Joakim Trolle

Content strategy is most definitely becoming a buzzword and will be a big part of marketing in 2014. SEO optimized text as we know it, lays in the past. And I think a lot of us are happy to leave it behind.

Content should add value before serving an SEO purpose. We still need the SEO in terms of analysis but its time to change the agenda, though its nothing new. A heading should draw attention and the text should communicate something sharable. The SEO should point in a direction and provide structure. Content that does not serve a purpose cannot be saved.

SEO needs to become smarter

The changes made in the Google algorithm are hitting hard on companies with an out dated SEO strategy.

Sometimes I feel really sorry for companies being filtered. It can be devastating. In a lot of cases it is not really the companies fault either. It’s the SEO company who put them there. The ones they hired to gain visibility are often the ones that made them invisible.

Sometimes it’s a shared responsibility. And most of the times it’s based on greed. More links. How many times have I heard it?

Clients need to learn about setting requirements; you do have a responsibility when buying a service. SEO companies need to become smarter.

Analysis has been many SEOs livelihood for a long time. A decent SEO company knows their web analysis. We now need to rethink how to apply our analytic skills on content that brings values based on behavior and needs.

SEOs have a lot of analytic skills that makes me believe we can be winners in creating content strategies (instead of losers).

There is obviously a connection between search volumes and needs but we need to communicate with people and not Googlebot, and we need to add value to the Internet and not creating stuff only for the cause of SEO.

My case

Last year I created a recycling site on a new domain. In January it passed 6000 visits. (read more here)

The only reason the site grew fairly rapidly (8 months) is that it had a reason to exist and there were needs. The content produced were made to fulfill those needs.

In my research there were no sites to be found that both listed all recycling centers and stations in Stockholm and on top of that informed about sorting and the recycling process. The key in this case was to bring value and serve the public good.

An assumption I made was that people are looking for their closest recycling center when on their way. Combining mobile and local is a winner that can be applied in many strategies.

Neither the site nor the content is anything fancy. Is just information. But creating content based on needs is the best recipient to gain organic traffic and a way to apply content strategy to SEO.

Content strategy will be defined and redefined and every agency will soon be the new experts within it. It’s already happening. But a good idea does not have to be groundbreaking every time. Simply just adding value will in many cases be a big step forward.