A few weeks ago, on February 11, I gave a talk for SEMrush on one of my favorite topics – writing and publishing authority-building blogs and SEO content.
We had hundreds of viewers live, and lots of great questions!
To help out those of you who couldn’t attend, and for those who were just too busy for the almost two-hour talk I gave (!!), we’re recapping the entire webinar here on the Write Blog. ??
I cover everything you need to know, including why inbound content ROCKS, and how to create strong content that gets results, step-by-step.
Ready to learn? Let’s get into the nitty-gritty, including why ads are dying and why inbound marketing/blogging is the way forward in 2019.
[bctt tweet=”Read the recap of the live talk @JuliaEMcCoy gave for @semrush in February, on #authority building #SEO content ?” username=”ExpWriters”]
The Talk: Secrets to Writing Authority-Building SEO Blogs in 2019
Like video content better? Watch a replay of the 1.49 hour session on YouTube:
The Recap: Secrets to Writing Authority-Building SEO Blogs in 2019
As promised, here’s our written recap of the top takeaways from my talk!
Why Blog? The State of Advertising is Dismal
The state of advertising is pretty bad when you look at the conversion numbers.
Compared to 3 years ago, conversion rates on advertising have dipped ridiculously low. In 2016, the average return on ad spend (ROAS) was 11.88x. Today, that number has dropped to 0.66x.
(Read all about the dreary state of advertising in this recap of The Ad Strategist’s report.)
By comparison, blogging and content marketing look awesome.
Seriously: Inbound is THE future of marketing.
For instance, did you know Google is the most-visited website in the world? YouTube and Facebook hold the next two top spots, but they still aren’t anywhere close to Google’s traffic numbers (nearly 3.5 billion searches per day!).
When you build authority SEO content on your website, you build your Google authority simultaneously. That’s because Google will crawl your blogs and rank them, giving them a position in the search engine results. Since Google grabs so much traffic, that could be beyond powerful for growing your web presence.
BUT –
To build authority, your content has to be amazing, strategic, researched, and well-crafted. Your content platform (your website) must be user-friendly and well-designed.
You have to do it all (or, if you’re a smart delegator, make sure it all gets done).
Don’t worry, though – where there’s a way, there’s a will. And there IS a way. Follow me!
[bctt tweet=”To build authority, your content has to be amazing, strategic, researched, and well-crafted. Your content platform, your site, must be user-friendly and well-designed. @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”]
How to Write and Publish Authoritative, GOOD Content: 6 Strategic Steps
It’s time to dive into authority-building content creation. Get ready for greatness!
1. Make Sure Your Website is Right
A useful, user-friendly website needs to be the bottom layer of your online presence cake. Without this crucial piece in place, you won’t see any real results from your content.
A strong website is what makes your content eligible to rank in the first place. Our site at Express Writers gets nearly 4,000 organic visitors daily from our blog and content rankings (we currently rank for over 16,000 keywords). Those numbers wouldn’t be possible without a strong website serving as the foundation.
What does a strong website look like? Using our site as an example, the top 5 elements are illustrated below.
Strong sites are built on trusted platforms, like WordPress, which is one of the most robust SEO out there.
They load quickly – under 2 seconds is ideal. According to Google, as page load time increases from one second to 10 seconds, a site visitor is 123% more likely to bounce.
The page copy is simple, clear, and easy to read. CTAs are also clear, strategically placed, and stand out.
Sites should have cohesive branding and design that don’t mess with site speed and page load times (no heavy images or videos!).
Communication apps, pop-ups, and chatbots are minimized so they don’t annoy your visitors.
2. Map Your Blog Topic to Your Goals
Before you even start writing or outlining, your goals should mark your content trajectory.
[bctt tweet=”Before you even start writing or outlining, your goals should mark your content trajectory. @JuliaEMcCoy #blogging” username=”ExpWriters”]
How will your blog help you advance to your goals? Will it increase your brand awareness? Build trust and loyalty with readers? Capture leads and grow your following?
Whatever you hope to achieve, make sure each blog you put out aligns with either an overarching goal or a smaller goal that paves the way to bigger successes.
Answering the following questions can help further nail down your goals for each blog you write:
Who are you writing this blog to? What questions can you answer for them on this topic?
What format will this content take? Is it suited for a long-form, in-depth blog post, or does it lend itself better to a visually stunning infographic? Remember, blogs aren’t your only option for content creation.
When will you publish the blog? Can you strategically tie it to a season or holiday?
Where will you publish? To build authority, you should focus on publishing most blogs to your website. However, posting to guest blogs from time to time can give your brand more exposure.
3. Do Strategic Research
After mapping your blog content to goals, the next step is to dive into strategic research.
First up, that means keyword research.
Don’t start with any random industry keyword, though – begin with your audience’s pain points and research keywords that hit on their problems. You want to find keywords that tie to the questions they’re asking in Google so you can position your content as a solution they’ll find in search results.
Using a tool like SEMrush during keyword research is immensely helpful. It will give you vital data about your keyword including keyword difficulty (KD) and related keywords you can use in your blog.
Some tips:
For the KD metric, you want to make sure you’re avoiding a number that’s too competitive. Keywords rated at 50 and above are generally super-hard to rank for unless you already have mountains of domain authority built up.
When we initially went after the “blogging statistics” keyword, the KD was right around 30-40, or still “possible” to rank for. Now, the KD has shot up to around 65!
With that in mind, don’t do keyword research once and call it done. Metrics like KD and search volume are constantly changing. Do continual, ongoing research and keep yourself up-to-date.
Next, after you find the right keyword, it’s time to do some competitive analysis. This just means typing your potential keyword into Google and studying the top search results.
For example, at EW, we wanted to rank for the keyword “blogging statistics”. When we looked at the competition in Google, we saw some opportunities:
Every single blog was comprehensive, with word counts averaging 2,000. One blog even had 5,200 words. That meant our blog needed to be long-form and in-depth, too. Creating a blog that sat right around 2,500 words was a good idea.
None of the blogs were current, or were messily formatted. These represented chances to create something better.
[bctt tweet=”Don’t start with any random industry keyword when researching your #keywords – begin with your audience’s pain points and research keywords that hit on their problems. @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”]
4. Invest in Blog Quality
To create a better blog than the competition, you need to invest in quality during the content creation phase.
[bctt tweet=”To create a better blog than the competition, you need to invest in quality during the content creation phase. @JuliaEMcCoy on #powerful #blogging” username=”ExpWriters”]
For our piece targeting the keyword “blogging statistics”, we particularly focused on a couple major keys to ensure we ended up with a killer blog, one that would outrank the top 5 position-holders on Google:
Well-written
Well-formatted
2,500 words, comprehensive
A minimum of 50 statistics, pulled from research, so marketing readers would have an incredible list to use to get buy-in from their bosses or clients
Custom images to break up the text, including shareable quote cards
The quote cards gathered together into a free, downloadable PowerPoint presentation so we could build our list from the traffic coming in from a desirable Google search position
Once we planned on these must-haves for quality, all that was left to do was invest in the creation itself:
Enlisting the help of one of my writers at Express Writers
Having my designer do the quote cards
Getting the piece proofread by my editors
Doing my own read-throughs and edits
All told, the timeline for a high-quality blog like this is approximately 2 weeks from start to finish.
Why is blog quality such a big deal?
Besides the fact that you’re trying to outrank the competition, quality is one of the major ways Google evaluates your website. It’s not just about great design – it’s about depth and breadth of content.
As Eric Enge said recently in an SEO trends roundup on Search Engine Journal,
“The sites that provided exceptional depth in quality content coverage literally soared in rankings throughout the year. Sites that were weaker in their content depth suffered in comparison.”
5. Leverage Authority Content in Multiple Ways
When you finish up a high-quality, high-authority, investment-worthy blog, you will probably have a lot of different “items” that go with the text itself.
For example, for our “blogging statistics” piece, we ended up with:
The 2,500-word blog
Supporting images to break up the text and share on social media
The free downloadable (all the quote cards gathered together in a PowerPoint)
The landing page we created for it to capture leads
Each of these items is valuable on their own AND when put together in the finished blog. Once the initial creation is over, we can repurpose these pieces to maximize our ROI.
That said, don’t be fooled. It takes TONS of work to produce a blog that’s accurately researched, expertly written, and designed with extras. For busy marketers and entrepreneurs, delegating tasks is essential to getting it all done in a timely manner. (To do it all alone, you would need about 8 sets of hands. Nobody is an octopus, we’re human and we all need help. ?)
To reiterate, here are all the steps broken down for your review. This is truly what it takes to create a high-ranking SEO blog in 2019:
Know your SEO content goals.
Publish on your site consistently. Make sure your site is awesome.
Research your audience’s pain points.
Look for low-competition keywords to target.
Study the competition in Google to see what you need to do better to edge into the rankings.
Invest in blog quality – think long-form and comprehensive.
Add different formats to your blog to make it go the extra mile.
Set a strategic time to publish the blog.
Delegate blog creation or write it up yourself.
Round up the finished pieces and schedule to publish inside your WordPress site.
Want to Build Your Blogging Authority? Put in the Work!
Yes, to really and truly build your online authority, you need to put in the planning, strategizing, research, and work to get it done.
Here’s the thing: It’s all worth it in the end.
Once you have those authority-building steps down, you can repeat them for every blog you create. They will become your second nature, and it will get easier to get that work done. You’ll learn as you go, getting better and better at putting out incredible, ROI-building, authoritative blogs.
Pretty soon, the expert will be you! We now do slide presentation and design at Express Writers. See our rates!
What’s one way to make sure your content gets search engine-indexed, ranked, and, ultimately, discovered by users in your target niche?
I’m sure you already know the answer from the headline – you need SEO keywords.
More importantly, you need to know how to find SEO keywords.
Why? Because the benefits are incredible.
When you target the right keywords and use them to optimize your amazing content:
You’ll start ranking for those keywords.
You’ll hit desirable top spots in the SERPS.
You’ll drive much more profitable traffic to your website.
Take a look at this chart from Ignite Visibility that shows how much your click-through rate increases as you climb into the top 5 spots on Google for a keyword. When you hit #1, your CTR makes a huge leap from 13.32% to 20.5%.
More clicks and more profitable traffic will lead to:
Leads
Conversions
Followers
Sales
Unicorns and rainbows (not literally, but you’ll FEEL just as magical as these things – like you’re an SEO wizard)
In essence, you’re building content people want to find.
It’s an investment for your future.
So, how do you find the right ones that will amount to traffic boosts, lead boosts, and conversion boosts?
I’m going to show you, step-by-step, using two of my favorite tools for keyword research and discovery (KWFinder by Mangools, and SEMrush).
Let’s do this.
How to Find the Right SEO Keywords for Your Online Content in SEMrush
The right keywords are ones that give you opportunities to break into the rankings – and maybe even climb past all the other results to hit that coveted #1 position.
These high-opportunity keywords all follow a specific formula. Usually, they:
Are specific (A.K.A. long tail keywords)
Have low search competition (don’t confuse this metric with keyword difficulty – competition shows how many advertisers are bidding to show up in paid spots in results for the keyword)
Have relatively high search volume (people are actually typing them into Google)
Have low keyword difficulty (a score that rates how hard it is to rank for a keyword)
Most keyword tools have their own method for calculating difficulty scores. For example, here’s how KWFinder does it:
If this is a lot to take in, I get it. These criteria seem like a lot to juggle at first.
But that’s what I’m sharing today – I’m answering the ultimate question:
How do you find SEO keywords that fit ALL of these factors?
Let’s see what that process looks like in SEMrush.
1. Start with a Relevant, Broad Search Term with Potential
To narrow down keywords in SEMrush, start by searching for a keyword you think has potential.
For example, if I sell graphic t-shirts in my online store, I would research the term “graphic t-shirts.”
As you can see, this keyword has an average organic search volume of 6.6K searches per month. But, check out the competition.
We’re looking at .93.
That’s almost 100% competition, which means you’re up against tough luck.
Another thing to consider is that even though you may net many of these numbers in search volume, few will be qualified to buy. The search term is too broad: They’re probably at the early stages in the buying cycle, and haven’t made a decision on what to buy yet. So, this traffic potential is useless for your bottom line.
For even more proof, when I plug “graphic t-shirts” into Keyword Explorer, it rates 44 on a difficulty scale of 1-100. In general, scoring 50 or above means it’s impossible to rank for the phrase.
While this ranks below 50, it’s a best practice to only use keywords that rank at 40 or below. Lower difficulty = lower competition = higher ROI.
So, we’ve ruled out using this keyword in our SEO. We need to get more specific to find a better option.
We need a long-tail keyword.
2. Use Your Broad Term as a Root, and Go Long Tail
“Graphic t shirts” is too broad. How do we make this root keyword more specific?
We add to it.
Let’s try “women’s graphic t shirts.”
The search volume is 5.4K for this one. That’s better but still too high. Let’s look at the “related keywords” to see if there’s an option with lower competition.
“Women’s graphic tee shirts” has an average monthly search volume of 210. I would need to do a little more research on keyword difficulty and brand competition, but this could be a good option for SEO.
3. Dig Deeper – Check Keyword Difficulty and Search Volume
To dig deeper, I could click on “View full report” to view all the related keyword possibilities. Then I could sort them by keyword difficulty and search volume to find my sweet spot.
The sweet spot, where a keyword is balanced between low keyword difficulty, low competition, and high search volume, is ultimately what you’re looking for.
Tip: Use More Than One Tool to Find Great SEO Keywords (How to Use KWFinder)
One of my number one tips for how to find SEO keywords is to NEVER rely on one tool exclusively.
Instead, use multiple tools to double-check your research and compare how each tool rates keyword difficulty, measures search volume, and more.
Here’s what I mean:
In SEMrush, “women’s graphic tee shirts” looks like a solid SEO keyword option with high potential.
To make sure I’m on the right track, I’m going to turn to another one of my favorite SEO tools, KWFinder, to double-check.
As you can see, KWFinder gives this keyword a difficulty rating of 37, or “still easy.”
Plus, the search volume is 260/month, but many of those searchers could be in a later stage of the buyer’s journey.
There’s definitely potential here.
Now that I’ve double-checked the results for this keyword, I’m 101% confident I can use it in my content advantageously.
How to Find SEO Keywords: Research, Research, Research
To find profitable, high-ROI keywords that can net you fantastic results, you need to dig in and do the research.
These keywords are not going to fall out of the sky and into your lap. You won’t magically come up with them through brainstorming, either.
For the best results, you have to make sure the keywords you use are backed up with data.
Look at the numbers (keyword difficulty, search volume, and competition) and try to find the best balance of all three metrics for every keyword you go after.
This is the road to help your content not only hit the SERPs but also climb to the top of page one.
It’s not magic; it’s just smart, consistent, and sometimes grueling research.
Do the work, learn as you go, and that SERP mountain won’t seem so daunting anymore.
Ongoing, consistent keyword research is critical to a strong online presence.
While keyword research has seen its share of changes over the years, it remains a useful part of content creation.
Why?
Keyword research is online ROI.
Real, true, return-on-investment: find the right keywords, and you can create content with the potential for high Google rankings inside the next year (remember, content is a long-term investment). Using the right keywords allows you to use the direct terms of your customers and target audience.
Keyword research is the tool you use to spread your message and stand out in your field. Every content developer worth his or her words knows it is a piece of the bigger picture when it comes to ranking and reaching.
Understanding why, and how, will add vitality to your brand’s presence. Skimp here, and you’ll find yourself stuck in the same place with the same results. But there is a way to dive in, find the right keywords, and strengthen your online presence. Let’s discuss!
Why Consistent Keyword Research Is Fundamental to a Strong Online Presence
Let’s dive in with three big reasons why keyword research is vital to a strong presence.
1. Consistent keyword research helps you get to know and understand your ideal target persona.
Focusing too much on specific keywords without a focus on the user behind the screen is a big mistake.
Keywords are the words we are trying to rank for, but your buyer persona doesn’t really care about the “keyword” itself. What they care about is finding the best results for their search term.
When you type something into a Google search, you have a purpose. Your goal is to find out more information about a new restaurant, read a news story, or look for a local service.
This means that one simple change in a word can produce far different results.
It’s all about intent. Example: When someone searches for “hire a gardener” on Google, the first results are fairly generic and include results from sites like Home Advisor, WikiHow, and Gardens Illustrated. These are general how-to guides aimed at anyone who wants to know how to plant a flower, when to weed, and what type of fertilizer works best. The results are not specific to location or service type.
But change that search to “hire a gardener in Austin,” and the results are much different.
With the addition of just a few more words, we see the best gardeners in the Austin area based on reviews from other customers. These are meant for those searchers who are far into the process and want real answers.
There is intent behind this specific search.
By understanding how a user will search, you can narrow your focus and dive deeper into keyword research, rather than just stringing words together. This will allow you to craft focused content, target your persona, and see results.
Content creators often make the mistake of spending too much time on specific phrases and terms while neglecting to understand the user intent behind the words. Rather than try to guess what your audience means by a search query, keyword research helps you understand the intent behind the language.
2. Consistent keyword research keeps it natural.
How we search on the web has changed significantly over the past few decades. The rise of voice search and advanced technology has contributed to the way we look for everything from pizza delivery to books on Amazon.
Today, users are more likely to phrase a search as a question, as if they are talking to a friend, rather than searching with just two or three words.
Or in some cases, they search online the same way they ask Alexa or Siri a question. It’s natural and less stuffy.
A2: Always write with your audience in mind and use keywords in a way that’s natural, not forced. Keyword stuffing isn’t cool. #semrushchat
This trend toward more natural language is due to a few factors, including: Search engine capabilities: No one wants to sit and string together a bunch of keyword combinations, especially as they search through a mobile device. We are searching quickly, and we don’t have time to wait around for an answer. Search technology: Google welcomes complex questions, as explained in this blog post, and the search engine understands more specific queries. Technology is keeping pace, and the faster it answers, the faster the user expects it to be. Search through digital assistants: Ask Alex, Cortana, or your smartphone, and you’ll get an answer. Here is what Will Oremus from Slate had to say about the future of search in the wake of these popular devices:
In the beginning, computers spoke only computer language, and a human seeking to interact with one was compelled to do the same. First came punch cards, then typed commands…the 1980s brought the mouse click and the graphical user interface to the masses; the 2000s, touch screens; the 2010s, gesture control and voice. It has all been leading, gradually and imperceptibly, to a world in which we no longer have to speak computer language, because computers will speak human language—not perfectly, but well enough to get by. And the implications…will be tremendous. (Slate)
Using long-tail keywords in a natural way will reach your audience quicker as they search, which will make your communication more effective and specific.
3. Consistent keyword research brings relevancy and leaves an impression.
When content creators take the time to find the most relevant and meaningful keywords for their target group – which happens when we understand our audience – it changes everything. Relevant, long-tail keywords contribute to successful SEO and more qualified traffic.
Here is the truth: if someone is searching with a long-tail keyword in the form of a question, and you have optimized for shorter keywords that don’t hold meaning, your results will not be as relevant.
We can challenge ourselves here to go even beyond just relevant content and strive to produce amazing content. Relevance combined with amazing equals results that will go beyond our expectations.
How do we find relevant terms, those that our target audience is searching for? With consistent keyword research.
3 of Our Favorite SEO Search Tools
When you’re ready to dive into keyword research, here are some of our favorite tools you can use right now. Check ‘em out!
1. SEMrush
This killer SEO tool performs keyword research, tracks keyword strategy used by your competition, runs an SEO audit of your blog, and looks for backlink opportunities, just to name a few of the features. SEMrush houses a database of over 46 million domains and 120 million keywords while tracking the organic position of a domain and competitor analysis.
2. KWFinder
This keyword research and analysis tool offers real-time keyword SEO difficulty and generates long-tail keywords related to your niche that your competitors may be missing. Perform a search on a keyword and the site will analyze, providing you with an SEO competition score out of 100, giving you the keyword difficulty based on comparison across the market.
Also, one reason I love this tool is the absolutely gorgeous UX. I mean, what other tool is this pretty?
3. AnswerThePublic
This cool search tool grabs and maps keyword suggestions and predictions with a free visual report. The common Google and Bing autosuggest reports show you what is actually being searched for based on the keyword you enter.
A recent AnswerThePublic search for “online content writing” resulted in this visual and alphabetical list.
The site works to automate the gathering of questions related to your keyword, creating a visualization of the data so you can answer more effectively. The insight you can gain is invaluable and may serve as a jumpstart to relevant long-tail keyword creation for content writers.
Of course, you can only use this tool if you’re comfortable doing so while having a stranger stare at you and, at times, pick his teeth. 😉
Are Keywords Still Relevant? The Big Ticket Question Discussed
When it comes to keyword research and its effectiveness for online content, the opinions are as varied as a can of fruit cocktail.
I talk about this question more in-depth in my recent post, Is Keyword Density Dead?
TL;DR: keyword density is certainly dead. But keywords themselves are certainly not.
While keywords may not be the only factor we now consider, they remain an important part of content development in a world of ever-changing SEO and technology.
In fact, long-tail keywords (those with more than four words) still account for 50% of search queries, which reminds us that it’s important to use them in page titles and content, in internal links, and in user-generated reviews.
Conclusion
Keyword research has changed, but the goal of creating quality content remains the same.
When brands and website owners commit to understanding their audience, keeping the word flow as natural as possible, and staying relevant, the results will be a solid offering that meets the reader right where they are.
Are you ready to build the cornerstone of great content? Our Content Strategists are trained to do just that in our Keyword Strategy service! Connect with us today and let’s get to work.
As you might already know, we recently launched our Twitter chat, #ContentWritingChat. We had our second ever chat on Tuesday, January 26th at 10 AM CST, and our topic was Best SEO Practices for Online Writers. We had such a great turn out that we went “viral” on Twitter, trending at #50 in the USA on Twitter–again!
#ContentWritingChat January 26, 2016: Best SEO Practices With SEMRush Strategist Elena
For this week’s chat, our lovely guest host was was Elena Terentyeva, strategist at SEMrush, the leading SEO software online. Elena joined us to chat all about SEO. We’re thrilled that so many of you have been joining us for the chat, but we’ve compiled some of the best tweets just in case you missed it. This week’s chat had so many amazing content creators and SEO experts ready to share their best advice!
Our CEO, Julia, couldn’t have described SEO any better! It’s all about creating quality content and optimizing it so search engines can rank you higher. As Elena (our guest host) pointed out, SEO is not an extra activity. It’s essential to your online presence and something you should always do!
We love Netvantage Marketing’s example of PB & Jelly (SEO + the writer), and Ryan put it point-blank!
High-quality content is essential! Focus on writing something great and then add in those keywords, headers, ALT tags, and more. Remember: no keyword stuffing! Use keywords in a way that’s natural. Grenae brings up being good at editing your content, a great point.
What skills do you need to have? First and foremost, you need to focus on strengthening those writing skills. Then, make sure you know how to effectively do keyword research to find the right keywords for your content. Don’t forget that SEO is always changing, so you have to stay updated!
Alejandro says it well: know your objectives. And Elena’s example of Backlinko was superb!
Last week, we sat down with a few members from the SEMrush team. In a nutshell, SEMrush is today the world’s leading provider of competitive intelligence and keyword research for professional digital marketing campaigns, with versatile, affordable plans. And yes – we use and love their software.
We talked to Tara, Michael Stricker, Michael Isaac, and Tyler in our Q&A session. (Bios of the team members are at the end of this post.) We asked them how SEMrush came to be, common marketing problems to be faced today, SEO insights for website owners, among other things. It was a great session, with a lot of useful knowledge shared from their team – read, enjoy, and share!
Tell us a little about how SEMrush was started (what’s your founding story)?
Michael Stricker: “It was a dark and stormy night…” – Oleg and partners are the only ones who can answer this… they concocted something to aid their SEO data-gathering, and their peers were so taken with the result that they offered to pay for it… and the rest is history. Tyler: Oleg and Dmitry were tech guys working for a marketing firm with the task of creating “cool tools” (as Oleg puts it) for their company to run more efficiently. The point wasn’t profit; just create something cool and useful for the industry. They got so into it that they spun off the tools to create SEOQuake then SEMrush. Tara: Please see this for quotes directly from Oleg.
What kind of daily problems does SEMrush answer for online marketers?
Michael Stricker: Questions arise regarding what keywords your market is using most frequently. SEMrush enables astute marketers to get inside their prospect’s heads for a minute. The fact that it also affords an X-ray into what is working best for one’s online competitors is the icing on the cake. Add to that keywords, ads, clicks and spend for AdWords and you’ve got a chocolate layer cake. Sweeten that with Google Shopping data regarding keywords and prices and you’ve got a tray of high-converting cupcakes on top. Now, consider mobile search terms, visibility tracking and then specify local search down to the city and state, and you’ve got a tiered wedding cake for SEOs married to the data. Roll out the SEO Audit to help find and fix link errors and such that can trap search spiders and prevent your site from being fully indexed and you’ve got confections fit for a Technical SEO. Do that in 28 countries worldwide and Bing U.S. and you’ve given the world a slice of the pie. Michael Isaac: When people use SEMrush, they are constantly looking for answers. “What will be my next keywords?”, “Who should I be looking at the closest as a competitor?”, “What are the next errors I should fix on my site?”. We help our users find out all of this information every time they log in. We can tell them who is ranking for the same keywords they are, what issues we find with their site through our Site Audit tool, what keywords they should target next through their SEO and multiple other reports that can contribute to their overall success. We have users that are logging in every day fully utilizing the data we have in our database to improve themselves and find new information that will grow their online marketing efforts. Tyler: Prospecting clients with overview report and site audit. Which keywords to optimize for and which to stay away from. Who’s linking to me, what kind of links, and which links I should no-follow. Who’s spending what and how much in ads? Tracking and reporting SEO/PPC progress. Tara: While we market SEMrush as a competitive intelligence tool, there are many other things it can do for digital marketers. As a content manager and writer, I appreciate the insight SEMrush offers in editorial direction. I can use it to see which topics we’ve covered thoroughly or where we need more content. SEMrush allows me to combine instinct and data to produce informative content our readers enjoy. You’re not just competing with others, you’re competing with what you’ve already done on your own website.
How would SEMrush benefit a typical marketer looking to analyze or boost their SEO rankings?
Michael Stricker: Market insight comes with crowd-sourced data about what it is that web users are actually searching for, and the words and phrasing they use indicates just where they are on the “path to purchase”. Competitive insight gleaned from understanding your keyword strengths (unique, well-performing content and keywords), weaknesses (gap analysis), opportunities (popular keywords unique to competitors), and threats (keywords that are very competitively shared by commercial foes) all feeds into a holistic picture of what works and what does not, so that experimentation and attendant risk is minimized and positive SEO results can be accelerated and maintained. Knowing when to avoid pursuit of steeply-competitive keywords can preserve working capital for small or new domains. Gaining knowledge of competitors who invoke your brand to gain traffic for themselves is like a suit of golden armor. Forewarned is forearmed. Michael Isaac: Typical marketers are always looking for ways to improve their SEO and watch their competition closely. We believe here at SEMrush that we have came up with the perfect tool to conduct this research. We have tools that will provide insight on possible keywords you are looking to target or have been keeping an eye on. We offer multiple tools and reports that will assist you with tracking your competition and adding their SEO/PPC campaigns to determine where they have been struggling the most. Tyler: How wouldn’t they? Unless they feel like wasting a million hours manually crawling SERP results then they need SEMrush. They probably won’t need every feature, but life without a tool like SEMrush is like setting yourself up for failure– as a digital marketing. Tara: One of my favorite features about SEMrush is the position tracker report. I have my personal website set up in SEMrush and the tool sends me e-mails to let me know how I’m doing. I don’t have very much time to devote to analyzing my own website, and SEMrush automatically sends me reports to let me know what’s going on and how my site is doing against others in the same niche. While I log into the tool for deeper analysis and updates, I often use this to guide my website’s content strategy without having to log into the tool. It’s a blessing for a busy editor.
How have you seen the SEO landscape change since SEMrush was started?
Michael Stricker: Do you mean the stampede of arctic animals? Or, the blind, headlong rush of iterative marketers looking for the ‘next trick’? The emergence of Content Marketing and Inbound Marketing. The level of triggered communications that makes marketing automation possible. The incredible data-gathering such as heat-mapping and analytics that sparked a renaissance in Conversion Rate Optimization. The rise of the consumer to equal voice and footing with brands, and the new reliance on Online Reputation Management and Social Customer Relations. The double-digit increases in AdWords budgets, and Google’s revenues. The way that free PLA Ads became a paid advertising channel and the new balance as budgets shift to increased investments in Google Shopping. The dominance of Mobile SEO and smartphone use. The prevalence of App use on smartphones, so much so that Google Now must overlay search results into Apps to gain face time with mobile users. The rise of AI and machine learning in use by Google to improve search results. The improvement of location by IP, cell tower, triangulation, GPS, and now, in-store beacons that informs personal results. Tyler: The PPC environment is way more competitive– Campaigns are running much leaner and opportunities dry up faster than they use to because so many people are using competitive tools like SEMrush. Tara: I’m still relatively new to using SEMrush, but as a content writer well aware of the affect Google Panda had on the industry, SEMrush is now an important tool in content strategy, allowing me to make the most out of those long tail keywords (most of which are also evergreen) for a long-term content strategy.
We love SEMrush’s Twitter chat, #semrushchat! Tell us a little about how you started and grew that.
Tara: Olga Andrienko began #semrushchat in October of 2014. It’s grown from there! Olga will go into more detail about the success of the chat on the SEMrush blog over the month of September. When I first started at SEMrush half a year ago, #semrushchat was one of the easiest ways for me to connect with the digital marketing community right away. It’s one of the best networking opportunities I’ve experienced – all from the comfort of my desk.
What’s one good SEO tip for achieving better rankings you’d give to a typical website owner?
Michael Stricker: Learn what your market is looking for, how they’re asking for it, and at what step along the ‘buyer journey that they are signaling intent by using certain phrases. Work on every step of the ‘funnel’, but pay special attention to the terms of ‘transactional’ or commercial intent. If I had time to say two tips, the second would be, Learn from competitors so you can do what works, with less expense, and risk. Michael Isaac: The best way to achieve better rankings would be to analyze your competition. What are they doing that you are not? By reviewing who is ranking within the top position and reviewing their landing pages, descriptions and titles being used, you can then structure your content to be more relevant to the keywords you are targeting and leap over your competition. Tyler: Have a well thought out URL structure before committing to a website. Tara: Many people start blogs and websites to establish themselves as experts. Whether you have a website or not, you need to take some time actually living in your community (Facebook and LinkedIn groups, Twitter chats, meetups, other networking events) to really grasp it. This can inform your instincts about industry trends, while SEMrush can help you sure up your content strategy around what you already know. Also, know where to go for help and don’t be afraid to ask for it. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses within digital marketing. People often ask me for content and editorial advice, but I always review in-depth data analyses from SEMrush with helpful members of our marketing, sales, and customer success teams. Sometimes they find a story or trend that I’ve missed.
For someone just starting out in SEO, what are some best tips?
Michael Stricker: Brands must do R.P.S. — Real People Stuff. Affiliate marketers who can afford to shed burned-out domain names as they get penalized by Google, be it manually or algorithmically, may be able to afford to rely on iterative techniques like mass link-building or blog networks or link wheels, but brands that must preserve their equity cannot take that risk. The more Google knows about users, their interests and the context of their searches, the harder it will be to fake relevance. So, be prepared to learn as much as possible about search queries, market segments, affinities and interests, buyer and prospect personas. Then, apply that information to put the right message in front of the right person at the right time. Until search becomes predictive and passively delivers great stuff to humans, you still have a chance to influence search outcomes. Tyler: Learn, learn, learn, then apply, then learn some more, then post on twitter. Tara: 1) Participate in Twitter chats. It’s the most friendly and accessible way to learn. I recommend: #semrushchat, #cochat, #inboundhour, #scottsbizchat (especially for small e-commerce sites), and #LinkedInChat for general networking. 2) Find your niche and own it! It’ll evolve and change over time, and that’s okay. 3) Blog as you learn. Answer your own questions in blog posts so your audience can see your growth. It’s an extra reward for your research. Give credit to those who help you or provide useful information. 4) Make sure your message is clear. I recommend checking out Don Purdum’s blog and podcast for more information on how to do that. 5) If you’re starting out at an agency or other business involved in SEO, you should be able to learn something every day. If you’re just fetching coffee and not being offered the opportunity to learn, move on – there are plenty of other organizations that will take an interest in your personal success and personal brand. (SEMrush is hiring, by the way!)
We love SEMrush and it’s impressive capabilities! Thanks for being here for our Q&A chat.
Tara: Thanks so much for including us!
Who Is Michael Stricker? Michael Stricker markets the leading research tool for Competitive Intelligence as U.S. Marketing Director of SEMrush. The hundreds of digital marketing campaigns he has constructed and consulted deliver millions of impressions to enterprise web-based businesses. Decades of agency experience enable his actionable strategies, creative concepts, scalable processes and do-able tactics to achieve business goals. Michael has spoken at ClickZ Live (formerly SES), Etail, HERO Conference and SMX East, and contributes to blogs such as CIO.com, B2Community, SEMrush.com. Who Is Michael Isaac? Mike Isaac is the Customer Success Content Manager at SEMrush. Who Is Tyler Wilson?
Tyler Wilson is a sales executive at SEMrush. A recent graduate from Temple University’s Fox School of Business, Tyler came to SEMrush in January 2015 with two years of digital marketing experience– interning for DMi Partners and SEOM interactive. Who Is Tara M. Clapper? Tara M. Clapper is Technical Editor (blog editor) at SEMrush and Senior Editor at The Geek Initiative, a website celebrating women in geek culture. The author of thousands of blogs and hundreds of small business websites, Tara enjoys blogging about SEO copywriting, content management, corporate culture, personal branding, networking and LinkedIn. She has over a decade of experience in digital publishing.
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