Landing at the top of search results is key to the success of your brand, and good PR writing can help get you there. At PR News’ recent Writing Boot Camp in Chicago, Mike Samec, director of digital strategy at Gibbs & Soell Business Communications, spoke in depth on what a successful SEO content approach can look like.
Here are some quick tips to keep in mind when looking to implement an SEO strategy in your PR writing:
- Do your research. Plug words into the search engines to discover related words or terms. What does your target audience say? Do they prefer “cars” or “automobiles?” “Lawyers” or “attorneys?”
- Say something worthwhile. This may seem obvious, but your content needs to offer something people can’t get someplace else. It makes you a sought-after commodity, and it improves your search rankings.
- Structure your content. Use your keywords where they will make a difference—in the headline, in your image alt text and in the body of your page. Just remember not to inundate your page with keywords. Google doesn’t like that, and it will lead to lower search rankings or being pulled from the search engine altogether. Instead, use alternatives that play with keyword variations.
- Do a focus check. Is your content focused and on target? You want to make sure your content survives the editorial process. If the search engines “get it,” so should your audience.
- Build your community. Include external links that are relevant to your brand to expand the reach of your community. Give thought to organizations, trade groups and influencers that can expose your content to new audiences.
Follow Mike Samec: @msamec
Follow Richard Brownell: @RickBrownell
Richard,
Excellent article that applies to all aspects of content marketing. This goes beyond just a simple blog post, however right through to your social media channels, press releases, Q&A’s on your web site and beyond! Variations of keywords can also be helpful like you mentioned.
Thank you!
Michael
24-7 Press Release Newswire