Planning an
SEO campaign
Learn SEO in five steps
Step two - campaign planning
Understanding keywords and user search intent are the foundation of building an SEO content strategy for a website. This approach determines what topics the website should focus on and write about.
Before starting on a new SEO campaign and trying to bring new organic traffic to your website, you need to ensure your website is performing well from a user experience/SEO perspective. An audit will help highlight any issues which can interfere with the experience people have when they arrive on your site.
Part of an initial audit also helps determine current rankings for keywords, your overall domain authority, number of referring domains etc. These starting insights/benchmarks should be noted down so you can track the progress of your SEO strategy as time goes on.
There are various websites and platforms for helping with SEO including Ahrefs, SEMRush, Moz and specialist websites with individual tools. Whilst each platform has its own features, they are similar enough that you may be able to get away with only using one.
SEMRush provides a variety of tools and reporting to help manage SEO. The first tool we’ll use is the site audit feature.
The site audit can be set up automatically to run every week and will track over 120 SEO factors. The report will provide an overall percentage score for site health (i.e. 0 to 100%) and will show how many individual pages on your website have issues. The report will show errors, warnings and notices as the main headings.
Screaming Frog is an advanced specialist site audit SEO tool which can also be used to determine if any issues are present on your website before starting a new campaign.
Screaming Frog can help you find broken links, redirects, duplicate content and other issues which may impact on SEO. You can also review meta titles/descriptions for pages, connect Analytics and Search Console, view page speed and more.
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Majestic is an SEO tool specialised on backlink audits and backlink building strategies. You can use this tool to measure how many referring domains your website currently has and whether or not these backlinks are increasing as new content is published.
You can also use the SEMRush Organic traffic insights report to view insights into the keywords people are using to currently reach your website. You can send these keywords and competitor keywords to the position tracking tool to see monthly position changes as you improve your website’s SEO. This report can also connect to Google Analytics and Search Console for more accurate data.
Once the main audit is complete, you can move on to the backlink audit. You can review if your website is receiving spammy backlinks by viewing the overall toxicity score. Search Console can also be connected to retrieve more data. If questionable or spammy backlinks are discovered, you can disavow the links which will advise Google to ignore the links.
The backlink audit also shows the Authority Score of referring domains and anchor text types. Backlinks are broken down by link attributes (e.g. follow or nofollow, sponsored etc) and you can also view new links, broken links, lost links etc.
Whilst SEMRush provides a good overview of backlink history, combining insights from both Ahrefs and Majestic can help provide a more comprehensive audit of a site’s backlink profile.
Once you have completed an audit and fixed any problems which may cause issues with the user experience or ranking for keywords, you can start thinking about new content which could be added to your website to attract visitors.
Deciding on the purpose of SEO and content
Attracting relevant users to your website through content and building backlinks to improve domain authority are the two cornerstones of SEO. Many companies create content which attracts users (e.g. blog posts) however this content receives few backlinks from referring websites.
Alternatively, some content pieces can attract a large number of backlinks but little visitor traffic (such as studies, statistics, original research). Research based content helps other websites improve the quality of their own articles (e.g. they will link out to the original study).
A comprehensive SEO strategy will cover these two areas (creating both traffic-focused and backlink-focused content) to ensure both aspects (traffic and authority) are improving over time. Comprehensive guides based around visual content (such as infographics) can be the best way of generating referring backlinks. Tools which can help save people time are also excellent sources of building backlinks.
A good example of backlink-focused content is Jon Loomer’s Facebook Ads help tool. Users may not be searching Google for this type of content/tool but many other websites may link to it as a way of helping their own website visitors save time when creating Facebook ads.
Deciding on keywords and content topics
When deciding on content topics to write about you generally want to choose broader, generalist topics rather than specialist niche topics.
Your focus should be on creating evergreen content – this is content which stays useful and relevant no matter the time period. If you create seasonal or holiday (e.g. Christmas) specific content, you may see an increase in traffic which quickly drops off after the holiday period.
When deciding which keywords/topics to target, there are a range of online tools for helping with search volume, competitiveness, keyword ideas etc. These tools (including how to use them) are explained further in Step 3 of learning SEO (running an SEO campaign)
- Google Keyword Planner
- Google autocomplete
- Google Trends
- Exploding topics (similar to Google Trends but shows keywords which are significantly growing in popularity).
- Google Search Tabs
- YouTube autocomplete
- Soovle
- SpyFu (for competitor keyword research)
- Uber Suggest
- Answer the public
- Seed Keywords
- Exploding topics
- Google Analytics and Search Console
- Wordtracker scout
You can enter competitor websites into SEMRush to see the keywords they are targeting. It’s important to enter competitors who are the same size as your brands as larger competitors are likely ranking for keywords which are far too competitive to rank for initially.
Website content should be based on keywords/topics which have large enough search volume (i.e. the number of people searching for the specific keywords) to provide a good amount of traffic to your website. If you write on niche topics which nobody is searching for, traffic will be minimal. Smaller individual topics can still be covered but within a larger article.
When choosing keywords, several considerations need to be made. Short tail keywords (e.g. a single word) may have greater search volume but there may be significant competition for these terms. Larger, more authoritative sites may be targeting these broader terms so, whilst search volume is high, chances of your website outranking the top results may be low.
When assessing keyword difficulty, consider the domain authority of websites already ranking for that keyword, the quality of their content and the page authority of the page which houses the content.
It’s important to measure keyword difficulty within the context of your own website. A keyword may appear to be low competition, however if current ranking websites in the first few positions have very high domain authority (e.g. Wikipedia), it will be hard for your site to rank.
An online tool, Can I Rank, helps provide keyword difficulty in relation to the DA of your website compared to competing websites:
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Ahrefs also has a keyword difficulty tool which shows how challenging it will be for your website and content to rank for a particular keyword.
Choosing medium and longer-tail keywords (e.g. phrases) may result in less competition and a greater chance of ranking higher in Google search results. Search volume with short-tail keywords will be high, but with high competition and difficulty in ranking, whilst long-tail keywords will provide less competition but also less people searching. The key is to find a balance between the two.
Understanding the search intent behind keywords
When considering keywords, you need to understand the intent behind what people are searching for. Metrics like search volume are important to determine if people are actually searching for certain topics, but the focus needs to be on understanding and answering the question behind the search query.
People use Google to search for solutions to their problems – they generally don’t treat Search like TV (i.e. flicking between channels and then settling on something to watch). Search has direction and intent with an end goal in mind. Understanding why and how people are searching for something is known as search intent.
For example, what is a user searching for when they enter the keyword ‘website lawyer’? Are they searching for a lawyer who will look over a new website to ensure everything complies with current laws? Are they searching for website themes/layouts as they want to build a website for a legal practice? Are they looking for a website which provides access to lawyers for legal help?
When putting yourself in the shoes of the customer/user, you can ask:
- What is this person looking for when they search this keyword phrase?
- What problem are they trying to solve?
- What solution do they want?
There are four types of keywords/search intent which follow the traditional sales funnel/buyers journey:
- Informational (a user is starting to research a topic) (How does investing work) (funnel stage: awareness)
- Commercial (the user has an understanding of available options and is now researching available providers/brands) (financial planner specialising in property investment) (decision)
- Navigational (the user is entering a brand name and going direct to a website, such as ABC Financial Planners) (decision)
- Transactional (the user wants to complete an action such as purchasing or calling a business) (purchase).
Keyword length can provide an indication into search intent and the buying stage a user is currently in.
Short-tail keywords are generally informational and are searched for when someone is first learning about a topic (such as ‘exercise plan’). Longer-tail keywords indicate a user has knowledge of a subject and is now comparing options or deciding to purchase. For example, ‘treadmill with incline and automatic workout programs’.
SEMRush provides a ‘Keyword by Intent’ section within the Domain Overview report.
If you’re unsure which category a keyword falls into, simply search the keyword on Google to view the current results. If all results are eCommerce product-focussed, the keyword would be commercial but if results are more blog-orientated, the keyword may be informational.
The Ubersuggest keyword tool not only allows you to find keyword ideas but you can also find long-tail comparison based keyword searches. These comparison keywords can help target users who are further along in the buying journey (i.e. they know about a topic and are now comparing options before buying).
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The business value of content and keywords
When deciding on keywords, focus on the commercial intent and the business value of the keyword (i.e. will these users become customers or does the keyword directly relate to your business). Writing content on high search volume topics may bring traffic to your website but are these users likely to become customers?
When assessing search intent, ask:
- Does this keyword (or subsequent content) fit well with what you sell or offer?
- Do these searchers have the intent to purchase items on the website?
- Can this traffic be converted to leads or result in conversions?
- Is there enough search demand and volume to make it worthwhile spending the time creating and promoting content?
When assessing the value of keywords, you can use Google’s keyword planner to find the commercial value behind each keyword.
The ‘top of page bid’ metric indicates how much advertisers are willing to pay to bid on a particular keyword. The more valuable a keyword (i.e. the likelihood a user will become a customer), the higher the bid. General informational keywords such as ‘tips for weight loss’ may cost $1.10 whilst the keyword ‘gyms near me’ might cost much more.
High commercial-intent keywords will be the most valuable keyword type to a business. Search volume for these particular keywords may not be high, however the value they can offer (i.e. providing customers) more than makes up for it.
Tip
If you’re in a B2B industry, low search volume may be expected as your business may only deal with a few large customers a year rather than a B2C company who has thousands of smaller customers a year.
SEMRush provides a metric called ‘organic traffic value’ which shows how much organic traffic would cost if it was acquired via paid channels (e.g. Google ads). This provides insight into how valuable organic website traffic is.
If your website is organically ranking for highly valuable commercial-intent keywords, traffic value will be high. But if most traffic is from informational keywords, value will be lower (but this may not be an issue if you are running a purely informational or non-commercial website).
Keywords and the customer journey
Whilst high-value, commercial-intent keywords are important, you need to create content across all four keyword types (informational, comparison etc).
Becoming a part of a customer’s journey right from the start will help your brand be front of mind when they reach the final buying stage and are ready to purchase.
If you target only transactional/commercial keywords, not only will you receive less traffic (due to lower search volumes) but this traffic may be unaware of your brand (i.e. you weren’t present when they were first searching for a topic).
By the time users are searching for commercial/transaction-based keywords, they have likely already decided which brands they are going to choose from. A few pieces of bottom-of-funnel content will likely be ineffective in persuading users to choose your brand over others who have helped them during their entire journey.
Attracting customers to your website at the start of their journey will also allow you to retarget them with paid ads across Facebook and Google.
These ads will be focused on promoting mid to lower-funnel content which may coincide with where they now are within their buying journey.
For example, a user may visit your website through a comparison-based keyword (runners vs cross-trainers) and read an educational content piece. You can then show product-based ads (e.g. promoting the benefits of your running shoes) to the user as they browse Facebook across the next week.
Once this user reaches the end of their buying journey and has decided to purchase runners, they may search Google for commercial-based keywords on where they can buy a specific brand or type of shoe.
You can now use the Remarketing List for Search Ads (RLSA) feature within Google Ads to retarget this user and show your ad for their search query. As they’ve previously visited your site (and hopefully had a positive experience and gained value from your content), your brand stands out within the search results and the user chooses your website over others.
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Having a large amount of content across each buying stage will position your brand as a knowledgeable source of information and improve trust with customers.
Different content formats and search results for keywords
The format of Google search results will appear differently for certain keywords.
‘Ranking number one’ can depend on what the user is actually searching for and trying to achieve.
For example, searching for ‘loose leaf tea’ will show Google Shopping ads, then café listings serving that tea, then organic search results then local store listings which sell loose tea (as well as video and image results).
When reviewing the existing search results for keywords, one of the most important steps is to consider the type of content Google promotes for these keywords. Google’s job is to deliver the most relevant results for any given search query. If you want to rank highly for a particular topic/keyword, you need to find which content format is most popular.
For example, when searching ‘riding a bike’, Google provides more video-based results rather than blog posts. When searching ‘mud cake’, Google focusses websites with recipe-structured pages instead of blogs, videos, images etc.
Creating content (or repurposing older content) across various formats (e.g. blog post, video, images etc) can help your content appear within the search results for different keyword types.
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If you plan on only writing blog-based content, ensure the keywords you are targeting result in website-based results, rather than videos, images, local maps listings etc.
Featured snippets are a section within the search results which offer an answer to a query within a preview box.
To achieve a featured snippet position, look at the exact structure of the existing/current snippet (e.g. content length, use of headings, similar approach to wording etc). Model your content on a similar structure and paragraph level. To rank within featured snippets, your website already needs to be ranking within the top 10 results.
Appearing in a featured snippet can be a good way to increase your click-through rate and website visitors without needing to rank higher in the results page.
Organic click-through rate refers to how many people actually click on the Google search results after they have entered a search query.
Search results can become cluttered with paid ads, featured snippets, videos, images, knowledge panels, map listings etc. Sometimes people have no need to click on actual website results within the search results. So even if you have an ideal keyword, if the organic click-through rate is low, few people will come to your website.
For example, a user may search for the answer to a question and receive a featured snippet which answers their question directly. The user has no need to visit any of the websites listed within the search results.
Ahrefs (Keyword difficulty tool) and Moz pro (keyword research report) both estimate organic CTR. SEMRush also provides similar tools for assessing whether or not certain keywords should be targeted.
It’s important to remember, search volume alone doesn’t provide great insight into the value of a keyword. There may be significant volume, but if few people actually click on the organic search result, the keyword will receive little traffic. Many SEO specialists will consider the number of clicks just as important as actual search volume for this reason.
Content isn’t the only consideration Google has when ranking websites. The 200 on-page and off-page ranking factors will also come into play, particularly domain authority and domain age.
If you are a new smaller website competing against a large well-known brand, it will take time to start ranking well no matter how good the content is.
For example, when searching for the keyword ‘dishwasher’, the top results all relate to large established retailers. This may be due to the websites having a stronger online presence than individual brands but also the search intent behind the keyword.
Users most likely want to view models, prices and features from various brands in one place. Even if individual dishwasher brands create amazing keyword-optimised content, the websites Google considers most relevant to the user’s search query/intent may still rank higher.
Learning how to rank at the top of Google for your keywords
Whilst it may seem overwhelming when trying to figure out how to rank highly for a particular keyword, all the work has already been done – by Google. Simply type in your selected keyword or phrase and review the top ten websites which are already ranking for that term – those websites are your competition.
Look through each website and note down details such as word count, topic comprehensiveness/usefulness/value, the speed and user experience of the site, are they missing content etc.
Also ask: does this content provide real value to a user (e.g. answering a question, solving a problem etc) and is it relevant to the search intent behind the keyword? Your goal is to create content which is 10 x better than those websites who are already ranking.
Caution
If your content is significantly less refined and valuable than the current ranking content/websites, Google will likely see no reason to place your site ahead of other websites.
The goal for this step is to discover where current ranking websites are lacking in their content and what you can do to improve.
You also want to consider the social signals people are sending when this content is viewed. Are people engaging with the content (e.g. leaving comments, sharing etc) or are they quickly skimming and moving on? When looking at a competitor’s website, you can also view the page source to see if the H1 tag is optimised with the relevant keyword(s).
You can use the Ahrefs Keyword tool to develop a better understanding of the current top search results. Simply type the keyword into the search bar and Ahrefs will not only show the current SERP’s but also the backlinks and traffic for those websites are receiving for the keyword.
This report can also show insights behind user searchers. For example, if the top pages are destination based (e.g. visit Facebook), the keyword would be navigational. Even if you started ranking for that keyword, would people come to your website or visit the actual site they are searching for?
Remember, content is one thing, but you also need to consider the authority of the websites you are competing against.
Moz provides a browser extension, MozBar, which helps measure the domain authority of websites currently ranking within search results for certain keywords.
Different types of SEO for specific keywords and business types
Various types of SEO will apply based on the type of user searches and resulting search results.
For example, if a keyword search results in local business listings, then local SEO (such as improving a Google My Business profile) would be the focus. If video content predominantly makes up the search results, then an understanding of YouTube SEO needs to be the focus.
As with all digital marketing channels, the type of business will affect how SEO will be managed. A small local restaurant, for example, may not benefit from writing large comprehensive blog articles on their website. Instead they would use local SEO to help their brand appear in the search results when people are trying to find places to dine in the local area.
Aspects to successful local SEO
When it comes to local SEO, having a Google My Business profile is essential. GMB provides users with details of your local business including address, phone number, opening hours, photos and more.
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A GMB listing helps your local business appear within the Map Pack within Google search results when users are searching for a specific local business – such as cafes, dentists, service providers etc.
When you add your business to GMB, you can select the type of business and industry you are in. This allows Google to customise your listing to include only details which are relevant to your particular business (such as photo categories, multiple location options, services and products available etc).
When adding photos and videos, you can add exterior shots of your store, product photos, videos of past events etc. If you’re running a café or restaurant, you can upload photos of different meal options and dishes.
Customers can leave reviews (which you can respond to) and post photos from your business location(s), such as inside a restaurant or store.
Within your GMB profile you can easily change business details such as opening hours (e.g. during public holidays), a business description, special messages (e.g. upcoming events and sales) and more. The dashboard provides access to all these details:
GMB also provides insights such as how many people visited your website from your GMB listing, how many clicked phone call, how many asked for directions to your business, number of photo views etc.
Tip
When first signing up to GMB, Google offers $100 in Google Ads credit (within the info tab of the main dashboard).
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Planning your SEO content
Now you have an idea of what websites are ranking for your desired keywords and how their content is presented.
When it comes to SEO performance and attracting visitors to a website, long form comprehensive content significantly outperforms shorter form articles. Content needs to be detailed, in-depth, authoritative and, most importantly, useful and valuable to your audience (don’t write content just to please Google).
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Websites which don’t have as much domain authority as top ranking sites can still rank highly in the search results if they focus on the value and usefulness of their content.
When assessing content usefulness and value, Google considers signals based on user experience such as time spent on page, bounce rate, number of pages viewed etc.
A user may visit the first ranked website and spend 30 seconds browsing and then visit the fourth ranked website and spend 3 minutes browsing. This will indicate to Google the fourth result may be more useful than the first and can provide the fourth website with a ranking boost.
The best way to achieve sustainable SEO performance is through content which is well thought out, thoroughly researched and customer-focused. The key is to provide value to the reader whether that be by answering a question, solving a problem, helping them to learn more, providing actionable practical advice etc.
The greater the impact your content has on a reader’s situation, the more valuable it will be.
If content can provide practical advice which helps the reader solve a problem or improve their situation in some way, this is value. Don’t write thin fluffy content which simply discusses a subject and provides no outcome for the reader. Don’t write for the sake of trying to reach a specific word count.
When creating content it’s important to remember you are trying to satisfy the intent behind a user’s search query. If a user searches for ‘how many days in July’, the resulting content can simply be a statement of the number of days and may be an interactive calendar set to July. Adding hundreds of extra words to the page won’t enhance the user experience or provide the user with any extra value – it’s just fluff.
Generally speaking, content comprehensives can help ensure you cover all aspects of a search query.
It’s also important to remember you want keywords to guide the ideas and themes of the article. Whilst adding keywords to main headings and throughout the article (where relevant), you want to avoid keyword stuffing.
Stuffing keywords on a page is an older technique (still practiced today) where websites try to add a targeted keyword as many times as they can into a page. This approach tries to trick Google into ranking the website highly as it may believe the content is so specific to that particular keyword that it must be relevant.
Taking the time to properly research and write longer form content will also help outperform competing websites in gaining traffic. Customers will, no doubt, view similar brands at the start of their journey and by providing more useful and valuable content you can position your brand as the most authoritative and knowledgeable in the industry.
Google can now index passages/paragraphs within a page rather than an overall webpage. If you create enough content and a specific paragraph provides an answer to the user’s search query, Google will rank the entire webpage and take the user straight to the relevant paragraph.
SEO content done right
An excellent example of SEO content is the blog from A Workout Routine. The website provides advice around exercise, weight training, nutrition etc and follows the essential rules for creating content.
Each article on the site has a key focus point (i.e. a targeted keyword/phrase), is comprehensive and detailed, provides a good user experience, and most importantly, provides value to the reader.
One of the best articles on the site is ‘The muscle building workout routine’.
The article focuses purely on weight training exercises to build muscle, it doesn’t focus on diet, sleep, gym clothing, workout music etc – it has a key focal point.
The comprehensiveness of the article is demonstrated through it’s 4,604 words and key headings: workout schedule, individual workouts, guidelines and clarifications, method of progression, FAQs and examples.
The page is well laid out/organised and uses large fonts with easy to read headings and sections (e.g. no bulky paragraphs) resulting in a positive user experience.
What has the reader achieved after reading the article? They now have a comprehensive effective workout routine (which actually works). No more wasting time in the gym not seeing results. No more frustration of trying to decide how many sets or reps you should do for each exercise. No more confusion over how many times a week you should exercise.
The article provides a huge amount of value as it uses practical, actionable advice to clearly take a reader from point A (confusion and uncertainty about exercise) to point B (a clear effective workout plan).
There are thousands of other websites which offer workout advice and routines but this particular content piece stands out due to its simplicity, usefulness and ability to answer a user’s search query (i.e. how to gain muscle or build a workout routine).
Each blog post on A Workout Routine follows a similar approach of being focused, comprehensive, easy-to-read and, importantly, useful and valuable. The website doesn’t need to invest time and money into video/image production or worry about expensive content production costs – content is delivered in a simple text-based blog format. The value and SEO effectiveness lies in the value the content provides.
Without investing in any paid media (i.e. PPC), A Workout Routine is able to attract hundreds of thousands of users on a monthly basis. The website has a strong authority score with thousands of backlinks. The average visit duration for AWR is more than four times the average for other websites.
All this has been achieved through one key focus – providing value to website visitors.
You can use the Domain Overview report within SEMRush to view SEO performance metrics for individual websites (such as organic traffic, keywords, domain authority, time spent on site, bounce rate etc).
Now you have an understanding of how keywords work and the aspects which make up great content. In the next section, running an SEO campaign, we’ll go into greater depth to cover how to use specific tools for keyword research, search volume, determining user search intent, uncovering keyword value and more.
We’ll then cover how to use this research to start creating, and promoting, content so you can start attracting new visitors to your website.
Whilst SEMRush, Ahrefs and Moz have been discussed throughout this section, these platforms have an additional wide range of tools which haven’t been covered. The below video provides one of the best tutorials on how to use SEMRush and covers all the features of the platform.
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Ahrefs have put together a good SEO for beginners tutorial which features how to use the Ahrefs platform to build an effective SEO content strategy.
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Learn digital marketing in five steps
