Thread by @GiordMarco96

Content curation/planning is one of the most interesting parts of #SEO and for good reasons.

A short thread outlining some personal considerations and common mistakes I learned over time 🧵

Relying too much on tools. The maximum example is represented by the common misuse of tools such as Yoast SEO.

Green lights mean nothing for the user, they're third-party metrics with no relation to Google.

Be sure to understand what is great content.

Following a checklist. This is very different from content briefs/templates!

I am referring to static processes that involve the repetition of some steps just because they worked in the past. >>>

>>> There are different types of content and it's naïve to think there are absolute rules.

Testing is necessary to ensure you are satisfying the search intent.

And this applies across different languages too since the SERPs may change.

Not taking risks. I admit it's one of my problems as well, I should try to play more with content and test new ideas, not only for SEO.

Discover is another way of gaining traffic now and most of the content is way closer to the style you would see on social media.

Text generation. I have nothing against machine-generated content as long as it's good!

The problem is that not all the AI content you see online is of high quality. There are some niches where a lot of rubbish pages are ranking and it's not good for the users.

Readability. Please, don't think of it as a metric or a number.

I mean actual readability. Would you read through a wall of text? Probably not!

The role of blank spaces can be considered as a stylistic element per se.

Word count. It's not a ranking factor, yet I always hear about it.

Some search intents are met by providing the essential info, you don't need a full dissertation.

Be sure to focus on syntax and entities rather than length alone.

Of course, having more words in a text means you are more likely to mention related entities and concepts.

You can be more explicative, but there is a limit to it. Sometimes it's better to create different pieces of content instead of one.

There are cases where you should cover a subtopic in-depth and others where you shouldn't.

Search demand is not the only factor involved in such scenarios.

Looking at SERPs is the best way to do that and you should be extremely willing to improve this process.

Thinking in terms of individual pages.

It's very hard to optimize just one page, you should consider sections or clusters of pages.

In this way, you can consolidate your expertise around a certain topic and simulate the customer journey.

Context is super important for content. You can analyze an entity from different perspectives.

This is why understanding your audience is crucial. You can describe a topic in different ways and develop limitless ideas.

#NLP is a loyal companion for studying your competitors. My suggestion is to scrape Wikipedia or your competitors' pages to find entities.

Guess what, you can do this in #Python! This is not the only use case but one of many.

https://twitter.com/GiordMarco96/status/1499842120068177920

Imho Semantic SEO is a must-have for content nowadays, it's so useful to get a new perspective on content creation for the web.

If you're short on a budget this can be a problem. Can we even talk about great content w/o. budget and expertise?

You should be scared of having similar pages covering the same search intent.

Try to consolidate them, if possible. This doesn't apply to pages with totally different intents.

E.g. Transactional vs Info page ranking for the same query

Updating content is my favorite process. I love to improve it and offer new perspectives.

Yes, this applies if you are first too.

Imho, content for SEO is not a reasonable concept.

It's not like following a set of good practices goes against what people want to read and it's just to please search engines.

Google tries to understand what people want (not always)

Having a clear structure, short and readable periods, and using proper syntax should be standard writing rules.

I think it's not natural to mark it as "pleasing Google". These are basic writing skills too.

Your writers should formulate clear sentences.

Not all the content should rank or bring money. You can have supporting pages to build topical authority or even FAQs for frequent questions.

SEO is not the only channel and content shouldn't be isolated from other communication methods.

Finding content ideas is easier than it seems. You can describe a topic from different perspectives and analyze different problems.

For search engines, you have to be extremely careful to avoid cannibalization and that's where keyword grouping tools come into play.

While content is not always necessary, it's a good investment for the long-term, especially in static niches.

The amount of work for a competitor to catch up would be so long that by that time you would have doubled your content.

It's hard to measure content ROI but you can check the user journey and much more.

Have you ever tried to see what actions your users perform after reading an article?

It's not that easy, I will tell you why.

I can read an article and come back to buy after 3 months. This is not a rare scenario by any means!

If you spot a visible increase in organic traffic and you are getting more leads and sales, that could be the case you are doing well.

This thread is not about measuring tho.

When evaluating your content you should be really careful, an increase in organic traffic may be caused by a lot of factors.

Seasonality is one of many, not the only one. The business context and the SEO data you get are two starting points to understand what's happening.

A lot of people don't see the value of content, which should be quite clear in the era of thought leadership and social influence.

Writing the right things and helping people to solve problems should be your priority. The same goes for quality.

Speaking of quality, you should understand what is value proposition and the difference between them.

Value first, your ego second.

https://twitter.com/GiordMarco96/status/1503823357673832449

I think that you should just publish and risk at first. Adjust over time and see what works.

The first thing to do is to gather some tasty GSC data to understand where you should put your energy.

Tools are not as reliable as GSC, no way.

Experimenting with content is not a mainstream topic and it should deserve more attention.

Always strive for value and quality, build an excellence mindset.

It's OK to be wrong, just get more data and fix it.

Good content strategies take time to give their fruits. Don't be frustrated, if you did a great job just sit and wait.

The most important thing is to make sure those pages are crawlable and the technical side is decent enough.

This goes without saying, backlinks are not to be excluded. Some formats attract links and you can use them to improve your backlink profile.

Calculators, tools, and viral articles are such examples

Some may say that a content strategy produces results after 6 months or so. That is really situational and not a guarantee.

Sure, it won't take you one month either. I think that it should be pointed out that content is a long-term game.

Content is like software, it needs to be maintained and updated. The highest competitive advantage you can achieve is topical authority followed by a solid backlink profile.

It's a very expensive and slow process in most cases, that's why you have to invest asap.

If you don't start today you will face serious problems in the next future.

Creating content is an investment that requires a budget and a wise plan. Just writing something doesn't make it.

You will see that it's more of a mindset and not a "simple" process.

The concept of quality is strictly related to value and taste. Crafting articles that resonate with your audience is more psychology and hands-on experience than pure business.

Study your niche and learn from the big names.

Content can be in different forms, not just text. The core concept doesn't change, you should satisfy an audience.

You could indirectly build a community of affectionate readers that will convert easier.

Personal branding is another example where you can use content to showcase what you can offer.

This thread is an example. Like it and retweet if you've enjoyed the discussion!