The more you want to say, SEO whose method is becoming more chaotic year by year. I will briefly explain the important way of thinking of such chaotic SEO in 2021.
For those who are thinking of starting content SEO from now on, or those who are worried that “I write a blog every day but the search ranking is low” and “It does not lead to important sales”, the current content SEO is lacking in success Introducing basic knowledge and strategies that cannot be done.
Needless to say, content SEO is part of marketing activities. No matter how high the search ranking is, it is meaningless unless it ultimately leads to CV (conversion) and sales increase.
But you’re also getting to see new strategies that are working great immediately.
So if you’re looking to enhance your SEO next year, you’ll love this complete guide of SEO.
Contents
What is Content SEO ?
Content SEO is a part of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). For the purpose of making potential customers aware of products and services, the company’s content is displayed at the top on search result pages such as Google, and it is sent to the company’s site. A method of increasing organic traffic (inflow).
It is used in a wide range of industries regardless of B2C or B2B, but it is a measure that is mainly taken in the lead generation (lead generation) phase in inbound marketing.
Differences between content SEO and content marketing
You might confuse content SEO with content marketing, perhaps because the words are similar. Sure, they are the same in terms of inbound marketing techniques, but they have different meanings and purposes.
The big difference is the range of “content”. Content SEO “content” generally refers to blog posts, but content marketing is another tool for advertising, social media, and lead nurturing such as e-mail newsletters and white papers. Including up to.
To put it simply, content SEO is part of your content marketing strategy.
If you confuse content SEO with content marketing, it can cause unexpected harm when you actually start taking measures.
Effect of content SEO
You may be wondering, “How effective is it actually?” About content SEO.
There are one to PV of content SEO metrics (Views page views = page), in of our clients, that the PV to 154-fold in one and a half years, has significantly increased the negotiation opportunity
Of course, like any other marketing initiative, not everyone will get the same results if they implement content SEO. However, there are essential elements to successful content SEO.
It is a commitment to the “quality” of the content.
SEO = Entering the age of content power
Why is content quality essential in content SEO?
This is because Google, which currently boasts the largest share of search engines in the world, puts “user first” first, and continues to update the search algorithm in order to prioritize the display of high-quality content that is useful to users.
Especially in 2021, the BERT (Automatic Language Processing Technology) update, has improved the accuracy of long search queries including voice input, more than ever. Content that matches the user’s search intent is more likely to be displayed at the top.
It can be said that there is no room for high-ranking content by copying and pasting from other sites, purchasing backlinks, placing hidden keywords, etc. as it was a few years ago.
Core Web Vital
Google has announced that it will include Core Web Vitals in its search ranking factors.
What is Core Web Vitals?
Google recently introduced the concept of Web Vitals to improve the user experience on web pages .
Specifically, it covers the health of the following three user experiences:
- Page display speed
- Responsiveness to user interaction
- Stability of visual elements
We have set three of the most important indicators for quantifying Web Vitals:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- First Input Delay (FID)
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
The three indicators are collectively called Core Web Vitals (the articles that explain the introduction of Web Vitals explain what each indicator is).
This Core Web Vitals is a ranking factor.
User experience as a ranking factor
Relevance and content quality are important factors in Google search ranking.
In addition, in recent years, Google has begun to use user experience factors as a ranking factor.
Some of the key ranking factors related to the user experience Google is currently using include:
- Mobile friendly
- Safe browsing
- HTTPS
- There is no interstitial that interferes with page browsing
This is where Core Web Vitals joins.
Core Web Vitals will be a ranking factor from next year onwards
Core Web Vitals will not be included in the ranking factors right now.
There will be no introduction within the year.
In other words After 2021 will be.
It will be announced in advance at least 6 months before the introduction.
Therefore, you do not need to take any action immediately.
At the time of the announcement, they will also mention what you need to do to respond.
Tools for Core Web Vitals optimization
You don’t have to take action right away, but it’s not wrong to work on improving Core Web Vitals right now.
Whether it’s a ranking factor or not, efforts to improve the user experience are important.
Google provides tools to help you optimize Core Web Vitals.
The following tools are available:
- Page Speed Insights
- Chrome User Experience (CrUX) Report
- Search Console
- Chrome developer tools
- Lighthouse
- Web Vitals extension
If you want more information on Core Web Vitals optimization, check out : How Core Web Vitals Affect Google’s Algorithms
Ranking Element “Passage Indexing”
What is Passage Indexing?
At Google’s online event “Search on 2020” held on October 15, a function called Passage Indexing was announced.
Generally, google evaluates the entire page and returns search results, but with the introduction of Passage Indexing, it will also move to evaluate only a part of the page and return search results.
Evaluation of Passage Indexing
For example, if you search for how to make a shelf, a comprehensive page will be displayed in the search results, including necessary tools, how to select materials, and basic DIY methods.
It’s nice to see a comprehensive page because the query is being searched by users who want to know how to make shelves, but what about users who search for “how to make a shelf next to a bed”?
For users searching with such queries, displaying a page that comprehensively describes how to make a shelf may not be very useful.
Perhaps there is a page in someone’s interior blog that mentions a little about the bedside shelves that I remade myself.
Users with niche queries like “How to make a shelf next to a bed” are better off showing pages that are partially matched in search results than pages that are exhaustive about DIY. You may be able to meet your needs.
If you look at the whole page like this, it will not be displayed at the top because it is a blog page about interior, but Passage Indexing evaluates it in a part of the page, so if you judge that even a part is the best answer to the query You will be able to display it at the top.
In this way of evaluating the entire page, Passage Indexing will be incorporated from the viewpoint of missing niche information.
Passage Indexing is just a ranking element
Since the word Index is included, it is a name that may be mistaken for a change in the indexing method, but Passage Indexing is just a ranking element.
The indexing method is still page-by-page, not partial indexing.
If there is an appropriate part of the indexed page, it will only be possible to partially evaluate and display it even if it is different from the theme of the entire page.
Passage Indexing Affects 7% of search results
The global introduction of Passage Indexing is expected to affect 7% of all search results.
It’s a pretty big number.
When you look at the search console, you often find pages that are ranked high in unexpected queries that are not related to the page, but it is possible that the influx of queries around here will disappear. ..
It might be a good idea to list these unintended keywords and pages in the meantime.
Of course, on the contrary, with the introduction of Passage Indexing, it is possible that inflows will occur in queries that have not been in flowed until now.
Also, since niche queries will flow to the best pages, we can expect an increase in the flow of queries that are likely to lead to conversions.
Passage Indexing Concerns
When it comes to evaluating partial elements, it seems that some people will try to create large-volume content that ignores the convenience of users who have a lot of related information in one article, such as so-called long SEO.
Perhaps this will increase the number of hit keywords per article, but it’s subtle whether it will improve overall site performance.
Even with the introduction of Passage Indexing, what we do will not change.
Try to create content that is easy for users to understand.
If you want more information on Indexing, check out :10 Ways to Get Google to Index Your Site (That Actually Work)
Internal measures
Internal measures are SEO measures that modify the inside of a website, and can be broadly divided into ” crawl optimization ” and ” index optimization “.
Crawl optimization
First of all, in order for the search result site to be displayed, you must have a Google crawler crawl.
A crawler is Google’s program that reads information on websites.
Having this crawler patrol all pages of the site is the first step in SEO measures.
For that purpose, it is necessary to take the following measures to improve the crawler ability of the crawler .
- Optimization of link structure (site structure)
- Send XML sitemap
- Support for mobile friendliness
- Improved display speed
- Index control by no index
Such measures are called crawl optimization.
Index optimization
Information acquired by Google crawlers is stored in a database called the search index. However, if Google doesn’t understand what’s written on your site, it won’t be able to put it in the correct search index.
Therefore, the following measures are required to promote understanding of the content.
- Title and description settings
- Heading tag settings
- Image optimization
- Canonical link tag settings
- Structured data settings
Such measures are called index optimization
External measures
External measures in SEO are measures that make Google recognize that it is a useful site for users by attaching a link from an external site.
This method is often noticed because it is more effective than internal measures, but if you put innumerable links from external sites with low relevance, it will be recognized as black hat SEO and you may be penalized by Google.
Even now, there is a way to create a satellite site (another site for SEO purpose) in another domain and put an external link to raise the SEO evaluation of the main site, but consider the risk of receiving a penalty from Google. For example, it is better not to take such a method.
There is no choice but to naturally acquire links from the outside by creating content that is useful to users.
- Related article: How to increase backlinks
- Related article: Differences between Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO
Check search ranking
The results of SEO measures should be evaluated by search ranking. It is convenient to use a search ranking check tool that can measure the ranking on a regular basis .
There is also a method to evaluate SEO measures based on the number of inflows from searches, but it should be noted that the number of searches itself fluctuates due to seasonal fluctuations.
Mobile First Index Optimization
Starting March 27, 2018, Google is migrating page ratings to mobile pages instead of PC pages. This is because 60% of searches are done from mobile, and it is rational to match the rating to the mobile page.
In other words, by optimizing for this mobile first index, it will be the starting line for 2021 SEO measures. Here, let’s look at three steps to optimize for mobile-first index.
Match content on mobile and PC
For usability, some sites hide web content with an accordion only on mobile pages. Traditionally,
the official Google Webmasters Twitter account said it was OK.
However, recent research has shown that sites that hide content in the accordion rank lower than sites that display content.
If you want to optimize for mobile-first index, display the same content on both PC and mobile pages.
Make it a responsive design
Responsive design is officially recommended by Google. Instead of creating separate pages on your mobile, tablet, or PC, use responsive design.
Not only is it excellent as an SEO measure, but it is also easy in terms of man-hours because it requires only one code.
Mobile friendly test
To make sure your site is really mobile-friendly (easy to use for mobile users), take
the mobile-friendly test provided by Google’s Search Console.
It will tell you where there is a problem, so if you fix it, you are taking SEO measures.
In addition, use Mobile Usability provided by Search Console. It will tell you which pages of the site aren’t mobile friendly, and will suggest a workaround, so all you have to do is fix it.
Optimize for voice search
According to Google *, 55% of teens and 41% of people in their 20s and above use voice search at least once a day. Moreover, 20% of mobile searches are now voice search.
Voice search can be said to be one of the inevitable topics in SEO measures in 2021.
Here, we will introduce 3 steps of voice search optimization method.
- Get in the top 3 of the search results :
According to Backlinko, voice search is applied from the 1st to 3rd pages in about 75%. Therefore, it needs to be ranked higher.
- Display on the highlighted snippet :
According to Backlinko, 40% of voice search answers come from highlighted snippets. The emphasis snippet mentioned above is not only important for position zero, but also for voice search optimization.
- Prepare questions and answers in the content :
In the conventional search, the search was done by word, such as “Recommended country for studying abroad”. On the other hand, voice search is more like a conversation. In this case, “Which country do you recommend for studying abroad?” It will be a question like.
In addition to the answers, questions like the ones above should be included in the content to optimize for voice search.
In fact, when I asked Google the above question, the following answer was returned. (The content is in English.)
If you look inside the page, you will find questions as well as answers.
If you have a question, it will be taken up by voice search, so it is a good idea to have a FAQ etc. on the site.
Increase EAT
Many medical sites dropped in the core update on August 1, 2018. Prior to this core update, Google announced new guidelines.
Basically, there wasn’t much change in the content, but we can see that the new guidelines are more focused on EAT.
EAT is an acronym for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It was an item that had been in the guidelines for a long time, but it was an impression that it did not receive much attention.
However, this core update appears to be an improved algorithm with a focus on EAT. So how do you actually deal with EAT?
The guidelines state that most websites should contain author information and contact information.
In short, Google attaches great importance to who wrote the content and wants to be an expert.
The following four SEO measures can be seen from here.
- Post operating company information and author information
- Easy-to-understand contact information
- Paste the information and links of the cited site
- Post privacy policy and terms of use
Let’s raise EAT by responding to the above four points at a minimum and anticipate SEO measures in 2021.
Snippet
A snippet means “scrap” in English. In web marketing, it’s a short description of the page that appears as a search result. These are the information automatically extracted by the search engine, or the contents described in the meta tag called meta description set by the webmaster are displayed.
As a coding term, the same term is used to streamline the work of repeatedly writing by calling the registered code, but this article will explain snippets in web marketing.
Rich snippets and emphasized snippets
In addition to the common snippets already shown in the image, there are also so-called rich snippets and emphasized snippets. A rich snippet is a snippet that shows an image or a rating for the store. When you search for a recipe or restaurant, you can see the food image and the rating on the review site to help the user intuitively understand the content.
While rich snippets are text-only snippets with information added, emphasized snippets have a slightly different meaning. This means that the question query from the user will be displayed at the top of the search results as a “concrete answer”. Whereas regular snippets are sentences that explain the content of the page, emphasized snippets are in the form of answers, and it can be said that the information is already completed by itself.
Often there are images. In addition to this, videos may be displayed in the form of tables or lists, or with keywords related to music or movies. As a user, you can get answers by just asking Google and not having to visit other pages, so it can be said that it is a very easy-to-use mechanism. Also, as a webmaster, being displayed as an emphasized snippet is a great advantage from an SEO perspective.
Why snippets are important for SEO
Optimizing snippets makes a lot of sense from an SEO perspective. That’s because snippets are “guides” that give information before the user clicks on the page. When users search for a keyword, they often see only pages with similar titles.
Among them, snippets are one of the criteria for selecting the page that the user clicks. For this reason, having a snippet that is easy to understand and reliable will also help increase PV. In addition, emphasized snippets, in particular, are displayed higher than normal search results, and the display format is also different from others, so the SEO advantage is enormous.
It’s not something that webmasters can control, but it can’t be ignored given the trust of users that can be gained by being “chosen” by Google. In addition, emphasized snippets are attracting attention because of their affinity with voice search, which has been increasing in recent years in the United States.
That’s because the emphasized snippet is basically in the form of “answers to questions”, and the content of the emphasized snippet is read aloud by voice search on Google Home.
How to display snippets
So how do you display snippets? If it is a normal text format snippet, the text in the page automatically extracted by Google will be displayed without any special operation. However, this may result in unintended text being displayed. Therefore, from the SEO point of view, it is recommended to set a meta tag called meta description. The specific description is as follows.
The place of description is in the tag, and the outline you want to display is described in the part below content = “”. At this time, be careful not to overload the keywords just because you want to raise the search ranking.
There is no point in specifying a snippet for sentences that are confusing or unnatural, even if they cover the keywords. Also, I would like to keep in mind that it should be within 120 characters (PC version) displayed as a snippet. In addition, avoid using the same description on all pages, even if it gives an overview.
How to display highlighted snippets?
Then, how can you display the emphasized snippet that you want to emphasize most as an SEO measure? As already mentioned, this cannot be specified by the webmaster and the algorithm is private, so there is no 100% certain method. However, it is possible to find some commonalities from existing emphasis snippets. Let’s look at some points below.
If you want more information on snippets, check out : Featured Snippets
Check basic SEO measures
The first step that appears as a highlighted snippet is to make sure you have a solid basic SEO strategy. If it’s not in the top of the search in the first place, it’s unlikely to be an emphasized snippet. You don’t have to be number one, but let’s check again to see if the site is properly crawl able and well-structured. Also, highlighted snippets appear in tables and lists as well as text.
CTR (click rate)
CTR is an abbreviation for Click Through Rate, which is a calculation of the ratio of the number of clicks by the user to the number of times (impressions) displayed by the user.
Also known as click-through rate or click-through rate, it is often used in the fields of advertising operations and SEO.
Improve CTR
So far, I have briefly explained the CTR of advertising.
So what if the CTR is below the average CTR when the ad is actually delivered, or if the deviation from the target value is large? In such a case, we will focus on seven improvement methods that should be reviewed.
If you want more information on CTR, check out : ▷ 14 Proven Steps to Boost Your Organic Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Is the target setting appropriate?
Once you’ve improved your keyword settings and ad text, it’s time to look at your target. Targets can be divided by region, age, and gender settings.
It is inevitable that the click rate will decrease if the advertisement is displayed outside the target range, which is not expected. Make sure your men’s shaving ads don’t include women in your targeting criteria.
If the advertisement is delivered in an area outside the scope of the company’s service, the user will judge that the service cannot be received from the advertisement and will not be clicked.
Does the landing page you are transitioning to match your search query?
Lastly, I would like to tell you about the landing page.
Although not directly related to search results, if this landing page doesn’t match your search query or ad text, it will lead to exits and your ad quality will be rated poorly.
If your ad quality is low, it will reduce the number of impressions, so make sure you have an appropriate landing page.
Even if you can raise the CTR, if you do not generate conversions steadily on the landing page of the transition destination, you will not have any children, so let’s work hard to improve the CTR with an eye on the final result.
Do you have specific numbers and data and are convinced?
Once the above-mentioned elements of anxiety and dissatisfaction have been clarified, the next thing to do is to put them into concrete expressions.
For example, when you want to convey trust to users, it is vague and difficult to understand what is best with just “the industry’s No. 1 track record”, but if it is a phrase ” there is an operational track record in more than 100 industries!”. The expression will be more realistic and easy to convey.
In this way, it is also important to enter objective numerical values and achievements that can eliminate user anxiety and dissatisfaction.
From the search query, let’s think about what the user’s intention is behind it and what is the element that can be convinced.
In the ad text, it’s important to think about whether you can convince the users who searched for it, rather than persuading them.
We hope you enjoyed the article.
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More Resources:
▷ How Do Search Engines work? Ranking, Crawling, Indexing …
▷ How SSL Certifications Can Affect SEO And Google Rankings
