Understanding Content Strategies Through Blog Posts

A summary of the April 30, 2024, episode of “Cutting Edge: Web Content Development”

Today, when content is king, businesses recognize the power of blogs to connect with their audience, establish thought leadership, and drive meaningful results. However, creating a successful blog that resonates with your target audience and aligns with your business goals requires a strategic approach backed by search engine optimization (SEO) expertise.

In this episode of Cutting Edge: Web Content Development, we had the pleasure of welcoming Jamie Landry, the SEO Content Manager at Dash Hudson, who shared invaluable insights into the art and science of managing an effective blog through the lens of an SEO expert.

You can listen to the podcast here or continue reading to learn more about content strategies for blog posts.

Keyword research and content strategies

At the core of Jamie's approach lies the foundational elements of thorough keyword research and identifying key content elements. She emphasizes these elements' critical role in shaping a website content strategy that drives organic traffic and ensures the content resonates with the target audience.

"In addition to understanding your demographic and business goals, keyword research plays a very big part," Jamie explains. "I have generally always found success when I am aiming for a keyword that has the right volume and the right difficulty." Using tools like SEMrush, Google Trends, and competitive analysis means that Jamie's team can identify high-value keywords that align with their audience's search intent and strike the perfect balance between search volume and competitiveness.

Once the keyword research is complete, Jamie advocates for the development of content pillars and clusters. "Identifying your content clusters and your pillar content really connects back to your marketing objectives and goals," she says. These pillars serve as the central pieces of content around a particular topic, while the clusters branch out into related subtopics, creating a comprehensive content ecosystem that caters to the user's journey.

Optimizing for user intent and engagement

As part of Jamie's strategy, she creates captivating blog post examples that align with the user's intent and encourage engagement. She emphasizes the importance of analyzing keyword intent, utilizing schema markup, and ensuring content immobility to enhance the user experience.

"I think it's really important to go back to the drawing board and see what the intent of this keyword is," Jamie advises. "Does our data, does our content really kind of match up? Because obviously, that's a clear indication that people aren't getting what they need when they visit that page."

Furthermore, Jamie also highlights the significance of incorporating schema markup, a structured data format that helps search engines better understand your website's content. "If you are a cooking website, recipe schema is another one that's really common," she explains. “So again, when somebody is looking up how to make eggs, it will appear on the Google SERP in a recipe format."

Jamie recommends optimizing content for skimmability to ensure users can consume and engage with it easily. "I think it's great in addition to these other KPIs that we discussed as well. Because again, something for the purpose of blog content especially is that skimmability factor," she says. "I know Google's always looking for things like shorter paragraphs, bullet points, headings, images, anything that can kind of break up huge walls of text."

KPIs for website content and blog posts

Measuring the success of your website content and blog posts is essential for refining your strategy and driving continuous improvement. Jamie suggests tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) such as sessions, keyword rankings, and engagement metrics like time on the page while stressing the importance of aligning these metrics with your specific business goals.

"For example, maybe you do have some more top-of-funnel goals. Maybe you will want to look at things like leads, demo requests, downloads, even clicks to a certain page," Jamie explains. "That being said, at the most basic level for my team, sessions on Google Analytics. It's a classic, but I guess you could say it's a classic for a reason."

Jamie also highlights the value of tracking keyword rankings and their position, particularly in relation to the difficulty level of the target keyword. "If it's extremely competitive and difficult to rank for, getting a top three position is always great. But depending on your domain authority, the content you have on your website, how long you've had a website, site speed, and so many other factors, getting a top three position in the first week, in the first month that a piece of content goes live might just not be achievable."

While time on page is not a primary KPI for Jamie's team, she acknowledges its importance as an engagement metric. "I do think it's great in addition to these other KPIs that we discussed as well. Because again, something for the purpose of blog content especially is that skimmability factor."

Utilizing SEO expertise for impactful blog content

Due to the competitive nature of the digital world today, having an SEO expert at the forefront of your blog management can be the differentiating factor that elevates your content strategy to new heights. Jamie's insights highlight the importance of embracing an SEO-driven approach to content creation, optimization, and promotion.

By aligning your blog with your business objectives, conducting thorough keyword research, identifying content pillars and clusters, optimizing for user intent and engagement, and continuously monitoring and refining your strategy based on KPIs, you can deliver an engaging online experience that connects with your target audience and drives tangible results.

As Jamie reflects on her career journey, she emphasizes the value of continuous learning and staying up-to-date with the latest developments in the ever-evolving field of SEO. "I would say, just paying attention to what Google is doing, reading Google Developer Updates, doing more free courses. That's something that I'm a big proponent of. Does Google have courses? Or is there any kind of thing outside of your normal day-to-day or your internal training or even your education that could really kind of inform what you do?"

By embracing Jamie Landry's insights and strategies, businesses can establish themselves as thought leaders, drive organic traffic, and create meaningful connections with their audiences. In content marketing, utilizing SEO expertise is no longer an option – it's a necessity for success.

Listen to the full podcast with Jamie Landry here!