Put analytics and SEO together, and you have a great system for figuring out what to write and when. This presentation is from a Wappow talk I gave. It's a step-by-step for making this work.
7. Time for an example.
I have this friend who
writes a marketing blog.
Hey
there!
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8. He could just look at
traffic reports and see
how he’s doing...
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9. But that breaks both of
our laws of analytics.
yeah.
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10. Instead, I’ll use analytics
to find the best-performing
content with potential
(opportunity).
yeah.
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11. Then we can use that to
decide what to write next.
yeah.
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12. If I look at my top content report in Google
Analytics: My top 2 pieces of content
appeal to nerds and marketers. I need to
write more for them.
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13. Or, I can set up a quick filter on my organic
search traffic report. That will show me the
best-performing topics.
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14. I’m writing a blog. So I’ll focus on ‘soft’
metrics, like time on site. I want to see
phrases that keep people onsite for more than
1.5 minutes - above average for my site...
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15. ...and I want to see phrases that result in a
bounce rate of 80% or less. That’s above
average for my blog.
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18. Notice that I’m selecting
keywords based on potential
and opportunity, not sheer
search volume.
If you have an established site,
you should always start with
this.
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19. Why not start by moving up for
terms for which you already
rank, instead of starting from
scratch with new phrases?
Huh?
Why not?!
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20. Yep. That’s right.
So start with the phrases
you’ve already got. Once you’ve
topped out the rankings for
those, you can move on to new
stuff.
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21. So, where were we?
Oh yeah. SEO, analytics and
keyword selection.
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22. Run a search in Google Analytics. Find the
phrases that send the best-quality traffic.
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23. Now, take a quick look at the top 10.
Check the rankings for each phrase.
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24. I rank #2 for this term. So, I’ll research
what it would take to get to #1. And
whether it’s worth the effort.
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26. Beware personalization!
Google customizes the
rankings you see based on your
search history, even if you don’t
have a Google account.
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27. Which means you can’t trust
the rankings you see.
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28. So, use a proxy tool. My
favorite is Proxify.
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30. Do. not. abuse it.
Proxify isn’t there to be your
nifty cool hacking tool.
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31. Use it to get accurate rankings.
Other people depend on Proxify
to protect their identities in
places like, oh, Libya.
So don’t be a jerk and cause
trouble.
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33. I’d just discovered that I rank
#2 for social media expert.
Now, I need to figure out if it’s
worth it to work for a #1
ranking.
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34. Meh. SEMRUSH.com search data
shows this isn’t the greatest
phrase.
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35. By the way, SEMRUSH rocks. I
won’t make money if you sign up.
They just have a great toolset.
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36. So, I’m not thrilled with social
media expert as a phrase.
I’ll dig a little deeper, though,
using Google Suggest.
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37. Go to Google. Start to type in
your search phrase. Google will
suggest related searches.
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38. Hmmm. Social media policy.
That could be a good one.
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39. Ah-HAH. It’s a decent phrase. I don’t
rank for it, but competition is low and I
rank for related terms.
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40. Now, I’ll take a look at the rankings for
social media policy. I need to see if I can
compete.
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41. A quick check on opensiteexplorer.org
shows that yes, I can compete.
Authority-wise, I match up pretty well.
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42. (Ian flexes his rippling link muscles)
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44. I don’t have an existing
page that’s relevant to
my target phrase.
45. So this term will end up
on my keyword map and
headline list.
46. My keyword map is just a list of phrases, how
competitive they are, where I currently rank,
and whether there’s an existing page on my
site that I should optimize for that phrase.
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47. Do I need a new page?
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52. Potential volume if I hit #1.
This is a very approximate number: 50% of the
total search volume, which I average between
the Google Adwords keyword tool and
SEMRush. Basically, a guess.
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53. Potential volume if I hit #1.
Sorry. It’s all I’ve got.
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54. Number of results found if I search for
allintitle:social media policy on Google
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55. Number of results found if I search for
allintitle:social media policy on Google
You can use the same search to get a rough
idea of competition. Go to Google, type in
allintitle:your search phrase, then write
down the number of results.
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57. There you have it. A keyword map. It can
keep you organized and focused on goals.
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58. I also keep a separate headline list. This
is a brainstorming list of headlines based
on the keyword map. I can then go
through them myself, or assign them to
other writers.
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59. Nothing magical here. Just a list to keep
me organized.
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60. Every week, check the keyword map and
update it. Assign new phrases to the
map. And add new headlines to your
headline list.
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61. Write content for each headline
and post it.
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62. Do all the other proper SEO stuff: A
good title tag, great overall writing,
smart code, and some smart
internal linking.
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63. Go out into the world and tell folks
about your great new article/page/
blog post.
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