This is the third installment of a three-part series about how SEO needs to be thought of as a strategy, not just a tactic.
SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, compared to 1.7% for outbound leads (Imforza)
For any content that you put online, it is critical that it is optimized. Otherwise, you end up with the old adage, “If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there, did it make a sound?”
I know I sound like a broken record, but I’ll say it again, Your SEO team should be involved from the very beginning! Otherwise, it’s like throwing spaghetti against the wall and hoping it sticks.
Search engine optimization, the thing that many people like to call a mythical, magical thing, really is not so magical if you know where to look for clues.
And that brings us to our third reason why SEO needs to be included at the beginning of a project.
3. The results don’t lie! Analyze the SERPs to see Google’s real ranking priorities
Think about it. Digging into the search results to see what types of content is ranking will lead to a better understanding of what is important to Google’s algorithm. This understanding is the only way your content will earn a high ranking. Marketers need to understand what is important for their vertical, niche, demographic so that their content has a chance of ranking well. Otherwise, we’re back to the spaghetti analogy.
By comparing what types of content that rank including, factors such as, backlinks, load time, post date, types of visualizations or content form marketers can understand what is most important for a solid search ranking. For example:
- If the results page for your keyword is filled with images, infographics, videos, and diagrams, then searchers for that term prefer visual content.
- If the results are dominated by comprehensive case studies, text with 2,000+ words, then users are looking for in-depth long-form content.
- If the majority of results are videos, then, you guessed it, searchers prefer video.
- If maps are the first result then users are really looking for a location.
I could go on, but I’ll leave it at that. The point is your SEO team can provide this information to you at the beginning of the project so that you don’t waste valuable time and effort trying to rank for content in forms that people aren’t interested in seeing.
Hopefully, after reading all three tips you better understand why SEO needs to be included at the beginning of a project rather than later. So for your next content project invite your SEO team to the initial strategy meetings this will make sure you are heading in the right direction right from the start.
