How do you use SEO keywords without compromising your content quality?

Without diluting your messaging, align all content creations of various formats with the interests of each of your target audiences. The target audiences should be segmented. Target audiences can be found in the company's strategic business plan and within its strategic marketing communications plan.

When you're trying to get those SEO keywords into your content, think of it like seasoning food. You wouldn't over-salt your dish, right? With that analogy in mind, start by picking keywords that really match what your audience is looking for. Instead of cramming them everywhere, only sprinkle them in where they make sense. That way, your content stays genuine and reads smoothly. Plus, keyword saturation is horribly outdated. Search engines catch on very quickly when you force keywords. It's all about blending them in so your content is both reader and search-engine-friendly. If you write for your audience first, the SEO part naturally follows.

Keyword relevancy is not static. This rings true for ads (paid content) and organic content. Given such and during the development of your company's advertising, marketing and PR assets (including video and social media), it's best to formalize keyword research as a primary step in each project.

Create variations of titles, main headings and subheadings in order to best align with your segmented target audiences and to test messaging within marketing channels.

Content that is the most SEO-friendly doesn't rely on repeating tons of keywords. Instead, it naturally mentions a few target terms, while providing excellent value to your audience. By keeping your readers engaged with helpful content, they're more likely to stay on your page longer, share it with others, and click around to links you've included. All of these help you improve your SEO ranking significantly.

Go ahead! Armed with keyword research, create amazing content that's true to your company's brand voice. Don't rush to publish the article, video or social post. Take the time to comb through the content for keyword opportunities and then refine, proofread and publish.

Copy-editing is vital and one of the biggest mistakes I see creators and brands both make is only focusing on grammatical errors. Yes, it's imperative to make sure that your content is free of grammatical errors and structural issues. But it's about more than that. Editing and proofreading are like taste tests for a culinary dish—they help ensure everything's balanced and has all the right flavors and textures. So make sure the flow, vocabulary, and tone are present if you want the copy to truly engage readers.

When you stuff too many keywords into your content or try jamming search phrases in places they don't belong, it will become difficult for your readers to understand what you're saying. Always avoid excess jargon and make your blog accessible. Tons of keywords won't help you if no one knows what your page is actually about.

Content precision is highly valued and a key outcome of the editing process. Challenge your team to craft engaging and precise keyword rich content. Enable your team to be successful by building a project schedule that allows for two rounds of editing before the proofreading round.

Measure everything available but don't weight it the same in all instances. And, set reasonable goals that match the company's SEO investment. Compare and contrast the likely SEO goals and related SEO investments of an unknown shoe brand (without a customer base) to an established Fortune 500 shoe company that's consistently invested in organic and paid SEO over several years. Both companies want to dominate search rankings.

Remember, SEO efforts take a while to show results. Don't panic if your blog doesn't show up in search results right away. In fact, don't fret if your page isn't on Google after a few weeks. It will take months of consistency to establish your authority and climb search rankings. As you start ranking for more search terms, it will become easier to take on new phrases.