesses or services.

This is why you must optimize for local searches.

Local SEO means improving the chances of your content being displayed on search results for location-specific queries. To do that, optimize your website with location-specific keywords and include relevant contact information like address, phone number, and operating hours. Other local SEO strategies include:

• Optimizing your Google Business Profile: Google Business Profile is a free tool from Google that helps you influence how your business appears on Google properties like Google Shopping, Google Maps, Google Search, etc.
• Leveraging local business directories: These websites list local businesses and their location and contact details. This makes it easier for you to appear in local search results.

Optimizing for local SEO is a great way to help you show up in location-specific voice results.

4. Incorporate Schema Markup

Schema markup, also known as structured data, helps search engines better understand the context of your web pages by providing additional details about its contents. Implementing Schema.org markup can make it easier for Google Assistant or other virtual assistants to display rich snippets from your site during a voice search result.

One of the most important schema types to use for voice search SEO is FAQ schema. Create FAQ sections in your content and implement FAQ schema to let search engines know that you’re answering questions frequently asked by users. This will help your content to be picked for voice results.

5. Mobile Optimization for Voice Search

The rise of mobile devices has brought about an increase in voice queries, too. Optimizing your site for mobile usage can significantly improve its visibility during a voice search.

You see, people often use their smartphones on the go and prefer asking questions verbally rather than typing them into the tiny little keyboard on their screens (trust me, it gets tiring). So, making sure that your website loads quickly and displays correctly on these smaller screens could mean all the difference between being visible or invisible in voice search results.

A few ways you can enhance mobile-friendliness include:

• Improving page speed
• Using a responsive design so content adjusts appropriately regardless of screen size
• Reducing file sizes for faster loading times
• Ensuring easy navigation with large clickable areas (because who likes pressing tiny buttons?)

Optimizing for mobile searches also includes formatting your pages and content in such a way that they’re easy to read on small screens. This also makes your content voice search friendly.

6. Try and Capture Featured Snippets for Your Keywords

Featured snippets, also called position zero, are the search listings that appear on top of search engine results pages (SERPs), usually after ads. These are given more real estate and contain a short blurb or bullet list that answers the search query succinctly.

Landing the featured snippet is essential to voice search SEO, as voice assistants pull answers from these when people search using voice commands.

This makes featured snippets a critical part of voice search SEO.

A few tips for getting the featured snippet include:

• Implement schema markup
• Use a table of contents
• Use question-based keywords
• Create the best piece of content on the subject
• Ensure proper use of headers and subheadings

Besides helping you win at voice search SEO, landing the featured snippet also boosts your search traffic and organic clickthrough rates (CTR). It helps increase the ROI of your content marketing.

Remember, it’s not about reducing your rich and valuable content to oversimplified answers. It’s about providing clear, direct responses that satisfy users’ queries while still encouraging them to explore more on your site.

The Future of Voice Search Optimization is Here

With voice search devices becoming household staples, the future of SEO is quickly shifting. Our conversations with these smart speakers are starting to dictate how brands shape their content and develop their digital marketing strategies.

Traditional search engine optimization strategies don’t cut it anymore. You need to factor in voice search queries when mapping your content and SEO strategy.

As a brand, start optimizing for voice search now if you want to be relevant in the future. It will also help you find favor with Google’s algorithms since they favor voice search-friendly content.

Take the first step towards optimizing your website for voice search and unlock the potential of long-form content marketing to grow and scale your business.

The post Voice Search Optimization: How to Be the Information Source for Alexa and Siri appeared first on Content Hacker.

Fact: Google commands 80% of the world’s online traffic. (In 2023, it also enjoys over 85% of the market share for search engines.)

That means, when most people open their browsers, they start with a Google search and keywords — words or phrases that help them find information, answers to questions, products, services, businesses, and more.

So if you’re not targeting keywords in your content, you’re missing out on a huge traffic source for your business and website.

But you can’t just target any keywords. You need to pinpoint the RIGHT keywords.

Luckily, that’s what I’m going to teach you today in this keyword research masterclass blog + video: How to find them.

Using the strategies I’m about to share with you, I’ve been able to get my websites to rank for over 40,000 keyword positions in Google and bring ideal clients directly to my door.

Let’s dive into exactly how to do it.

Table of Contents: Keyword Research Masterclass

• How to Find the Perfect Keywords for Your Content
  • Relevancy (Related to What you Sell, Your Industry, & Your Audience)
  • Competition/Keyword Difficulty
• 4 Sources of Effective Keywords to Unleash Your SEO Potential
  1. Use Keyword Research Tools for Data-Driven Insights
  2. Leverage Popular YouTube Content as Inspiration
  3. Learn from Your Competitors
  4. Use Your Raw Ideas
• How to Create Content from Your Ideas, Keywords, and Research in Minutes
• Mastering the Art of Ranking through Optimization
• Conclusion

Watch My Keyword Research Masterclass

How to Find the Perfect Keywords for Your Content

Just because a keyword is easy to rank for (i.e., it has a low competition score or high search volume) doesn’t mean you should target it.

I made this mistake many years ago, and I made it to the top of Google for keywords unrelated to my business.

Of course, that led to zero results, too, because I wasn’t drawing in my ideal customer with those terms.

If you want to attract your target audience, you need to do things differently.

1. Find a keyword related to what you do, your audience, or what you sell.
2. THEN, make sure it has a low competition score (often called keyword difficulty or KD, which is measured on a scale from 1 (easy) to 100 (impossible)).

This is what I call an ideal keyword.

Let’s break down each of these factors further.

Relevancy (Related to What you Sell, Your Industry, & Your Audience)

Relevancy is a biggie for finding the right keywords. You need to target ones that make sense for your business, and that your audience is searching for, too.

Keyword intent (or search intent) is another thing to consider when we talk about relevancy. It refers to the purpose behind a user’s search query. Why are they searching Google for that term? What are they hoping to do, find, or learn?

Competition/Keyword Difficulty

Once you find relevant keywords, you need to filter them further by competition/keyword difficulty (KD).

This is simply a metric that tells you how difficult that term will be to rank for. Most keyword research tools (like Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool) include it in their data.

If the competition is stiff (for instance, the keyword has a KD of 40 or above, and the top of Google for the keyword is full of big, established names in your industry that have been online for years and have built up a ton of authority), you won’t be able to break into the rankings.

That’s why targeting less competitive keywords is important.

Ideal Keyword Example

Great example: Let’s say you’re a realtor in South Texas. Obvious keywords for your niche might include “Texas realtor”, “Texas real estate”, “homes for sale in Texas”, etc.

However, the difficulty of these keywords might make it impossible for you to break into the top rankings and appear on Page One, where most clicks occur (only 0.63% of searchers clicked on something on the second page in a Backlinko study).

So if we start filtering all of the possible keywords for your niche by keyword difficulty and competition, we’ll weed out the impossible ones and find the possible ones.

For instance, “why choose me as your realtor” has a KD of 5!

But keyword research isn’t the only place to find keywords to target. Let’s look at all the possibilities.

4 Sources of Effective Keywords to Unleash Your SEO Potential

Unlock the power of keywords to boost your SEO with these four data-driven sources. Let’s dive into the four treasure maps that will lead you to ranking gold.

1. Use Keyword Research Tools for Data-Driven Insights

Tools like Semrush and Ahrefs are fantastic for identifying relevant, low-competition keywords in your niche.

Starting here, with solid data, is a great idea because you’ll know right off the bat that your keywords are relevant, winnable, and will bring in targeted traffic.

2. Leverage Popular YouTube Content as Inspiration

YouTube isn’t just for entertainment – it’s a goldmine for keyword ideas.

Analyze popular videos related to your niche to find topics that resonate with viewers and turn them into winning long-form content pieces on your website.

3. Learn from Your Competitors

Your competitors have already done the heavy lifting when it comes to keyword research – take advantage of their hard work.

Analyze their top-ranking pages to uncover powerful keywords driving traffic and conversions in your industry.

Study Top-Performing Blog Posts within Your Industry

Successful blogs know how to choose the right keywords – learn from them.

Examine top-performing blog posts in your niche to identify the terms that make them stand out and incorporate them into your own content.

4. Use Your Raw Ideas

Finally, tap into your own brain for keyword and topic ideas. After all, you know your business, your niche, and your audience better than anyone — so your ideas for content have merit.

Just remember to plug the topics/ideas you come up with into a keyword research tool to find the right phrase to target in your content.

By tapping into these four sources, you’ll have a treasure trove of effective keywords at your disposal, ready to elevate your content marketing game.

Tip: Keep track of your keyword ideas in a Google Sheet or spreadsheet, and keep adding to the list as you come across or ideate new keywords.

So go forth and conquer those search engine rankings with confidence.

Want my full process of creating content, including EVERY stage and all the steps I go through to produce results-getting blogs? Get my Content Process Blueprint for the full set of strategies, systems, and tools to use for seamless content production.

How to Create Content from Your Ideas, Keywords, and Research in Minutes

Wish you had a writing genie to create quality content in a snap? Enter AI-powered writing platforms like Content at Scale.

This magical tool analyzes top-ranking pages on Google and generates SEO-focused articles, all while you sit back and relax.

Bonus: You maintain your competitive edge without breaking a sweat.

The secret sauce behind these smart tools is their ability to optimize content based on real-time data from Google search results.

This means your articles are always fresh and relevant, giving them a higher chance of ranking well in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

Action Steps:

1. Pick your platform: Choose an AI-assisted writing tool like Content at Scale to help you create SEO-optimized content.
2. Analyze top-ranking pages: Let the AI tool analyze top-performing pages in your niche and generate a tailored article for your business.
3. Edit & optimize: Review the generated content, make any necessary tweaks, and ensure it’s optimized for both search engines and user experience.

Let’s look at how to quickly create content from your keywords, ideas, and competitive research in Content at Scale. First, you’ll need to sign up — use my link to get 20% extra credits towards generating blog posts:

After you’re set with an account, learn how to get started and set up a new project in this tutorial.

Create a Blog from a Keyword

From your project dashboard, click “Add Content” >> “From a Keyword.”

Next, you can simply upload your keyword list (download that keyword list we mentioned earlier as a .csv and use it here).

Or, simply plug one keyword into the “What Keyword Do You Want to Rank For?” field to create one piece of content.

That’s all you need! Content at Scale crawls the top of Google in real-time to learn from the top pieces ranking for your keyword. It then uses that information to create a fresh, original blog post in minutes.

Create a Blog from a YouTube Video

To find a hot topic from YouTube and create a blog from it:

• Open up YouTube and search for your main topic.
• For example, you might type in “realtor” if that’s your niche.
• Sort the results by channel and look for ones that are doing a great job teaching your topic.
• Choose a video on an interesting topic that’s getting a lot of traction.
• Open up Content at Scale, click “Add Content”, and choose “From a YouTube Video.”
• Enter the URL of the video you found and hit “Create Content Now.”

Boom! Content at Scale will create a fresh piece of content based on the topic of the video.

Create a Blog from Competitor Research or Your Own Ideas

You can also create content in minutes from ideas you’ve gleaned from competitors or that came straight from your brain.

• Competitor research: What keywords are your competitors ranking for? Google a topic related to your niche to find out. Focus on the top 3 results.
  • Then, in Content at Scale, in the “Add Content” selection, choose “From an Existing Blog Post URL” and paste in the URL of one of these content pieces. Content at Scale will create fresh, original content that you can personalize with your style.
• Your raw ideas: Maybe you have an outline of a post created in a Word doc, or you recorded a podcast with your thoughts on a key topic. You can create content from both of these sources in Content at Scale with the “Doc to Post” feature or “From a Custom Audio File.”

Mastering the Art of Ranking through Optimization

After targeting the right keywords, optimization is your secret weapon for climbing search engine rankings.

Here are some additional tips for optimizing your content:

• Subheadings break up content, making it more digestible and engaging for readers while helping search engines understand your topic better.
• Images aren’t just eye candy – they enhance readability, keep users engaged, and can even boost SEO value when optimized with descriptive alt tags.
• Meta descriptions and title tags are small but mighty elements that pack a punch in click-through rates (CTR).
  • An irresistible title tag paired with an informative meta description encourages users to click on your link over others in search results.
• Create an SEO-friendly URL by keeping it concise, pertinent, and containing relevant keywords.
  • A well-structured URL gives both users and search engines a clear idea of what your page is about.
• Strategic keyword placement within content is crucial for ranking success.
  • Introduction: Include your primary keyword in the first 100 words to establish topic relevance.
  • Subheadings: Use related keywords and variations to signal search engines about the depth of your content.
  • Main body: Incorporate secondary keywords naturally throughout, without overstuffing. Sprinkle some LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords for good measure – learn more from this Ahrefs guide.

For more guidance, check out this blog on the editing framework I use for AI content,

Achieving top rankings may seem daunting, but with proper optimization techniques and persistence, you’ll be well on your way to SEO success.

Nail Keyword Research for Rankings, Results, and ROI

Mastering keyword research can make all the difference in the world to your brand’s success online.

Don’t neglect this important piece of content marketing, or you’ll be left wandering around in the dark wondering why your content is tanking — when it should be ranking.

On top of that, don’t forget that keywords are just one piece of the puzzle. Once you have those figured out, you need to understand how to create outstanding content, how to distribute and promote that content and ensure your website, business foundations, and more are rock-solid.

Need help with any of that?

Then it’s time to consider becoming a member of the Content Transformation System, my year-long mentorship program designed to teach you EVERYTHING you need to know to supercharge your business with content.

Skills, systems, and strategies, plus community, coaching, and live calls are all inside.

Ready to find out more and apply?

Apply here to see if you’re a good fit!

The post Keyword Research Masterclass: Boost Your Marketing Success with These Strategies appeared first on Content Hacker.

But — it’s how you make content marketing work, which is how you grow your business organically and sustainably.

It’s certainly how I grew my businesses.

I have never used paid ads or paid search. I built my first business up to 100k visitors/month with $90-100k revenue months solely with a smart SEO content strategy.

And now, at Content Hacker, we’re growing the same way. In 2022, one year in, we hit five figures in organic traffic.

It happened because we consistently followed a sustainable SEO content strategy.

It can happen for you, too. You just need to know how to create an SEO strategy that actually works.

With the right knowledge — identifying your target audience, crafting SEO-friendly content optimized for search engines, promoting it strategically across channels, and measuring its performance over time — you will soon see results from your efforts.

If done correctly, this approach to content marketing can help you grow and scale a sustainable business.

So, how do you get started?

In this blog post, we’ll cover each part of creating an effective SEO content strategy so you don’t have to worry about getting lost in the process.

SEO Content Strategy: Table of Contents

What Is an SEO Content Strategy?

An SEO content strategy is a plan that outlines how your business will create website content to rank in search engines.

Ranking highly in Google’s organic (non-paid) results is a particularly good reason to do SEO because it brings in double the revenue of any other channel, including social media.

It’s also the best way to help new customers find you. People discover 88% of B2B sites and 58% of consumer retail sites through unbranded search terms (a.k.a. the general array of questions people ask search engines daily).

The next question is, if you’re going to dive in and create an SEO content strategy, what do you need?

Your SEO content strategy should cover the following key areas:

• Your content goals.
• Your target audience.
• Keyword research and topic areas.
• SEO content creation processes like writing, optimizing, and editing.
• How you’ll promote your SEO content.
• How you’ll track and measure the success of your SEO content.

Let’s break them down into more detail.

SEO Content Strategy Basics: 5 Steps to Success

1. Setting Content Goals

Every strategy needs direction — after all, you need to know what you want your strategy to do, ultimately.

What’s your big pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

These are your content goals, and they’ll drive your strategy forward. So, ask yourself:

• What do I want to achieve with my SEO content strategy?
• What kinds of results am I looking for?
• How long will it take to see these results, realistically, based on our resources and abilities?

For example, maybe you want to rank #1 for 10 low competition keywords in 6-12 months. You also want to grow your domain authority (DA) by publishing high-quality content that earns backlinks within one year.

See how that works? Setting specific goals will help you reach specific milestones in your quest to grow your online presence.

2. Identifying Your Target Audience

Knowing who your target audience is and what they’re looking for is essential to creating an effective SEO content strategy.

You want the people looking up the specific keywords you’re targeting to see your content on Google, click it, and immediately get the answers they’re seeking in a great format.

To find and understand these people, you’ll need to do some research in a few areas:

• Current customers — Analyze your current customers and their commonalities. Who tends to buy from you, and what is that person like?
• Your competitor’s customers — Chances are, your competitor’s audience might look a lot like yours. Research them.
• Your existing audience on other channels — If you already have an audience on, say, social media, these people can give you a wealth of information on your ideal customer and target audience.
• Live market research — Think 1:1 interviews with potential ideal customers. If you find people who fit the bill, have a chat with them and pick their brains.

For more on researching and identifying your target audience plus using this information to create personas, check out this post: How to Create an Accurate Business Persona.

Analyzing Your Buyer Personas

Analyzing buyer personas can help you understand the needs, interests, and behaviors of your ideal customer. To do this, consider demographics such as age, gender, location, income level, and lifestyle.

You should also look at psychographics such as values, attitudes, and beliefs that may influence their buying decisions.

Consider factors like lifestyle choices or values that may play a role in why someone chooses one brand over another when making a purchase decision.

This type of analysis can provide valuable insights into how best to craft content tailored specifically for each persona so it resonates more deeply with them on an emotional level. This is much more strategic than just writing generic content that fails to connect with anyone.

Researching Your Competitors

For even deeper audience insights, research your competitors.

This will show you how other businesses are positioning themselves in the market, as well as which tactics they employ to attract new customers through digital channels like SEO.

Studying these strategies closely can give you a better understanding of what works best for different types of audiences, allowing you to apply similar techniques when crafting your own SEO content marketing plan.

For example:

• What keywords are your competitors targeting in their content?
• What topics are they covering?
• What is their content quality like?
• Who are they targeting in their content and how are they doing it?
• What results are they getting (i.e., are they ranking well in Google)?

By understanding the needs of your buyers, researching competitors, and recognizing the nuances of your niche market, you can create a comprehensive SEO strategy for long-term success.

3. Crafting SEO Content

Once you’ve identified your target audience, it’s time to craft SEO content that will help them find and engage with your business.

Writing for Search Engines and People

Crafting SEO content requires balance.

That means, when creating content, you should consider both the user experience and how it will be indexed by search engine algorithms.

To do this:

• Write for people first. Aim to be helpful above everything else, and create an engaging narrative that’s easy to read. (Here’s how to write content that works.)
• After that, make sure to use keywords strategically throughout your text. (I recommend writing first, and checking for keyword usage second.)
• Include relevant images or videos to break up the text and make it more visually appealing.

Optimizing for Keywords and Phrases

Optimizing your content with relevant keywords is imperative if you want to rank.

There are two ways to approach this:

• Finding keywords from topics.
• Finding topics from keywords.

If you’re starting with a topic…

• Find a content topic that’s relevant to your audience’s interests or problems AND what you sell.
• Identify key phrases related to your topic that are commonly used by searchers when looking for information on the subject.
• Look up these phrases in a keyword tool to determine whether they’re possible for your particular brand to rank for them. (Need help with this? Here’s how to do keyword research.)
• Then incorporate those phrases into titles, headings, subheadings, body copy, meta descriptions, etc., but don’t overdo it – keyword stuffing can actually hurt your rankings instead of helping them.

If you’re starting with a keyword…

Let’s say you’ve done some keyword research and found a great phrase with low competition that your business has the potential to rank for.

• To find a matching topic for that keyword, enter it in Google and look at the top results.
• What types of content do you see? What topic is prevalent? This is the topic most users are looking for when they type in this search term. Angle your content piece after this approach.

Lastly, once you come up with a handful of SEO topics and keywords, you’ll want to start recording them in a content calendar, including publish dates. It’s the best way to track your content creation process and publication schedule.

Here’s our calendar at Content Hacker — we use Airtable:

By crafting SEO content that is optimized for keywords and phrases, engaging to readers, and tailored to target audiences, you can lay the groundwork for an effective content strategy.

Want some insider tips on SEO content and keyword usage? Get my FREE SEO Content Writer Cheat Sheet.

Now let’s explore how to promote your content strategically to reach a wider audience.

4. Promoting Your Content Strategically

Once you have created quality content, it’s time to promote it strategically to maximize visibility and reach more potential customers.

Leveraging Social Media

Leveraging social media platforms is an effective way promote your SEO content.

Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and even Pinterest offer plenty of opportunity for businesses to share their content with a wider audience. By creating engaging posts that link back to your website or blog, you can increase the chances of people clicking through and visiting your site.

Building Backlinks

Building backlinks is another important part of any SEO strategy.

Backlinks are links from other websites pointing back to yours. These help search engines determine how relevant your website is compared to others on the same topic or niche market.

Backlinks also help improve your overarching online authority. A link to your site means that site trusts you and the information you publish. These “trust markers” add up substantially, as you can imagine.

To build high-quality backlinks organically, consider guest blogging on industry sites or participating in online forums related to your business or product offerings.

You can also use tools like HARO (Help A Reporter Out) which connects journalists with sources who can provide expert insights into stories they are writing about – giving you an opportunity for free publicity while building valuable backlinks at the same time.

By strategically promoting your content through social media and backlinks you can maximize the visibility of your SEO content strategy and increase its effectiveness.

If you imagine the SEO content creation process as a layer cake, promotion is the final layer:

Does your content creation process follow a strategy — or are you all over the place? Want to learn from a process that works, including all the stages, tools, and templates you need to get it done? Get my Content Process Blueprint.

Next, we’ll explore how to measure the performance of this strategy to ensure that it is achieving desired results.

5. Measuring the Performance of Your SEO Content Strategy

Measuring the performance of your SEO content strategy is essential to get the most out of your efforts.

Remember those content goals you set in step #1? We’re now circling back to those.

Setting goals and tracking metrics can help you identify areas for improvement and determine whether or not you’re on track.

But what, exactly, should you measure?

Easy — you can map most goals to related KPIs (key performance indicators), or measurable metrics that tell you how well you’re performing.

For example, if your goal is to rank in the top 10 of Google for specific keywords, then you would track the keyword position for those terms over time.

If you wanted to improve the engagement for your SEO content, you’d regularly track relevant metrics such as page views, time on site, bounce rate, conversions, etc., to measure progress over time.

Analyzing traffic sources and user behavior will give you valuable insights into how people interact with your content. By understanding which channels are driving the most traffic (e.g., organic search vs. social media) and what types of content users engage with (e.g., blog posts vs. videos), you can make informed decisions about where to focus your efforts going forward.

Additionally, analyzing user behavior helps inform decisions around topics for future content pieces based on what performs and thus resonates best.

How to Outsource SEO Content Creation

Outsourcing SEO content creation services can be a great way to increase your website’s visibility and reach.

It allows you to focus on other aspects of running your business while experts create high-quality, optimized content for you.

But before you jump into outsourcing, there are a few things you should consider.

Finding a Reputable Agency or Freelancer

It’s important for any agency or freelancer you hire to have the necessary experience and expertise in creating effective SEO content.

Do some research online and look at reviews from past clients as well as samples of their work. This will help ensure that the person or company is capable of delivering quality results.

For more guidance, learn how to hire and work with a writer for your content.

Establishing Clear Expectations and Guidelines

Once you find someone who meets your requirements, make sure that both parties understand what’s expected from them when it comes to deadlines, topics covered, keyword optimization techniques used, etc.

Establishing clear expectations upfront will help prevent any misunderstandings down the line and ensure everyone is on the same page throughout the process.

After outsourcing SEO content creation services, it is important to keep track of progress by monitoring metrics such as traffic sources and user behavior data collected through analytics tools like Google Analytics.

Additionally, it’s essential to review each piece of content created by your outsourced team regularly to maintain quality control over all published material related to your brand identity and messaging strategy.

Ready to Build an SEO Content Strategy?

A successful SEO content strategy is essential for any business owner or marketer looking to increase their online visibility and reach.

It requires careful planning, research, and execution to be effective.

Identifying your target audience, crafting SEO content that resonates with them, promoting it strategically across multiple channels, measuring the performance of your efforts, and outsourcing services if needed are all key components of an effective SEO content strategy.

With the right approach you can maximize the potential of your website and drive more traffic to it.

Ready to take your SEO content strategy to the next level?

I’ve got everything you need for SEO content marketing success.

In my 12-month mentorship, the Content Transformation System, I’ve distilled everything I’ve learned from 11+ years in the industry: skills, systems, and strategies to grow your business sustainably.

I grew a business from nothing to six and seven figures — all with SEO content marketing and strategy (NO ads).

I’ll teach you to do the same with a 5-phase curriculum, expert coaching, live calls, and a private community.

If you’re ready to get serious about SEO content, let’s do this.

Apply today for your spot in the Content Transformation System.

The post How to Create an SEO Content Strategy That Actually Works appeared first on Content Hacker.

Case in point: Google recently revised its E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines — and, hand-in-hand with that, Google reps have stated that AI-generated content is allowed in search engine results.

But can Google detect AI content? And does it matter if Google knows an AI wrote yours?

In short, YES to the first question, and NO to the second. Google can detect AI content, but it won’t affect your rankings as long as your content is created for people first and foremost, not search engines.

What matters is the intent and guiding hand behind your content creation, NOT the method you used to create it.

In this post, we’ll explore exactly how AI content creation affects SEO. We’ll also look at Google Liaison Danny Sullivan’s take on AI content – and why that stance might just be paving the way for an entirely new approach to online marketing.

So, if you’re curious about how Google can detect AI content and exactly how this works – keep reading!

What Are Google’s E-E-A-T Guidelines?

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It’s a set of guidelines from Google that are used to evaluate the quality of content on websites.

Google first introduced the E-A-T guidelines (minus the second “E”) in 2018 as part of an effort to improve the overall quality of webpages and make sure they meet certain standards.

What Are the Changes to E-E-A-T?

Google has made several changes to its E-E-A-T guidelines over time. These include:

• Authors must have expertise in their subject matter.
• Authors and websites must provide evidence that supports claims made on pages.
• The information must be up-to-date and accurate.
• Sources must be verified when possible.
• Sites must be transparent about who owns them and provide contact information if necessary.

But the newest change, effective since December 2022, is the addition of another letter “E” to the beginning of the well-known “E-A-T” acronym. This second “E” stands for “Experience.”

Generally, this means Google is putting more emphasis on first-hand experience backing up content creation. For most content topics, the person creating it needs to have some kind of relevant experience to accurately talk about it.

An example Google gives of low- E-E-A-T content is a restaurant review written by someone who has never eaten at that restaurant.

How Does This Affect AI Content Creation?

What does all this have to do with AI content?

Plenty.

With the introduction of ChatGPT in late 2022, the conversation around AI writing software exploded.

Suddenly, the content marketing industry was faced with the incredible capabilities of AI – good enough to replace general content writers. (I saw this myself when I found a new AI tool that blew me away.)

Naturally, people had questions.

• How could people NOT use this technology in their marketing when it’s so good, and could save hours of time and oodles of money?
• If they did, would Google penalize them?

Danny Sullivan, Google Search Liaison, responded to these questions on Twitter and based his answers on Google’s updated E-E-A-T guidelines.

Thus, we’ve come full circle. Let’s dig into what he said and why AI content is now permissible in search engine results and rankings.

Danny Sullivan’s Take on E-E-A-T and AI Content Creation

First, why do we care so much about the words of Danny Sullivan?

For starters, he’s a renowned expert in the field of search engine optimization (SEO). He has been researching and writing about SEO for over two decades, AND he represents Google officially.

TLDR; His insights into Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines and AI content creation are invaluable to entrepreneurs, founders, business owners, and content marketers who want to maximize their website visibility on Google.

What Did He Say About E-E-A-T and AI Content Creation?

It all started with a user question on Twitter. Someone asked what we were all dying to know: Is AI-generated content permissible in certain cases (for instance, when its output is edited and “backstopped” by human writers)?

Would help to get some kind of on-the-record statement from Google about this, relative to their previous guidance on AI-generated content.

Is this considered non-violative based on it being “backstopped” by a human? Other reasons? Genuinely curious.

cc: @JohnMu @searchliaison https://t.co/Ft4XRMVQcf

— Blair MacGregor (@blairmacgregor) January 11, 2023

Danny Sullivan responded with a definite “yes.”

BUT, he clarified that ANY content written to help people has the potential to rank. Even AI content, when created and guided with that intention, is fair game.

At the same time, ANY content written just to earn search rankings is an issue – even if it was written by humans.

To sum up, Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines require expert knowledge and human judgment when creating content for websites.  As long as you’re focused on creating helpful, people-first content that adheres to those guidelines, using AI content generators to aid you shouldn’t be an issue.

Let’s reiterate:

• Always, ALWAYS ensure your AI content tools are guided with an expert human touch.
• Edit and fact-check AI content thoroughly.
• NEVER publish unedited, untouched AI content.
• Always create content with the intention to help people, whether a human writer or an AI wrote the first draft.

Source: Spam policies for Google web search

Want to learn how AI content creation can fit inside your overarching content process? Want to see the exact methods, systems, and tools I use to publish content week after week, month after month? You need my Content Process Blueprint.

Can Google Detect AI Content?

Since Google allows AI content, that must mean they can detect it pretty easily – right?

Correct: Google has become increasingly adept at detecting AI content.

It uses a variety of techniques to identify and flag machine-generated content, including natural language processing (NLP) algorithms that analyze the text for patterns and syntax that are common in computer-generated writing.

Google also looks for certain words or phrases that are often used by AI systems, such as “according to research” or “data suggests.” Additionally, it can detect when the same sentence structure is repeated multiple times throughout an article (another red flag ).

Here’s an example of unedited content created with the AI tool ChatGPT. To a trained eye, it’s obvious a bot wrote this:

What Are the Risks of Publishing Unedited AI Content?

There are major risks involved if you attempt to publish unedited AI output.

AI-generated content is easy for Google to detect.

How does it do it? By analyzing the text for unnatural patterns, such as excessive use of certain words or phrases.

For example, if too many keywords or repeat sentences appear too often in your content, this could trigger red flags with Google’s algorithm and lead to penalties.

On top of that, artificial intelligence systems lack creativity and originality. For instance, the unedited output may be lacking natural transitions between sentences and paragraphs, sound generic, or have a robotic feel that’s easily identified by any smart human.

To make up for that, many AI tools use templates or specific language patterns to make the text sound more natural. But Google can quickly identify these patterns through analysis of multiple pieces of content.

Additionally, if you’re using automated tools like spinners or rewriters on existing articles without adding any new information or insights of your own, then this could be seen as plagiarism. (Strike two from Google. Cue penalty. )

Another risk associated with using AI content creation for SEO purposes is that the value will be missing for readers who visit your website looking for useful information about a particular topic.

Instead, they’ll find a mountain of robotic mumbo-jumbo, easily discernible because humans are intuitive about language. We can tell if an unaided robot wrote your copy!

So if your blog and website are plastered all over with poorly-written robotic copy – any human with a higher reading level is likely to bounce quickly, never to return.

How to Test Your Content for AI Detection

So, you’ve taken the time to edit, fact-check, and improve your AI-written content with the human touch.

How do you check to make sure this content passes muster — in other words, that neither humans nor search engines can tell that an AI wrote the first draft?

Run your content through an AI detection tool. Here are two options:

1. OpenAI’s  AI Classifier

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has trained a classifier to distinguish between human and AI-written content.

Note: This tool is not reliable 100% of the time, and OpenAI says it’s still a “work in progress.”

Here’s an example of this tool in action. I tested the introduction for this post you’re reading (which, by the way, was human-written):

2. Content at Scale’s AI Detector

Content at Scale also has an AI Detector tool that can tell whether your content was AI-written or AI-watermarked.

Just paste the content you want to check into the text box and hit “Check for AI content.” On the left side of the screen, you’ll get a numerical score from 0 (your content was obviously written by an AI) to 100 (your content is 100% human-created).

As you can see, I checked a paragraph that ChatGPT wrote — and the AI Detector had no problem figuring out that a bot wrote it.

Google Can Detect AI Content, But Helpful Content Creators Shouldn’t Be Worried

In a nutshell, Google’s revised E-E-A-T guidelines have opened the door for AI content creation.

Danny Sullivan has made it clear that they are open to allowing this type of content on their platform. It remains to be seen how this will affect SEO and other aspects of digital marketing in the future, but one thing is certain: AI-created content can no longer be ignored as a viable option for businesses looking to grow and scale their online presence.

As long as you create quality content that provides value to your readers, there should be no issue with using AI-generated material — so don’t worry about whether or not Google can detect it!

Do you want to learn how to use AI-generated content to grow your business? I teach you how to leverage the right technology in my Content Process Blueprint.

It’s all part of establishing a smart content marketing process with the right tools and systems — which I also lay out in this extensive resource.

Let me guide you through utilizing artificial intelligence in your digital strategy today — it’s part of the modern content marketer’s process for creating profitable content.

Download the Content Process Blueprint today.

The post Can Google Detect AI Content? Here’s What You Need to Know (& How E-E-A-T Ties In) appeared first on Content Hacker.

That begs the question: Is the newest, shiniest tool on the scene worth it?

Is ChatGPT good for SEO?

In short: no.

Not only is this AI-powered tool ineffective when it comes to keyword research and blogging insights, but there are better ways to leverage AI in your content marketing efforts – without sacrificing quality.

Let’s discuss why using ChatGPT for SEO isn’t a great idea and explore alternative solutions that will help boost your website’s rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Table of Contents: Is ChatGPT Good for SEO?

Watch Me Explain Why ChatGPT Is NOT Good for SEO

What Is ChatGPT? What Are Its SEO Capabilities?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that ChatGPT is the conversational, artificial intelligence chatbot developed using OpenAI’s GPT-3 technology.

This chatbot was trained on massive amounts of data from across the web, giving it a general intelligence that makes it capable of many amazing feats like:

• Carrying on a human-like conversation, responding to questions and prompts.
• Writing poetry, recipes, song lyrics, emails, social media posts, and more in various voices and tones.
• Writing or editing code.

But is ChatGPT good for SEO? As it turns out, this AI-powered tool can help bloggers and content creators with SEO insights and content ideas. It can:

• Suggest blog topics and keyword ideas for specific industries.
• Analyze keywords.
• Come up with headlines for blogs.
• Write blog post outlines, introductions, and more (but nothing longer than about 500 words).

ChatGPT can even suggest a content strategy for your business:

6/ Outline your content marketing strategy

As an example,

I’ve asked Chatbot for an AI SaaS content strategy.

It’s fairly basic,
But you can ask Chat to extrapolate on each point until you’ve got a detailed roadmap. pic.twitter.com/QxcvKNHJNK

— Joe Speiser (@jspeiser) January 2, 2023

On the surface, all of this looks pretty impressive, right?

Therein lies the problem.

ChatGPT is confident… but it’s also notoriously inaccurate. This combination makes it a liar.

OpenAI itself has said this is one of the chatbot’s biggest issues:

ChatGPT is a powerful tool, but it should not be used as an SEO solution.

Why You Should Avoid ChatGPT for SEO

While it may seem like a great way to get ahead in the search engine rankings, using ChatGPT for SEO can actually do more harm than good. Here’s why:

1. Inaccuracy & Incompleteness

The insights generated by ChatGPT are often inaccurate or incomplete, leading to poor keyword choices and ineffective content strategies.

Additionally, the tool doesn’t take into account the context of your website or your target audience when making recommendations, so you could end up creating content that doesn’t resonate with readers.

Just look at what happened when I asked ChatGPT for 10 keyword recommendations for a new content marketing site:

It gave me a list of keywords that would actually be impossible for a new site to rank for.

The first one, “content marketing”, has a KD (keyword difficulty score) of 100 out of 100 — that’s the HARDEST keyword to compete for. It’s the furthest you can get from the KD I recommend new sites go after: 40 or below. (!!)

2. Lack of Contextualization

When it comes to SEO success, contextualizing your content is key – but this isn’t something ChatGPT takes into consideration when generating insights about keywords and topics for blog posts or other types of web pages.

Without taking these factors into account, you risk producing low-quality content that won’t help your website rank higher in search engines or engage readers effectively.

3. It’s Out of Date

When you’re doing keyword research especially, you need up-to-date information and data. You don’t want to choose keywords based on metrics measured months or years ago — but that’s what ChatGPT is working with.

The AI chatbot literally finished training in early 2022. That means its knowledge is an entire year out of date.

In SEO, where data that’s one month old is useless, that amounts to being lightyears behind. 

As you can see, the question “Is ChatGPT good for SEO?” only has one answer: NO.

It lacks, accuracy, completeness, and comprehensiveness — all of which you need in content and keyword research to rank higher in search engine results.

For better optimization and more effective content marketing, consider using AI-based blogging tools instead.

Bottom line: ChatGPT may seem like a great way to get ahead in SEO, but its lack of accuracy and contextualization can lead to ineffective content strategies and low-quality content.

Using ChatGPT as an all-in-one SEO solution will actually WASTE time, not save it. If you want a truly streamlined SEO content creation process, check out my Content Process Blueprint. Inside, I share every tool, process, and method for 3-6x faster content creation, including how to use AI strategically.

Better Ways to Use AI for Blogging

ChatGPT is exciting to play around with, sure.

But it’s not a good AI tool for tasks that rely on accurate data that’s not obsolete.

Instead of relying on outdated, error-prone insights from ChatGPT, you can use more accurate AI-powered tools to customize your keyword research and content strategy based on the specific needs of your website.

You can even use smart AI tools to write the first draft of your SEO blog posts (hello, Content at Scale!).

Here are some better options for researching trending topics, editing content, and writing first drafts.

Find Accurate Trending Topics for Blog Posts with Google Trends and BuzzSumo

Google Trends and BuzzSumo are two AI-powered tools that are great for identifying trending topics in your industry.

For example, if you’re looking to write about artificial intelligence (AI), using Google Trends will show you which related topics are currently trending in search engine results pages (SERPs).

You can also use it to compare different terms or phrases side by side to see which one has a higher search volume. This way, you know what kind of content is more likely to get noticed by readers.

BuzzSumo is another useful tool that allows you to analyze how well certain pieces of content have performed over time.

Enter a topic into the platform’s search bar, and it will provide detailed information about the most shared articles related to that topic across various social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. This gives you an idea of what type of content resonates with people online.

Ensure Your Content Is Readable and Error-Free with Grammarly

Grammarly helps ensure that all your content — from blog posts to tweets, emails, website copy, and more — meets high standards for grammar accuracy and readability levels.

It uses advanced algorithms powered by natural language processing technology so that even subtle errors don’t slip through your content unnoticed. This ensures each post looks professional before going live on your website.

Write the First Draft of Your SEO Blog Posts with Content at Scale

Want to write a better first draft for your SEO content with AI?

Content at Scale is an AI writer designed specifically for writing long-form SEO posts.

It uses a mix of three different NLPs (natural language processors) plus proprietary software that crawls the top of Google right then and there. That means it produces unique content optimized for SEO every time you use it.

Want to see how it works? Check out this full tutorial, or get started with Content at Scale right now.

Use ChatGPT for Ideation and Brainstorming

If ChatGPT is bad for SEO…

…then what is it good for?

Short answer:

Ideation. Brainstorming.

ChatGPT is your best friend in the face of a blank page and an empty mind. Ask it for help, and help it will give:

ChatGPT can be a great tool to help you generate ideas for blog posts and content, but it’s important to remember that there are other options out there when it comes to SEO keyword research.

Let’s explore some of these alternative tools in the next section.

4 Better Tools For SEO Keyword Research Than Chat GPT

When it comes to keyword research, there are many tools available that offer more accurate results than ChatGPT.

If you want accurate, up-to-date data, rely on these tools PLUS your analytical powers as a thinking human.

1. Semrush

Semrush is one of the most popular options, offering comprehensive keyword analysis as well as competitor analysis features.

With its intuitive interface and easy-to-use features, Semrush makes it simple for entrepreneurs and business owners to quickly find relevant keywords for their website content. It also provides detailed reports on each keyword’s search volume, competition level, cost per click (CPC), and estimated monthly traffic potential.

2. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is another great option for SEO keyword research. This tool offers an extensive database of over 10 billion keywords from over 200 countries around the world.

Ahrefs’ advanced filters make it easy to narrow down your search results based on specific criteria such as language or location so you can target the right audience with your content marketing efforts.

Additionally, Ahrefs provides a wealth of data about each keyword including average monthly searches, difficulty score (how hard it will be to rank in Google), organic clicks (the number of times people clicked through from Google’s organic search results), and more.

3. KWFinder

KWFinder is a great choice if you’re looking for an affordable way to do effective SEO keyword research without breaking the bank.

KWFinder has a large database of over 5 million keywords which makes finding relevant terms quick and easy – plus they provide helpful metrics like SERP overviews which show how competitive certain phrases are in different countries around the world.

4. Moz Pro

Moz Pro is yet another powerful SEO tool designed specifically for bloggers and marketers who want to optimize their websites for better rankings.

Moz Pro allows users to easily track their site’s performance by monitoring key metrics like domain authority (DA) and page authority (PA). It also helps identify high-value keywords that have low competition levels so you can focus your efforts on those terms first when creating content or optimizing existing posts/pages on your website.

Unlike ChatGPT, these standard SEO keyword research tools can provide valuable, current insights into the best keywords to target for your website. The data is vetted and updated regularly.

That’s how you create content that resonates with your audience and improves your search engine rankings. NOT through using dubious shortcut tools like the notorious AI chatbot.

Is ChatGPT Good for SEO? I Think Not

You may have wondered at some point, “Is ChatGPT good for SEO?”

And I don’t blame you.

The AI power of ChatGPT is impressive — and it does have its uses! — but it doesn’t provide reliable insights for SEO.

There are better tools out there for finding keywords and topics that will actually help your content rank.

For example, Google Trends and BuzzSumo are great alternatives for identifying trending topics in your industry. For comprehensive keyword analysis, SEMrush and Ahrefs are better options than ChatGPT.

These tools offer more accurate results for analyzing websites’ content performance and helping you find keywords that will drive organic traffic. With their detailed reports on search volume, competition level, related keywords, etc., they can help you create an effective SEO strategy that will get your website noticed by potential customers.

In stark contrast, using ChatGPT for these things is akin to taking a cheap shortcut.

And if you’re tired of business growth shortcuts that ultimately lead nowhere…

If you’re ready to invest the time, effort, and brain power it will take to build a sustainable business…

I can help with that.

The Content Transformation System is my 12-month mentorship program that focuses on powering up your business growth through smart content marketing and strategy — with a sprinkle of AI to help you streamline your processes.

Inside, you’ll get coaching, a full curriculum, live calls, and community to help you build a business that lasts for years to come.

Ready to leap? Dive in today and apply now.

The post Is ChatGPT Good for SEO? Here’s Why You Should Avoid It appeared first on Content Hacker.

How far have we come?

And how did we get to the turning tide we’re witnessing now, with AIO writers replacing SEO writers?

The history of SEO traces back to the early days of the internet, when search engines and algorithms were first developed to help people find what they needed online.

Over time, these practices have been refined so that today we see an incredibly complex web of strategies for optimizing websites for maximum visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs).

In this post, we’ll explore the origins of SEO as well as some major milestones along its journey from then until now — plus a few predictions about where it’s headed next.

What Is SEO?

First, let’s review the concept of SEO.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It’s the process of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results.

When you use SEO, you focus on improving the content, structure, and technical aspects of a website so search engines like Google or Bing can find it easily and rank it highly.

By making sure your site is optimized for search engines, you can increase visibility and attract more visitors to your business.

Want to learn how to incorporate SEO into your content creation process? Get my Content Process Blueprint to learn the exact steps + tools + workflows to use to RANK.

Types of SEO

There are two main types of SEO – on-page optimization and off-page optimization – each with its own set of goals and techniques used when implementing an effective strategy.

• On-page optimization focuses on optimizing individual web pages within a website. These on-page elements include titles, headings, meta tags, images, alt text, etc.
• Off-page optimization looks at external factors that influence how websites rank, such as backlinks from other sites and social media signals.

Needless to say, SEO is a powerful tool for improving the visibility of your website and driving more traffic to it. It has come a long way since its inception, and understanding its history can help you create effective SEO strategies right here, right now.

Let’s dive into this fascinating story.

The History of SEO

The history of SEO and its beginnings is a surprising tale that has reached “legend” status.

The Legend of SEO

It starts with an angry, expletive-filled phone call from the manager of the band Jefferson Starship to Bob Heyman, who was then the VP of audience development at a company called Cybernautics.

It was the mid-90s, when the internet as we know it was brand-new.

Why was Jefferson Starship’s manager angry? The band’s website was showing up on page 4 of a search engine. Somehow, the page had gotten buried in the SERPs amid promotion from fan sites.

But the manager wanted it on page one.

So Heyman and his partner, Harden, fixed the issue by optimizing the band’s website with the term “Jefferson Starship.”

Boom. Problem solved. The page shot back to the top of the search engine rankings.

Here’s what that page looked like in 1996, via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (who else remembers splash pages that served absolutely no purpose? ):

And, let’s all take a moment to absorb the fact that, back in 1995-1997, all you had to do was insert a keyword a few times on a page to rank.

Origins of the Term “SEO”

So when did the term “SEO”, or search engine optimization, become common in the online marketer’s vernacular?

It can be traced back to the early days of search engines and web directories.

Before Google, there were a variety of options such as AltaVista, Lycos, and Excite that used different algorithms to rank websites. Web directories like Yahoo also provided users with lists of websites organized by categories.

Essentially, SEO came about in the late 1990s as a response to search engine sorting and ranking. It was developed by webmasters and content creators who wanted to make sure their sites were visible to potential customers.

The term “SEO” itself was first used by the Webstep Marketing Agency in 1997.

In 1998, Danny Sullivan, the founder of Search Engine Watch and present-day Google Liaison (remember him from this post about Google detecting AI content?), popularized the term through his work helping clients optimize content.

The Birth of Google and Quality/Relevance Ranking Factors

Of course, in the history of SEO, we have to talk about the birth of Google. Here’s the cliff notes version:

In 1998, Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed a new algorithm called “PageRank” which revolutionized how webpages were ranked: based on their relevance to user queries.

Before this, search engines mainly looked at on-page factors to determine rankings, including site structure.

PageRank, on the other hand, also looked at off-page factors like the number and quality of external links pointing to a site.

This algorithm became known as Google after Page and Brin founded their company in 1998 under that name.

The Evolution of SEO

As technology advanced, so did algorithmic ranking factors such as content relevancy, link popularity (number & quality), domain authority (age & trustworthiness), and more all playing an important role in determining website rankings on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

Top ranking factors in 2023. Source: First Page Sage

And as the complexity of SEO increased, new roles were born in response as marketers employed various strategies to optimize websites for better rankings:

• SEO writer
• SEO marketer
• SEO consultant
• SEO analyst
• SEO manager

More recently, the focus has shifted towards providing higher-quality content tailored specifically for user intent rather than simply focusing on keywords alone.

AI content creation has also recently shoved its way into the spotlight. The tools out there today are better than ever and completely capable of writing a well-written first draft structured for SEO.

Enter: the AIO writer.

Major Milestones in the History of SEO

SEO has had a long journey, from the early days of web directories and search engines to the emergence of algorithmic ranking factors.

As we move forward into the future, it’s important to understand these key milestones to stay ahead of the competition and leverage effective SEO practices.

2003: Google Introduces the Florida Update & Nofollow Attribute

In 2003, Google introduced the “Florida” update to its algorithm. This update was designed to combat link spamming and other manipulative tactics used by webmasters to boost their rankings.

At the same time, they also introduced the “nofollow” attribute which allowed website owners to indicate that certain links should not be followed or indexed by search engines.

2005: Introduction of Google Analytics & AdWords Campaigns

Google Analytics was launched in 2005 as a free tool for website owners and marketers to track user behavior on their sites.

It provided valuable insights into how visitors interacted with pages, allowing them to make more informed decisions about optimizing their content for better performance.

Around the same time, Google also began offering AdWords campaigns – pay-per-click advertising solutions – which further revolutionized digital marketing strategies worldwide.

2011: Panda Update & Mobile-Friendly Websites Become Essential for Rankings

In 2011, Google released its Panda update which targeted low-quality content and penalized websites containing it.

This meant website owners had to focus even more heavily on creating unique and high-quality content if they wanted any chance at ranking well on SERPs.

Additionally, mobile devices were starting to flood the scene, which meant having a mobile-friendly version of your site became essential if you wanted your pages to rank well across all platforms.

The Current State of SEO & Future Predictions

AI-powered algorithms, localized content, and user experience optimization are quickly becoming the new norm in SEO.

AI-powered algorithms can help determine which content is most relevant to a user’s query by analyzing the context of the query as well as other factors such as location or previous searches.

Localized content is also playing an important role in SEO today. By optimizing your website for local searches you can ensure that your business appears at the top of search engine results when someone within your target area searches for related terms or services.

Finally, user experience has become a major factor in determining how high a website ranks in SERPs. Search engines prioritize websites with fast loading times and easy navigation. Quality content is also essential to UX; you must create content for people, not search engines, and focus on providing accurate, relevant, helpful information.

The History of SEO Is Still Happening: Are You Keeping Up?

The history of SEO is storied and fascinating – and it’s not done yet.

We’re living that history right NOW.

It has evolved from simple keyword stuffing to complex algorithms that take into account user experience and other factors when ranking websites.

As we look towards the future, it’s clear that SEO will continue to change with new technologies and trends emerging every day – like AI writing!

Today, you need a complex set of strategies to do SEO correctly and increase your website’s visibility and drive traffic. Just one of those strategies includes adding an AI writing tool to your content process to speed up the production of SEO content while ALSO making sure an AIO writer is guiding that tool along the way.

It’s a lot, but staying up-to-date on all things related to SEO is essential for any business looking to stay ahead of its competition.

Want to join a community of like-minded entrepreneurs, business owners, and marketers who are all focused on learning how to navigate the major changes to SEO content coming our way – AND building their businesses with an evolved content strategy?

Then you belong in the Content Transformation System, my 12-month mentorship program with coaching, a full curriculum, a robust community, and live monthly calls.

Learn to build your business through up-to-date content marketing practices (including using AI tools in your workflow), and take the steps to finally grow in the right direction this year.

Apply today to grab a seat inside the Content Transformation System.

The post Exploring the Fascinating History of SEO appeared first on Content Hacker.

It doesn’t always work out that way, though.

As you publish more and more content, it’s easy for some of your best posts to become outdated. Other articles may simply become “buried.” With hundreds of posts to look through, some of your best, most engaging content can disappear in plain sight.

The goal of an SEO content audit is to help you clean house and to make sure your blog and its content remains in the best shape possible.

The words “SEO audit” might have scary connotations, but there’s nothing to fear. The process involves checking your blog from top to bottom, taking stock of its content, optimizing it, and repurposing it when necessary.

If that sounds too vague, don’t worry. We’re going to break down the entire process from top to bottom. By the end of this article, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a certified (blog) auditor.

I promise that’s a lot cooler than it sounds.

What is an SEO Content Audit?

When you start a blog, it’s easy enough to keep stock of all the content that you publish. You know what its purpose is, what keywords each post is built around, what type of audience they target, and every other small detail.

As your blog grows, keeping track of all that information becomes a nearly impossible task. Add other writers and/or content creators to the mix and suddenly, you might not have an idea of what’s going on with your blog.

Just as in real life, the goal of an audit is to help you bring some order to the chaos. Here’s the type of information a comprehensive SEO content audit can help you collect:

• A full list of all your site’s content. This list should include post titles, target keywords, headlines, meta descriptions, and pretty much any other data that gives you insights into each article’s goal.

• Information about your site’s on-page optimization. Ideally, you’ll optimize every page before you publish it to maximize its ranking potential. A content audit will reveal gaps in your on-page optimization, which you can then fix.

• Data about your site’s linking structure. A great internal linking structure will encourage users to spend more time on your site. A successful audit will point towards problems with that structure (if there are any).

• Ranking fluctuations. Personally, I like going over ranking history when I’m working on a content audit. This helps put into perspective why traffic may be going up or down when seen side by side with recent posts and when seen together with the rest of the data from the audit.
• Any errors that appear on your site. If your site is showing any HTTP error codes, you need to know about it immediately so you can fix them.

I put emphasis on the word comprehensive because, in some cases, you might want to opt for a more focused analysis. A content audit can just focus on your blog posts and not include any of the other data we just discussed.

As far as I’m concerned, though, if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Content audits can take a lot of time, but they’re also the kind of endeavor you only need to do once per year (just like cleaning out the attic).

Our holistic approach doesn’t just focus on the content but also on SEO. An SEO content audit both takes stock of your site’s materials and helps you figure out how to improve its rankings.

The goal of this article is to guide you through the process of conducting a full SEO content audit, not skipping any of the essential steps. We’re also going to share a comprehensive content audit template that will enable you to put all of these steps into action.

There’s still some theory to discuss before we get to the homework portion, though, so let’s take a minute to discuss the benefits of an audit.

What Are the Benefits of a Content Audit?

Ideally, every decision you make for your website should be based on data.

I know that sounds robotic, but if you want your blog to succeed, you need to think about it in terms of business. Running a business based on hunches and intuition can succeed. However, at that point, you’re basically gambling.

Today, you have a massive array of tools and services at your disposal to help you collect as much data as possible concerning your website. For example, tools such as Google Analytics tell you basically everything about where you’re getting your traffic from, what they’re doing on your site, and whether they’re converting or not (depending on how you configure it):

Analytics tools are excellent for day-to-day operations. You can check on them regularly to see how your website is performing, and you get access to so much information you’ll spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to do with it.

A content audit isn’t the kind of process you undertake every month. It involves a comprehensive look at your website from top to bottom, enabling you to take stock of its content, your site’s SEO practices, errors on your website, and more.

To put it another way, a content audit is a “big picture” process. You use it to put your site’s content into perspective, and if you get the correct data, you’ll be able to make important decisions with it, such as:

• Deciding the direction in which you want to take your blog
• Spotting content that needs revising to stay relevant
• Identifying posts that you can combine or maybe ones that are not relevant anymore
• Figuring out what content resonates the most with your audience

Overall, a content audit enables you to take stock of all the assets at your disposal and to see in what condition they’re in. Armed with that data, you’ll have all the information you need to make intelligent decisions concerning the blog.

5 Steps to an SEO Content Audit for Your Blog

For this tutorial, we’re going to focus on the big-picture steps for an SEO content audit.

To follow along, we recommend that you download our full SEO content audit template.

The template includes a full checklist of all the SEO aspects you need to check, as well as a spreadsheet you can fill with details related to your blog’s content.

Download now:

Step 1: Take Inventory of Your Blog Content

There are a lot of ways to navigate your blog’s content. The “easiest” approach is to open the blog and make a list of each blog post, including its title and URL (for starters):

The problem with this approach is that it’s not efficient. If you have a blog with hundreds of articles, you’ll waste a lot of time putting together all that data manually. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s wasting time when you can solve a problem elegantly using a little tech.

If your website has a sitemap (which it should have), you can use a tool such as Semrush to conduct a sitemap audit. The audit can focus on specific subdirectories within the site (such as /blog) and help you put together a list of all the pages it includes as well as their titles and ranking information:

This approach is downright simple, but it requires you to pay for Semrush (which is not cheap). My favorite alternative, if you’re using WordPress, is to use a little plugin magic to export all the information you need for the content audit.

Quick note: We can help you create a custom WordPress website for your business if you want to start using the CMS for selling services online or blogging.

For this task, I recommend using Export All URLs. This plugin enables you to export URLs from your website and associated data in .csv format. That means it all comes out in a nice, gorgeous spreadsheet:

The plugin enables you to export a list of URLs and titles for your blog posts by selecting the Posts option under the Select a Post Type to Extract Data: menu. When you’re ready, hit the Export Now button, and the plugin will generate a .csv file for you.

If you use another Content Management System (CMS) it might offer an extension or tool that enables you to export a list of your site’s URLs. If all else fails, you can always opt for the manual approach. It can take a while, depending on how many posts you have to index. However, after the first audit, you can simply update that list in the future to save time.

Step 2: Catalog Your Blog Content

A list of blog post titles and their URLs does not make an audit. If you want to get any type of insight from that list of blog posts, you need to add more context. That means including information such as:

• What is the purpose of the blog post?
• What is the post’s main keyword?
• Who wrote the article
• The total number of words included
• When the article was created and last updated
• The headlines the article includes
• The post’s meta description
• Information about the post’s images
• The internal and external links the post includes
• Social sharing data

I know that is a lot of information, but it’s important to understand this is the meat of the SEO content audit soup. Collecting this data and putting it side by side will give you an unparalleled bird’s eye view of your blog’s content, its purpose, and how it all fits together:

That is a quick view of the SEO content audit template we include to help you collect all of this information. The template includes instructions for each piece of data you add, and it will help you keep all of this information organized.

The bad news is there are no shortcuts to collecting all this information. You’ll need to sit down, go through each blog post on your website, and put together the pieces of the puzzle bit by bit.

Keep in mind there’s no rush with an SEO content audit. There is no IRS breathing down your neck to finish the audit. If you’re part of a team that creates content for the blog, you can divide this task among the other creators as this process goes by much faster if you know the content you’re auditing.

Step 3: Check Your Blog Analytics

If you’re asking yourself, “What are analytics?” I need you to stop reading right now and check out my article on free SEO tools you can use for your website. That article will give you the lowdown on several SEO and analytics tools you can start using right away.

In a nutshell, SEO analytics tools enable you to measure and track the traffic your blog gets. Depending on which tool you use, you’ll get access to information such as traffic sources, how long users spend on your site, what links they’re clicking on, and much more:

If you’re already using an analytics solution, this is the time to check up on it and see what the metrics are telling you. For an SEO content audit, we want to check up on the following information:

• Any sudden shifts in traffic during the past few months
• How each blog post is performing in terms of traffic
• Losses in rankings when compared against the last content audit (yes, you’re going to be doing this again at some point!)
• Any notable increases or decreases in conversions during the past few months
• Notable changes in how much time users spend on the site since the last content audit

The beauty of analytics is that you can use that data to give you insights into how your website is doing. For example, if you see sudden drops in traffic during the past few months, it can be due to a myriad of reasons, including:

1. Other sites overtaking your content in the rankings for key searches
2. Changes in your site’s design that impact its bounce rate
3. Changes in the search engine algorithms that affect everyone
4. Audiences losing interest in your blogging niche

The biggest “issue” with analytics is that many people try to interpret metrics blindly. If you see spikes or downturns in traffic, but you have no idea what’s going on with your website, it’s impossible to discern why it’s happening.

Putting together this information in an SEO content audit will enable you to draw more informed conclusions. You’ll be able to spot underperforming articles, see pages that need additional SEO work, and more.

Note: Our SEO content audit template includes a checklist you can use to keep track of changes in your blog rankings. If you have access to an analytics tool that tracks individual page performance, you can also add that information to the template.

Step 4: Decide What Content to Keep, Update, or Merge

One of the primary goals of a content audit is to decide what to do with your content. If your blog has been around for a while, it stands to reason a lot of its articles could do with an update. A lot of them might not even be relevant anymore.

This is perhaps the hardest part of a content audit for most people because it requires you to be objective about the content you’ve worked so hard to create over the years. In a nutshell, you need to divide that content into three categories:

• Keep: This content is good to go. It’s still relevant, engaging, and it’s performing well among your audience. You can tinker with it if you believe there are ways to improve it. However, I’m partial to leaving content breathe if it’s doing well.

• Update: If you see blog posts that have begun to slip in the rankings, it might be time to give them an update. By “update” I mean making sure all the content is still accurate, that you’re not providing outdated information and that all links and images are still working.

• Merge: Many people are partial to deleting articles during an audit. Personally, I’m more of a merger person. In some cases, underperforming articles can only be saved by merging them into a longer, more comprehensive post. Longer posts may be more likely to rank better in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) and they can make your blog look more authoritative.

What you need to do now is work your way down the list of articles in the content audit and note what you want to do with each one of them. I recommend doing this using color coding, so you can see what the plan is for each entry at a glance:

For articles you want to merge, add a note or a comment to the spreadsheet with an overview of what posts could work well together. When merging articles, the combination must make sense. You’ll also need to spend time fleshing out or rewriting part of those articles as simply pasting them together is unlikely to result in a bestseller.

As for the content that needs updating, the audit template includes a section where you can add notes on what changes each article needs. This is essential because not every blog post will need the same kind of work:

For this stage of the process, you’ll need to review each post individually and assess the changes you think are necessary. After you put together a list of all the updates each post requires, once you finish the audit, you’ll be able to tackle these changes in order.

Step 5: Go Through the SEO Audit Checklist

So far, we’ve focused mainly on the content end of the SEO content audit. However, the full audit template includes a comprehensive checklist of SEO aspects you need to check on your blog to make sure you’re not following best practices:

Keep in mind the checklist covers everything from basic on-page optimization to indexing practices and your content and linking structures. The template also includes notes for each point in the checklist, which you can check if you’re unsure about what it means.

The SEO audit checklist is a self-evaluating tool. It will show you if your blog needs further optimization if you put in the time to answer each question carefully. After you complete the checklist, you can either get to work on optimizing your blog by yourself or hire a developer that can help you streamline that process.

Download now:

Run an SEO Content Audit Today

If you hope to make a business out of your blog, you must treat it like one.

That means ensuring that your content, which is your most valuable asset, doesn’t become outdated or starts to slide down the rankings because you’re not paying attention to it.

The goal of a content audit is to help you take stock of all the articles on your website and to organize that data. Then you can decide what steps to take for each blog post, whether to keep it as is, update it, or merge several articles together.

The SEO portion of the content audit involves ensuring your website is properly optimized. That way, all the efforts that you put into content creation won’t go to waste.

Ideally, you should be running an SEO content audit once per year. This is a process that can take time, so don’t rush it the results will reveal a goldmine of insights you can use to make your blog even better.

If you’re trying to scale your business using content, my free class for entrepreneurs and marketers will guide you through the fundamentals of developing a successful content strategy. Check it out today for free!

The post How to Conduct a Comprehensive SEO Content Audit for Your Blog appeared first on Content Hacker.

Less than 5% of people even make it to the second page of the search results.

And only about 2% click on the ads on the first page.

Obviously, you want to be at the top of the organic search results every time.

And your Domain Authority plays an important part in that.

What is Domain Authority?

Before we dive into the topic, I want to make sure you understand what we’re talking about.

There’s the concept of domain authority (lowercase), which you’ve probably heard before. When a site exhibits domain authority, they have established themselves as a trusted thought leader in their industry.

But today, we’re talking about the ranking score Domain Authority (capitalized).

Your Domain Authority score is a number between 1 and 100. The higher you score, the better for your website.

But no matter what your Domain Authority score is, you still need to follow the right principles — the ones we teach in our Content Transformation© System, incidentally — to grow your business organically with content.

What Is Domain Authority & Who Created It?

Domain Authority, or short DA, is a ranking score system originally developed by the folks at Moz. The Domain Authority score is used to predict how a website might rank in the search engine results.

To be clear, Moz states in no uncertain terms that Domain Authority is NOT a Google ranking factor.

This means it’s possible to have a low DA score with Moz and still rank number one for your keywords on Google.

But you won’t rank number one unless you learn how to write effective SEO blogs for your site.

How Is Domain Authority Calculated?

The Domain Authority score is calculated from the number of linking root domains that connect to your site.

If you get a link to your site from another website, that’s called a backlink.

When people link to your site, it’s usually a good thing. It means you have something important they want others to know about.

Every site that links to your website gives you a backlink, which increases your Domain Authority score.

But it’s only root domains that count.

If you get multiple links from a single website, even if they are coming from different pages on that site, that’s still just one backlink from one root domain.

It’s also not just about the total number of links, because the quality of those backlinks matter, too.

If coupon sites are linking to you, that’s not as great as if a national newspaper linked to you.

Your Domain Authority score considers both the number of sites linking to your site and the quality of those links.

The DA score also fluctuates, because it’s calculated in relation to the other sites. If you gain more backlinks, but your competitor also gains more backlinks, your score won’t improve over theirs.

After Moz created the Domain Authority score, their competitors followed suit.

If you use Semrush, you’ve probably seen something called Authority Score. Your dashboard might look like this:

The Authority Score also uses backlinks to calculate the total score, always considering how your site compares to other sites.

Ahrefs uses a Domain Rating score. The calculation process is similar to its competitors, mostly considering the quantity and quality of the backlinks.

As you can see, every SEO tool uses their own unique calculations. Semrush won’t provide a score unless you sign up for a free trial, so their score of 69 for the Dunkin Donuts website might be old.

Ahrefs gave the same site a rating of 81, whereas Moz returned a Domain Authority score of 72.

If none of these tools would give a site that sells donuts a score of 100, I hope you don’t expect your site to rank that high, either.

Because what could rank better than a donut?

And this leads us straight into the next question:

What Is a Good Domain Authority Score?

Obviously, a score above 90 is top-notch. If you own Facebook or Wikipedia, that’s what we’d expect.

For a new site, your score will be 1.

If your site has been around a while, you might have a score between 40 and 50, which is considered average.

But it’s not really the score that matters.

Your score doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and it’s not part of a report card.

Instead, you want to look at your score as a measure of the health of your site. And ideally, you want your score to be similar to or better than the score of your competitors’ sites.

If you’re running a small business serving a niche market, a score of 10 or 20 isn’t unusual at all.

But you won’t get there overnight. You need someone to provide you with the knowledge and tools to market your business with content.

And that’s what we’re here for. We teach business owners like you how to build a sustainable, profitable business through online content marketing.

Use Domain Authority As a Comparative Metric

The Domain Authority score is most useful as a comparative metric.

It’s a good idea to check your DA score and work on improving it over time. If you have a new website, your score will be 1.

But when you follow the teachings of our Content Transformation© System, you will use high-quality content to increase traffic and conversions.

And those strategies will help you get backlinks, because people are always looking for GOOD content online.

You can also use your DA score to compare yourself to similar sites. Check your competitors’ scores and see how you measure up.

Don’t compare yourself to a company that plays in a different league than you do.

It would be like an 8-year-old kid competing in a marathon full of adults. If you’re the kid, start with a 1k and crush that race first.

You can also check the score of other sites that rank for the keywords you’re targeting.

Just remember not to get too hung up on the Domain Authority score. It’s only one benchmark out of many.

Unless you’re running a local donut shop, you don’t have to outrank Dunkin Donuts for keywords.

In fact, even your local donut shop can generate more sales by focusing on specific content strategies designed to increase ROI.

What Is Page Authority & What’s the Difference Between Domain Authority and Page Authority?

Domain Authority scores take into consideration your entire site.

It’s all about which sites are linking to your site, how many sites are linking to you, and how credible those link sources are.

Page Authority focuses on the ranking of one specific page.

So you may get different scores for different pages on your site.

You can use the Page Authority rankings to help you fine-tune your content and spruce up specific pages on your site to improve your overall Domain Authority.

Just starting out? If you don’t have a website or your website needs a reboot, we can help you with that. Our small but mighty team of developers can build you a site within a week. With the right website and the right content strategy, there’s no stopping your success online. Talk to us today.

How Can I Increase My Domain Authority?

To increase your Domain Authority, you want to follow many of the same SEO writing techniques you’re using to help your site rank and convert.

• Increase the quantity of external links posting to your site
• Create quality content people want to link to
• Update older content regularly
• Generate specific content for your core audience
• Improve your internal linking (add links to your own content inside your pages and posts)
• Spread your content through other channels ( with social media or a newsletter)

You can research your competitors and find out which sites are linking to them. Then work on getting similar links to your site.

If you want to win with content, listen to this recent episode on my podcast where I teach you how to unlearn bad content habits.

It also helps to create eminently linkable content.

What do I mean by that?

Your content must be useful and informative .

Here are some examples of the type of content people share online:

• Listicles (top 10 posts, etc.)
• Lengthy guides about pain points your customers have
• Videos
• Infographics
• Podcasts
• Slides
• In-depth articles for your core audience

With any of these strategies, remember you’re playing a long game.

Your Domain Authority will not improve overnight.

And while it’s relatively easy to go from a DA score of 25 to 35, you’ll have a harder time getting from 75 to 85.

Your Website’s Success Doesn’t Rest on Your Domain Authority Score

Having a high Domain Authority score is wonderful.

But, your company’s success doesn’t hinge on that one number.

Just like a high school student’s grades don’t predict their success in life.

So what do you really need to do to increase ranking and conversions for your website?

Get a proven pathway to show you the way.

Consider applying to join us inside The Content Transformation© System, where you’ll receive an incredibly in-depth, unique methodology and coaching experience. You’ll learn how to build a sustainable, profitable business with your website and content strategy.

Content is only one part of it.

That’s why we go DEEP inside of CTS.

Just getting started? Get a taste of my methodology and how content strategy works to tremendously grow your online presence in our free class.

See you there!

The post What Is Domain Authority, How Does It Help Me & How Do I Improve My Score? appeared first on Content Hacker.

If you’ve been paying attention to SEO news, you may already know that the search engine recently rolled out another update that will affect how well your content ranks in its results.

This is Google’s helpful content update, which started rolling out on August 25, 2022, and took two weeks to complete.

Worried?

Don’t be.

This update is all about how helpful your content is for your readers.

• Is it created for them, your audience (and NOT search engines)?
• Does it share your expertise?
• Is it credible? Trustworthy?
• Does it answer your readers’ questions in a satisfying way?

If every piece of content that goes out on your site aims for this level of usefulness – if, above all, you want to help your readers – you should be okay.

But…

In what scenario would you or other site owners be in trouble with the rollout of this update?

What exactly, does Google’s helpful content update do?

What does Google consider to be “helpful content?”

It’s all inside today’s guide.

What Google’s Helpful Content Update Means for Site Owners

In Google’s blog post about the update, there’s a repeated phrase we need to pay attention to: people-first.

As it explains, the search engine wants to make sure searchers see “more original, helpful content written by people, for people, in search results.”

This means the update rewards people-first content while docking the performance of content that is NOT people-first.

And, people-first content = helpful content.

Additionally, the helpful content update is a sitewide signal. That means the amount of helpful content on your site directly affects your rankings – as well as the amount of unhelpful content. (For example, in its blog update, Google specifically says removing unhelpful content from across your site could help improve the rankings of your other content.)

However, if the term “helpful content” seems a little vague to you, you’re not alone.

Let’s dive into a definition of helpful content according to Google, so you know exactly how to create it, not to mention avoid unhelpful content.

What Is Helpful Content According to Google?

1. Content Created with a Specific Audience in Mind

No matter the type of content you’re creating, you should have an audience in mind that you want to reach.

These are the people who would find your content useful and relevant to their needs, whether they stumble upon it in a Google search or regularly follow and read your blog.

2. Content That Demonstrates Experience and Knowledge (Expertise)

In other words, walk your talk.

If you have zero practical experience in a specific industry or topic area, you have no business writing content for it.

On the other hand, if you hire a writer, make sure their writing experience matches up with your industry (or take the time to train them well).

Finding, hiring, and training a writer on your expertise, brand voice, and style doesn’t have to be hard — you just need the skills to get it done. I teach you ALL of them in my Content Transformation System. New around here? Start with my free training.

3. Content That Lives on a Website with an Overarching Focus

Is your website a hodgepodge of topics – or do you have one overarching focus that guides what you write about and what you create?

The latter is considered part of a helpful content ecosystem.

Our emphasis and topic areas include content marketing skills, strategy, and presence, and this guides what we post about on every channel.

Cohesive, relevant content matters!

4. Satisfying Content (Answers Questions, Helps Readers Learn)

Imagine:

A searcher heads to Google to find an answer to a problem they’re having related to your industry. Your article comes up in the results. They click and read. Once they’re done, they have answers to a lot of their questions. They’ve learned something new they can apply to their life. They feel good about it. Their search is done.

Imagine, on the other hand, that the searcher clicks your article but gets frustrated when the information they’re looking for is missing. They return to the search results to find a better article.

One of these experiences is satisfying, and the other isn’t.

Google wants that satisfying experience for all searchers, so they reward satisfying content.

5. Content That Follows Google’s Other Guidelines

Google regularly tweaks and updates its algorithm to provide better search results. To create helpful content, you need to stay on top of these updates and ensure your content adheres to changing standards and guidelines for high-quality content.

I discuss some major standards to follow for content creation in this episode of my podcast on E-A-T and YMYL:

Find all of my podcast episodes right here.

What’s the Opposite of Helpful Content? (What to Avoid)

Since Google has announced it’s rewarding helpful content, that also means it will be docking unhelpful content.

This is what unhelpful content looks like:

1. Content created for search engines first, people second – Your goals while writing/creating will deeply affect the outcome of a piece. As Google says, “…content created primarily for search engine traffic is strongly correlated with content that searchers find unsatisfying.”
2. Unsatisfying content – This is content that leaves a reader with questions and makes them feel the need to keep searching to find the right information.
3. Scattershot content with no topic focus –Bouncing from one unrelated topic to the next leaves your readers confused about your purpose and your expertise.
4. Regurgitated content – This is content that summarizes what other people have already said about a topic without adding anything new or of value.
5. Automatically-generated content – If your content is wholly written by bots, it’s not helpful.
6. Content written to get search traffic or to hop on a trend – If you’re writing FOR trends or to get traffic from search, unsatisfying and unhelpful content will be a natural byproduct.

What Is Google’s Helpful Content Update? An Imperative to Get Serious About Your Content

If you haven’t been prioritizing high-quality content creation until now, it’s time to wake up.

Effective content – content that’s helpful, created for your audience, and relevant to your expertise AND your readers’ problems – is the only way to market these days.

70% of all site traffic comes from search engines like Google.

SEO blogging brings in 1,000% more traffic than social media.

If you blog on your business website, you’ll see 126% more leads than those that don’t blog.

The ROI is incredible – if you do it right.

Are you ready to commit? Are you ready to go there?

Whether you’re a solopreneur looking to learn how to use content to grow your business…

Whether you’re a marketing executive or founder ready to invest in content and build your content team…

I have a FREE 30-minute class that will teach you exactly how to do each of these things.

Choose your level and get instant access today.

The post What Is Google’s Helpful Content Update? & How to Match It appeared first on Content Hacker.

If not, you should.

Duplicate content can cause quite an SEO headache.

In fact, it can confuse Google’s crawlers and bring down your rankings, all without your knowledge.

You may be there right now – wondering why some of your pages aren’t ranking as highly as they could be. Maybe you’ve spent days staring at your computer screen with bloodshot eyes trying to figure out what’s going wrong.

Duplicate content could be it, especially if you’ve never checked for it before (let alone heard of it).

Fun fact: Duplicate content accounts for 29% of the entire web, according to the most recent study I could find from 2015. These days, that percentage is probably even higher if we account for the sheer amount of content that gets published daily.

So let’s stop this problem before it drives your website over a cliff. It’s time to learn how to find duplicate content and fix it.

That’s exactly what we’ll discuss in this guide.

What Is Duplicate Content (And Why Should You Care About It)?

Duplicate content is just what it sounds like: exact copies or similar versions of content that appear either on separate websites or the same website.

Let’s examine each scenario:

• Duplicate content on separate websites – This, my friends, is plagiarism. If some entity other than you snatches an exact copy of your content and publishes it on their website, they’re stealing your work and ideas.
  • The same goes even if that person/brand/organization was using your page as a reference and didn’t properly paraphrase or rewrite the content in their own words. To learn more about plagiarism (and its seriousness), check out this article from the University of Oxford.
  • The same goes if the situation is reversed: If you copy or inadequately paraphrase someone else’s content (intentionally or not), you’re the plagiarizer and have created duplicate content.
• Duplicate content on the same website – This is when extremely similar or exact-match content appears on multiple pages of your site. This scenario is much more common, especially if your website is large with hundreds or even thousands of pages of content. However, it can happen to smaller websites, too, and it’s usually totally unintentional.

Why Is Duplicate Content a Problem?

When duplicate content is plagiarized content, the problem is obvious. Conversely, the problem with duplicate content on your own site boils down to Google rankings.

When you have two (or more) pieces of content that look nearly identical, Google won’t know which one to rank. In the end, this drives down your rankings for all of the pages involved – even if the content is fantastic.

And rankings are what bring in traffic and leads. For SEO blogging to work, your pages need to rank highly and appear at the top of Google for your keywords. That’s because:

1. Few users take their Google search past page one. On average, the clicks beyond that are abysmal – only 78% of users click on something on page two.
2. Compare that to the #1 position on Google, which nets you a click-thru rate (CTR) of 6%, which amounts to over 5 MILLION average clicks.

For SEO to work, you need to reach page one. And you won’t do that with duplicate content.

SO – let’s talk about how to find duplicate content and fix it using two great tools: Copyscape (both the free and premium versions) and Siteliner.

(By the way, keyword cannibalization is a related SEO issue to duplicate content. Learn about it in my video below [an oldie but a goodie].)

How to Find Duplicate Content on Your Website Using Siteliner

Siteliner is a tool that will scan your entire website to find duplicate content.

For smaller websites, the free version will give you plenty of data to work with, since it will scan up to 250 pages once a month. (If you have a larger site or want full access to all the data and features, you’ll need to spring for the premium version.)

To perform a site scan, simply enter your URL into the search box.

When your report is ready, you’ll see lots of useful information, like how many pages were checked, what percentage of your content is duplicated, and stats about how your site stacks up to others.

Click on “Duplicate content” in the top left menu to see a detailed breakdown.

When you look at your report, don’t worry if you see some high match percentages at the top, especially if these are your main website pages (product pages, “about” page, landing pages, etc.).

That’s because this tool will show you EVERY instance of duplicate content on a page, including menus, excerpts, footers, and sidebar content.

What you need to worry about are larger chunks of content appearing across multiple pages.

For example, the first page that isn’t a main site page on my duplicate content list is a blog. It has 467 words matching another page.

To check if this matching content is part of regular text repeated across my site or something more serious, I can click on that entry in the list to see exactly where the duplicate content comes from.

As you can see, there are three different sources:

• Content that matches another page on my site (highlighted in pink)
• Navigational content (highlighted in green)
• Common content that normally appears across my site (highlighted in gray)

In this instance, I’d investigate the pink highlighted text and determine if I need to make any changes to either page.

See how that works? It’s pretty simple, and doing this monthly or quarterly could ensure duplicate content never drags down your Google rankings.

Besides SEO issues like duplicate content, what else is plaguing your online business growth? Are you struggling to hire, delegate, scale, or manage all the little details? Learn where you’re going wrong and get the pathway to success in my free training.

How to Find Duplicate Content on the Web Using Copyscape

Beyond finding duplicate content on your site, a great best practice before you publish any piece of content is to run it through a checker like Copyscape, especially if you outsource writers. This is how you:

• Find out if your content is 100% unique and original
• Discover any plagiarism issues that need correction

There are two ways to do this with two versions of Copyscape – the free version and the premium one.

By the way, Copyscape is run by the same people behind Siteliner. It’s another reliable tool that plenty of SEO pros use. It’s also super affordable, which makes it my top recommendation to check for plagiarism and duplicate content on the web.

Copyscape (Free Version): Check Published Content to Find Duplicate Content

The free version of Copyscape will only allow you to enter a URL (i.e., content that’s already published) to compare it to what’s on the web. Searches are limited.

Here’s how to use it:

Go to the Copyscape homepage, enter the URL of the content you’d like to check in the search box, and hit “Go.” For example, I’m checking a recent Content Hacker blog.

The first page that pops up will be a list of results that match the content you’re checking. This means at least some of the text is duplicated.

For this example, all the results come from my content around the web, including my Amazon author page. That’s perfectly fine since I use similar wording in my bios and profiles to tell my story.

To look closer at a result, click on the blue text. This will show you exactly which text is duplicated and where it appears on the page.

To see the duplicate text in action on your source page, click “See matching content in: Souce Page.”

This will show you exactly where the matching text appears on your source page.

As you can see, this instance of duplicate text isn’t an issue. It’s just my bio, which stays fairly consistent across all of the platforms I publish on.

If you see other sites listed in the results that aren’t connected to you, dig deeper, and check the percentage of duplicate text. A match of 1-4% isn’t worth worrying about, for instance.

BUT, if you see vast chunks of text – 7% and above is a red flag – copied from your page to theirs, or vice-versa, you need rewrites, STAT.

Copyscape Premium: Check Unpublished Content to Find Duplicate Content

I prefer Copyscape Premium over the free version mainly because of how easy and affordable it is.

You get way more features in Premium, too, like batch searching, file uploads, and plagiarism tracking.

Here’s how to use it to check content before you publish and ensure it’s original :

First, sign up for Premium by choosing a username and password.

Now, here’s where Copyscape Premium veers a bit from the online tools you might be used to. For one, there’s no subscription for this tool – instead, you purchase a bulk sum of credits, which you then spend on searches.

Pricing:

• $0.03 for every search up to 200 words
• An additional $0.01 per 100 words beyond your first 200
• + You can use credits any time within 12 months of purchase

So, if you want to run a blog post of 2,000 words through Copyscape Premium, the total cost would be $0.18. (Like I said, affordable!)

So, go ahead and purchase however many credits you’d like.

Then head back to Premium search.

Now we can upload our unpublished content file to check it against the web. Underneath the text box (where you can paste a section of text to check), find the “Choose File” button and click it.

Find where your content file is saved and open it. Then click the “Premium Search” button.

For this example, I’m checking a blog that’s still in the draft stage.

The results page will show you any matches on the web with duplicate content.

In my blog draft, I included a snippet of code for embedding a video, and that’s the only text that’s showing up as a match in my results. That means this piece is 100% original!

However, if you’re seeing any matches on your content that perk up your attention, you can click on each result to view more details and find the match percentage – just like with the free version of Copyscape.

And, though it goes without saying, if you find you’ve inadvertently copied someone else, edit your content to be 100% unique.

Break Free from SEO Worries Like Duplicate Content: Here’s How

Finding duplicate content on your site and fixing it is super important.

But most business owners don’t even realize they’re committing this SEO mistake, let alone losing content ROI.

I’ve given you some tools and tips on how to find duplicate content, but what if you didn’t have to worry about this at all?

What if you had a content strategy in place that mapped out your content so well, you were always on top of potential duplicate content issues?

What if you built a content team at your disposal that created great content on the regular?

I teach you how to do all of this in my Content Transformation System — a 12-month coaching program that’s all about building your business through content the EXACT same way I did, that led me to six and seven figures.

Ready to find out if you’re a good fit? Apply today.

The post How to Find Duplicate Content on Your Site & Improve Your SEO appeared first on Content Hacker.

This isn’t unprecedented, as Google updates its guidelines periodically.

But this time, because of the change, you have to get serious about your content strategy if you don’t want to get de-ranked.

The Quality of Your Content Matters

Quality matters to Google. If you want to improve your rankings, you better create high-quality content that helps your users.

You can’t just post a keyword-heavy blog or article and expect amazing results. In fact, keyword stuffing can get you de-ranked fast.

But how does Google know your site contains quality content?

E-A-T and YMYL.

Listen to my podcast episode explaining these concepts in detail:

Catch all episodes at contenthacker.com/podcast.

You can also listen in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, and Google Podcasts.

What Is E-A-T?

E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

In other words, Google rewards credible experts you can trust.

It’s easy to put content on the internet, which is why a lot of it is utter garbage or mostly irrelevant. The sheer volume of content is also the reason search engines have to create a system to evaluate websites and pages.

The criteria in E-A-T can distinguish helpful content from content that doesn’t provide an obvious benefit to the user.

Let’s break the three parts down a bit more.

1. Expertise

Google will always prefer content written by an expert over content written by Joe Schmo. For example, a fashion designer’s review of a jacket will carry more weight than your neighbor’s opinion of that same jacket.

When content is written by subject matter experts, Google takes notice. And of course, you don’t have to have a degree to be considered an expert on a specific subject, either. Just like smart employers, Google values real-world and everyday expertise.

To establish expertise, you need to answer the question “Is the author of this content an expert?” in the affirmative.

The definition of “expert”, according to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, doesn’t say anything about how you acquired the skill or knowledge.

Therefore, a college degree, an internship, real-life experience, or teaching yourself by reading up on the subject could all lead to expert status.

Of course, expert status means different things in different fields. Anyone can easily become an expert on planting a garden.

Well, easily might be a stretch. It’s not actually easy to keep plants alive (who knew?). But you don’t have to go to school or find a teacher. You can learn by doing.

On the other hand, you can’t achieve expertise on brain surgery without a degree and real-life experience. I think we can all agree on that.

If you’re an expert, you must showcase your expertise on your website.

We’ll give you some tips on how to do this soon.

Let’s tackle authoritativeness next.

2. Authoritativeness

This word is a mouthful, for sure. But we can make it simpler for you:

You need to be an authority on your content.

That means other people see you as a reliable source of information on this topic. They consider you a thought leader in your industry.

Authoritativeness considers your website, your content, and the author of the content to determine how credible you are.

If you wrote an amazing piece of content and posted it on a site that normally spreads false news or sells snake oil, your efforts would be in vain.

You want your entire site to be full of valuable content your users are looking for. This demonstrates your authority to the search engine gods and allows your site to rank better.

I understand it’s difficult to show authoritativeness for your site when you’re just starting out.

But don’t lose hope. We’ll show you what you can do, but first let’s discuss trustworthiness.

3. Trustworthiness

Your site must be trustworthy to rank well.

“Truuusssssst in meeeeee.”

The snake Kaa in Disney’s animated version of The Jungle Book is pretty good at appearing trustworthy, don’t you think?

Unfortunately, hypnotizing your website visitors and Google isn’t an option for you.

So you must show trustworthiness in different ways.

This means the information you share has to be accurate and reliable. You must carefully edit and revise any content you publish.

You want to provide up-to-date content to establish trust.

This means you have to give people what they’re expecting. No sensational headlines over false promises.

And all this is especially important if your content falls under the YMYL guidelines.

What Is YMYL?

I thought you would never ask.

YMYL stands for Your Money or Your Life.

It has nothing to do with being held at gunpoint. Instead, it has everything to do with the type of content you publish.

When Google first published its search quality evaluator guidelines in 2015, they defined YMYL topics to be part of certain categories of content, such as:

• News and current events
• Civics, government, and law
• Finance
• Shopping
• Health and safety
• Groups of people

If you publish content in any of these topic areas, you better ace the requirements of E-A-T, or your website could be considered low quality.

On July 28, 2022, Google once again updated its content evaluation guidelines. The change affects how Google ranks YMYL topics and what it now considers YMYL content.

Google Redefined YMYL

As we’ve already covered, there’s a lot of, eh, stuff on the internet.

Much of it is useless. Some of it is helpful. But another portion of content is actually harmful to readers.

With YMYL, Google seeks to de-rank the latter.

The goal is to prevent harm.

If a website deals with certain topics that could affect the health, financial stability, or safety of people or the well-being of society, that would be a YMYL topic.

For example, a website that reports the news could impact the safety of people and the well-being of society. A cooking site with a recipe for banana bread could affect the health of people, but not in the same way as a website prescribing a medical cure for bronchitis.

Google recognizes that YMYL topics are part of a spectrum. Your site may contain clear YMYL content, definitely not YMYL content, or something in between.

There are two different ways in which a topic can cause harm.

1. The topic itself is dangerous.
2. The topic can be harmful if the content isn’t trustworthy and accurate.

Under the first category, you will find inciting violence, self-harm, and criminal acts. It doesn’t matter what your expert status is. You can be a successful cereal killer (get it? Cereal as in cornflakes?), but Google will not rank your website if you’re encouraging criminal activity.

You probably need to worry about the second category of topics.

If the content isn’t accurate or trustworthy, the topic can be harmful.

Think about it for a moment.

If the content on your site was just slightly inaccurate, how much harm would it cause?

If it could cause significant harm, then you really need to study the principles of E-A-T.

For example, if you posted divorce advice on your website, you better have some credentials to back it up. People can lose a lot of money during a divorce if they make a terrible decision.

If you’re writing about how to win a tennis match next time your neighbor asks you to play, you probably don’t need to be a world-famous tennis player or even an athlete. Chances are you don’t even have to own a tennis racket.

What about Inaccurate Content on Non-YMYL Topics?

If you think I’m going to tell you that you can write whatever you want, you’re barking up the wrong tree.

However, Google isn’t worried about non-YMYL topics as much. If you want to write an article about why the local basketball team stinks or that all grocery stores are a figment of your imagination, go right ahead.

There will be others who will agree on the basketball team, but you probably won’t rank for that other topic for different reasons.

The thing is, people expect accurate information.

Unless you’re hosting a satire or humor site. Then your readers expect the content to be inaccurate and definitely untrustworthy.

Google doesn’t really care what you write about, as long as no harm comes to others.

Have a laugh.

The world is serious enough as it is.

If Your Site Leans towards YMYL, You Need E-A-T

The principles of E-A-T (little refresher here: Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) apply to any site you host on the internet.

The more you demonstrate you know what you’re talking about, the more likely it is that your visitors will find your content useful and take the action you want them to take.

If your website covers topics that are most definitely YMYL or lean in that direction, you must prioritize E-A-T.

Providing expert, authoritative, and trustworthy content should be your goal, anyway. Otherwise, how will your site be any different from the rest on the same topic?

But with YMYL topics, you must roll up your sleeves and be even more diligent.

Before we show you how to demonstrate E-A-T, let’s talk about the process Google uses to assess content quality.

The Current Google Search Quality Process

Believe it or not, but Google spends an enormous amount of effort in verifying the quality of its search results. We’ll take you behind the scenes and show you how they do this.

Step 1: Determine the Purpose of the Page

It doesn’t have to save the world. Even a website full of jokes serves a purpose.

A site that merely exists to earn money without potential benefits to the visitor is not considered helpful.

Google believes that websites and pages should help people. To determine if a website is helpful, Google needs to determine what the reason for the page is.

Just to be clear, Google doesn’t really care what type of page it is. It wouldn’t award the page for the local school district a higher rating than a humor page.

However, to rate your page, Google needs an understanding of what the website is all about.

You don’t have to worry if you’re not trying to cure a disease or eradicate hunger with your page. Google isn’t looking for that.

There has to be all kinds of content on the internet. The purpose of your page could be to entertain, sell products or services, or simply share information about a topic.

It doesn’t matter.

Your website just needs to help people in some way.

Now that Google knows the purpose of your site, we move on to the next step in the rating process.

Step 2: Assess If the Purpose of the Page Is Harmful or Has the Potential to Cause Harm

If you have a website full of harmful content, Google will immediately assign you the lowest quality rating possible. If your website tries to deceive people, you’ll also get the lowest score possible.

If your site is harmful to individuals or society, spammy, or untrustworthy, Google will not give your site a high-quality score.

And we’re not talking about controversial or distasteful content here.

Think along the lines of a website that defrauds veterans by pretending to provide services. Or a page that sells playground equipment but only collects money without delivering the goods.

Websites that disguise their ads as content are also considered spammy.

If you’re trying to be sneaky and defraud people or actually harm anyone, Google is onto you.

But that’s not your goal, anyway.

You just want to know how to get your sites to rank under the new E-A-T and YMYL guidelines.

We’re at the last step on how Google arrives at a rating for your site.

Step 3: Determine the Rating

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

As you can see, Google isn’t extremely specific with its ratings.

It almost sounds like a teacher. You will receive an “A” if you write an essay demonstrating your understanding very well. But if you only do it well, you will get a “B”.

It’s not helpful, is it?

Actually, it’s good to understand how Google rates websites. And now we’ll get into what you can do to ace that test.

5 Main Criteria for Page Quality Ratings

Obviously, you want your page to get a high quality score to improve your rankings.

What should you focus on?

Well, these are the five criteria Google looks at when rating your site:

1. Purpose of your website
2. Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness
3. Quality and quantity of your main content
4. Information about the creator of the main content
5. Website reputation

It seems like a lot to worry about, but when you look at Google’s explanations, you’ll realize it all comes down to offering quality content on your site.

As long as your site isn’t harmful, scammy, or misleading, your best bet is to establish yourself using the E-A-T guidelines. This is even more important if your content leans towards YMYL topics.

You Want to Showcase Virtue & Integrity

The tough part about E-A-T is that it’s actually really simple.

You want your website visitors to trust your content. And you can’t fake trust, expertise, or an excellent reputation. Google will see right through you.

In some ways, Google’s big update of their quality guidelines is just the same message they’ve been telling us for a long time:

You need to create great content because that’s what Google wants at the top of the search results.

You should create content your audience wants and needs by offering truly valuable information.

But we won’t leave you hanging with the same general advice. Let’s get into the nitty gritty of how you can show Google and your visitor that you are a trusted source.

How to Demonstrate E-A-T

Maybe you’re getting frustrated at this point.

After all, you always write great content and wouldn’t dream of publishing anything that’s not well-researched.

Don’t worry. We’ve got some actionable tips for you.

Here are the best practices to follow to demonstrate E-A-T:

Identify every author with a byline and a bio

Make it easy to find your contact information

Perform a content audit and remove old/outdated/low-quality content

Publish only properly edited and well-formatted content

Add visuals to your content

Build your brand reputation to add credibility to your site

Use descriptive and helpful titles for main content

If you’re not sure whether content on your website meets the E-A-T criteria, here are some questions you can ask yourself:

Can you build enough authority or brand recognition and demonstrate E-A-T for this keyword?

Can you clarify your contact/payment/refund information to improve trust for your users?

Would it help to have an author bio for this page? If so, what qualifications should the author have to show expertise?

Could you update the content or add better references?

Does Google connect your brand information with mentions of your company? If not, can you improve company and author information on your site or encourage brand mentions online?

Is this page as helpful as it could possibly be? If not, what could you add to it to make it more useful for your users?

You really want to create the best content on your topic to establish yourself as a credible source and help your website visitors.

The Amount of Content Matters

While Google is looking for quality content, quantity is important, too. A website with very little main content could easily receive a low rating with Google.

It all depends on the topic of your site.

If you’re sharing a recipe, you don’t need to write a 5,000-word blog, contrary to what you see on the internet. Most of those words will be fluff, unless you’re explaining how to bake an intricate, 17-layer wedding cake.

An in-depth topic like World War II or the effects of climate change can’t be fully explained in just a few paragraphs.

When you look at your website from a user perspective, think about what kind of information you want to see.

A financial advisor might explain the difference between traditional and Roth retirement plans. A veterinary clinic might post an article about the average life expectancy of different dog breeds.

The goal is to help your visitor find whatever information they’re looking for by being a trusted source.

Be Ruthless with Crappy Content

You might be familiar with this advice for authors:

You must kill your darlings.

Comb through the current content on your website and be as ruthless as you can. If you have poor-quality content, brainstorm ideas on how to improve it.

If it’s the first blog post you ever wrote, this might make you cry.

It’s okay. That’s what chocolate and ice cream are for.

Now delete that outdated content that’s riddled with typos and grammar mistakes.

If you read old content and immediately think of ways to make it better, it means you’ve grown as a content creator.

So that’s worth celebrating.

What Google Recommends You Do

Now that you know everything there is to know about E-A-T and YMYL and why E-A-T is extremely important for every website or page, we’ll give you a shortcut.

Focus your content on people first.

If you create content that considers your intended audience and provides a valuable resource, you’re doing the right thing.

Even though you want to rank highly in the search engines, that’s not who you’re writing for.

You’re writing for your people.

You’re’ sharing firsthand knowledge and experience. When someone leaves your site, you want them to feel like they’ve had a pleasant experience.

Maybe they learned something.

Maybe you entertained them.

Maybe you helped them find what they were looking for.

Maybe all of the above.

Now go forth and write kick-ass content.

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You’ll learn everything you need to know, including strategy-building, content-creating, SEO, hiring/content team-building, and more.

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The post Everything You Need to Know about Google’s New Quality Guidelines on E-A-T & YMYL appeared first on Content Hacker.