Keyword Research Tips: How To Build A Keyword Universe Through Data<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Master the Art of Keyword Analysis and Selection<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you haven\u2019t read these articles, I\u2019d recommend you do so now. They will provide a strong foundation for our keyword mapping discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First things first. What is keyword mapping? <\/strong>It\u2019s simply the process of assigning a specific keyword to an individual piece of content on your website or blog. It is the formulation of a content plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is really that simple in theory, but oh so important to real-life content marketing and SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are four reasons why this process is so critical:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mapping keyword phrases is an area where most website owners and bloggers fail. While many do perform keywords research, they fail to create a plan <\/strong>based on their newfound data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Planning is very important to SEO success. It\u2019s why we are spending so much time talking about keywords and editorial plans before ever writing or optimizing content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now before we jump ahead of ourselves with keyword mapping, we need to perform a content audit to make sure our map considers all datapoints available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A content audit is a process of documenting a list of your existing content and assessing it for strengths and weaknesses. This inventory list and assessment will help you assign keywords and prioritize future marketing activities. When performed correctly, a good content audit will help you to answer questions about the content pieces on your site and it will also offer a number of other benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, this is a mind-numbing task. It\u2019s totally boring but necessary. Since it\u2019s not entirely fun, I\u2019d like to start by stating why we want to go through this exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A content audit will:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can do a content audit fairly quickly if you have a small website or blog. If you have a large website or blog, the process will take some time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Please keep in mind this will not be pleasant, but it is necessary. You can\u2019t excel in SEO without going through this step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While you could potentially do this by going item by item inside your website or blog, you\u2019ll lose your mind. Let\u2019s take a shortcut by using a service like ScreamingFrog<\/a> or DynoMapper<\/a>. These software packages will crawl your entire website or blog and provide an Excel list of all URLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you have this output, create a spreadsheet of all of your pages, posts, categories, tags, and products (if they exist). I use Excel so I can sort the data once populated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once we have our base list of content URLs, we\u2019ll need to go through and evaluate each. Here are some data points we\u2019ll want to collect:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sort the spreadsheet by keyword so you can quickly locate duplicates. If you don\u2019t have keywords already identified, you can sort the spreadsheet by page title and\/or URL to also look for duplicates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The key is to locate content or areas that could be confusing to humans or search engines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, I\u2019d like you to look at the actual content that is ranking. Ask yourself why. Common reasons might be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Add comments to the sheet on anything you found of interest. This could be documenting what you did right or what you did wrong. Anything you take away here will put you one step closer to ranking in search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, make note of any content that needs to be rewritten, updated, or left alone. We\u2019ll need this for the next steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That wasn\u2019t so hard right? It\u2019s really just a matter of organization, proper planning, and periodic self-checking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve come a long way and you\u2019ve really learned a lot. I hope you feel empowered – you definitely should, because you know a lot more than when we started our SEO journey together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And what\u2019s even more important \u2013 you know the right things and not just a bunch of SEO jargon a consultant threw at you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That above list is the process of mapping keywords to content. It will either seem easy or overwhelming. The larger the URL or keyword list, the more confusing it can be to execute it. But don\u2019t give up! This is a critical step in your SEO planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Creating an editorial calendar for your website or blog not only helps reduce stress, but it also helps you think about your content marketing and SEO at a much more strategic level. <\/strong>It will also help infuse consistency into your writing, which is very important for gaining a loyal audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point in our process, you have a great list of suitable keywords to use in your future writing. Now we need to weave that list into an editorial calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t panic. Remember an editorial calendar is essentially a planning document that gives you a plan of attack. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can create your calendar in virtually anything that works from Excel (above) to pen and paper or an automated solution like CoSchedule<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still not sure about planning and creating your title options? Use the handy topic generator from HubSpot<\/a> or the Headline Analyzer<\/a> tool from CoSchedule that helps you analyze your ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An editorial calendar should be a tool that is useful to you. And honestly, that\u2019s it. It should help and not hinder your content writing efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s it! You\u2019ve done it. You\u2019ve accomplished a lot and you should be proud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jumping ahead to content writing and skipping keyword research and mapping is a major SEO mistake. Just don\u2019t do it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Force yourself into slowing down and making a plan. I\u2019ve worked with a lot of SEO clients who want to barrel ahead to content creation and changes and I refuse to do it. In the end, they see why, and they are thankful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SEO is a process. It\u2019s about research, planning, and execution. You can\u2019t jump straight to execution and expect you\u2019ll be a success. Instead, you have to go slow, move ahead with purpose, and always stay focused on your ultimate visitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next up we\u2019ll be talking about on-page and off-page SEO. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve created an infographic to help keep you and the task. You can use this as you work through your SEO activities and as we continue our SEO journey together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n<\/span>What is Keyword Mapping?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/span>What is a Content Audit?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/span>How To Perform a Content Audit<\/strong>?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Obtain a List of Your URLs<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Collect More Data<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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3. Look for Duplicate Keywords<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Review Content Currently Ranking<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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5. Add Comments<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Some Food for Thought on Mapping Keywords<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s recap what we\u2019ve done so far:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Now let\u2019s review what we still have left to do:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Some guidelines to keep in mind:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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And finally, a warning message and reminders:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/span>Creating a Content Calendar<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Editorial goals and objectives:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Basic components of an editorial calendar:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Types of content that create great blog posts and that can be applied to your editorial calendar:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/span>And You\u2019re Done!<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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