Your business’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy in 2023 is about finding the right opportunities. Identify the right keywords, choose the best writing format, and go big. It’s just like the three-pronged question posed by service providers. There are three options when you buy a service: cheap, fast, effective. You can only pick two.
In SEO, most DIY’ers end up just choosing one. You are smart about your keywords or you are a clever writer or you put a ton of brute force into each piece of content.
Trouble is, just doing one option isn’t quite enough.
Increasingly, the game requires you to do it all. Like an NFL athlete with a PhD who also ballroom dances and sings like an angel.
The only worse decision is following conventional advice tossed around at local conferences. You will end up chasing your tail, focusing on super-competitive keywords. Now, you’ll see I advocate for taking big swings at the competitive keywords. I want you to go big. Of course, you also need to be smart about how you much time you put into those SEO keywords, because you may be fighting a battle against much bigger, well-funded entities. (It may feel unfair, but it’s our reality. This very article will be up against companies like HubSpot. So be it.) There are some tricks to get around it, including not relying on just hitting “publish” to get your content to rank, but this will focus mostly on figuring out your SEO strategy.
To set the stage, let’s take a look at a search I did when doing my own SEO opportunity evaluation. I typed in “SEO tips for small businesses,” and this is what I saw:
First things first, we need to talk about Google Ads. This block seems to grow bigger every year, doesn’t it? We all saw that one coming, and when you see a company like Semrush using site extensions (those extra links below the main link), you can bet the organic content will be down even further. In this case, I’m not worrying about the Google Ads, because the category I target (business owners who DIY their marketing) is often looking for an article to read, not a software program. My main competitors are the next sections, particularly the featured snippet.
Why Featured Snippets Are Your Best Frenemy
From Google’s own information on featured snippets:
Google’s search results sometimes show listings where the snippet describing a page comes before a link to a page, not after as with our standard format. Results displayed this way are called “featured snippets.” You might find featured snippets on their own within overall search results, within the “People also ask” section, or along with Knowledge Graph information.
We display featured snippets when our systems determine this format will help people more easily discover what they’re seeking, both from the description about the page and when they click on the link to read the page itself. They’re especially helpful for those on mobile or searching by voice.
Google Support article on featured snippets
You should click on and read the featured snippet to find out what your top competitor is doing right. A little manual analysis goes a long way. While this content is taking the spot you hope to occupy, it’s also about to provide you with a lot of information on how to get your content to rank on the first page – an internet marketing frenemy.
In the above example, the featured snippets point to a Canadian bank’s article about SEO…
That’s wild!
I guess Canada’s financial system produces better SEO tips than Search Engine Journal, according to Google.
That’s can’t be right…
So, let’s do an analysis here. First off, the content on the page is well-organized. It’s easy to read – it tells me it only takes five minutes to get through. I would need equally clean content. Plus, it has exactly 10 tips. Nice round, likable number. Not too many tips and not too few. The information provided in each tip is pretty thin. (Maybe that’s our opportunity to outdo them?) The page’s design is simple. No images or other bulky pieces getting in the way. Probably safe to assume the page loads fast on mobile devices. (You can always double-check by sending the URL to yourself to check it on your phone.)
Here’s what I suspect:
- The website isn’t bloated with ads, pop-ups, etc. Page speed is in our Canadian bank’s favor.
- It may be an older domain with strong domain authority. (Remember, that’s not an actual Google signal; domain authority was created by Moz.com. It’s a way for us plebeians to do rough estimates of our websites’ strength.)
- There is an opportunity to gain ground by doing a slightly more robust article. Keep it plain, but add some information.
- Obviously, we need to organize the info as a list. From a human perspective, this makes sense. We all like our tips to be in easily-consumed blocks. Numbered lists are loved by human and robot alike.
- The short titles on each one of the 10 tips allowed it to easily capture the featured snippet, since Google could easily figure out what content to show. If the tip titles were longer, they wouldn’t fit as comfortably.
Using this information, plus surveying the other two articles with the black arrows pointing to them, we can put together a pretty good plan on how to rank for our “SEO tips for small businesses” keyword set.
But that’s just the beginning…
Your Gold Mine Comes from Google’s “People Also Ask” (PAA)
One of the greatest gifts from Google is telling us what other people wanted to know. They just put it right in front of you – don’t look this gift horse in the mouth! It’s all part of Google’s push to put the result you want on the search engine result page (SERP).
See also: Semrush’s data and history of the People also ask function
In this case, our “People also ask” section is a bit of a blessing and a curse. It’s a bit broad, in my opinion. To be fair, if someone is searching for a broad term like “SEO tips,” then their follow-up inquiries may be equally broad. So, for our purposes, we will run with it.
Every one of these extra searches represents another opportunity.
I now have an additional four pieces of content to write! No need to invent the keyword strategy from the ground up. Google gives you free information right here in the PAA. If you selected a strong first search, you will achieve a cascade effect of additional searches to target. (All the more reason to do your upfront keyword research, of course. Don’t skimp there.)
Take it one step further and click on the little arrows next to the question to see the answer.
Suddenly, even more alternative searches appear! It’s an endless rabbit hole of valuable search phrases. You will need to use some judgment on how far down you go. Eventually, the extra questions will be of lower quality – or at least too far off the needs of your ideal customer to warrant your effort. By that time, you may already have 20 new keyword sets to target.
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Quality Over Quantity… with a Few Exceptions
If you have 20 new articles to write, you may feel overwhelmed. After all, that’s a lot of writing just to cover one keyword set with a few branching off areas. If you put in 500 words per articles, you would be 10,000 words deep on one subject before moving on! That’s a smart way to write a book, but it may not serve you well with SEO.
For small business search engine optimization, you need to know when to pull out the shotgun versus the rifle.
The best way to assist your decision-making is by focusing on the following two questions:
- Who is my ideal reader, customer, client, etc.?
- Does this search term represent high intent to take action and/or purchase?
Technical SEO folks focus mostly on the second question. Copywriters focus on the first one. Surprise, surprise… you need to be somewhere in the middle.
Since this article focuses on search inquiries, we will put on our techie hat and focus on intent. Have you heard about intent? It’s an SEO buzzword, meaning there is value and hype.
Let’s cut to the realities of intent. The whole idea is in the word. “What is the intention of the searcher?”
Google is investing a lot of its algorithm into understanding and accounting for intent. They want searchers to match with content that creates progress. If you’re searching for “how to purchase maple wood for woodworking,” Google will serve up local lumberyards and online buying options. If you want to know how to purchase the material, your intent is likely to make a purchase. On the other hand, if you search for “how to identify maple wood,” you will need images and/or videos to assist you. Similar fields with very different intents.
Go after high-intent keywords with gusto. Go big! Write a short treatise. Populate it with images. Use a video to enhance the experience. Link to related content on your website. Really give it your all. These are your buyer terms. You are close to the finish line (a buying decision), and you don’t want to take any chances.
Pull out the shotgun approach for searches with less intent or for what I call adjacent search terms. These are searches in the vicinity of what you do but don’t lead directly to a purchase from you. If we were a lumberyard, like discussed above, one of those searches could “best saw for cutting dovetail joinery.” We may not sell saws, but people buying saws are likely interested in buying decent wood. You could even monetize the page using affiliate links to Amazon… but that’s getting ahead of ourselves!
To get your best shot at quality content, start with these guidelines:
- Try to hit a minimum of 1,200 words. There isn’t a guaranteed reward for word count, but Google clearly understands that being capable of writing more on a subject makes it more likely you are an expert and authority (parts 1 and 2 of the E.A.T. measuring system Google uses).
- Include at least one informational image. Illustrated information is powerful. Plus, those images make for good social media posts.
- Focus on readability. Use lists, sub-headlines, and different paragraph lengths. Also, don’t write at too high a level. This article, for example, is written at a sixth-grade level according to The Hemingway App.
- Links help. Send people to other content you write and other authoritative sources. True experts know when to suggest what others wrote on a topic.
Pounce on New Trends and Related Stories
Whenever a celebrity talks about your general area of business, write about it. If there are changing trends in the work you do, write about it. Any time you see a culturally relevant notice about your line of work, write about it!
Capitalize on any kind of press pointing to your industry.
These opportunities may not live as long as the well-researched topics discussed above, but you can get quick traffic bumps. These bumps help your site’s overall health. Additionally, they give you opportunities to link back to your core content. It’s an all-around shot of B12 for your website.
Your press-response articles don’t need to be of the same length as your high-intent search phrases. However, take advantage of videos and images. People looking at culturally relevant info are conditioned to look for design, for the most part. There are exceptions. But we’re not going to split hairs here. Let’s go with what works most of the time.
I preach caution on using celebrity images. You don’t want to violate any copyright laws.
You can also look at what your competitors are doing and write responses to whatever they put out. There aren’t limitations on how you source responsive SEO. Having a content plan certainly makes the process easier. When you know what you’re looking for, you tend to find it.
Charley
I help small business owners, freelancers, and marketing DIY'ers get an edge up against the 800-pound gorillas in their markets. Like your business, this site is a DIY project showing you how to do what I've done in other businesses, including a law firm and a major coaching group for law firm owners.
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