How to learn SEO: 10 resources to help your content rank

In the content world, Google and other search engines hold a lot of power. Success in content often requires a working knowledge of SEO and a cohesive strategy for ranking well.

By Kiera Abbamonte

So it makes sense that many content teams — including our customers here at Shorthand — are interested in ranking well in Google and Bing.

While customers often ask us for advice, we know they’re working with varying levels of search engine optimistation (SEO) experience.

There are a dizzying range of guides, courses and videos produced by the wider SEO community, and not all of them are worth your time. In this guide, we’ll link to some tried and tested resources from SEO experts that will help guide your own SEO efforts.

But SEO isn’t always one-size-fits-all — and sometimes, it’s questionable whether SEO is the right strategy in the first place. So, let’s start with the more important question: should you invest in SEO in the first place?

While focusing on SEO can be great for your content and overall business, it isn’t the right strategy for everyone. Many brands look at content and SEO as a silver bullet marketing strategy, but it has its downsides. These downsides have actually grown as the SEO space has evolved and matured.

So, before you dedicate your marketing strategy to SEO, consider the following:

1. SEO is super-competitive, making it hard to rank and see success
   Every single one of your competitors is thinking about SEO, and larger and more entrenched competitors likely have a significant advantage in terms of backlinks and domain authority. On that note:
   
2. Your website needs a good domain and topic authority
   That is to say, you need to convince Google that your website is likely to publish useful content in the specific query you're looking to rank for. These take a while to build up.
   
3. SEO is a long-term game
   You can’t expect to see a return on your investment right away. If you're looking to increase your leads in the next few months, SEO is the wrong marketing tactic. 
   
4. SEO isn’t free
   Beyond your investment in quality content, you may need to spend on SEO tools like SEMRush and Ahrefs, agencies and consultants, website changes, development to implement technical fixes, and more. Also, cutting costs with SEO — by hiring the cheapest writers you can find, for example — is going to lead to poor quality content, which could damage your reputation.
   
5. You're at the mercy of search giants
   Search algorithms get updated all the time, so you have to continuously track search performance and address any updates that lead to a drop in your rankings. Remember, you are at the mercy of the private algorithm of an enormous corporation that places its own interests well above those of your company. 
   
6. Click-through-rates are trending down
   Google continues to make aggressive Search Engine Result Page (or SERP) changes to prioritise its own properties and keep searchers in the SERP (instead of clicking through to external sites) as much as possible.
   
7. Organic search traffic isn’t always qualified
   This means that you may not be able to convert subscribers or customers at the same rate as traffic from other distribution strategies. There are plenty of vanity metrics in SEO, and these can lead to unrealistic expectations
   
8. Content quality can be lower
   Over-indexing on search can lead to bland, unoriginal content if you aren’t deliberate about finding your own angle
   
9. SEO can offer the wrong incentives to your team
   A focus on SEO can disincentivise your team from focusing on low volume topics that are actually much more valuable for your audience
   
10. There is an opportunity cost to SEO
    SEO can take attention and resources away from other marketing channels that might be more useful for your business, such as social media, community, events, or lower-funnel sales enablement content. 

Remember: search rankings aren’t the only way to distribute great content.

In our experience, SEO is best deployed as a single tactic within a broader distribution strategy. It shouldn’t be the only way you drive readers to your content, but if you’re willing and able to invest in a long-term strategy, it can be an incredibly powerful tool.

If you have the resources to invest in SEO, we recommend it for most content creators. After all, Google processes an estimated 5.6 billion searches every day — there’s potential if you can snag a piece of that.

For those new to SEO, it can be hard to know where to start. Here at Shorthand, we hear heaps of questions from customers wanting to dive in. With so many ways to approach SEO, it’s hard to recommend a single resource that covers it all.

So we’re recommending ten instead. The SEO resources below run the gamut from beginner-friendly guides to advanced SEO techniques and tricks. And the best news is that most of them are completely free tools.

SEO can be a valuable tool for getting more eyes on your content — but your efforts don’t end with ranking in Google. Actually, that’s where the real work starts.

Every piece of your content that ranks in search engines is like a front door to your business. New readers who’ve never heard of your site before may find their way there via these search results.

So every piece of content you optimise for search needs to provide a great first impression. That means creating a great experience for readers—in ways search engines also tend to reward.

But it also means focusing on the details Google doesn’t care about, too—details like engaging design, interactivity, and other tenets of great digital storytelling. Getting those details right is the best way to squeeze even more value out of your SEO efforts.