Connect with your audience by covering the topics they care about the most.
Plan out a network of interlinked blogs that answer related questions and help each
other rank.
Write and publish content that helps people, and watch your rankings go up!
Find topics and outlines catered to your business.
In the world of digital marketing, it seems like everyone’s talking about search engine optimization (SEO) these days. This, of course, is not a new phenomenon—SEO, as a concept and a strategy, has actually been around since the 1990s. And while there’s no shortage of content out there for marketers to educate themselves, SEO really only works when your strategies align with the right audience, and when you set the right kind of objectives.
That puts new marketers in the unenviable position of having to sort through the noise to find actual answers to key questions like:
If you’re ready for answers, you’re in the right place. By the end of this article, you should be able to not only answer these questions but hit the ground running as you develop your own SEO strategy. We’ll also introduce you to some successful examples of SEO marketing strategies that should provide a helpful and repeatable template for strategy development.
In simple terms, SEO refers to a collection of marketing strategies designed to help companies’ websites appear in the search results when their prospective customers are looking for the kinds of solutions they offer.
For example, there’s a good chance you happened upon this very article due to SEO, especially if you found it by searching something like “What is SEO?” or “How do I write my own SEO strategy?”
SEO is important because it enables companies to effectively attract and engage new customers through a tailored mix of paid strategies and organic marketing. Leveraging SEO within digital marketing strategies is both an art and a science.
SEO is important because an overwhelming majority of the web’s content—over 90%—gets no traffic. Furthermore, the highly-coveted position one (in search rankings) receives roughly one-third of the search traffic. This means that a lot of digital marketers are working hard to create quality content, only to be underwhelmed when the needle barely moves.
So, the number one reason SEO is so important is a very practical one: it helps companies get their content (and brand) in front of prospective customers looking for solutions. Broadly, SEO strategies can:
How do you assemble a strategy that will produce these outcomes? It ultimately comes down to putting the right elements together in the right ways. Next, let’s look at the must-have components of SEO.
When developing an SEO strategy (which we’ll get into shortly), you’ll want to be aware of the main types of SEO and their uses. So, what are the 4 types of SEO strategies?
True to its name, on-page SEO refers to strategies applied to the customer-facing content of your website. This includes the information on your homepage, product pages, and especially your blog. When you can create content that uses the exact keywords and questions your customers are searching for, you can greatly increase your chances of receiving organic traffic when those queries are made.
Off-page SEO refers to other practices for driving traffic to your company’s website. Components of off-page SEO include backlinks from other websites, ads that direct customers to your pages, and so on. When others link to your content, it helps signal to search engines that you’re an authority on a given topic.
Technical SEO focuses on the general usability of your website, and the visitor experience it provides. When returning search results for a given query, search engines like Google prioritize websites that are easy to navigate. Optimizing things like site load times and mobile friendliness help ensure that your site will be considered helpful, clear, and safe.
Local SEO refers to specific techniques for improving search rankings within a given geographic area. This is especially important for companies that either operate within a specific area or are looking to increase their brand’s reach into new or underdeveloped markets.
The best examples of SEO in digital marketing tend to work so well because they effectively marry the art of content creation with the science of keyword research and SEO best practices. With that in mind, let’s explore a few of the most impactful SEO strategies that should be on your radar.
Broadly speaking, the digital marketer’s job is to attract and engage a target audience. Doing so requires them to understand and work within the context of search engine algorithms, which are ever-evolving.
It used to be relatively easy to manipulate search engines, giving way to short-lived trends like keyword stuffing, where marketers literally put as many high-value keywords into their text as possible—resulting in content that’s not particularly informative or coherent. In other words, that’s just writing for search engines, not humans.
Today we’re in a new era, though, largely because search engines and humans are both too smart for manipulative little tricks like keyword stuffing to work. Nowadays, SEO is more technical and nuanced than it used to be. But why and how has SEO changed so much?
Search engines like Google have become more sophisticated—and more focused on providing a positive search experience for users. Look no further than the relatively recent “helpful content” update, which effectively prioritizes websites that feature content written for people, not algorithms. It means just using keywords and questions your customers are searching for isn’t enough; you’ll also have to address and answer them with quality information that’s written to engage human readers.
Fortunately, forward-thinking platforms like DemandJump have prioritized this type of content creation from the start. DemandJump is a SaaS platform for digital marketers to perform keyword research, plan their content, and more—in a way that aligns with what search engines and humans both value. Through our unique and proven approach, Pillar-Based Marketing (PBM), we help companies across a number of industries develop strategies that drive real results.
Pillar-Based Marketing is the newest strategy for powering SEO marketing strategy success stories. It’s where keyword research, content marketing, and on-page SEO meet. Here’s how it works:
By answering the questions your customers are asking, PBM practitioners can write and publish content in a way that’s equally valuable to their customers and search engines.
We recommend a 3-stage process for developing—and executing—a successful SEO strategy:
The best strategies begin with their endgame in mind, which means you’ll need to start by determining the project scope, setting clear objectives, and mapping out a plan and a timeframe.
You can’t—and shouldn’t need to—write about everything relevant to your business or the solutions it offers. The best SEO strategies focus on a specific topic or topic cluster that you know your prospective customers are looking for information about or help with.
For example, suppose you’re a running shoe company. Many of your potential customers are likely looking for help identifying the right running shoe for how they run, their fitness objectives, and other factors.
If you’re a SaaS marketing platform, like DemandJump, it makes sense to write informative articles about how SEO marketing works. In each of these examples, it’s not hard to imagine how various pieces of content could be related and interlinked. Doing so lays a solid foundation for a compelling call to action (like browsing your running shoes, trying a SaaS company’s platform for free).
Pillar-Based Marketing is a strategy built around answering your customers' exact questions. Sure, it’s not difficult to make assumptions—especially since you know your customers pretty well—but assumptions aren’t always accurate. This is when you need to start leveraging SEO keyword research tools, like DemandJump, to see what they’re asking and what language they’re using.
Incorporating customers’ authentic language helps brands produce content their customers will feel is authentic and credible. We encourage you to learn more about DemandJump’s automated SEO keyword research tools as you make your keyword lists and map out your content network.
There are many different ways to start the content mapping process, including auditing your existing website content to see what pages customers find valuable. You can also look into where there may be opportunities to create timely new content to fill in any gaps or remedy any outdated information.
As far as the types of content to produce, you’ll want to consider:
Each of these areas provides an opportunity for on-page, off-page, technical, and local SEO strategies to help boost that content and help drive your website to as many search engine results pages (SERPs) “position ones” as possible.
Mapping out the exact content to produce can feel tricky, but it doesn’t have to. Pillar-Based Marketing is an SEO strategy example that helps brands gain traction and overtake their competitors by writing an intentional network of related topics that signals to readers and search engines that your website is an informative, trustworthy corner of the internet.
You can use this handy SEO plan template to start plotting your strategy right now.
Love it or hate it, next comes the actual writing. With your list of keywords and game plan for the various pieces of content you want to produce in tow, you’ll want to write informative and engaging content. To get the most bang for your content buck, consider these best practices:
Before you publish your content, then, be absolutely sure to edit your work. Even the most informative content will turn readers off if it’s riddled with careless mistakes. Remember, the whole point of this content network is to position your company as an authority—thought leader, even—within your industry.
When it’s time to publish your SEO content, we recommend publishing the entire network of content at once, and including strategic hyperlinks to create an effective content network. For PBM users, that means using a specific linking strategy. Here’s our recommendation:
There are many different ways to approach SEO strategy, but in many cases informative, engaging website content will form the foundation. As far as authoritative, effective content goes, it’s how you write, publish, and promote that content that can make or break the whole thing.
We set ourselves apart by what we offer, which includes:
With DemandJump, you can spend less time strategizing and more time writing and publishing the kind of content that’s going to attract and engage prospective customers and inspire them to work with your business.
Did we mention yet that you can try DemandJump for free? Go ahead, and give the button below a click! Or, reach out if you have any questions.
