{"id":19129,"date":"2022-04-13T10:37:28","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T10:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nobraineragency.com\/seo\/https-www-nobraineragency-co-uk-blog-blog-how-to-incorporate-seo-into-your-content-planning-creatively\/"},"modified":"2023-11-22T12:15:49","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T12:15:49","slug":"incorporate-seo-into-content-planning-creatively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobraineragency.com\/seo\/incorporate-seo-into-content-planning-creatively\/","title":{"rendered":"How to incorporate SEO into your content planning, creatively"},"content":{"rendered":"

For content marketers, it can sometimes seem like SEO<\/a> considerations feel like constraints that they need to work within, and that doesn\u2019t give them much scope for creativity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"creative<\/a>
Download the checklist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s easy to fall into the trap of developing great content first and then trying to retrofit it with SEO relevancy and shoehorning some keywords in.<\/p>\n

But doing this often means you end up with content that doesn\u2019t really fit well for either your target market or search engines, despite your best intentions. No one really wins here, and the time and effort that went into the content only brings watered-down results at best.<\/p>\n

In this article, we look at how to plan content with SEO in mind from the very start, but without having to compromise on creativity, or on effectively meeting the needs of your intended audience.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The best SEO-driven content is user-focused<\/em>, not search engine-focused<\/h2>\n

No one enjoys \u2018writing for search engines\u2019, but thankfully it\u2019s not the way we need to do things to incorporate search-friendly content into our marketing strategies.<\/p>\n

Search engines want to provide the best information for users, which is done by evaluating the search query they used against websites with relevant content. So, the content we create should have the same goal.<\/p>\n

Your SEO strategy should be built around what your audience needs to know and tailored to how they would look for that information.<\/p>\n

SEO Research before ideation<\/h2>\n

\"AudienceUnderstanding your audience, their motivations, pain points, triggers for decisions and the types of content that they are most likely to engage with is an essential part of every marketing strategy and the same is true for SEO content.<\/p>\n

You need to understand how your target market searches for the information they need in relation to what you do, turning those users into visitors on your website that convert.<\/p>\n

Many marketers use personas to help segment their audience, map user journeys and ensure that content marketing activity is personalised to each priority section of their audience.<\/p>\n

Personas can be invaluable to make sure that things stay on track and all of your marketing activity is contributing to your overall goals, but you also need to ensure that search behaviour is part of each persona so that SEO best practice can be \u2018baked-in\u2019 from the very start<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Keyword research<\/a> is part of this, where you identify intent-led keywords that show which stage of a buyer journey your users are at when they search in a certain way, but you also need to ensure that you incorporate this knowledge into content topics that matter to your audience too, so that they will be compelled to click through from search results.<\/p>\n

Mapping certain keywords to certain personas at certain stages of their buyer journey is a great way to underpin your content marketing strategy with solid SEO foundations. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Average monthly search volume isn\u2019t the only indicator of a useful keyword. Your area might be fairly niche, so you can also utilise Google\u2019s Featured Snippets and People Also Ask SERP results to identify questions that your audience are searching for information on.<\/p>\n

Discover SEO-friendly content topic ideas<\/h2>\n

Look for questions and topic areas that naturally lend themselves to the keywords you have identified and try to find topics for each major stage of your personas\u2019 buyer journeys.<\/p>\n

By ensuring you have a balance of \u2018top of the funnel\u2019 content, along with informational resources that help your audience move towards a buying decision, and content designed to help get them over the line, your content strategy provides a joined-up experience that will see conversions increase.<\/p>\n

Some tips include:<\/p>\n