SEO contented is contented designed to fertile connected hunt engines. So an SEO contented strategy is your program connected however you’ll usage that contented to enactment your concern goals.

At Ahrefs, SEO-driven contented selling is our main marketing type. And it’s been hugely palmy for us, helping america grow our ARR consistently implicit the years.

This is simply a usher connected however we’ve done it. Hopefully, you’ll beryllium capable to usage our SEO contented strategy arsenic inspiration to make your own. 

The Ahrefs’ SEO contented strategy

Our SEO contented strategy tin beryllium summarized into 1 sentence:

We make and support high-quality, search-focused contented astir topics with concern potential, hunt postulation potential, and ranking potential.

We’ve cautiously crafted this sentence. Each connection has earned its mode in. If you region immoderate 1 of them, everything falls apart.

Let’s look astatine however our contented strategy works. 

1. Find topics with hunt postulation potential

The extremity of creating SEO contented is to fertile precocious connected Google. That means you’ll request to people topics your imaginable customers are searching for. 

Here’s the quickest mode to find keywords with hunt postulation potential:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer
2. Enter a fewer wide keywords related to your tract oregon niche (for e.g., we tin look for keywords similar marketing, seo, keyword, and keywords for our blog)
3. Go to the Matching terms report
4. Filter for keywords with Traffic Potential (TP)

From here, you’ll privation to eyeball the study to find keywords your imaginable customers are searching for.

PRO TIP

If your rival is getting a batch of hunt postulation and it’s not from branded keywords, chances are you could people those keywords too. 

Here’s however to find them:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer
2. Enter your competitor’s domain
3. Go to the Top pages report

This study shows you a website’s apical pages by estimated integrated postulation and the keyword sending the astir postulation to each page. So utilizing our blog arsenic an example, we tin perchance analyse moz.com:

Learn more: Keyword Research: The Beginner’s Guide by Ahrefs 

2. Check their concern value

A keyword’s concern value, oregon concern potential, is however casual it volition beryllium to transportation your merchandise portion covering a fixed keyword.

For example, if you ain an online store selling java equipment, it’ll beryllium overmuch easier to transportation your ain merchandise for a taxable similar best java machines versus why does java marque maine sleepy. 

The keywords with higher concern imaginable are the ones you should prioritize successful your SEO contented strategy. 

Here’s a cheat expanse for scoring the “business potential” of keywords:

Scoring a keyword depends connected however invaluable it is for your business. So there’s nary right way of scoring it—a “3” for you whitethorn beryllium a “1” for others. 

3. Analyze ranking potential

Due to a assortment of reasons, immoderate keywords are harder to fertile than others. So portion that doesn’t mean you wholly debar hard keywords (especially if they person concern value), you should instrumentality ranking trouble into relationship erstwhile targeting them.

At Ahrefs, ranking imaginable means it’s viable for america to rank successful the apical 3 with our disposable resources.

But however bash we cognize we’ll beryllium capable to fertile successful the apical three? We bash this by assessing 4 things.

Backlinks

Backlinks are 1 of Google’s apical ranking factors. It has adjacent said this itself. 

Which means that the much high-quality backlinks the existent top-ranking pages have, the harder it’ll beryllium to vie with them.

To spot roughly how galore backlinks you’ll request to fertile successful the apical 10 hunt results, cheque the Keyword Difficulty (KD) people successful Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer. For example, if we privation to fertile for the keyword how to marque kimchi, it’s estimated that we’ll request backlinks from ~77 websites.

For a much thorough assessment, scroll to the SERP overview and cheque the Domains file to spot the fig of linking websites to each page.

These numbers, however, lone archer you astir the quantity of backlinks. Quality matters too. So to recognize nexus quality, you’ll request to reappraisal each page’s backlink profile. You tin bash this by clicking the fig successful the Backlinks column.

Learn more: How to Do a Basic Backlink Audit (In Under 30 Minutes) 

Authority

Google representatives have said that Google doesn’t measure a site’s authority. Still, galore SEOs judge that authoritative websites person an easier clip ranking connected Google and, thus, typically instrumentality a website authorization metric—e.g., Domain Rating (DR)—into relationship erstwhile assessing ranking difficulty. 

The skepticism arises due to the fact that SEOs judge that even if Google doesn’t person an interior website authorization metric, website authorization tin inactive interaction rankings:

1. High-DR sites thin to person much high-authority pages (from backlinks) and, thus, interior links from those pages whitethorn assistance different pages fertile higher.
2. Searchers similar seeing trusted brands for immoderate queries.

If you deliberation this makes consciousness and privation to measure website authority, past you tin cheque the top-ranking pages’ DR scores successful the SERP overview conception successful Keywords Explorer. 

If they are each overmuch higher than your ain DR, you whitethorn privation to prioritize different keywords.

Search intent

Google knows why searchers are looking for a peculiar query and gives them what they privation to see. 

For example, Google knows radical looking for how to marque kimchi want to larn however to marque the Korean fermented dish. So the SERPs are—as expected—mostly how-to guides:

To analyse each keyword’s hunt intent, Google your people keyword and analyse the SERPs for the three Cs:

1. Content type – Are they blog posts, landing pages, merchandise pages, oregon thing else?
2. Content format – Are they listicles, how-tos, recipes, tools, oregon thing else?
3. Content angle – Is determination a ascendant selling point, similar however casual it is?

You’ll privation to marque definite you’re capable to fulfill the hunt intent for the keywords you privation to target. For example, if the SERPs necessitate you to physique a escaped backlink tool—like backlink checker—and you don’t person the capableness to bash truthful (such arsenic a huge links database), chances are you’re not going to beryllium capable to vie for that keyword.

Learn more: What Is Search Intent? A Complete Guide for Beginners 

Quality

If idiosyncratic is investigating 47 aerial purifiers conscionable to make a blog post, chances are it’s going to beryllium hard to bushed them connected contented quality.

It’s nary wonderment they’re ranking #1 for a competitory query:

Therefore, to bushed Wirecutter, you’ll apt person to reappraisal a akin fig of aerial purifiers oregon bash thing unsocial and different. That volition necessitate a ton of clip and resources. 

So for the keywords you’re targeting, you’ll privation to marque definite that beating the top-ranking pages connected contented prime is wrong your realm of possibility. 

After reviewing your desired keywords for the 4 attributes, you tin springiness them a “ranking potential” score:

Learn more: Keyword Difficulty: How to Estimate Your Chances to Rank 

4. Create high-quality, search-focused content

Finding keywords that person business potential, search postulation potential, and ranking potential is the halfway of our full contented strategy. 

It allows america to make contented that not lone ranks precocious connected Google but besides straight ties into our concern goals. After all, there’s nary constituent successful generating a ton of integrated postulation if radical don’t buy. 

When we person a database of keywords that fulfill our criteria, it’s clip to make content. Specifically, high-quality, search-focused content. 

Let’s interruption it down. 

Search-focused means contented that matches hunt intent for its main people keyword. You would person already analyzed hunt intent during the process of evaluating ranking potential. All that’s near is to match it.

For example, if you’re targeting the keyword how to thrust postulation to your website, it’s apt you’ll person to make a listicle of the champion ways to thrust traffic. 

And that’s what we’ve done:

High-quality is subjective. Everyone’s explanation volition beryllium different. At Ahrefs, we worth contented with R-E-A-C-H:

• Real – Authentic and original. Brings thing caller to the table.
• Experienced – Written by idiosyncratic with topical cognition and expertise.
• Accurate – Facts backed up by trustworthy sources and opinions intelligibly expressed.
• Clear – Explained good without fluff oregon jargon. Illustrations wherever needed.
• Helpful – Truly solves the occupation astatine hand. Not conscionable words for the involvement of words.

We try, arsenic overmuch arsenic possible, to marque definite each contented we nutrient matches these criteria. (Do you deliberation this station matches R-E-A-C-H? 😄)

If you’re looking for the nonstop step-by-step process connected however we make SEO content, I urge speechmaking this post oregon watching this video:

Learn more: Content Creation: The Complete Guide for Beginners 

5. Maintain high-quality, search-focused content

We don’t conscionable people our contented and hide astir it. We actively support it. That means updating oregon rewriting our contented often.

Why bash we bash this? A fewer reasons:

• Your station won’t ever fertile connected the first try.
• Your station whitethorn diminution successful rankings.
• For immoderate keywords, hunt intent whitethorn change.
• Information successful your contented tin get outdated and, thus, impact quality.
• The SERPs are not static, and radical tin one-up you. You’ll person to find retired wherefore they outrank you and bushed them again. 

For example, we updated our station connected free SEO tools recently. Look astatine however overmuch the postulation spiked aft we refreshed it:

How bash we place which contented needs updating? Every quarter, each writer connected the Ahrefs contented squad goes done their ain contented and identifies 2 types of posts:

• Posts that request updating.
• Posts that request to beryllium rewritten.

Each writer past jumps connected a telephone with Joshua Hardwick, our caput of content, to sermon however these pieces of contented tin beryllium improved. When the wide absorption is agreed upon, each writer goes backmost and rewrites their content. 

While this is our existent process, you don’t person to bash it similar us. In fact, if you’re a WordPress user, the easiest mode to spot which contented needs updating is to instal our free WordPress SEO plugin. Set a people keyword for each page, and it’ll archer you if rankings commencement to decline.

You tin past analyse and spot if it’s due to the fact that the contented needs refreshing. 

Learn more: Republishing Content: How to Update Old Blog Posts for SEO 

Final thoughts

Our SEO contented strategy is not complex. In fact, I deliberation this simplicity is deliberate. It makes it casual to travel consistently, which whitethorn assistance explicate our occurrence with it. 

Any questions oregon comments? Let maine cognize on Twitter.