Content and SEO starter pack

The official source of keyword information, Google Keyword Planner is a free keyword research tool from Google itself. Find new keywords or check volumes against those from other tools like Ahrefs; it’s extremely straightforward to use.

One which our team don’t rely on but still think is worth mentioning is Grammarly. It’s a great tool to have if you just need a little nudge on your grammar every now and then. It can also be set to American English, which is particularly nifty if you’re not certain on all the different spelling changes. 

In SEO, keywords are the words or phrases that are used when searching for something online in search engines. Sometimes they may also be referred to as ‘search queries’.  

Keywords can be things as simple as ‘vegan sandwich’ or ‘wedding dresses’. There are also long-tail keywords which are more specific and made up of multiple words. This is because the person searching has a better idea of what they actually want to find.  

For example, a typical keyword might be something like ‘wooden desks’, whereas a long-tail keyword version would be ‘small wooden desks for home office’. 

A main part of both SEO and content strategy is identifying relevant keywords and targeting them in our work, to ensure a client is appearing when people search online. We have tools which allow us to see how many people are looking at each keyword per month, which gives us a good idea on whether to target them or not. 

Another element that has to be considered when it comes to keywords is the ‘search intent’. Basically, what is the person wanting to discover when searching for something online? 

Google wants to ensure that users are being given appropriate results for what they’re searching, so it’s important that your approach satisfies user intent. 

There are four main intent categories that most search terms fall into: 

• Informational – This is when the user wants to find out some sort of information or learn something. Often, this will involve searching questions or specific queries such as ‘one direction first album name’. 

• Navigational – This is the type of search when you just want to find a certain website. Search terms would be something like ‘amazon uk’ or ‘LinkedIn’. 
• Transactional – Extremely relevant for commerce clients, transactional refers to when a user is ready to make a purchase, and they normally know exactly what it is that they want. Searches may be along the lines of ‘nintendo switch OLED’ or ‘iphone 14 deals.  
• Commercial – Somewhat similar to transactional is commercial where the user is on the market for a product but open to seeing what’s available. Commercial searches are things such as ‘wedding guest dresses’. 

Probably most of the commonly used terms across content and SEO is SERP, which stands for Search Engine Results Page. As it states, this is the page that comes up when you look for something in a search engine like Google. 

The reason why this is such a common term in SEO and content is that one of the overall goals is to see a client appear (or ‘rank’) as close to the top of page one of the SERPs as possible, if not first.  

Think about it: when you search for something online, how likely are you to scroll down or go to the next page? Not many people do. What appears in the SERPS and where a page ranks changes depending on a search engine’s algorithm which tend to be updated and reviewed regularly.

On the SERPs, we have featured snippets or ‘position 0’. These are the boxes that appear right at the top when searching for something and provide context for that search with a short paragraph, list, etc.  

When writing content, one of the goals is often to try to earn featured snippets, as this is the highest possible ranking position on search engines other than advertisements. The reason these are so desirable is that people tend to stick to the top few results after searching for something.  

A featured snippet is more attention-grabbing than a standard result due to being bigger and, in turn, is more likely to be clicked on by users.  

People Also Ask (PAA) boxes are also like mini featured snippets where Google pulls out what they believe to be the best answer to commonly searched questions.

Meta titles and meta descriptions are two important HTML elements and important to bear in mind for SEO purposes. 

The meta title, sometimes called a title tag, is there to let search engines and readers know what the page is about – it’s also the text that appears as a blue link in the SERPs. 

Meanwhile, a meta description is a short summary of the page’s content and the page’s primary keyword. There are various estimations of the ideal character count for a description, but typically the recommended number varies between 100-160.  It’s worth mentioning that Google may not always display the meta description written, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile.

Meta titles and meta descriptions are two important HTML elements and important to bear in mind for SEO purposes. 

The meta title, sometimes called a title tag, is there to let search engines and readers know what the page is about – it’s also the text that appears as a blue link in the SERPs. 

Meanwhile, a meta description is a short summary of the page’s content and the page’s primary keyword. There are various estimations of the ideal character count for a description, but typically the recommended number varies between 100-160.  It’s worth mentioning that Google may not always display the meta description written, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile.

When it comes to linking, this falls into two categories – external and internal. Links, whether external or internal, are an important ranking factor for Google as it gives them an idea of whether the content is of high-value or not. You can find out more about the different types of links and their value in our digital pr starter pack. 

External linking is when you add a link to a website that isn’t your own; for instance, if you’re referencing them as a source. Internal linking is when you add links pointing to other pages on the same domain. In SEO, internal linking is the one focused on most, as it is in your control and can have real impact on how your website ranks. 

Ultimately, internal links can help Google start to understand your site structure, as well as the relationship and relevancy between different pages. Having an internal link structure in place also enables users to better navigate your site. 

Anchor text are the words, or sometimes just one word alone, used when adding a link to another page, aka the clickable text. Often, this is highlighted in a different colour on a website to make sure it stands out from the rest of text. 

Sometimes viewed as one of the pillars of SEO, in short, authority is how ‘strong’ your website is. A ‘stronger’ website should, in theory, help a website rank in the SERPs, although Google claims this isn’t actually a deciding factor.  

Building authority takes time and is therefore part of a longer-term strategy, and can involve actions such as auditing the full website, optimising content and website structure, and link building to name a few.

Perhaps the most obvious way of linking up organic search and social is by using social media platforms to promote onsite content such as blogs and other articles. 

Another way is by reviewing keyword seasonality and trends, and planning this into both your social and organic calendars. Identifying when certain keywords are popular is great for ensuring the most visibility on your content, which will likely translate onto social media searches too. Alternatively, looking at what’s trending on social media platforms specifically could also help to inform your content ideas and roadmap.