Semantic SEO Efforts to maximize website content-based marketing strategies (content marketing) cannot be separated from SEO or search engine optimization practices, be it on-page SEO or off-page SEO. This is because SEO is very effective in helping websites get the best conversion rates through organic searches on search engines. Even so, you can still further optimize SEO for business branding needs and marketing campaigns on search engines by understanding the use of SEO semantics. This semantic strategy is very useful, especially in the midst of digital transformation, as now the majority of business people use the internet and social media as marketing channels or promotional media to attract more prospects or prospective customers (prospecting). Likewise with the majority of the customer base who prefer to find information about the product or service they need via the internet.
What is Semantic SEO?
According to the Search Engine Journal website, semantic SEO is the process of adding value to the words in the content (value proposition) or building more topical meaning and depth into web content. The implementation of semantic SEO helps Google crawlers better understand website content so that Google will more often promote content on search results pages or SERPs.
At the beginning of implementing SEO, Google’s algorithm for managing content ranking in SERP was far more advanced. Where crawlers only search for certain keywords or keywords on the page to understand the meaning and relevance of the content. However, as content intelligence trends develop, there are more factors that influence understanding the meaning of language in SEO content. Starting from the type of context, expression, and tone in the content paragraphs. That’s why Google is finally taking a more human-behavioral and semantic content-structuring approach to understanding and ranking web content.
Why is semantic SEO important for websites?
It is known that Google’s current updates include the ability to analyze sections of content, understand the entire material or content topics and subtopics, and determine the interrelationships between web content.
In turn, semantic SEO is a way to ensure Google’s algorithms recognize relevant and useful content and rank it higher in the SERPs. Apart from that, semantic SEO is also important because it can:
- Notifying search engine algorithms that the website has compiled good quality topics (content pillars).
- Allows users to see the brand as a market leader (brand authority). That way, the user experience of reading content and website traffic increases.
- Helping content writers improve the performance and quality of content by focusing on topics, not keywords. So, they can provide more value to the user.
- Provide more opportunities for giving internal links or backlinks by using anchor text.
- Increase dwell time or waiting time on the website. This condition is a signal to Google’s algorithm that the content is relevant to readers.
Therefore, implementing semantic SEO in a content marketing strategy is very important at this time. While it can take a lot of time to plan and implement, these semantics can get you the results you want and need.
Semantic SEO Strategy Tips To Increase Website Ranking
Just like the concept of local SEO optimization, semantic SEO includes several strategies that might be useful for maximizing marketing campaigns with SEO techniques. That way, website owners can prioritize increasing the depth of topics and conveying the meaning of web content better.
1. Increase Keyword Research Efforts
First, you need to do main keyword research which can support the semantic SEO focus that dwells on the topic. Increase your keyword research efforts by focusing on related or related queries. To make keyword research for your content easier, use Google’s built-in free platform such as Google Keyword Planner. You can also take advantage of other third-party tools such as SEMRush, Ubersuggest, or Moz Keyword Research.
2. Optimize Keyword Clusters
Since Google doesn’t rely on just one keyword per page of content, your content team should optimize web pages for multiple keywords in the same semantic group. This condition is commonly known as a keyword cluster. Keyword cluster refers to a group of similar keywords that have semantic relevance. By optimizing keyword grouping, you can increase the total number of keywords in your content and build more meaning into your content. This will give you more opportunities to get organic clicks.
3. Create Complete and In-depth Content
Furthermore, the simplest semantic SEO strategy is to increase the length of web content by offering a more comprehensive exploration of topics. While content length is not a major factor in getting top rankings, longer content tends to display stronger semantic signals. However, you need to note that efforts to increase the length of the content will not prove effective if you only rely on keyword stuffing or repetition of keywords. For this reason, the best way to increase the length of web content that is more optimal is to be content that is more specific or deep into important information that needs to be given to readers.
4. Add Structured Data Markup
Although it is often not considered a semantic SEO strategy, structured data is primarily useful for conveying the meaning of content directly to Google crawlers. Just like schema markup, structured data is a set of languages that are useful for representing actual data (data visualization) which will clarify functions, objects, or content descriptions. This markup code allows search engines to recognize the meaning and relationship behind the information on the website which will be displayed as a featured snippet. As a result, users can more easily and quickly find the important information they want. As well as benefiting website owners because it will increase the results of the click-through rate (CTR).
5. Understand User Intent
As we discussed earlier, Google’s algorithms currently look at not only the query language, but also the user intent behind that query. By providing additional words in the content, you can expect Google not to always provide basic keyword information or definitions for the content. The tips, start by understanding what your target audience is looking for. Do they want to buy something, learn more about a topic, or explore certain options. Focus more on digital marketing strategies to specifically identify user intent.
6. Create content that refers to the “People Also Ask” box on Google.
The last strategy in implementing semantic SEO that you also need to consider is answering general questions that users ask related to certain main keywords. Generally, Google will display it in a column that says “People Also Ask” on the Google SERP. According to a recent study of 2.5 million different search queries, Google’s “People Also Ask” feature now appears in about 48.4% of all search queries, and can even be at the top of Google’s SERPs. By answering these questions in the content of the web page, you will not only increase the semantic signal of the content, but also give the web page the opportunity to rank at the top of the SERPs.