What Is SEO Content?

To understand what marketers mean by SEO content, it’s helpful to break down the phrase into its component parts:

• “SEO” refers to search engine optimization, or the process of optimizing a website so people can easily find it via search engines like Google.

• “Content,” refers to any information that lives on the web and can be consumed on the web (more on the various types of content below.)

When we put these two concepts together, SEO content is any content created with the goal of attracting search engine traffic.

I’m not going to tell you everything you need to know about optimizing your content for search engines here, that’s a whole other guide.

Here’s a quick refresher on what you’ll need to do to optimize your web content:

1. Keyword Research: If you want to generate traffic through search engines, it’s best to do keyword research before you start writing. This way, you can focus on keywords that have a certain amount of search volume. In other words, write your content based on what people are already searching.

2. Keyword Optimization: Know where and how to use keywords in your content for maximum searchability. (SEO Moz offers a great guide to on-page optimization.)

3. Content Organization: The content on your site should be organized in a logical way. This is not only good for SEO, it also helps visitors on your site find other related content easily. The longer people stay on your site, the better.

4. Content Promotion: Increase visibility to new content you create by sharing it on social networks and building links to your content (both internally and externally).

Types of SEO Content

SEO content can include any of the following:

1. Product Pages: The bread and butter of any retail e-commerce site. A good product page can serve as both SEO content and a PPC landing page.

2. Blog Posts: A blog is one of the easiest ways to create a regular stream of SEO content. In general, blog posts are more engaging and more likely to attract links than product pages, so they can be a great way to build some authority for your site. (Keep in mind that blogs are very flexible, and you can use them to host any of the below types of content in this list.)

3. Articles: News article, interviews and feature pieces are the main kind of content you’ll find on most newspaper or magazine-style websites.

4. Lists: A list is a type of article, framed as a list (e.g., “10 Ways to Lower Your Energy Bill,” or “101 Things I Hate About Google.” These titles are more clickable when found in search results or in social media feeds.

5. Guides: A guide is a longer piece of content that explains in detail how to do something. Guides are often broken up into multiple web pages, but it’s best practice to allow users to view long content as a single page. You can post a full guide on your website, or you can post a summary or excerpt, requiring visitors to fill out a registration form to read the full guide. A form is a good way to generate leads, but keep in mind that putting up a registration wall will likely reduce the amount of SEO traffic you drive to the guide.

6. Videos: In general, there are fewer videos on the web than pages of text. It can be easier to rank for a competitive keyword on the first page by creating a video instead of an article. Depending on what type of site or business you run, videos can be a great way to attract and reach an audience. Consider creating video tutorials on how to use your products. You can also illustrate a process that is related to your business; for example, a plumber could make a video showing how to unclog a sink. For SEO purposes, you might consider including a text transcript of your video.

7. Infographics: Infographics, or large-format images that contain a lot of data (often in the form of graphs or charts), can increase page views and links. However, because the content is embedded in the image and therefore not readable as text by search engines, it’s important to carefully optimize the rest of the page.

8. Slideshows: A slideshow is a way to display a series of related images. Sometimes pictures are more important than text. For example, if you’re trying to show what people wore to the Oscars. Here again, the SEO off your title, captions, image file names and so on are important because there is less for the search engines to read.

9. Glossaries: Often people use Google to look up terms more than they use a dictionary. (Do you even know where your dictionary is?) If you work in a specialized industry, a well-built-out glossary can be a good way to capture some search traffic. Think cooking terms, medical terms, fashion terms, architectural terms, etc.

10. Directories: A directory is a useful taxonomy of links to sites or resources around a given topic. For example, a perfume blog might create a directory of places to buy perfume, from major department stores to independent shops around the country.

The above list is only the basic types of SEO content, but don’t let this list limit you – the possibilities are virtually endless.