SEO Strategy - Content/Outreach/Links

[BeckyKey]

Hi everyone

I'm trying to prioritise my tasks for 2018 & wondered if anyone had any useful templates they use?

In terms of SEO tasks, my priority was going to be content/outreach/links -

Focusing on user guides/blogs onsite

Then outreach articles/some PR that doesn't go against Google guidelines offsite.

My struggle with the onsite content/blogs we produce is we have no real social media plan/manager so my content outreach always seems hampered by this.

I've tried taking on some of the social stuff, but this ends up being too much for just me to do.

I wondered if there were any other SEOs who face this issue and who have found some good solutions?

I'm stuck in a bit of a rut and can't seem to effectively push forward with outreach/content writing.

Thank you

Becky

[EGOL]

For your pages, do you focus pages with similar products on one/a few similar keywords?

Yes.  As an example, lets say we sell "coffee makers".  We will have a generic coffee maker page that lists many different coffee makers from various manufacturers.   When a shopper clicks on one of the coffee maker models, they go to a page that sells the coffee maker, its accessories and its cleaning products.  All of these are unique content with very little reuse of the accessory language on other pages.

Do you add written content directly to these pages or focus on creating good user guides etc then link back to these product pages?

We include the most important "user guide" information on the product/accessory page.  This is information that helps select the item.  We don't list the full user guide information, but give the shopper a link to a much more detailed page of user information.  Both of these compete in search and often they appear in positions #1 and #2 in Google search.  The product/accessory page might link to several "user guide pages".   Sometimes we have positions #1, #2 and #3 in Google for searches on the product itself or product information.

The above is very costly to produce and it requires an author who really knows the product.  It is only worth doing where there is good money to be made on a single sale and recurring consumable/accessory/parts/etc. sales are possible.

This type of presentation is intended to make you the expert in the field, rank #1 and inspire people to pay you full MSRP because they know that you know what you are doing rather than being a buy/resell merchant.

[BeckyKey]

Yes, I think this is our issue, we split our product pages to have 1 product per page (for most pages) due to the restrictions we had when displaying multiple products on one page.

The design wasn't very user friendly - but now the issue is multiple product pages focusing on the same keyword.

For your pages, do you focus pages with similar products on one/a few similar keywords?

Do you add written content directly to these pages or focus on creating good user guides etc then link back to these product pages?

[EGOL]

**Do you try to push product or category pages? **

Neither.

Most of our pages sell multiple products.   We have very few "product pages" where one item is purchased.  90% of our sales come from pages that list closely-related groups of products.

Examples...

*  A product and its accessories.

*  A group of consumables for a hobby or craft activity.

*  Multiple closely-related products that people often consider before buying.

*  Multiple books about a single or group of closely-related topics.

Why?  There are many benefits.

*  Reduces the number of pages on the site, thus concentrating linkstrength into a small number of pages.

*  Enables the production of pages with substantial amounts of text, images, buying options.  We think these rank better.

*  When a product goes unavailable or out-of-print or is discontinued, the page continues on.

*  When accessories are listed on same page with product it leads to fatter shopping carts.

• When replacement parts are listed on the same page as the product then people feel confident in buying.

*  People become familiar with the page about their product and return again and again for consumables, parts, accessories.

[BeckyKey]

As a business they've identified the core categories which attract loyal profitable customers and larger orders.

Our product pages do convert well - when they content/images are right, but I wanted to focus on some categories page to try and generate more traffic/visiibility for these areas.

Do you try to push product or category pages?

I find building links/writing content for one product difficult as a lot of our products focus on v. similar keywords so compete with one another.

[EGOL]

I agree.  We have thousands of products.   But, most of our effort has focused on products that....

*  People understand poorly

*  Where there is not a lot of information available online or in print

*  Where (this is extremely important) a lot of consumables are purchased.  That way all of your building is for customers who make recurrent purchases.

[BeckyKey]

Hi,

I'm working on a plan for this at the moment. I think I just feel the pressure as it's just me trying to get things written/shared. I can try and

As we have such an enormous product portfolio, it feels as though we don't get anywhere quick enough.

I was going to choose 2 core categories, pick 2 sub-categories from these and try to work here first so I have a specific focus.

Things move on so quickly, I find I never get something started properly before moving on.I'm trying to change this for 2018 and narrow my focus for SEO.

Thanks for your help

Becky

[EGOL]

We get content ideas from customers.  What questions do they ask about products?   What concerns do they have about products?  What do they say in their reviews of our business and products?  What do we feel that they need to know that they don't realize?

A lot of the above comes in to us through email and phone calls.  Some we see in reviews that they leave.  If you have these channels of communication or feedback from customers, a lot of the most valuable content is right there.  All you have to do is package it in text and photos and put it on the website.

So far we have not done much ourselves on social.  Our customers do a lot of sharing for us.  And, we have a couple friends who have nice followings.  They share new content from our site and that brings in a lot of traffic.  So go look for who is influential in your niche and see if you might help them get your word out.