Blog writing is the cornerstone of your search engine optimization strategy.

(Yes, really.)

Digital marketing has changed a lot over the years. Throughout the whole history of Google, however, one thing has remained the same: To raise their online visibility, websites need terrific content.

The more effective that content is at answering questions and solving problems for your audience, the better it is for you. To get there, you need to know exactly what your ideal customers type into Google.

Luckily, the Big G provides all the information you need for excellent search engine optimization.

Google offers the free Google Analytics suite, which delivers plenty of insight on how visitors reach your website and what they do once they get there.

But you may not know about Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools). It integrates with your Google Analytics property and displays granular detail on search keywords that led people to your website.

When you know which keywords are producing your search traffic, you can develop targeted blog topics that move the needle on your visitor count. Getting that quality traffic is one crucial step in turning your website into a conversion engine backed by superior search engine optimization.

As you integrate keyword data from Google Search Console into topic selection and writing, you’re more likely to appear prominently in searches relevant to your business. Over time, those placements let you capture the attention of would-be customers the instant they want to hear from you.

And using Search Console is easier than you might think.

Getting Familiar with Your Search Analytics Report

The Search Analytics Report is Search Console’s most powerful asset for search engine optimization.

It includes search information broken down by:

• Queries (that is, search terms and keywords)
• Pages (top destinations within your website)
• Countries
• Devices
• Search Types (Web, Image, or Video)

From the Queries view, you’ll see a list of search terms that led users to your website. Unlike Analytics, which archives data for years, Search Console data can be viewed for a maximum of 90 days – just long enough to notice quarterly trends.

(When you hire a marketing agency, they’ll maintain this data for you long-term.)

Within the Queries view, you’ll also be able to filter by four important categories:

• Impressions (how many times your website was seen in search results)
• Clicks (how many times a link to your website was actually clicked)
• CTR (proportion of impressions that led to clicks, measured as a percentage)
• Position (where you stood in Google’s results for a given search keyword)

This is a treasure trove of data that can point you in the right direction on search engine optimization.

Let’s take a closer look at three valuable ways to use it:

1. Write Around Your Highest-Click Keywords

When you’re getting plenty of clicks for a given search term, it means you have less work to do than you might otherwise. People are seeing your content for a given term and they’re responding.

To make that content even more potent:

• Expand and update the content without changing the URL
• Add calls to action and crosslink the page to other resources
• Improve the navigability and visual content of the page

2. Write Toward Your Highest Position “Long-Tail” Keywords

A long-tail keyword includes three or more words. Compared to keywords with one or two words, they tend to attract less traffic. However, you can understand a lot more about what your visitor is looking for with a long-tail keyword, and thus build precise and actionable content.

Examine your highest position keywords and identify which are long-tail. Those with moderate or high traffic are candidates to build on. Just as with high-click keywords, you’ll want to expand your existing content while developing useful related blogs.

3. Look for “Diamonds in the Rough” on Page 2 or Later

To get search traffic, it’s never necessary to be in position #1 all the time. Still, it’s crucial to be on page one. Review the backlog of keywords where your position is 11 to 31 and look for any that fit one of these two criteria:

• You have a high number of impressions despite a low position
• You are rising in search position despite doing little or no work

These situations suggest opportunities to expand on an existing page with keyword-focused content. A specialized keyword research tool can help you make sure the level of traffic you’ll be competing for is worth it – or you can ask your friendly Central Florida marketing agency.

Contact New York Ave to get started with full-service digital marketing that works.