Content is the root of all internet marketing campaigns. In order to have a successful campaign, you need to produce high quality content that attracts users. Even further, the contents need to be optimized for SEO. Forget about flooding the articles with keywords and links; here are a number of things you can actually do to optimize your content even further.

Top Trends and User Searches

In order to optimize your site’s content for SEO purposes, you need to first understand how your users search for information. Tools such as Google Analytics and SEOMoz can help you get the insight you need to begin.

After finding the top keywords and phrases that users use to find your articles, you can continue by taking a number of simple steps.

• Understand how the keywords and phrases are constructed. You will see, for example, phrases like “how to find the best travel insurance” or “finding top travel insurance”.

• See what search phrases competitors are getting. You can use the same tools to perform competitor analysis.

• Adjust your articles to better suit your users. Instead of targeting generic phrases such as “travel insurance”, you can focus on more user-specific keywords such as the ones mentioned above.

Depending on the site you are running, you can also produce contents that match the latest trends. Creating a story that goes well with trending keywords can really help boost your site’s traffic and SEO performance in general.

Content Optimization for Search Engines

Identifying how your users search for information is just the first step towards optimizing your contents for SEO. Next, you need to start writing and posting content in order to be more visible on search results. There are a few tips you can use to get started right away, including:

• Create a content schedule and be consistent. Search engines value websites that are updated regularly. Instead of posting blog posts sporadically, keep a tight schedule and update your site regularly.

• Use headlines, page titles, subtitles and URLs to your advantage. These web elements are rated higher than the rest of the articles. By placing keywords as these elements, you can gain better search engine rankings much faster.

• Don’t hesitate to use additional tools to review the content before posting. Yoast for WordPress is a good example of how an SEO tool doesn’t have to be complicated. Even when you don’t have prior experience in doing SEO audits, the tools you use will point you towards the right direction.

• Don’t forget to also optimize content for local searches. Add country- or city-specific information to your article, particularly if you are targeting a specific market segment. Search engine crawlers will pick up these information and adjust your rankings accordingly.

As with any SEO effort, don’t forget to be consistent. You need to evaluate your efforts and make subtle adjustments to keep the SEO campaign effective, but posting contents consistently is still necessary. It is the only way you can stay ahead of your competitors and keep your pages appearing on search results.