What's the best way to plan your SEO content?

1 Know your keywords

Before you start writing, you need to do some keyword research to find out what your potential customers are searching for, how competitive those terms are, and what kind of content they expect to see. You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Moz to generate a list of relevant keywords, along with their search volume, difficulty, and intent. You should aim for a mix of short-tail and long-tail keywords, as well as synonyms and variations, to cover different aspects of your topic and match the user's query.

3 Define your goals and metrics

Before you start writing, you should also have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your SEO content and how you will measure your success. You should set SMART goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, you might want to increase your organic traffic by 20% in the next three months, or boost your conversion rate by 10% in the next six weeks. You should also define the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you track your progress, such as impressions, clicks, bounce rate, dwell time, or leads.

4 Outline your content

Once you have your keywords, competitors, goals, and metrics in place, you can start outlining your content. You should create a structure that follows the best practices of SEO writing, such as using catchy headlines, clear subheadings, short paragraphs, bullet points, images, videos, and call-to-actions. You should also use your keywords strategically throughout your content, without overstuffing or compromising readability. You should aim for a natural and conversational tone that matches your brand voice and your audience's expectations. You should also include internal and external links to relevant and authoritative sources that support your claims and add value to your readers.

5 Optimize your content

After you have written your content, you should optimize it for both search engines and users. You should use tools like Yoast SEO, Grammarly, or Hemingway to check your content for readability, spelling, grammar, and SEO factors. You should also optimize your meta tags, such as title, description, and URL, to include your keywords and entice clicks. You should also optimize your images and videos, by using descriptive alt text, captions, and file names, and by compressing them to reduce loading time. You should also test your content on different devices and browsers to ensure it is responsive and user-friendly.

6 Update your content

Finally, you should not forget to update your content regularly to keep it fresh and relevant. You should monitor your content's performance using tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or Hotjar, and see how it is performing against your goals and metrics. You should also check for any changes in the search trends, user behavior, or competitor activity that might affect your content's ranking and engagement. You should then make the necessary adjustments to your content, such as adding new information, removing outdated data, improving readability, or fixing broken links.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?