6 signs you need to revamp your content & SEO strategy

Content and SEO are two important pillars of any online business. However, despite spending much time and effort on these components, some businesses still fail.
If you think you’re doing everything right but are still struggling with your online business, perhaps it’s time to revamp your content & SEO strategy. Here are 6 signs that you definitely should do that.

1. You have a high bounce rate

Your website should have “high quality” content. There is no doubt about that.
But since quality is often “subjective”, determining whether your content is of the required standard or not can be tricky.
Fortunately, your website’s bounce rate serves as a good indicator of how good your website’s content really is.
If your site has a very high bounce rate, it is likely that the content you are producing isn’t exciting your readers enough. A high bounce rate means that most of your website visitors quit the website without clicking on any other page.
Although there is no standard for a “good” bounce rate — it varies from niche to niche — aim for less than 60%. Then try to cut it down month over month with high-quality content, a good website layout, and a user-friendly navigation structure.

2. Organic traffic is unreasonably low

If most of your traffic is coming from sources other than search engines, it may be time to rethink your SEO strategy. There could be two reasons for it:

• You are targeting the wrong keywords that nobody is searching for, and that’s why you get a low amount of organic traffic, or
• Your content isn’t getting ranked higher enough in the SERPs to get noticed.

Understand who your readers are, what type of content they want, what their biggest problems are, and the type of content they like the most.
Also, make sure that you are targeting the right keywords. Analyse your competitors’ websites and see what keywords and keyword phrases have been working well for them.

3. You are targeting too many broad keywords

Talking of keyword targeting, it is also important not to rely too much on broad keywords. This could be another reason why you may be getting low organic traffic.
Targeting broad keywords — while it may look tempting — isn’t a very good SEO strategy. Broad keywords are tough to rank for and tend to have a low conversion rate.
On the other hand, you are more likely to rank higher for long-tail keywords.
If you are interested in learning more, read our guide on generating traffic from long-tail keywords.

4. You are not creating content on the basis of the sales funnel

Even if you do get a decent amount of traffic, it’s not a guarantee that you will be able to convert them into paying customers.
Remember that acquiring traffic is only the first step. The real challenge is often to nurture those random visitors by feeding them the right type of content at the right time.
For someone who is just getting to know your business and what products you have to offer, a full-blown promotional case study might not be the best fit. It will be, however, for someone who is quite far down the sales funnel and is now contemplating whether to buy your product or not.
That’s why it is important to create content for each stage of your sales funnel:

• Awareness
• Research
• Consideration
• Decision
• Post-purchase

 

5. Overall traffic is declining

If your overall traffic is declining, it is crucial to revisit your content and SEO strategy right away. Identify any shortcomings and fix them as soon as possible.
You may not be creating the right type of content, promoting each new blog post enough, or you may be lagging behind on the technical SEO front. An SEO and content audit will help you identify the next steps.
Sometimes, it is possible to lose search rankings and traffic through no fault of your own. It can also be a core algorithm update. In that case, you need to make sure that your website is following the guidelines set by Google.

6. You’re not following the 80/20 promotional rule

Some websites create too much content that is focused on promoting their products and services. If all you’re doing is creating content so you can sell more products, you need to rethink your content strategy.
Follow the 80/20 promotional rule, which says that for each promotional piece, make sure to publish four educational and informative pieces for your readers.
Remember that the primary purpose of content publishing is to establish your authority and provide genuine value to your readers, so they come back for more.
Your blog isn’t the right channel to convert visitors into customers. At this stage, give them value and nurture them enough, so they move forward in the sales funnel.