From Good to Great: The Crucial Role of SEO Scalability
The pursuit of online visibility is an endless chase. This is especially true when it comes to SEO. The more your rankings increase, the more competitive your strategy has to be to maintain your standings over time. And if you want to take your online presence to the next level? That requires even more effort.
The solution? Kicking your strategy into overdrive with SEO scalability. It’s the only way to achieve continued growth and increased visibility in search results long term. Without it, your organic traffic rates will almost certainly hit a plateau at some point, and your existing efforts will stop producing the same desired results.
But I’m not here to be the bearer of bad news. I’m here to let you know these problems can be avoided entirely with a scalable content strategy for SEO!
Today I’ll be breaking down exactly what SEO content scaling is, how it works, and the value of including it in your future marketing plans, so you can confidently prepare for the next phase of your success.
Ready? Let’s dig in!
What is SEO Scalability?
SEO scalability is a forward-thinking approach to optimization that prioritizes exponential growth in search engine results. It’s achieved by strategically using both technical SEO and on-page SEO techniques, on a large scale, to expand your online presence over time.
Why is SEO Scalability Important?
1. It Keeps Content Generation Efficient
One of the biggest problems companies face when trying to elevate their SEO strategy is a lack of efficiency. Generating content in bulk is a major undertaking, and without a clear framework in place to support the increase in volume, things can quickly fall apart.
Proactively planning for SEO scalability is a game-changer in this situation. You can choose which strategies for scaling SEO best align with your future goals, and then start putting foundational processes in place to generate content, all while reducing the amount of additional time, energy, or resources you’ll need.
2. It Prevents Keyword Cannibalization
Without an overarching scalable content strategy for SEO, it’s difficult to know for certain you’re targeting the right keywords in the right places.
Remember, Google and other search engines have strict requirements in place for how and when keywords should be used. If you target a single keyword across every page of your website, for example, your site could get flagged for keyword cannibalization and your rankings may be negatively affected.
A clear, well-planned strategy for scalability helps you identify keyword clusters and content topics that relate to one another, but that don’t directly overlap— increasing your likelihood of success.
3. It Reduces the Risk of Content Quality Decline
Continuing to produce high quality content is an absolute MUST when it comes to scaling your SEO strategy. You never want to disappoint your target audience with generic, poorly-written, or irrelevant content.
An expertly-created strategy for scaling SEO accounts for any potential problems in this area. It includes strategies for repurposing content across various platforms, for outsourcing content production to trusted providers, and for leveraging templates and other resources— all of which contribute to consistency of quality.
4. It Opens Up Opportunities for Market Expansion
To outperform your competitors and gain a greater share of the digital marketplace, you need to achieve a surge in relevant organic traffic, resulting in heightened brand visibility and trust. SEO content scaling is one of the best ways to do that.
You can target specific keyword clusters that other brands haven’t, expanding your reach, or incorporate more content into your SEO strategy that appeals to a new and different demographic.
5. It Strengthens Brand Authority
The more commanding your presence is in search engine results, the more credibility your brand is in the eyes of consumers. In fact, people recall specific brands up to 16 percent more often when those brands appear in the top search results— proving how valuable SEO can be for brands looking to strengthen brand awareness and loyalty.
When is SEO Content Scaling Necessary?
1. You’ve Hit a Traffic Plateau
Have you noticed your website traffic is at a standstill? It might be a sign your current SEO strategy is reaching its limits. Scaling by targeting new keywords, expanding your content, or appealing to new audiences can help you break through that performance ceiling.
2. An Algorithm Update Caused Your Rankings to Drop
Search engines like Google regularly update their algorithms. If there's been a significant update recently, it could be impacting your SEO results. Your best move? Adapting and scaling your strategy to align with the new algorithm changes.
3. Your Business is Expanding
Your SEO strategy has to grow with your business. If you’re adding new products or services, or if you’re expanding into new markets, that’s a surefire sign it’s time to invest in a scalable content strategy for SEO. Otherwise, you could miss your opportunity to make a strong first impression as you launch the next phase of your company.
6 Ways to Scale an SEO Content Strategy
1. Content Audits
You can’t scale your SEO without knowing where your performance currently stands. That’s why I recommend conducting content audits on an annual basis. Audits are an opportunity to review what’s currently working well in your strategy and what areas can be improved upon. Plus, they’re an excellent chance to spot any minor issues, like broken links, missing alt tags, and unoptimized meta descriptions.
2. Keyword Clusters
A keyword cluster is a group of terms or phrases that share a similar search intent. For example, if a person is looking to buy a new rug for their living room, they might search “area rug”, “living room rug”, or “living room area rug”. Therefore, you could use all three of these terms as a keyword cluster. Click here to learn more about what keyword clusters are and how they function.
The best way to capitalize on keyword clusters is to create multiple pieces of content (i.e. blogs or website pages) that are strategically optimized for each of the terms in a cluster.
3. Category Pages
Category pages are an essential part of keeping your website well-structured and organized. They also help search engine crawlers find and identify the topics of web pages, ensuring your content is ranked and shown in Google results as quickly as possible.
Think of category pages as organizational containers. They keep individual web pages in one place, based on topic, almost the same way a dresser drawer holds a particular type of clothing (pants, socks, etc). They inform Google to look for certain types of content in a specific place, rather than scanning your entire website.
The more category pages your website has, and the more optimized they are, the easier it is to increase your rankings.
4. Content Loops
Content loops are interconnected and interlinked pieces of content that form a continuous loop of information within a website. They keep visitors on your site for longer periods of time, which increases engagement and reduces bounce rates. From an SEO standpoint, content loops increase the crawlability of your site, helping search engines identify which pieces of content are related to one another.
By intentionally and thoughtfully creating loops of optimized content, you can dramatically improve SEO scalability while also creating a seamless user experience for your website visitors.
5. Subdomains
Creating subdomains (and directing them toward your main website) is one of the most powerful strategies for scaling SEO. Typically, it’s a strategy used by large corporations or ecommerce brands, since it can be quite intensive in terms of time and resources— but there are ways to achieve the same outcome within a smaller scope.
If you own an online clothing brand, for instance, that’s completely sustainably made, you could choose to have a separate domain for an eco-friendly blog and direct it back to your shopping site. This not only creates a clear distinction between your clothing brand and your social mission, clarifying both aspects of your business for your audience, but it streamlines the process of managing content on each site.
You can target a completely different set of keywords on your subdomain, and establish authority for those search terms, while still ultimately directing traffic back to your main site.
6. Navigation Optimization
The structure and design of your website's navigation system has a substantial impact on how well it performs in search results. Your navigational elements should be clear with a well-structured hierarchy, so search engines like Google can quickly determine how users are meant to move throughout your site.
Whether it’s strategically-placed links, the architecture of your menu, or the use of breadcrumbs— search engines check for these elements and take them into account when determining your rankings.
Optimizing your navigation to appeal to Google algorithms makes it easier to expand your website over time and publish new content without sacrificing user experience.
Take Your SEO
FROM GOOD TO GREAT
Hire an SEO Content Specialist You Can Count On
You need an SEO strategy that delivers both short-term and long-term success. As an SEO copywriter and strategist, I’ve helped hundreds of clients identify opportunities for online growth, and I’ve provided the content required to make their performance goals a reality.
If you’re ready to take the next step toward online excellence, I’d love to connect.
Together, we’ll set a new gold standard for your marketing efforts!