SEO content optimization: elevate your website in 9 Steps

You’ve put a lot of effort into developing articles in the past, but your website isn’t ranking satisfactorily on search engines? Don’t get discouraged! Rather than giving up on content writing, consider SEO optimization and ensure you’re following best practices.

You can give a solid boost to your organic ranking by working with what you already have: your existing content. Here’s how to add SEO weight to your articles.

SEO content optimization 101: Where to begin?

We probably don’t need to remind you that SEO aims to improve your website’s organic search ranking on search engines like Google, and that this involves optimizing various elements to make it more appealing to both users and search algorithms.

In line with a semantic cocoon strategy (also called thematic clusters) and pillar page creation, optimizing your existing content is an effective way to enhance your digital marketing by gaining visibility and credibility with your visitors and search engines. Before diving into details, let’s look at the two most common questions our SEO content specialists hear.

“What is SEO content?” and, more importantly, “What makes a good SEO article?”

First, SEO content aims to rank as high as possible among search results and generate qualified organic traffic. Its form and topic seek to interest users, encouraging clicks!—as much as they aim to please search engines.

A good SEO article checks three indispensable boxes: the use of the right keywords (a primary one and a few secondary ones), useful and quality content, and adherence to best technical practices. This includes page loading speed, responsiveness (mobile-friendly design), and no broken internal links. Several SEO optimization tools can help you achieve these goals.

By being informative and engaging, a quality article responds to the needs and questions of your prospects. Integrate links to your other web pages to enrich the user experience (UX) and improve your site’s internal linking structure. To facilitate readability and search engine indexing, its structure must also be clear and hierarchical, with subheadings (H1, H2, H3 tags…).

Also read: The SEO Is Dead. Long Live GEO (Generative Engine Optimization).

Why take time to review your content and your website’s SEO?

There are several reasons to optimize your content occasionally, and many ways to make the most of it.

• Evolving topics. New challenges emerging in your field? You’ve gone deeper into an aspect of your expertise? Add sections to your articles or web pages to address updates on the topic.
• New questions. Your target audience’s needs may change: if new questions arise, you might gain traction by directly answering them, rephrasing specific titles or subheadings. You could also tweak an article’s angle or add an FAQ section to try to rank for those queries.
• Better keywords. A better SEO opportunity may appear within the same semantic field (that is, the general theme of your article or page embodied by your primary keyword). Or maybe a high‑value piece remains hidden? Review your keyword research and adjust meta tags (title, description) and your Hn headings of your strategic content.
• Lack of internal linking. Every blog post and page on your site should serve as a starting point for your brand journey—it’s your customer journey! Make sure your content contains links to other pages on the topic to facilitate navigation. You might even create a semantic cocoon with your existing content.

Convincing arguments for your boss!

• Efficiency and speed in implementing your marketing efforts: no need to start from scratch.
• Visibility gains on search engines with content that adopts SEO best practices.
• Generation of qualified leads, indirectly boosting the effectiveness of your online marketing funnel.
• Improved brand consistency, for example by unifying content appearance and tone—a boost to trust.
• Possible optimization of content marketing ROI.

How to optimize your SEO content without a headache?

Before launching into a brand‑new creation, look at what you’ve already produced using an SEO content audit. An article from 2013 can still be relevant in 2024, in 2028, or 2035. That’s what we call evergreen content—content that remains relevant and current over a long period and requires minimal updates.

Your 9‑step flash SEO optimization strategy

Here are the main points of your playbook to review content and identify optimization opportunities:

1. Analyze which pages are performing and which are not, using tools like Google Analytics or Google Search Console.
2. Prioritize content that addresses the most searched and popular topics and aligns with your business priorities.
3. Adjust the primary keyword as it evolves, in meta tags and Hn headings, and enrich the text with related semantic field terms.
4. Modify the H1 to make it eye‑catching—for example, as a question, a list announcement, or by adding the current or upcoming year.
5. Look for new opportunities to expand the content (your allies: Google Trends, Semrush, Ubersuggest) and strengthen your existing semantic cocoon.
6. Consider adding an FAQ to adopt a format that appeals to both search engines and users.
7. Solidify your internal linking and, if possible, acquire backlinks (referring links to your site).
8. Update videos and images—especially adding alt text to them.
9. Track your content performance using the right KPIs: time on site, bounce rate, pages per session, conversion rate, etc.

Pro tip: SEO takes patience—it’s a long‑term game. On average, it takes 2 to 6 months for a reworked content’s ranking to stabilize for its main keyword. For faster results, combining organic SEO and paid search can be a solution.

What About Artificial Intelligence? Should You Create Your Content with AI?

Many experts weigh the pros and cons of using AI for web writing. For example, Google now accepts AI‑produced content without penalty but still favours original texts created by humans. Experts don’t yet know how well search engines can detect purely AI‑generated content. Stay tuned!

But your visitors aren’t fooled. A bland, soulless text that only shoots facts mechanically is unlikely to keep their attention. So, AI is an excellent springboard to help you get started and handle easily automated tasks.

The golden rule? AI‑produced texts must always be revised and tweaked, if only to differentiate yourself from the competition (they might use the same tools!) and make your brand shine with your unique voice, especially since B2B issues are often too niche for AI.

Your SEO Content Strategy: A Profitable Investment

With quality content that respects SEO best practices, your blog and website can more easily become trustworthy, accessible sources of information for your visitors via search engines.

To maximize the results of your SEO and content optimization strategy, you can adopt a few additional tactics. For example, don’t forget the importance of social signals: sharing your articles on social media can boost their visibility and generate organic traffic while reaching an audience beyond Google users.

Nowadays, an increasing amount of content is being produced and disseminated. To help you keep pace, strengthen your content’s relevance and effectiveness—or for any other digital marketing, SEO or content challenge—trust our specialists.