SEO Training for Editorial Teams – MastheadOnline (blog)
So you want to be found on Search. Absolutely. Survival depends on it. But how? How do we get found on search? The answer is that you need to do what you do but do it slightly differently. You will need to change the way you do things at the office from the editor all the way on down when it comes to publishing your content in a Search friendly way.
Your editorial staffs job is writing about topics that interest your target audience. This creates content that online readers, just like print readers, are looking for. However, now, in addition to creating interesting content, your editorial staff must also make their content easy for interested readers to find through the search engines. This is a shift for your writers, but one that can be made fairly easily with some training and the right tools.
Editors must understand that the purpose of the changes theyll see to their writing habits are designed to increase traffic and readership. Unique and original content that your target market will love is really only as good if potential readers can find it. This change in focus will bring you a wider range of readers outside of those people who visit your website or blog regularly.
Lets be perfectly clear: your content should be written for your audience firstsearch engines second. Youre not asking your writers to create any content they wouldnt normally create, but just to optimize it in a way that search robots can find and index it. Well get deeper into formatting things behind the scenes later, but for now, lets take a look at the fundamentals.
Keyword Research - The Lowest Hanging Fruit
Print magazines succeed, in part, due to their ability to write catchy headlines. This works for humans, but not as well for search engines. Search engines take everything you write literally, so eye catching headlines are problematic, especially if these involve sarcasm, double entendres or witty satire.
Every subject or business has a lexicon of language. keywords that define what they do, how and for whom. These are the words that, according to research, are most often used when searching for information related to this subject. For example, if you want to buy a car, you probably search something like best deal on a Honda in Vancouver if youre looking for a Honda and you live in Vancouver.
A quick and easy way to begin creating content that will fare better in the search engines is to know your top 100 keywords and begin incorporating these naturally into your content. You can get help developing this from a professional SEO consulting firm or from people like us. Hiring a pro ensures the keywords have been verified to be valid, at least according to the almighty Google, Bing and Yahoo. You can also create your own list, by brainstorming the 100 words that best define what it is you do or are the subject matter authority on. There are certainly more than 100, but start with a list that everyone can agree would be the words a reader would most likely use when trying to find the kind of content you provide.
If you choose not to solicit the help of a professional SEO consultancy, at least spend some time researching the words you choose to get some verification that these words are worthy in the eyes of Google before moving on to any kind of ad spend or investment of time and money on optimization.
These words work best when used in key phrases, like the one mentioned above on car buying. You wouldnt simply search car, would you? Turn your words into simple search phrases.
There are a couple of ways to begin optimizing your content for the search engines. Your writers can begin using the phrases as they write content, where it is appropriate and sounds natural. With more than 100 words and even more phrase combinations, it can certainly be done, and offers the most natural approach. This approach prevents your content sounding like it was written for the search engines.
Some writers will be able to incorporate this change more easily than others. Its a good idea to have some training on this, and to let the writers brainstorm together. It can be tricky, but if your writers will commit to it, this is the best way to ensure your content is keyword optimized and enjoyable to read.
The second way to incorporate keywords for SEO is to have a final editor read the written content and incorporate the keywords before publishing. Its trickier to get reader friendly content this way. In the beginning, however, we recommend having someone check the writers content for good keyword use and entering keywords if necessary. This provides a check, but allows your writers to develop themselves as keyword writers at the same time.
In the next article, well delve further into incorporating keywords into your content and ensuring youre taking advantage of all the keywords your potential readers will use. Meanwhile, if you have questions or would like to learn more about incorporating SEO into your workflow, give us a call. Our Director of Digital at K9 strategy+design Richard Carmichael is happy to help.
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SEO Training for Editorial Teams - MastheadOnline (blog)