If you’re looking to boost organic traffic to your site, SEO Editing should be a key part of your digital marketing strategy.
By utilizing SEO-optimized content, you provide value to your target audience and build a more loyal following that’s likelier to convert into customers.
In this guide you’ll learn what SEO Editing is, why it’s important, and how to do it.
- What Is SEO Editing?
- Why Is SEO Editing Important?
- 3 of Advantages of SEO Editing
- Disadvantages of SEO Editing
- Editing for SEO with No Experience
What Is SEO Editing?
SEO editing is the process of planning, writing, and revising content that appeals to both readers and search engines.
By providing value to readers with your content, search engines will want to show it to them.
Notice that I put readers before search engines.
Fulfilling the users’ needs is your main goal. Search engines were made to fulfill those needs.
This is why you should always write for users, not try to game the search engine algorithm.
By creating valuable content for readers while sticking to an effective SEO strategy, you can start appearing in organic search results more often.
Why Is SEO Editing Important?
SEO Editing is important because it generates organic traffic.
This helps you:
- Build brand awareness
- Generate leads
- Increase conversions.
It also means you don’t have to rely as much on other digital marketing strategies, like paid ads, saving you money in the long run.
It’s a great strategy because it provides real value to your potential customers.
Since you’re providing your target audience with useful information, you’re more likely to build an engaged and loyal following.
This could result in more repeat customers and more brand advocates, improving every stage of your marketing funnel.
3 of Advantages of SEO Editing
SEO can be one of the most effective digital marketing strategies.
However, you’re editing game will need to be on point to reap the benefits.
1. Long-Term Sustainability
One of the greatest advantages of SEO Editing is that it can help your site show up in search engine results and boost your organic traffic.
This means you’ll be less reliant on paid digital marketing strategies, like PPC ads and social media ads.
This creates long-term sustainability for your brand.
2. Less Resistance
Like other types of content marketing, another great advantage is that people are less resistant to it than traditional advertisements and sales pitches.
This is because you are providing real value to your audience and not just trying to explicitly sell your product or service.
3. Build Your Brand’s Reputation
Finally, by providing value to your audience, you also help build the authority and reputation of your brand.
This makes your business look more trustworthy and secures a more engaged and loyal following that is likelier to convert into customers.
Disadvantages of SEO Editing
While SEO Editing can certainly be one of the most effective digital marketing methods, it does come with a few drawbacks.
1. Long-term Strategy
One disadvantage is that it is a long-term strategy.
It takes time to plan and create content, and it also takes time for Google to crawl and index your pages.
2. Indirect Strategy
SEO Editing is also an indirect strategy.
You are not typically explicitly selling your product with your content.
Instead, you create and distribute valuable content to promote your brand and help readers enter your marketing funnel.
Once you develop a relationship with your audience through your content, they’ll be likelier to buy your product or service and become a loyal customer and brand advocate.
So, if you’re looking for a marketing strategy that converts your audience immediately, you’ll likely want to focus more on other methods like PPC ads with a strong call-to-action.
Just beware that these more direct and short-term strategies will likely be met with resistance. You’ll also need to keep reinvesting money for them to work.
3. Requires High-Quality Content
Another disadvantage of SEO Editing is that it’s only effective if you’re creating high-quality content.
The content creation process can be time consuming and research intensive.
If your content isn’t useful or engaging and you’re not targeting the right audience, you won’t be able to rank in search engines and generate organic traffic.
This is why knowing the ins and outs of search engine optimization, as well as content writing, is key to effective SEO Editing.
Editing for SEO with No Experience
Just because it’s a good idea to work with an editor with SEO expertise doesn’t mean you have to.
As an SEO Editor, I can tell you it is certainly possible to edit for SEO if you have no experience yet.
However, it will take hard work and dedication to learn how to write content that appeals to both search engines and users.
If you’re already busy running your business, it may be a lot to handle.
If you don’t have the time to really dedicate yourself, I would suggest hiring an SEO editor, like myself, to take care of it for you.
However, if you are willing to put in the time and effort, continue reading this guide to get yourself started.
What Do You Need To Know First?
The first thing you need to know is what search engines take into account when ranking content in the SERPs, or Search Engine Results Pages.
The three main elements are:
1. Quality of Your Content
This is how useful your content is to the searcher.
Are you providing high-quality, informative content that answers a question or solves a problem the searcher might have?
2. Relevance of Your Content
This is how semantically and thematically connected your content is. Ask yourself:
- Is my content focused on a particular niche?
- Am I showing the user and search engines that I am the expert in a certain topic area?
- Am I writing content about words and phrases users would be searching for?
3. Authority, or the Trustworthiness of Your Site and Content
This is mostly related to the number of external links pointing to your site. These are called backlinks, which we will discuss later.
Links from other sites show that the content you’re providing is trustworthy.
How are you showing Google and your users that your content is a trusted source?
Researching Keywords
If you know what niche or topic area you want to be an expert in, then the first step you should take is keyword research.
This is the process of determining what search queries you want to rank for in Google.
3 Elements of Keywords
There are three considerations to make when choosing keywords:
1. Competition
Of course, it would be great if we could rank for a broad term related to our niche. This would be a short-tail keyword.
For example, if the user searches for the word “shoes,” we would like our site to rank for that word.
However, short-tail keywords are usually too difficult to rank for (at least in the beginning!).
After all, there are large teams of people being paid lots of money and creating heaps of content to rank for these competitive keywords.
Instead, we should focus on less competitive, long-tail keywords. These are longer phrases with less competition.
For example, instead of trying to rank for “shoes,” we might try ranking for “blue running shoes” or “what are the best running shoes for men.”
2. Frequency
This is how often people are searching for your keyword.
If people aren’t searching for things you’re writing content about, then there’s no point in trying to rank for that search term.
However, although some specific long-tail keywords may be getting less traffic, there will also be less competition.
This means your result is more likely to rank high and and get clicked on.
This is why we need to consider all three elements and not just focus on one.
SEO editing is a holistic practice.
3. Relevance
We need to focus on the intent of the user.
Put yourself in your potential customers’ or readers’ place.
What are they searching for related to your content area that you can provide them?
If your business is all about running shoes, then create content that answers questions and solves problems related to running shoes.
If your content is not relevant and useful to the searcher, then there’s no point in creating content at all.
3 Steps to Keyword Research
Our keyword research process will require 3 steps:
1. Brainstorming
The first step to researching keywords is to brainstorm a list of keywords.
Consider both short-tail and long-tail keywords. Often, you can use short-tail keywords to generate long-tail keywords.
For example, if you know your niche is related to running shoes, the short-tail keyword “running shoes” will be on our list.
Then, you can build long-tail keywords around that short-tail keyword.
You may start with “running shoes,” and determine that less competitive keywords related to that topic include “best blue running shoes 2021” or “how to choose running shoes for soccer players.”
You can also use a free tool like Answer The Public to help generate keyword ideas.
Remember, this is just the brainstorming process.
You likely won’t use all the ideas you come up with, so write down whatever comes to mind.
Not every idea will be a winner, but it’s good to have a lot of options to choose from.
2. Determining Search Volume
Once you’ve brainstormed your list of potential keywords, you’ll want to get an idea of how often those keywords are being searched for.
This way you know if your keywords are worth trying to rank for.
Use a free SEO tool like Google’s Keyword Planner to get an estimate of how often people are searching for keywords you are considering.
While this tool’s intended user base is Google Ads users, the bid prices provided by the Keyword Planner can give us an estimate of the keyword’s competitiveness.
You can also use a free tool like Ahrefs Keyword Difficulty Checker to get an idea of how difficult a keyword will be to rank for.
While the paid version will give you more detailed information, the free version will work well if you’re just starting out.
3. Categorize Your Keywords
The final step in keyword research is to categorize your keywords.
This is the process where you will choose which long-tail keywords to try to rank for.
For example, you may determine that you think you have a good chance at ranking for “best blue running shoes 2021” and “how to choose running shoes for soccer players.”
When we plan our content, we will want to categorize our other keywords so that they support these main articles we want to rank for.
Planning and Editing Your SEO Strategy
Now that you’ve completed your keyword research, you want to create a plan using what you learned in the previous step.
Editing Content and Strategy
When you consider what it means to edit for SEO, you might think that only means editing existing content and suggesting on-page SEO improvements.
However, SEO editing needs to take the entire SEO strategy into account.
Editing for SEO certainly does involve editing existing content to make it more useful for a potential searcher and appealing to search engines.
However, it also involves planning and writing new content that can support the main goals of your strategy.
Additionally, SEO editing may involve suggesting changes to the overall strategy and goals. In short, it is a holistic practice.
3 Steps to SEO Strategizing
Planning and executing your SEO strategy will require 3 steps:
1. Planning your content
It’s always best to plan out your content strategy before starting to create your content.
If you need to make adjustments along the way, you can alter the plan.
Using your keyword categorization, you need to plan your content to support the main articles you want to rank for.
These main articles are called Pillar Pages or Cornerstone Content.
To show Google this is the most important content on your site, you need supporting articles that link to this content. These are called internal links.
2. Creating Your Content
When you create cornerstone content, you need to create articles that are:
- Long
- Informative
- Useful for the searcher.
This content should cover all the questions and problems related to your keyword.
Then, when you create supporting articles, go even more in depth about things you touched on in the pillar pages.
For example, if you want the page “how to choose running shoes for soccer players” to rank, you should create an article detailing how to do that.
Then, in the supporting articles, go more in depth into why choosing running shoes is different from other sports or why soccer players need running shoes and not just cleats.
When creating this supporting content, however, remember to keep in mind the questions your potential reader might be searching for.
These supporting articles might get less search volume, but they can also rank in Google for the few searches they receive.
Ultimately, answering questions your potential user might have while reading your main articles is a good way to keep users on your site.
The more high-quality information you can provide them, the less likely they are to look for it somewhere else.
3. Manage and Adjust Your Strategy
SEO strategizing is a long-term process. You probably won’t see results immediately.
However, if after some time you realize your strategy just isn’t working, it may be time to adjust your strategy.
This may include doing additional keyword research.
It could also include choosing new keywords to create pillar pages for, and reorganizing your site structure.
Every strategy will be different and require some adjustments along the way.
However, if you’re providing high-quality, relevant content that answers the questions and provides solutions the searcher is looking for, you will be successful.
Where to Get Additional Content Ideas
If you’ve planned your cornerstone content and supporting pages but still need some additional content ideas, here are three things to consider.
1. Think About Broad Themes
You may want to think about the different types of content your potential user might want to know about.
For example, if your topic is running shoes, you may want to create an article about statistics related to running shoes.
You could also consider writing about news regarding running shoes, or create a more technical article related to the science of running and how different types of shoes affect running.
Other types of content include:
- Educational
- How-to
- Informational
2. Look At Your Competitors
Ask yourself:
- What are my competitors doing that I’m not doing?
- Is there anything they are doing better that I should improve on?
If you can do all and more than your competitors are doing, and do it better than them, you will rank higher than them in search engines.
3. Leverage Customers and Partners
If you’ve got a great product or service that customers love, ask them to do a review for you.
This gets them more involved with your brand and shows authority to potential customers.
If you’ve got partners and people in your industry you are working with or would like to work with, reach out to them and try to collaborate with them.
One excellent idea is to do guest posts for each other.
This not only provides new content and fresh perspectives from different sources, but it could also provide a valuable backlink.
Building Links
Linking is a critical part of search engine optimization.
However, different types of links for SEO serve different purposes.
Internal Links vs External Links
Internal links are links that come from within your own site.
These links help build your site structure.
By creating an effective site structure, you communicate to Google what content on your site is most important.
This is why you have your supporting content linking to cornerstone content and vice versa.
By doing this, you tell search engines that your most important content is the cornerstone content.
External links, or backlinks, are links pointing to your site from outside of your own site.
These backlinks show Google that your site and content is trustworthy and authoritative.
If people are linking to your page, it signals to search engines that your content is trustworthy and should be featured more prominently.
What Makes a Good Backlink?
Not all backlinks carry the same value, however.
Many years ago, the quality of a backlink was not important.
However, this led to people purchasing backlinks without earning them.
Now, Google is better at recognizing spammy backlinks.
It takes into consideration two things.
1. Authority and Trustworthiness of the Site Linking to You
If another site links to yours and has a high level of authority, it will carry more weight in how search engine’s evaluate your site’s trustworthiness.
This will help you rank higher.
For example, a link from a .edu site will carry much more weight than a link from spammylinks.com.
2. Topical Relevance of the Site Linking to You
If another site linking to yours is related to your content niche, it will carry more weight and help you rank better in search engines.
Search engines have become really good at determining topical relevance based on semantic context.
For example, if your site is about running shoes, and another site with content all about running apparel links to you, it will be worth a lot more than a link from a site that mainly focuses on pet care.
Utilize Your Network and Other Marketing Tools
So, how do we build external links if it’s up to other people to link to us? There are a few strategies you can consider.
1. Create and Share Awesome Content
The most important aspect of building links, and content marketing in general, is to create content that is:
- Useful
- Engaging
- Shareable
If you create content that people want to see and follow the best SEO practices, everything else should fall into place.
Don’t forget to share your content on social media.
The more exposure your content gets, the more likely someone with their own site will link to it down the road.
2. Guest Posting
Guest posting is posting on someone else’s site and providing insight on topics you’re an expert in.
This not only allows you to create a topically relevant backlink to your site, but it can also drive additional traffic to your content.
3. Reach Out to Partners
If you have business partners or connections within your niche, utilize them.
Reach out to people in your network and try to collaborate.
Also, don’t be afraid to reach out to potential partners you’re not already connected with.
Chances are, you can create a relationship that benefits both of you.
Evaluating Your Results
There are a few tools you can use to track your progress.
There are also a few questions you should ask yourself when analyzing this data.
Gathering Data
You can use two free tools to gather SEO data.
1. Google Analytics
The first free tool you can use to track your progress is Google Analytics.
You can track data like the number of visitors to your site and how they arrived at your page (for example, from Google, YouTube, Facebook, etc.).
You can even learn about visitor demographics:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
It also helps you track user engagement.
For example, you can see the amount of time visitors are spending on your pages and your bounce rate.
Bounce rate is the percentage of users that visit your page and leave before looking at more than one page.
You can use all of this information to see how your pages are performing and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Google Analytics is a powerful tool. Luckily, Google provides free courses if you want to delve deeper.
2. Google Search Console
The other free tool you’ll want to utilize is Google Search Console.
This tool allows you to see what search queries are bringing people to your site.
It will tell you your site’s number of impressions and clicks, as well as your ranking position in Google for different keywords.
Another great thing about Google Search Console is that it allows you to submit URLs and sitemaps directly to Google.
Sitemaps are files that provide information about your pages and the relationships between them.
By submitting this information directly to Google, you make sure Google can see and crawl your pages. This ensures Google is able to consider your pages when deciding what to show on its results pages.
Finally, you can see if Google is having trouble seeing any of your pages so you can take action to fix any problems.
After all, if search engines can’t read your pages, then all of our SEO efforts are worthless!
Questions For Self-Reflection On Results
The last step in the SEO editing process is to reflect on the data and results.
By asking yourself the following questions, you can get a better sense of how your content is performing and whether you should adjust your strategy.
- What content are people viewing?
- Are people engaged with the content?
- What content is performing the best?
- Are people sharing the content?
- Am I progressing toward my goals?
If some types of content are performing better than others, you should consider creating more of the successful content, even if it wasn’t part of your original strategy.
By reviewing data and reflecting on the results so far, you can adjust the plan so you can reach your goals.
Conclusion: SEO Editing Is A Powerful Digital Marketing Strategy
This is all the information you need to get introduced to the basics of SEO editing. Obviously, there’s much more to learn about all of the topics discussed above.
Like I said at the beginning, it’s certainly possible to edit for SEO if you don’t have any experience yet. However, it will take time, hard work, and dedication to be successful.
If you don’t have the time to invest in planning, creating, and sharing great content, consider hiring an SEO Editor like myself to help you.