Have a top-notch piece of content that you want to get more eyes on in organic search? Have a page of thin content that you want to meaningfully expand on? Below are 2 simple steps you can take using SEMrush to begin strategizing how you can get more eyes on your webpage.
1. Check Current Rankings
The first thing that I do when optimizing an existing piece of content is check-in on what the page already has visibility for.
To do this, navigate to “Organic Research” in the left-hand menu and type the URL you want to gain insight into. Then, select whether you want to gain insights for the root domain, exact URL, subdomain, or subfolder:
This will give you insight into the types of queries that Google is already connecting users to your content through. You will want to take these into consideration when you change the content of the page in order to not damage the traction this page already has.
For example, if I wanted to optimize the Goop Lab’s Mindfulness landing page, I would start by looking at what keywords this page already has visibility for.
Because this page already has visibility on Google for the terms “importance of meditation” and “transcendental meditation revealed”, I would make sure that any content changes I make to this page are not breaking it’s contextual relevance around these topics, thus hurting the chance of showing up for terms that are already sending us traffic.
I would also make a note of these keywords that are ranking in striking distance (low on Page 1 of Google or on Page 2) so that I could dig into the likely relatively small content changes that need to be made to the copy to better satisfy the intent of those searches and increase our rankings.
2. Discover Gaps in Your Content
Next, to increase visibility for this page further, I would perform keyword research into the subject to further understand where user interest lies around mindfulness and meditation.
To do this, I would navigate to the Keyword Magic Tool (left navigation) and start by typing in ‘mindfulness meditation’. My favorite part about this tool is it groups together keywords by groups that include a common word, which really helps you get a grasp on the popular themes that users are searching in this space.
For example, I can see that the themes that users are searching around mindfulness include: guide, body and music.
I would next explore these themes by toggling through the categories and looking at the keywords that fall within each. To understand the intent behind each of those keywords, I would search them to and see the type of content that is currently ranking to determine if the page I am optimizing fits the intent of the search. If not, it’s not a bad idea to keep a repository of keywords for future content you may want to create for this topic.
One thing to always keep in mind: the user behind the search. Don’t include a new keyword in your copy if what you have to offer doesn’t satisfy the intent of their search. Most of the time you’re adding new keywords, you’re going to need to provide additional valuable content to attract more users.
Level Up Your Big Data Approach
Overwhelmed with the amount of organic search opportunity you’re uncovering? Not sure what piece of content to optimize first? Watch our webinar on How To Prioritize Your SEO Work With PPC Data to learn how you can let the data decide for you.
Sign up for our newsletter for more posts like this - delivered straight to your inbox!
