How do you create findable content? This short deck outlines some of the most important concepts in SEO, specifically for content strategy. Bake-in SEO from the start and you'll spend more time creating and less time editing. Presented October 2013 at #RVAContentStrategy.

1. Creating Findable Content
Harris Schachter@OptimizePrime #RVAcontentstrategy

2. Find Out What Your Customers Are Seeking
#RVAcontentstrategy
Copyright © 2010-2013AMC Network Entertainment LLC
@OptimizePrime

3. How to find what your prospects seek:
•Ask Them
•Commonalities among
competitors
•Customer Service Reps
•Salespeople
•Your Current Content
•Google Instant
•Soovle
•SEOchat suggest tool
•Q&A Sites
•Keyword Tools
•Keyword Planner
•Ubersuggest
•Mergewords
•Social Media
•Social Mention
•Google Alerts
•Talkwalker
•Radian6
•BuzzStream
•Fresh Web Explorer
•Google Trends& Insights
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

4. Organize Customer Needs into Sales Cycle Stages
Awareness
Interest
Decision
Action
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

5. Cook Up Incredible Content
Copyright © 2010-2013AMC Network Entertainment LLC
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

6. Ideas for Killer Content:
•Re-create outdated content
•Content Idea Generator
•Content Idea Generator
•Portent’s Title Maker
•Re-create successful content, and make it better.
•Reverse-Engineer it
•Create an Idea Dashboard
•Make Data Interesting
•Utilize Evergreen and Seasonal Content
•Re-create successful decommissioned content
•Backlink tool + Wayback Machine
•Make an editorial calendar
•Real Time Content Strategy
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

7. Tips for Creating Findable Content:
•Use the media formats which best suit your product, service, or audience
•Use a consistent brand voice
•Utilize hierarchical headings (H1 to H6) to organize ideas
•Write naturally. Don’t overload the keywords
•Use bold and italics for your important points
•Make share buttons available (but not annoying)
•Check Spelling
•Link to other content on your site, and relevant external sources
•Utilize meta data when possible
•Do a content audit to see what’s working, what’s not, and to glean
customer insights
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

8. Make it Mobile
Copyright © 2010-2013AMC Network Entertainment LLC
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

9. Mobile Search Success:
•Make titles interesting and attention grabbing (i.e. tweetable).
•Keep intro paragraphs interesting – most important information at the top.
•Ensure fast loading times.
•Have a responsive site!
•If you have an m dot, ensure you’ve configured it correctly (Next
section)
•Don’t use pop ups or overlays.
•Use emulators or plugins to simulate mobile phones, tablets, and anything
else.
•User Agent Switcher
•If your site is locally relevant, include content about that location.
•Local SEO:
•Consistent NAPs
•Google+ Places listing
•Accurate listings in Localeze, Yext, Acxiom, Infogroup
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

10. The Technical Stuff
Copyright © 2010-2013AMC Network Entertainment LLC
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

11. Technical Considerations:
•Analytics Implementation
•Internal Linking Strategies
•URL Structure & IA
•Meta data
•Control the crawl:
•Sitemap.xml
•Robots.txt
•Page level indexation
•Page Load Time
•Image Alternate Attributes
•Backlink Profiles
•Header Response Codes
•Redirects
•Error Pages
•Duplicate Content
•Use ‘site:’ operator
•Parameter Handling
•Canonical Tags
•Keyword Overlap
•Accommodate Mobile Devices
•For M Dots: rel=alternate, canonicals
•Social Media Meta Data:
•Facebook Open Graph Tags
•Twitter Cards
•Google+ Markup
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

12. Make Content Look Good To Outsiders
Copyright © 2010-2013 AMC Network Entertainment LLC
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

13. Content Presentation on the SERP:
•Page Titles
•Keep less than 70 characters
•Include important keywords to the left
•Describe what the user will find on the
page.
•Meta Descriptions
•Keep less than 160 characters
•Include a call to action
•Include relevant keywords
•Preview them
•Test Them
•Rich Snippets withStructured Data
•Author/Publisher
•Events
•Recipes
•Local Businesses
•Ratings and Reviews
•Articles
•Book Reviews
•Products
•(Data highlighter)
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

14. Get Links and Shares
Copyright © 2010-2013AMC Network Entertainment LLC
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

15. Inspiring Links and Shares
•Find broken links and offer your content
instead
•Do outreach for link building
•Email site owners
•Find content curation sites and
resources to link from
•Engage with your target audience
•Use Followerwonk’s Twitter Bio
Search
•Use Twitter Search or Fb Graph
Search
•Respond to comments and promote
discussion
•Bag it, Tag it
•Optimize for Social Media
•Leverage Your Connections & Networks
•Business partners
•Affiliates
•Franchisees
•Identify influencers
•Klout Score
•Followerwonk’s Social Influence
Score
•Curate Content
•Use the 4-1-1 rule
•Have awesome content
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

16. Relax. Then Plan for the Future
Copyright © 2010-2013AMC Network Entertainment LLC
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

17. The Future of Findability:
Semantic Search
• Search Engine -> Answer Engine
– Knowledge Graph
• Brand Equity = Content Creation &
Social Interaction
• Trust
• Reputation
• Authority
• Structured Data
• Entity Extraction
• Content is the currency of the web.
– Use a consistent brand voice
across all channels
– Convey brand values through your
content
– Use any and all means of content
delivery
– Create content with real value in a
variety of contexts
– Connect all the pieces with
Google+
– Keep a steady flow of fresh
content
#RVAcontentstrategy@OptimizePrime

18. Thank you