We’re experts who have worked at Facebook and Google. SEO is one of the most talked about topics in marketing today. We’ve seen companies that organically rank at the top of Google for a strategic keyword like ‘ best lawyers in California’, can generate millions of dollars in sales just from one keyword.  SEO can be hard and confusing unless you’ve done it. In this guide, you’ll learn everything from start to finish on how to create SEO content to rank on Google in 2023 and beyond.

Goals: Be Helpful and Fresh

Google wouldn’t be the company it is today without their ability to surface the most helpful and recent content to your search. That’s Google’s main goal and if the content you create is helpful to searchers on Google, then you will slowly start to see your rankings improve.

How can Google tell if something is helpful? They can see the engagement on your site if users are reading or if they leave right away to continue their search. We will show you how you can create content that will get you ranking on Google as well as how you can audit your website and landing page. It’s also important to note that Google likes ranking newer content vs things from two years ago. So a helpful tip if you have older content, simply make a few edits to update it for 2023 and you will see rankings improve right away!

And remember that throughout your SEO journey, your main goal is to be helpful by answering the question that a potential customer is looking for on Google.

Let’s get started!

Tip 1: Write Long Blog Posts

Content that ranks #1 and #2 on Google for searches average between 1,900 to 2,000 words. While similar content that ranks in position #10 averages just 1,700 words. The fact that all you need to do is to write a little bit longer could mean the difference of thousands of website visits per day or just a few hundred per month. Another reason that longer content ranks higher is that people may spend more time on the site, making it known to Google that this article is indeed more helpful than the shorter version.

To make your post longer, dive into the next Search a user might perform on Google after they get first answer from you. Create content for each search in the same article, an example of this in practice is that this blog is about SEO best practices and while we go through the steps, your next search might be on how to audit your own website for SEO which is another topic we will cover in here :). Rinse and repeat this process until you hit the 2,000 word mark.

Tip 2: How to Structure Your Content to Make it Readable

Making content that is easy on the eyes will help the reader to stay engaged and continue reading. Here are a few tips that you can follow:

1. Add a catchy headline that includes the keyword you want to rank for.
2. Add a 1 to 2 sentence introduction stating the problem and how you are offering the solution.
3. Next have your first paragraph (4 to 5 sentences) in which you will answer the question very clearly. Making sure that you bold the sentence that answers the question.
4. Now create a second paragraph (3 to 4 sentences) where you will intro into the Subheadings (where you will list the different factors/solutions for answering the users search).
5. Until you hit 2,000 words, keep creating a subheading (an example of a subheading is ‘Tip 2: How to…’ with 4 to 5 sentences each that list the different factors/solutions for answering users question. Be helpful and succinct. Include keywords that you want to rank for throughout these sections.

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Just ask Plai..

“How many visits do I have today? Do people find my website engagement?”

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Tip 3: Answer A Question

Just help people out! The best way to do this is to search for a relevant topic to see what others are writing and the keywords they are using.

For inspiration, you can even scroll down to the bottom of Google to see related searches for potential new content to write about. Take a look at competitors keywords and look at their popular posts. Maybe you can write something that’s better or more recent!

Also, avoid voicing your opinion. You are creating this content to help people answer their question.

Tip 4: Crafting Good Headlines

Headlines are a major factor in ranking and interesting a searcher to click on your content. Here are a few tips:

1. Keep it to 60 characters max.
2. Write something that clearly shows you are answering their question.
3. Add flair to make it stand out! Look at magazine articles for example, they have some of the most eye-catching titles.

Tip 5: Keyword & Content Research

You’ll want to make sure the question you are creating content to answer has enough eyeballs on it or popularity. It takes work to create content, so make sure people are actually searching for what you are writing. See a few tips:

1. Do your own Google Search for the topic or keyword to see if others are writing about it. If you see a Google Search ad for your Search, odds are it has a good amount of search volume. Look at related searches below at the bottom of Google to see if people are searching more for different keywords.
2. Type your keyword into Reddit to see how many people are talking about it.
3. If you have a Google Ads account you can use their free keyword planner tool to get a breakdown on search volume for any keyword. Uber Suggest is also a new tool that offers a similar feature.

If you think it’s a stupid question, don’t write it. If it’s a reasonable question. Write it! The most searched question about dogs is, “Can dogs eat bananas?”

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Just ask Plai..

“How many visits do I have today?”

“Do people find my website engagement?”

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How You Can SEO Audit Your Own Site, Fast and Easy

Now that you know how to create SEO friendly content, let’s learn how you can easily audit your own website for SEO!

1. Title Tag: Does the home page have a title tag? Is the title tag formatted properly? Your title tag is on your homepage and should contain the name of your business and in 2 to 3 words describes your service/product. An ideal example of a title tag is [Name] [Product/Service] [Location].
2. Headings: Does the home page content have heading tags? Check your home page, blog post or the page you want to rank for to see if it has headings (H1, H2, etc.).
3. Image Alt Text: Are the images formatted properly? Do they have Alt Text attributes? Every image must have an appropriate alt text that preferably contains the name of the business and a keyword.
4. Name, Address, Phone Number (NAP): Are the NAP details displayed prominently? Make sure they are correct and up to date.
5. Homepage readability: Does the home page content ‘look’ good? Does it link to other pages? The home page text (content) should be informative, non-repetitive and easy to browse through. It should also contain links to other relevant pages.
6. Backlinks: Look for how many backlinks (the number of referring domains) you have to your content. See who is linking back yo your content and reach out to them to see if they will link back to your most recent content. Backlinks help Google to determine the overall domain authority of your website. The more you have, the easier it is to rank!

Connect to Google Search Console

This is a must do if you want to improve your SEO! According to Google the Google Search Console is describe as ‘Search Console tools and reports help you measure your site’s Search traffic and performance, fix issues, and make your site shine in Google Search results.’

Basically what you want to do is verify your site with Google Search Console so they can show your site in Google Search Results. Set up is fairly simple and straightforward. This is a must do!

WordPress SEO Quick Guide

1. There are a lot of website builders out there, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, Google Sites, etc. Most of them are drag and drop templates for building your website and don’t offer a lot of customizing. This makes it hard to have strong SEO with template based sites. WordPress is a website builder that is fully customizable and has a ton of great features for helping out with SEO. But it can be confusing. Here you will see a few best practices for your WordPress site to have success with SEO:
2. Post name optimization: Login to WordPress and find Settings > select Permalinks > choose Post Name (makes url name of post). This will optimize your page titles.
3. Yoast SEO Plugin: Yoast is a great tool that will help you see opportunities throughout your WordPress site and on specific pages. And it’s Free. To get started go to Plugins > Yoast SEO > Install > Activate > Settings > Features > Turn on XML (to show up quickly)
4. Page SEO: Pages > Choose Page > Scroll to bottom > Edit SEO
5. For auto SEO on images: Plugins > SEO Friendly Images
6. For speeding up website to improve SEO: Plugins > WP Super Cache
7. Eligible to show: Settings > Reading > Make sure Search Engine Visibility is not checked so you can show in organic search results
8. Verifying your site with Google Search Console
9. Sign up to Google Search Console > Go to Add property > enter your url (same as primary wordpress url found in Settings > general)
10. Verify site > Alternate method > HTML tag > copy code that is in ‘ ‘ after content =
11. Go back to WordPress with the copied code > Use Yoast > General > Webmaster Tools > past code under Google search console
12. Save changes on WordPress and Verify on Google.
13. You’re all set!

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