We all struggle from time to time with content creation, especially with SEO. You don’t want to come off fake, not to your customers and not to Google. So how do you create content naturally that still fits into your SEO strategy? And when are you overdoing it? Where do you start? What do you create?
In this article, I explain what content creation is, how it affects your SEO efforts, how to start, and what your content crating strategy should look like!
Content creation for SEO simply means that you create text, images, videos, advertisements, and other sorts of content for search engine optimization. Think about a blog post that is dedicated to one of your keywords or a photo of your product with the right keywords in the description and alt tag. It’s content that only came to life because it fits into your SEO strategy.
Content creation for SEO is not much different than content creation for social media. In the end, you can write a blog post about your keywords and then post it on Facebook anyway. The difference is when you publish your blog post on Linkedin itself for example. Or if you create several images in Canva solely for your Instagram feed. And think about the stories you can create on Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin. Those positions are social media only. In this case, we are talking about content creation for social media.
“Where do you start with content creation?” is a question I’ve heard many times over the last years as SEO Specialist. My clients mostly don’t know how to start. They have posted some things here and there on social media, but never with a strategy in mind. Sometimes even without their audience in mind. Creating to just fill up the website or to hope to rank higher in Google…
You start with content creation from your business plan. First, you check what your mission is. Remember why you even started this business? A mission statement consists of a few factors:
Let’s go with a gearbox repair garage: “We help all car owners in Phoenix, Arizona, by repairing their broken gearboxes.”
The second thing you do to kickstart your content creation strategy and dive into your target group. You probably know them pretty well. So who are they? Men or women? Age? Do they have a family? Income? What media do they like most? Facebook? Insta? What kind of work do they do? Full-time jobs or part-time? Are they into sports? What kind of sports? Kids? What language do they speak (not English, but I mean how do they speak, tone of voice, etc)? The more specific the better.
The third step is defining WHERE you can find them and talking to them. Car owners with a broken gearbox probably won’t search for solutions on social media. Even if they follow your gearbox account on Instagram, they are most likely to go to Google Search. So it’s essential you start creating content, in this example blog posts, on your website so Google will show you the first page.
Let’s show another example: a wedding photographer. His mission is probably something like “Taking extraordinary pictures at weddings in New York, to give the couple the most beautiful reminder of their wedding day.”
In this case, it’s the couple you are aiming at. Most likely the female part of the couple. It is proven that women are big fans of creating mood boards on Pinterest and/or Instagram. Now, out of my own experience, they start with a mood board for the dress. Then a mood board for the location/decoration. Then a mood board for the hair… And THEN they start thinking about a wedding photographer.
This is where your social media content creation strategy comes in. By putting your extraordinary portfolio on Pinterest (in the right way) you increase the chances that your photos will show up on these mood boards! In this example, you create content for social media and SEO. Images on Pinterest will also be found in the Google search engine. But more about that in a future blog article!
Yes, those three are the only three you need to know before you actually start creating content! Important is that you are specific about all three!
The best SEO content strategy doesn’t exist. For multiple reasons, but the main one is: Google / Bing changes their algorithm daily (if not, almost). There is also no way that one strategy will reach EVERYONE that fits your target group. Not all car owners ignore Instagram!
To me, the best way to approach your content creation process is by picking the majority first. As described above. You know your customers best, what would they like? What is the competition doing? Do you need to bomb them with a bunch of ads, because your competitor is all over them already? Or can you start with creating your own mood boards on Pinterest? Or maybe just 2 posts a week on Linkedin? Many options and they all depend on what your customer wants and what the max is they can handle. You don’t want to scare them away!
Once you have figured out where, how often you want to reach out to your target group, and with what kind of content, you can start creating content. Let’s stick with the gearbox repair garage example.
They don’t want to post on social media, yet. They believe that most people walk into their shop because they googled something like “how to fix automatic gearbox mustang”. The garage decided to advertise on Google and start sharing their knowledge on gearboxes through blog posts. But what to write about exactly? How to create Google Ads?
I can write a whole other post (or even blog) about how to advertise on Google, so I’m skipping this one for a big part. For blogging on gearboxes they should do keyword research. And with that, they created a list of the most searched keywords. Let’s say:
All of these are great subjects for SEO content creation!
Read here on how to do keyword research.
If you really are completely blank on what you want to create, try these tools:
The list can go on and on! Read about my favorite 7 free SEO tools for keyword research here. Feel free to check them out, they can be really fun and super helpful!
Always keep an eye on who you are creating content for. You do not create content for Google, you create content for your ideal customer. The visitors of your website will be frustrated with you if your text is stuffed with your keywords. Google will also see through this, its AI is pretty smart 😉
So use common sense while creating content. What would your client need? What are they looking for? How can you help? What language do they speak? Most of my clients create a buyers persona and focus on that “imaginary person” while they write.
Ok, so you have to create content for your customers, not for Google. But what is SEO content then? Isn’t that conflicting, I hear you think. Yes and No.
Google is a smart cookie and will see through the most common “SEO tricks”. Do not stuff your text with your keyword, it should be implemented naturally. Stick to the rules and Google will award you for it.
SEO content is any kind of content created for search engines to attract more organic visitors. This content plays by the rules of Google (white hat SEO) and is easy to read for visitors. Think about a blog post like “Top 10 symptoms of a broken gearbox”.
Feeling uninspired to create content? Follow these steps and you will have a new blog post within an hour:
You now have a blog post of 1500 words or more on a keyword that you want to be found for!
If you are an entrepreneur or business within the CBD branche, please feel free to check out my list of keywords for CBD businesses!
Are you in need of a content creation service? Search no more and let me help you. I have created a lot of content for multiple clients. From social media posts, google ads, and blog posts, I’m your person. Go check out my portfolio for the results or reach out right away!
