How Keyword Research, Content Writing and Technical SEO Work Together as One Strategy

Many individuals break down their understanding of SEO into three distinct areas. Keyword research is treated as one area. Content creation is viewed as a separate area altogether. Technical SEO is often assigned to a developer. This separation may make sense when learning SEO. It presents a problem when applying SEO. The truth is these three disciplines are integrated into one cohesive strategy. The three disciplines are keyword research, content creation and technical SEO. If one component is missing or weak no other component will be able to make up for it.

1. Keyword research is the basis of every SEO strategy. It is the process of discovering what real people are searching for. It identifies specific phrases, questions and subject areas entered into search engines every day. Without keyword research all content is written based on assumptions. Those assumptions relate to the relevancy of topics. Keyword research removes those assumptions. It provides a reliable way to connect a website to its audience through search engine results. It shows what a business wants to say. It also indicates whether there is a legitimate search request for that topic. This eliminates any doubt about whether the content creates an acceptable experience for website visitors.

1. Keyword research can be extremely helpful when it comes to content writing. A list of keywords sitting in a spreadsheet by themselves are essentially useless. Content is the vehicle that takes those keywords and provides answers for real people. It establishes true authority on a specific subject. It also provides search engines with something of value for ranking on search engine results pages. Content created without keyword research is equally limited. Without knowing what people are looking for in their queries the content will miss its intended audience. Without knowing the words and phrases people use the content will miss its intended audience. Without knowing the intent behind their queries even high quality content will not reach its intended audience. These two disciplines are very much dependent on one another. Keyword research tells what to write about. The writing itself gives context to the keywords. This context helps search engines and users understand the information presented in the content.

1. The purpose of Technical SEO is to ensure that content creation efforts are properly presented to search engines. A web page may have content optimized for a keyword. It may also have high quality writing. But it will not show up in search engine results if the page has a slow load time. It will not show up if the page cannot be indexed by crawlers. It will not show up if the page does not use HTTPS. Technical SEO represents the base on which content is built. It complements keyword research. It complements quality writing. It ensures that neither of these elements goes unused.

An SEO plan that works includes working on three components as one combined process. Keyword Research drives Content Creation with what was given through Keyword Research. Technical SEO guarantees delivery actually gets to the people doing the searching. If  remove one of these components as part of overall SEO plan it would have a disconnect on the strategy. When all three components are closed it will create a site that can be located, read and ranked by search engine.