There are few digital marketing techniques more misunderstood than SEO. Sure, everyone’s heard of it. Everyone knows it’s important, no matter what industry your business is in.
Most people know it stands for Search Engine Optimization. Most people also know that content plays the biggest role in how high a website ranks.
But the inner workings, the actual mechanisms, are a mystery to most.
And that’s OK – as long as your job is not to write SEO content.
At Idunn, the digital marketing agency I run, we get asked a lot of questions on this topics. So I decided to gather the ones we answer most often in a single article.
Let’s dig in.
5 frequently asked SEO content questions and their answers
Before I get to the actual questions, let me be blunt: SEO is not a science. This means that there are very few things that are precise about it. This also means that there are no stupid questions about SEO.
Don’t be afraid to ask – this is how you learn. More importantly, this is how you can evaluate the skills of a potential employee or partner.
There are also a lot of black-hat SEO “experts” that claim they have all the answers and that they can accurately predict your rankings. If someone tells you this, run! They are scammers!
The truth is that we don’t know everything for sure. We can make educated guesses and offer advice on best practices. Based on our experience, we know what makes valuable content in terms of both SEO and conversion rates.
The Google algorithm changes often. Your competition updates its content often. There are too many variables to be able to offer precise answers.
Now let’s see what we do know.
1. How much will it take for SEO content to work its magic?
It depends.
Your industry, your competition, your location and the quality of your content are the top factors that influence how long it takes until you can see a significant boost in organic traffic.
We had clients who saw a significant spike within three months. They also managed to get new clients thanks to their new content.
For others, it took more than a year.
The industry consensus is that you shouldn’t expect any results sooner than six months. You can get lucky and see them sooner (like some of our clients did), but you shouldn’t count on it.
2. Is a blog post enough to get traction?
No.
Definitely not.
Not even if it’s the world’s best blog post.
Not even if it’s long form.
Sure, you may get some traction, but it will soon fade away if you don’t update your blog regularly. Don’t count on a single post to get you traffic and new clients on leads.
Which brings us to the next question.
3. How often should I add new content?
HubSpot recommends 16+ blog posts per month for a great impact on your organic traffic.
Their recommendation stands if you’re looking to get more leads too.
I know what you’re thinking: that’s A LOT of blog posts. It’s bound to get expensive or time-consuming.
And you’re right.
If you don’t have the content powerhouse HubSpot or Salesforce have, it’s hard to generate this much content, especially if you care about quality (and you should never make compromises in this area!).
What I typically advise my clients is to start with two long-form blog posts per week. After a couple of months, you should be able to tell if you need more, less or if you hit the right spot from the very first go.
Here’s the great part about content: as soon as the results start to become noticeable, you will have more and more budget to invest in quality, SEO-friendly blog posts.
4. Do I need to have unique content on every page of my website?
Yes.
Even if I have 10,000 products listed on my e-commerce platform?
Yes, even then.
Google penalizes duplicate content. And penalties apply whether you copy from others or from yourself.
5. What is the ideal keyword density?
Sorry to disappoint, but there’s no clear answer here, either. The consensus is that it shouldn’t be more than 1-1.5%.
However, my recommendation is that you write naturally. Forget about keyword stuffing – that will get you penalized faster than you can say “density”.
When you write as naturally as you speak to someone, you are bound to use LSI keywords in your text. Contextual optimization is the key – show that you have tackled the topic exhaustively and you will rank high in SERPs.
Wrapping things up
SEO content is, perhaps, the most affordable way to gain visibility, traffic and clients in the long run. While it does not produce results instantly, these results last for years to come.
If you’re looking to gain traction right now, PPC ads are your safest bet. But keep this in mind: as soon as your budget depletes and you stop running the ads, the results will stop, too.
SEO is the right tactic for people who plan to keep their businesses for years to come, not make a buzz and then sell. Just like the business itself, SEO is built brick by brick, article by article and link by link.
If you’re looking for help with SEO content that brings both traffic and clients, my amazing team of savvy writers can help. Let’s talk!
