Ranking in Google is all about relevance of content to search intent and helpfulness of content to the user. If your website or your content are lacking either one of these, it's simply not optimized.
That means fewer traffic, fewer leads, and fewer customers from organic channels.
In this post, we’ll walk you through how you can adapt your SEO strategy to match the most current best practices so you can improve and maintain your rankings.
If you’ve never heard of a topic cluster, you’re not alone, but if you’re trying to rank higher on Google - you should definitely make it a priority to learn about them.
Topic clusters are segments of an overarching topic that share a connected theme. The key to success with topic clusters is thinking of a very general topic or question your target audience would likely be searching for, and break it down into easily consumable clusters.
These segments should be connected to each other - think keyword variations, different aspects of a broader topic, and different questions someone might ask about the topic.
Within each cluster, you should either develop or include existing content that provides key information or answers to major questions about the topic.
For example, here's a topic cluster that a human resources outsourcing company might focus on:
Each of the subtopics are connected to the main topic, and they're all things someone might search for if they are trying to learn more about employee retention.
Learn more about topic clusters in this HubSpot article.
Featured snippets are results that appear above the traditional blue-link search results. They provide quick tidbits of info, and are used to answer voice search queries.
There are ways you can present content to increase the chances it will show as a featured snippet. Here are some tips:
So, a featured snippet for content on employee retention might be a heading that says "Ways to Improve Employee Retention" followed by a bulleted list of quick tips. You can provide more detail on each list item after the list itself.
Learn more about featured snippets in this SEMrush article.
Pillar pages are comprehensive, multi-stage, multi-level website pages that touch on every aspect of a topic. They will provide both general and expert information; both quick research questions and purchase-intent queries.
Here's an example of what the section headings of an HR company's employee retention pillar page might look like:
Three goals to keep in mind when creating a pillar page are: understanding what your target audience is searching for, anticipating what questions they'll have AFTER their initial query is answered, and finally, providing all of that information in one resource.
For more information on pillar pages, check out this HubSpot article.
Ranking in Google requires a large volume of relevant content that matches search intent and delivers the information the user was searching for.
If this doesn’t sound like your content library, you will likely need to write more content that is valuable to your audience, and also go back and update your current content to match these best practices.
In both voice and text searches, search queries are starting to lean drastically toward full questions rather than broad keywords because they're looking for specific answers.
To meet this need, you need to know what questions your buyers are asking and what answers they're looking for. From there, you need to explicitly write out both the question as well as the answer to that question within your content.
Doing this helps Google match your content to the specific search queries your audience is posing.
The keyword as we know it has evolved. Previously, the bulk of well-performing keywords included very few words and very broad terms.
Today, successful keywords are much more like entire sentences. Much of this change can be attributed to the rise of voice search technology, with which users can shout any question at their Alexa and get an answer in seconds.
Think about it like this: instead of targeting a single keyword, you need to target
Head terms are the broader keywords that are directly relevant to your business, but may be harder to rank for because of their broadness.
LSIs are the extended, long-tail keywords that typically resemble full sentences. These LSI terms should include and relate to the head term, but they're more specific and easier to rank for.
For more info, check out this article on how to choose kick-ass keywords.
Understanding the intent of any random search query is one thing. It's a whole other thing to pin down the intent of a search performed by your prospects. This includes what terms they use, what information they need or what questions they need answered, and what will keep them on your website once they land there.
Make sure to account for the fact that your audience may use different terminology than you would. Especially if they don't understand industry jargon, and/or refer to your products and services in a totally different way than you do, failing to shape your content around their needs will ruin your chances at ranking higher on Google.
To truly match buyer intent, you must understand and adapt to how they search.
For more info, check out this article on researching & building out your buyer persona.
High-quality content is the foundation of SEO - this year, next year, and beyond.
Remember: ranking on Google is all about increasing your website’s visibility so you can provide the best content to your target audience. However, no matter where you rank, your website and your content will never truly be optimized until they are providing that level of value.
Looking for more? Check out this thorough webinar to discover how 3 manufacturer's generate high-quality leads through online marketing in complex industries: