Search engine optimization (SEO) is key to the success of any website. To improve your site’s visibility and attract targeted traffic, it’s important to optimize your content. In this article, we’ll look at three ways to optimize your content for SEO.
Use the right keywords
The use of relevant keywords is essential for good SEO. Search engines use sophisticated algorithms to determine which pages best match search queries. By using the right keywords in your content, you can help search engines understand the purpose and theme of your page. It’s important to choose keywords that are relevant to your content and popular with your target audience. Keyword research tools such as Google AdWords Keyword Planner can help you find the most relevant keywords for your content.
Create quality content
Quality content is essential for good SEO. Search engines favor pages that offer a satisfying user experience. This means your content should be informative, well-structured and easy to read. By creating quality content, you can also increase the chances that other websites will link to you, which is another key element for good SEO.
Optimize title and description tags
Title and description tags are important elements for the natural referencing of your content. Title tags appear at the top of every page and give search engines an idea of what the page is about. Description tags are the snippets of text that appear below the title in search results. By optimizing these tags with relevant keywords and useful information, you can increase the chances of users clicking on your link in search results.
Conclusion
By following these three techniques, you can optimize your content for SEO and increase the visibility of your website. Using relevant keywords, creating quality content and optimizing title and description tags are key elements of good SEO. By keeping these elements in mind, you can improve the relevance of your content to search engines and attract targeted traffic to your website.
This year, optimizing content for search is top of mind for businesses everywhere. Of course, search has been key to success on the Internet for more than 20 years. But as just about everything went online, getting discovered in search results has taken on a new importance. What are the SEO trends to know in 2021?
But first…
In case you missed it, check out our look at the top SEO trends in 2020. Learn about voice search, the no-click challenge and more. All caught up? Read on for three ways to prepare for the future of search.
2021 Search trends for business
Back to basics
The number one rule for 2021 is to focus on the fundamentals. Despite entire industries built around tiny changes to the way search works, simple optimizations are still easy and effective. They may not be new, but these strategies are the starting point for any good SEO effort. For example, make sure that you associate each piece of content with appropriate keywords. Then, double check that those keywords appear in the content’s title, description and text.
While this idea has always been the heart of SEO, few would have imagined it to be a major trend in 2021. However, the Covid-19 pandemic forced businesses to move everything online—and revealed that many were neglecting search basics. All the more reason to set aside the fancy stuff this year and review your content’s keywords. Or to put it another way, don’t let an oversight stop your content from being found in search.
💡 TIP: You can add or update your publications’ title and description on Calaméo in just a few clicks.
UX factor
Although the basics should come first in 2021, that doesn’t mean SEO trends are standing still. One major announcement from Google made it clear that it’s time for businesses to get serious about user experience. Also known as UX, this aspect of digital design includes the interfaces and structures that allow people to interact with websites. Overall, good UX makes it easier to do things like placing an order or contacting support online.
And now, improving your site’s UX can have a big impact on its visibility in search. Just like loading speed and mobile display in past years, UX factors will soon affect search results. According to Google, content quality still matters most. But the pages to beat will be the ones with great content and great experience. The bottom line? Starting in 2021, UX should be part of your business’s SEO strategy.
Analytics overhaul
Last but not least, there’s a new reporting tool in town for anyone following their content’s views. More specifically, businesses are looking at Google Analytics 4: an updated version of the data tool used by millions of sites. GA4 will eventually replace Universal Analytics, which was first released in 2012. First, however, businesses need to consider how and when they will want to make the switch.
In addition to technical changes, Google Analytics 4 offers fresh ways to understand how people use search to visit your site. That may mean adapting your existing methods for evaluating your content’s performance. Before updating everything, take the time to test the new platform. Be sure to note the metrics you want to watch and connect them to the information you already have. For a smooth transition, a little preparation goes a long way!
Quick conclusions
Now that you’re all caught up on the most important SEO trends for 2021, what’s next? Here are a few action items to help you start taking advantage of these trends today.
Invest now
If it’s been a while since you made SEO a priority, put it back on your to-do list in 2021. You may want to invest in a full SEO audit of your business’s content to get a sense of where things stand. Then, commit the time and resources necessary to optimize the basics. Don’t forget content types other than regular pages: videos, images and publications should all be optimized.
Be patient
Even with a solid investment, the visibility of your business’s content may not grow overnight. Building an audience on search requires consistent content and attention to quality. Create a few benchmarks that you’d like to achieve this year and track your progress, but stay focused on your long-term SEO goals.
Look ahead
Many of the upcoming changes to SEO involve complex projects. For instance, UX improvements can take months to research, design and put in place. As a result, it’s a smart idea to begin planning for these changes now. Decide on a timeline for how your business will tackle big SEO transitions, like moving from Universal Analytics to GA4. That way, you’ll be ready for the SEO trends in 2022!
As always, one simple way to boost your business content’s SEO is with smart digital publishing. You’ll find all the details you need to get started in our Ultimate Guide to Digital Publishing. Or see for yourself how easy it is to do even more with your professional content! Create your free account on Calaméo today.
Do you know the term “dark social”? Although a lot has changed about social media since the idea was first described in 2012, dark social sharing is as important as ever. In fact, this type of sharing might be even more key to understanding your content’s success today. Read on to learn why dark social matters in 2021 and how to track it for your digital publications on Calaméo.
Dark social sharing basics
All the way back in 2012, people were beginning to wonder how much content was being shared to social media networks. Or how much content was being shared in other ways. Because networks like Facebook and Twitter were growing fast, share buttons popped up all around the web to make reposting to your own feed easy—and trackable.
But while the number of shares ticked up, this new behavior couldn’t be the only way users were passing along videos, publications and posts. Despite the buzz around social feeds, research showed that plenty of people were sharing in a simple way: copying and pasting the content’s URL into email and messages. Unlike regular social shares, this kind of social activity wasn’t tracked.
As a result, it was easy to miss dark social sharing’s value. However, over the past several years sharing to social media platforms has declined. There are several reasons to explain this trend, including algorithm changes, rising interest in digital privacy and concerns about how information spreads online. Since more than a third of businesses say that “social shares” are a goal for their content, these harder-to-see forms of social sharing must be taken into account.
💡 TIP: Not sure whether social shares are a priority for your publications? Our quick checklist will help you brush up on your digital publishing strategy in no time.
How to track shares on Calaméo
So, how should you track the “dark social” sharing of your content? When it comes to your digital publications, Calaméo’s advanced statistics are a great place to start. That’s because our publication viewer’s own share button was designed with lots of different uses in mind. Take a closer look and you’ll see some options beyond the usual social networks.
Even better, the Shares section of your Calaméo statistics will show you just how many times your publication was emailed, embedded or its URL copied. And the results might surprise you. For example, we were checking the stats for our most recent issue of CALAMEO Magazine and noticed this breakdown:
30% shares to social media platforms
70% “dark social” shares to email, embed or copying URL
To access your publications’ Shares data, go to the Statistics section of your Calaméo account. Click on the “Shares” tab and scroll down to find the full statistics.
Also, be sure to note that these numbers only reflect “dark social” shares coming from inside the publication viewer. You can almost certainly be sure that other readers have, for instance, copied and pasted the publication URL directly from their browsers to share with their networks. Or to put it another way, public social shares may only be telling you a small part of the story.
💡 TIP: To keep digging deeper into the impact of dark social sharing for your content, consider using tracked links and Google Analytics to reveal more data.
In short, social media metrics don’t give you the whole picture when you want to measure how your content is shared online. If you’d like to start looking at complete Shares statistics for your publications on Calaméo, request your free, two-week PLATINUM demo today.