What Is Content Optimization?

Simply put, content optimization is optimizing content for Google. This way your content ranks higher on search results — which means more traffic and conversions.

Common content optimization strategies include:

• Including your target keyword and LSI keywords.
• Writing SEO-friendly URLs.
• Optimizing for featured snippets.
• Writing meta descriptions that drive clicks.
• Improving readability score.

… and much more.

The point? When you optimize content, you’re making it SEO-friendly.

Why Is Content Optimization Important?

Short answer: if you don’t optimize content, it’s as good as invisible.

Content that is optimized for search engines:

• Outranks competitors.
• Earns more backlinks.
• Drives higher clicks.
• Brings high-quality leads.
• Generates more sales.

More importantly, content optimization helps with two things:

1. Better Content Quality

Content optimization helps you create high-quality SEO content. With such intense competition, quality content is a prerequisite at this point.

By optimizing content for readers, you drive more high-quality leads.

If your goal with content marketing is more leads and sales, optimizing content is an absolute must.

Better content quality = more search traffic.

2. More Search Traffic

Optimizing content is one of the most effective SEO strategies. When you optimize for Google, you rank higher. Which helps you reach the widest target audience.

How? Higher rankings = more clicks = more page views.

In fact, Brain Dean found that the #1 result has 10x CTR (vs #10):

How to Optimize Content? 5 Actionable Tips

If you’re still reading, you’re sold on the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of content optimization.

Now for the fun part: ‘ how’ to optimize content.

Here are five content optimization tips that’ll help you rank higher and drive more traffic:

1. Conduct Competitor Research

Before you begin optimizing content, you need to conduct competitor research.

Why? Your competitors are a goldmine of information that can inform your content optimization efforts and help you create better SEO content.

Google your target keyword. Look at the top 2-3 competitors:

Besides the content itself, we want insights into:

• Content quality and comprehensiveness.
• Keyword usage (+ LSI keywords).
• Content freshness (or last published).
• Word count.
• Domain authority (DA).
• Number of backlinks.
• Number of social shares.

You can do this research manually. But we want to optimize content FAST.

2. Improve Internal Linking

Internal links are the most important ranking factor after content and backlinks.

“Internal links are the most powerful SEO lever you control 100% after content”.
Kevin Indig, Director of SEO @ Shopify

Google uses internal links to find, understand, and index pages on your website. This makes it a major ranking factor. While you can’t control external links, you have full control over your internal linking structure.

3. Optimize for Featured Snippets

Featured snippets are short snippets of text that appear above Google’s organic search results to quickly answer a searcher’s query.

Ranking for a featured snippet drives more traffic. Why? Because your URL appears on the search results more than once. Once as a snippet and the other as a normal listing.

4. Improve your Content Grade

Content grade is a new concept. One popularized by content optimization tools.

A content grade shows how well your content is optimized for SEO. The higher your grade, the higher your organic search ranking.

5. Add Content Optimization Tools to Your Workflow

In the last few years, content optimization tools exploded in popularity. And for good reason.

These tools can:

• Remove guesswork. With AI and NLP, you’re no longer shooting in the dark.
• Save time. Some tools can save you as many as ~100 hours each month.
• Scale content. Tools can do the heavy lifting so you can make great content.

Final Thoughts

Creating great content no longer guarantees SEO success. To rank higher and drive more traffic, you need to optimize content.

What’s seen is sold.

Content that’s invisible isn’t going to drive any traffic, leads, or do anything else.

Didn’t get through the whole guide? Here’s a TLDR version:

• Conduct competitor research. The quintessential first step.
• Build internal links. The second most powerful SEO lever you control.
• Optimize for featured snippets. Two results are better than one.
• Improve content grade. By strategically including LSI keywords.
• Optimize faster with tools. Ex: Ahrefs, Topic, or Hemingway.

Want to create better SEO content, FAST? Try Topic today!