As search engines have evolved over the years

As search engines have evolved over the years

especially with the recent rollout of BERT by Google, it is important to understand the intent behind the queries you are creating content around to target.

While there are many tools out there in the SEO world to identify topics and keywords, I’ve always found one of the best ways to identify the intent behind a query is to simply search for it within an incognito window.

You may surprise yoursel

You may search for something as simple as a single-word query and notice that the results are returning more educational content around the term – like a “what is…” result.

This will help you determine what content needs to be created (or even reworked) to fit the needs of the search.

Don’t Forget Site Structur

Creating content around a topic isn’t the only piece of the puzzle.

It is important to organize your content in a way that makes sense to crawlers and show that you are an authority in a given subject.

If search engines see that you are creating more relevant content around a given subject, you should see more improved results around these terms.

One of the best ways to demonstrate this authority is by using breadcrumbs to show the flow of your site.

Not only does this act as a second layer of navigation for users but it also helps crawlers understand how to get from point A of your site to point B.

Breadcrumbs can also help you shift the structure of your site without having to make changes to URLs, which can be incredibly dangerous for SEO.

Don’t forget to take a look at your competitors that are performing well to see if there are any insights you can glean from their site structure.

No need to reinvent the wheel and you might gain some more info on how to expand your coverage of a topic in the process.

Time to DominateNow that you have your topics identified and your roadmap planned it’s time to implement.

It is important to sit down with the team that will be creating the content and reviewing the strategy.

This information will help keep your writers in-line with the end goal and help them produce high-impact content to fit these needs.

It’s more important to develop content that helps users and not aiming for a word count.

Aim to answer the question efficiently.

Remember, it’s all about quality over quantity!

Also, make sure to add the relevant keywords and phrases you are aiming to rank for into your favorite keyword tracking tool as soon as possible.

You want to have as much data around the term and establish baselines early on to help show progress.

Once you have all of this in place, keep an eye on yours and your competitor’s performance.

Make changes as needed while also giving the crawlers time to understand your changes.

As you do this you should begin to dominate your competition with lasting results.

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