If there is anything marketers can be sure of in 2020, it is increased competition for eyeballs and market share. Accordingly, content managers will have to think of more ways how to make their SEO content reach a wider audience and engage with them effectively to drive website traffic and conversions against the background of search engines becoming more focused on the search intent and attempting to deliver content that is more audience-centric. Some hot tips on creating compelling and engaging SEO content in 2020 and beyond:

Define Your Ideal Client 

Building the profile of an ideal customer is nothing new for marketers, however, it often tends to be ignored when content managers embark on creating content to generate website traffic and appeal to the target audience. It goes without saying that if you want your content to engage your target audience; you will first need to identify who they are, what they are interested in, and what their search intent is, according to https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk.

Not only will you be in a better position to know what the most important keywords are but also be able to create compelling content. You may like to survey their target audience with a structured questionnaire that can give you better information regarding the target keywords, most effective CTAs, and the language used in the content. 

Map Keywords to Search Intent

Keyword mapping is a vital process that assigns specific target keywords to identified webpages or posts. While this is something that is par for the course for most SEO professionals, sometimes, it may happen that the search intent is left out of the equation. Since 2020 is the year that will witness a renewed focus on search intent, it is vital to create content that is logically mapped to the most relevant keywords. The decision to map the keywords to a particular webpage or a blog post can make all the difference in traffic generation because unless you get the search intent right, your conversions are likely to bomb. It is also very important to remember that keywords should be infused naturally into the content and not introduced artificially simply because you want to get a good search engine rank for it. 

Assume the Position of an Expert on the Topic 

The sun has truly set on fluffy content and 2020 promises to be the year E-A-T content with the letters standing for “Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.” While everyone agrees that search engines love value-added content, the definition of “value” can often be nebulous even if it is bandied about carelessly. In SEO content, “value” merely means giving the target audience the solution they are looking for. However, since the concept of the right solution can be relative, it can take an expert on the subject to get it right. Just think of the situation if you ask an architect to write a blog post on a legal issue. Even if the architect makes a good effort, he is liable to miss things of importance and lack the perspective of a lawyer that would have lent the needed depth of the article. Additionally, highlighting the credentials of the author can give the content more authority and help to build trust and confidence with the target audience. This is the reason why content creation should not be treated lightly but assigned to someone who knows the subject intimately. 

Use Guest Posting to Boost Brand Authority 

Content managers are well aware of the fact that guest posting can be a very effective way of attracting backlinks of high quality, however, using the same technique for brand building is not a concept that is equally well understood. Posting in-depth articles in the publications that are read frequently by your target audience will help you to raise your profile in your niche and help you to attract new customers, even if you do not get backlinks. You should look out for websites and blogs that have the same kind of visitor profile as that of your target audience and whop social profiles may provide the right platform for increasing your follower base. Do not make backlinking the sole objective of guest posting because then you could be missing out on the brand awareness potential. If you do not have faith in your writing abilities, it may be well worth the expense of hiring a ghostwriter but make sure you review the article to ensure high quality or you can look up digital marketing agency Auckland for more details.

Use High-Quality Visuals to Engage Better

Text-heavy content can be very boring even to someone who is genuinely interested in learning more on a subject. According to SEO experts, in 2020, we are going to see a sharper focus on the presentation of content using photos, videos, graphics, etc. to boost its appeal. However, the trick is to use visual content that is fresh, original, and preferably custom-made because they engage far better than stock images that the target audience has seen many times before. You also need to beware of using copyright images because infringement may cost you dearly in penalties. Even if the budget for content creation is limited, it is still worth the effort and expense of generating original visual content. Think about using freelancers if you cannot afford the professionals.

Conclusion 

Even the best SEO content will not be able to generate website traffic and the desired conversions if it cannot be read and experienced by the target audience. This means that content managers will have to ensure that they take a multi-channel approach to content dissemination so regardless of the channel potential customers are using, they will have the opportunity to encounter and engage with the content. While this does create extra pressure on content developers to generate a larger amount of SEO content, you need to keep in mind that much of the content needs to not necessarily have to be fresh but you can repurpose and recycle information used earlier for presentation on the different platforms. You should also attempt to make your content sparkle using some content optimization tools so that it is free of mistakes, easy to read, and is engaging.