SEO Strategies for 2024: From Keywords to Topics - Building an Effective Content Strategy
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2024 6:32 am
Many businesses have a narrow goal for search engine optimization (SEO): to achieve top positions for the search keywords most relevant to their products and services. This approach leads companies to invest significant resources into improving their performance for a limited number of highly competitive keyword searches. Yet, surprisingly, this often doesn't translate into improved organic search traffic, especially for businesses that are just beginning their SEO efforts or don't have the track record to compete with more established competitors.
As an alternative approach, businesses can build on their existing authority on a particular topic and create new content to establish new streams of sustainable traffic and revenue.
In this post, we'll show you how to france telegram phone number list use search analytics tools to identify your brand's unique topical authority and from there prioritize articles on new adjacent topics to effectively grow your organic search traffic over time.
1. Approach: Topics, not keywords
Many businesses start with a single keyword research as the basis for determining what content to develop. This is an outdated, wasteful and ineffective approach.
While ranking top for top keywords is certainly the end goal, the most successful SEO teams take a more strategic approach: they focus more on clusters of many semantically similar keywords (known as "topics") and the "intent" behind those topics.
Why keywords alone are not enough?
Missing intent: For example, searching for the keywords "how to write a book outline" and "how to start writing a book" will return many of the same results. This means that Google considers these keywords to represent the same intent, which might be the more general "how to write a book." If the user intent is to learn how to write a book, but you write an article only about writing a book outline, Google will not rank your content well because it doesn't address the full intent.
Effort: With the old keyword approach, you would end up writing separate articles on “how to write a book synopsis” and “how to start writing a book.” This leads to extra effort and wasted resources.
Prioritization: When you use keyword research to prioritize your content creation, you are only looking at the search volume of a specific keyword (rather than the cumulative search volume of all the keywords that make up the topic). This can lead you to erroneously conclude that a topic has low search volume and make the wrong prioritization decisions about what to write about.
Why focus on a topic?
A group of keywords that share the same "intent" is called a "topic." Topical SEO is a strategy of creating content around topics instead of keywords, which solves the problems mentioned above:
Comprehensive Intent: Topical SEO considers all keywords related to the user intent, not just one, so you are more likely to write content that satisfies the search intent, which leads to higher rankings.
Effort: Writing on topic increases the efficiency of your content by eliminating duplicate efforts and resulting in a higher percentage of your articles ranking.
Prioritization: Prioritization decisions can be made based on a holistic view of traffic volume for a topic, rather than piecemeal keyword-based volume.
2. Where do you start? Find your area of topical authority
Rather than starting from scratch with a topic new to your brand, the most successful topical SEO strategies are built by leveraging existing areas of "topic authority" - a brand's proven knowledge of a particular topic - to drive incremental SEO traffic through loop-based movements.
The topic authority loop works like this:
Brands identify existing topical authority based on their most inbound keywords (and backlink anchor text).
Brands invest in new SEO content adjacent to their topic authority.
New adjacent topic content will rank in part due to a brand’s existing topic authority.
New content generates incremental traffic and engagement.
Over time, the traffic and engagement from new content will broaden and deepen your brand's topical authority.
And the compounding loop continues as your brand's topical authority grows...
In this article, we'll show you a four-step method for identifying existing topic authority and prioritizing new content topics so you can kickstart your topical SEO content strategy.
3. Evaluate the top keywords that drive traffic to your domain
To identify areas of topical authority, you first need to understand the keywords that are bringing traffic to your domain, which you can do by searching for your business name in Google Search Console (GSC).
GSC is a free service provided by Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your domain's presence in Google search results.
We extract five domain-specific outputs from GSC:
Queries (also known as keywords)
Clicks
Impressions
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Rank
This is all the raw data we need to identify a domain's topical authority!
Note : For new domains (e.g., if your GSC extract contains less than 20 keywords), it may still be too early to invest in SEO content and we recommend investing in brand marketing, PR, and paid advertising instead to build awareness. However, you can continue this exercise as directional guidance for how your SEO content topics may evolve over time.
Evaluate topic authority from inbound keywords
1. Find a specialty by keyword
Check the most popular keywords (search terms) used on your website.
Among these keywords, look for common themes.
Example : Let's say you run a travel blog, and after analyzing your Google Search Console data, you find that keywords like "Tokyo travel", "Kyoto tourist spots", and "Japanese hot springs" bring in a lot of traffic. From this, you can determine that the topic "Domestic Japan travel" is a strong fit.
2. Points to consider when choosing a specialty
Choose three areas of expertise for your website. Choose a generic theme that doesn't include your business name.
From the three you have chosen, choose one topic that can avoid the following two problems:
a. Avoid topics with low search volume: There is little value in writing new articles for a small potential audience. Monthly search volume is less than 500
b. Avoid topics with too much competition : You can easily lose to high authority competitors. There are clear competitors with a domain authority of 60 or more. Note: A new website can compete with strong competitors if it shows expertise, but it is wise to choose a topic without big players. Example: For a running site, even if you specialize in "running shoes", you are unlikely to be able to beat Nike or Adidas.
This way you can create an effective SEO strategy that plays to the strengths of your website.
4. Brainstorm new SEO content topics adjacent to topic authority
Think of new topics related to the topics of strength you have identified.
Example : If your strength is "domestic travel in Japan," possible related topics include the following:
"Tour of Japan's Regional Gourmet Foods"
"Experience traditional Japanese culture"
"Recommended travel destinations for each season in Japan"
"Japan Transportation Guide (Shinkansen, Bus, Rental Car, etc.)"
Take the time to create a list of 5-10 adjacent topics. The next step is to prioritize them based on their potential traffic and business impact.
As an alternative approach, businesses can build on their existing authority on a particular topic and create new content to establish new streams of sustainable traffic and revenue.
In this post, we'll show you how to france telegram phone number list use search analytics tools to identify your brand's unique topical authority and from there prioritize articles on new adjacent topics to effectively grow your organic search traffic over time.
1. Approach: Topics, not keywords
Many businesses start with a single keyword research as the basis for determining what content to develop. This is an outdated, wasteful and ineffective approach.
While ranking top for top keywords is certainly the end goal, the most successful SEO teams take a more strategic approach: they focus more on clusters of many semantically similar keywords (known as "topics") and the "intent" behind those topics.
Why keywords alone are not enough?
Missing intent: For example, searching for the keywords "how to write a book outline" and "how to start writing a book" will return many of the same results. This means that Google considers these keywords to represent the same intent, which might be the more general "how to write a book." If the user intent is to learn how to write a book, but you write an article only about writing a book outline, Google will not rank your content well because it doesn't address the full intent.
Effort: With the old keyword approach, you would end up writing separate articles on “how to write a book synopsis” and “how to start writing a book.” This leads to extra effort and wasted resources.
Prioritization: When you use keyword research to prioritize your content creation, you are only looking at the search volume of a specific keyword (rather than the cumulative search volume of all the keywords that make up the topic). This can lead you to erroneously conclude that a topic has low search volume and make the wrong prioritization decisions about what to write about.
Why focus on a topic?
A group of keywords that share the same "intent" is called a "topic." Topical SEO is a strategy of creating content around topics instead of keywords, which solves the problems mentioned above:
Comprehensive Intent: Topical SEO considers all keywords related to the user intent, not just one, so you are more likely to write content that satisfies the search intent, which leads to higher rankings.
Effort: Writing on topic increases the efficiency of your content by eliminating duplicate efforts and resulting in a higher percentage of your articles ranking.
Prioritization: Prioritization decisions can be made based on a holistic view of traffic volume for a topic, rather than piecemeal keyword-based volume.
2. Where do you start? Find your area of topical authority
Rather than starting from scratch with a topic new to your brand, the most successful topical SEO strategies are built by leveraging existing areas of "topic authority" - a brand's proven knowledge of a particular topic - to drive incremental SEO traffic through loop-based movements.
The topic authority loop works like this:
Brands identify existing topical authority based on their most inbound keywords (and backlink anchor text).
Brands invest in new SEO content adjacent to their topic authority.
New adjacent topic content will rank in part due to a brand’s existing topic authority.
New content generates incremental traffic and engagement.
Over time, the traffic and engagement from new content will broaden and deepen your brand's topical authority.
And the compounding loop continues as your brand's topical authority grows...
In this article, we'll show you a four-step method for identifying existing topic authority and prioritizing new content topics so you can kickstart your topical SEO content strategy.
3. Evaluate the top keywords that drive traffic to your domain
To identify areas of topical authority, you first need to understand the keywords that are bringing traffic to your domain, which you can do by searching for your business name in Google Search Console (GSC).
GSC is a free service provided by Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your domain's presence in Google search results.
We extract five domain-specific outputs from GSC:
Queries (also known as keywords)
Clicks
Impressions
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Rank
This is all the raw data we need to identify a domain's topical authority!
Note : For new domains (e.g., if your GSC extract contains less than 20 keywords), it may still be too early to invest in SEO content and we recommend investing in brand marketing, PR, and paid advertising instead to build awareness. However, you can continue this exercise as directional guidance for how your SEO content topics may evolve over time.
Evaluate topic authority from inbound keywords
1. Find a specialty by keyword
Check the most popular keywords (search terms) used on your website.
Among these keywords, look for common themes.
Example : Let's say you run a travel blog, and after analyzing your Google Search Console data, you find that keywords like "Tokyo travel", "Kyoto tourist spots", and "Japanese hot springs" bring in a lot of traffic. From this, you can determine that the topic "Domestic Japan travel" is a strong fit.
2. Points to consider when choosing a specialty
Choose three areas of expertise for your website. Choose a generic theme that doesn't include your business name.
From the three you have chosen, choose one topic that can avoid the following two problems:
a. Avoid topics with low search volume: There is little value in writing new articles for a small potential audience. Monthly search volume is less than 500
b. Avoid topics with too much competition : You can easily lose to high authority competitors. There are clear competitors with a domain authority of 60 or more. Note: A new website can compete with strong competitors if it shows expertise, but it is wise to choose a topic without big players. Example: For a running site, even if you specialize in "running shoes", you are unlikely to be able to beat Nike or Adidas.
This way you can create an effective SEO strategy that plays to the strengths of your website.
4. Brainstorm new SEO content topics adjacent to topic authority
Think of new topics related to the topics of strength you have identified.
Example : If your strength is "domestic travel in Japan," possible related topics include the following:
"Tour of Japan's Regional Gourmet Foods"
"Experience traditional Japanese culture"
"Recommended travel destinations for each season in Japan"
"Japan Transportation Guide (Shinkansen, Bus, Rental Car, etc.)"
Take the time to create a list of 5-10 adjacent topics. The next step is to prioritize them based on their potential traffic and business impact.