Editorial SEO Strategy

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Joshua Lucas Gordon
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1 November 18, 2010 Editorial SEO Strategy SEO Basics for Editorial Teams Rob Flaherty

2 What does Search Engine Optimization really mean? It means structuring and formatting our websites in a way that makes it easy for search engines and users to find our content.

3 3 Main Goals Make it easy for Google to find our content Make it easy for Google to understand our content Make it easy for users to find our content

4 A lot goes into a comprehensive SEO strategy. It requires participation from Marketing, Technology, and Editorial.

6 Today we re going to focus on just two parts:

7 Keywords & Article Titles

8 Keywords

9 What are Keywords? Keywords are the words that users type when they search for things on the internet. Keywords represent the specific language and terminology that users use when they search for things.

11 Do we write about Climate Change or Global Warming?

12 Multiple Factors Accuracy (just because terms are often used synonymously doesn t mean they re synonymous) Style, Usage Context And... SEO!

13 Multiple Factors Competing factors will need to be weighed on a case-by-case basis. Editorial integrity should come first. The goal is to reinforce our content with what we know about how users search for things.

14 How do we know what terms users search for?

15 Google Analytics

16 Google s Keyword Tool

18 The goal is to optimize content by aligning our language with the language that our readers use.

19 Another Example

20 ETFs vs. Exchange Traded Funds

22 How Users Search for Stuff

23 Failed Search

24 Successful Search

25 Two places where keywords are most effective:

26 In the first paragraph of a story. And in...

27 Titles

28 The biggest opportunity Editorial has to optimize content: article titles.

29 A well optimized page is made up of many different things.

31 But the thing that has the most weight is the article title.

32 What makes an article title SEO-friendly?

33 What constitutes a good title on the web is different from what constitutes a good title in print.

34 The main difference has to do with context.

36 The print experience is immersed in context.

37 On the web, a story title has to stand on its own.

38 This is all Google sees: <h1> Past, Present, Future </h1>

39 Often, this is all a user sees:

40 At most, there s an excerpt:

41 Titles on the web have to do more work.

42 This concept is often referred to as microcontent.

43 Microcontent Microcontent needs to be pearls of clarity: you get characters to explain your macrocontent. Unless the title or subject make it absolutely clear what the page or is about, users will never open it. -Jakob Nielsen

44 Writing Titles for the Web More literal, less figurative. Tell the story in the title. How do we give an interested user reason to click on a link when he/she has no information besides the title? Use keywords! Place keywords towards the beginning of titles.

45 Keywords have the most oomph! when placed at the start of a title.

46 Keyword positioning

47 Bad The New Roller Coaster Better The New Roller Coaster: Volatility and Leveraged ETFs Superstar Volatility and Leveraged ETFs: The New Roller Coaster

48 Example

50 Instead of this: Tweet Suite Digest - November 03, 2010 Tweet Suite Digest - November 10, 2010 We could do this: OII, iphone Apps, and Fantasy Football Insurance - Tweet Suite Digest NASP, WCB, and Dr. Wecht - This Week on Twitter

51 Sometimes it s easy (e.g., news articles). Sometimes it s harder (e.g., blog posts).

53 Workflow and Tools

54 The Workflow 1. What is this story about? 2. What is the language readers use when searching for this content? 3. How can we fine-tune the content to match what users are searching for?

55 Magazine Articles Magazine stories published on the web can use different titles than those used in the print edition. Two different titles for two different roles.

60 Tools

61 Google Analytics

62 Google s Keyword Tool

63 Summary & Final Thoughts

64 Summary Editorial SEO should focus primarily on two things: Keywords and Titles. Keyword strategy is about getting in tune with our users. Article titles are paramount. Position powerful keywords at the beginning of titles and within the first paragraph of an article.

65 Summary Whenever possible, infuse titles with description (using keywords). Think of titles as microcontent. Aim for titles that can stand on their own. Use Google Analytics and Google s Keyword Tool.

66 The point of all this is to make our content more accessible, to extend our reach, and to increase our readership.

67 These ideas must be balanced with other editorial needs.

68 There s more to editorial SEO than what we ve talked about, but keywords and titles form the foundation.

69 One last thought:

70 We want to make our content robot-friendly. But remember what the robots are trying to do...

71 ...they re trying to figure out what humans value.

72 The robots are just the middlemen. At the end of the day we re still writing for humans.

73 Great content is the best SEO strategy.

74 Questions, maybe?

75 More questions still? Rob Flaherty

What We re Up Against Over 2 million blog posts are published every day.

What We re Up Against Over 2 million blog posts are published every day. To compete, consider these critical elements when writing your next awesome blog post. Source: HostingFacts.com Aug, 2017 2 What