When it comes to SEO, content really is king.
Every day, people turn to Google to look for advice, information and inspiration. To help them solve a problem or find a solution. And the way that they do this is by searching for and consuming content.
So, what makes SEO content different to the rest of the content on your website?
SEO content is smarter. It works harder. And it gets your small business in front of potential customers who are actively searching for the solutions you provide.
And what does it look like? Well, like most information on the internet, SEO content comes in all different shapes and sizes. But if you’re just getting started, there are four types that your small business should be investing in.
Let’s get into it!
1. Product or service pages
Just like your products or services are the bread and butter of your small business, they should also be at the heart of your SEO content strategy.
These pages are designed to help you sell to potential customers. But if you’re not also using them to attract potential customers, then you’re leaving money on the table.
89% of consumers start their buying process by using a search engine, and your product or service pages (let’s call them selling pages) provide the best opportunity to be visible in these moments.
By understanding how potential customers are searching for your business, and providing them with high-value content that addresses their needs, you will seriously boost your visibility on Google and attract people who are ready to buy.
My top tips for product or service pages
- Do your research – Do some keyword research to get a crystal clear idea of how potential customers are looking for your products or services. How do they talk about your offering? What words do they use? I’ve found that most small businesses think they know how their customers see/think/talk about their products or services, until they do the research and discover language nuances they weren’t aware of.
- Use your keywords strategically – Once you know what your customers are typing into the search bar, you can start to use these keywords in your website content. Make sure each of your pages targets only one topic – so if you sell multiple services that means multiple service pages – and add your keywords to your URL, page title and heading.
- List features & benefits – The key to great SEO is providing relevant, useful content to help people solve a problem. So the more info you can include on your selling pages, the better. Use your keyword research to identify your audience’s pain points and desires, and use that to craft content that answers all their questions and does the selling for you.
- Include customer reviews or testimonials – Social proof is so important for any small business, regardless of what you’re selling. Most customers will read online reviews before buying a product, so you want to make sure you have these displayed on your selling pages. They help build trust and authority, and also provide another opportunity to showcase the features and benefits of your offering.
2. FAQs
FAQs – or Frequency Asked Questions – are often used by small businesses to save time by answering popular questions about their products and services.
Over the years they’ve become a staple of small biz websites everywhere. Providing a handy way to help customers make purchase decisions by presenting them with extra info like pricing, shipping and benefits.
But did you know they can give your biz more real estate on Google’s search results page?
Almost 8% of the keywords people type into Google are phrased as questions, so when you use this question and answer format in your content, you can dramatically increase your chances of appearing in organic listings as well as featured snippets and People Also Ask.
My top tips for FAQ content
- Do your research – If you haven’t already, make a list of all the questions that potential customers ask you. Comb through your emails, DM’s and social media comments. Then pop your keywords into Google and have a look at the People Also Ask section. Have a browse through Quora or Reddit. Poll your followers on Instagram. There are plenty of ways to find popular questions that your audience has, that they might not have asked you yet.
- Keep answers clear and concise – FAQs are there to provide potential customers with quick info that can help them make a decision. Try to answer each question in no more than a few sentences, and if you *need* to include more detail, consider writing a blog about the topic and linking to it from the short answer in your FAQs.
- Clearly structure your content – Whether you have one dedicated FAQ page or an FAQ section on a few of your main pages, you need to organise your content so that it’s easy for people to find the info they’re looking for. If you have more than 10 FAQs, try breaking them into different sections based on topic, and make sure your content can be easily read on a mobile device.
- Use FAQ Schema – FAQ schema is a snippet of code you can add to your web page that will tell Google what type of content is on that page. This increases your chances of Google displaying your content as a featured snippet or in the People Also Ask section. There are a few tools out there that can help you with this if you Google “faq schema for [your website platform]” but it can get a tad techy so you might need to ask a web developer to help you out.
3. Blog posts
Creating regular blog content is one of the most effective SEO strategies for small businesses, which is why I recommend it to all my clients, friends, family, pets (basically anyone who will listen).
If you’re one of the 77% of humans on this planet who read blogs, you’d probably agree that the possibilities are endless when it comes to this content. Listicles, interviews, checklists, infographics, news articles – you name it!
That’s one of the (many) reasons why I love this type of SEO content. Unlike other content on your website, you get to have a bit more fun with your blog. Get creative. Show of your brand voice, while also positioning you and your biz as an authority in your niche.
With more flexibility, comes more opportunity to educate, inspire or connect with your audience in an engaging way. And a greater opportunity to rank for new keywords your audience are searching for.
While your bread and butter product/service pages help you target people who are ready to buy (or at least ready to compare options), blog content will help you target people who are looking for other information and inspiration around your niche.
It opens up a wider audience of people to get your biz in front of. People who are actively researching and looking for solutions to their problems i.e. potential future customers.
My top tips for blog content
- Do your research – Keyword research can make or break the success of your blog. It’ll help you discover new content ideas, plan out your posts and give you the best chance of getting your content (and biz) found by your dream customers. There’s an art and science to finding the right keywords, so check out my keyword research tips for more info.
- Target long-tail keywords – Long-tail keywords are searches that contain three or more words, and are generally more specific that generic searches. For example, “Instagram reels” is a very broad keyword, but “how to grow Instagram followers organically” is much more specific. Long-tail keywords give you more insight into exactly what someone is looking for, which makes it a lot easier to create valuable and useful content that gets you to page one of Google.
- Include target keywords in your content – Remember to write for the user and keep things au naturale, but sprinkle in your target keywords here and there to boost your SEO visibility when someone is searching for that topic.
- Write an attention-grabbing page title – People spend less than 1.17 seconds viewing each Google listing, so you want to grab their attention with a unique headline. Numbers and questions work well to generate clicks from search results, but you can experiment with what works for your biz.
4. How-to’s & Guides
Much like blog content, how-to’s and guides are great for providing advice, information or tips about topics related to your business. But unlike blogs which are usually short articles or lists, these guides are longer form and much more in-depth at around 3,000-5,000 words.
This might sound like a lot of content but in-depth guides are 100% worth the investment for your small biz. They can bring in BIG traffic numbers from SEO, because the more value you can provide a user, the better your content will rank in Google search results.
By covering a broad topic in a lot of detail, a well-researched guide can rank for (literally) hundreds of keywords – and continue to rank for months or even years – getting your business in front of more and more people every day.
How to’s, step-by-step guides and beginner guides are also a great way to build your authority and credibility within your industry, and both potential customers and Google will start to take notice!
My top tips for how-tos & guides
- Do your research – Are you sensing a pattern here? I think you’ve got the idea by now, but do some keyword research to find out what info people are looking for, and have a look to see what type of content is currently ranking for those keywords. Hint: if you can create better, more useful content then it’s a winning topic!
- Clearly structure your content – No one wants to scroll through 3,000 words of content *without* headings or line breaks. Especially on a mobile. 😱 So make sure your content is easy to digest by breaking it into bite-sized chunks. Use headings and sub-headings so readers scan easily scan the page to find what they need. Bullet points, tables and lists are also great ways to organise information.
- Use visuals – Images, charts and other visual elements are another great way to break up your content and add interest. Whether you use stock images, screenshots or an infographic you’ve whipped up in Canva, visuals can help you illustrate more complex information in an easy-to-digest way. And remember, everyone learns in a different way so it’s helpful to include a combination of text and visuals.
- Add internal links – Long-form content has a lot of words, and these words provide an opportunity for you to link to other pages on your website. Does your guide mention one of your services? Link to your service page. Talking about your business? Link to your about page. Did you just mention a related topic? Link to that blog post! Remember how I said one guide could rank for hundreds of keywords? Well, if you’re linking through to other content on your website, you’re passing on some of that SEO “juice” to those other pages too.
