Crack the Code: Winning Strategies for Keyword Competition Analysis

Why Keyword Competition Analysis is Important

Understanding competition on specific keywords and phrases specific to your business is a crucial step in building your SEO keyword strategy. Building an SEO campaign around extremely competitive keywords may just be setting your campaign up for failure. However, creating a mix of different types of keywords, level of competitiveness and phrasing is integral to seeing success.

Let’s take a deep dive into the importance of examining the top-ranking websites for your target keyword phrases. This step of keyword research includes analyzing competitive content, backlink profiles, and on-page optimization. In doing this, you can effectively see what the competitive landscape is doing to ‘win at search’ in order to pivot your campaign to surpass.

Another aspect of competitive keyword research includes identifying gaps in the industry and competitive landscape in order to find a niche for your business on search. Sometimes targeting the highest volume keyword isn’t the most effective, while targeting smaller volumes will garner better results.

As an example, if Wikipedia, top news outlets or dictionaries are ranking in the top 1-5 positions for a phrase, as a business, targeting those keywords is likely to prove ineffective for hitting the top results.

Keeping goals realistic and revenue driven is a game-changer in your overall SEO strategy. Keyword competitive analysis is an essential building block in your SEO audit and strategy in order to see lasting results.

Build an SEO Strategy Utilizing Long-Tail Keywords for Strategic Advantage

If you aren’t familiar with long-tail keywords, they are 3+ word phrases that are more specific and typically less competitive. Utilizing long-tail keywords are a game-changer for both small and large businesses. While long-tail phrases usually have lower search volumes compared to broader terms, they often convert at a higher rate and are less competitive.

When building your SEO keyword strategy, consider targeting specific audiences within your products and services. For example, if you sell purses, instead of targeting a keyword like “purses” you would want to target something like “brown leather purse for women”. These types of keywords attract highly relevant traffic and increase conversion rates.

Competition around keywords are always something to keep at the forefront of your strategy. Most often, long-tail keywords have less competition than generic keywords. Generic keywords also have a stronger likelihood of broader search results, like Wikipedia.

To be effective with long-tail keywords, conducting extensive keyword research to identify the intent behind the phrases is paramount for SEO ranking success. Above all else, always incorporate the use of long-tail keywords naturally into your content to bring valuable traffic to your site.

Optimizing On-Page SEO Factors for Better Ranking

On-page SEO continues to play a fundamental role in your website’s ranking in SERP’s. Optimizing these factors continuously, aligned with the competitive landscape of your industry, can improve the visibility of your site.

So where do you start when it comes to on-page SEO?

One of the most important on-page SEO elements is keyword optimization. This means that you incorporate relevant keywords into your website’s content, consistently. You will want to essentially “map” which keywords that each page targets on your site. From there, you will integrate those phrases in the content, meta content, headings and body text. Be sure to always utilize keywords naturally and keep your visitor’s intent at the forefront of your content!

On-page SEO is much deeper than the above and includes many more elements from the URL structure, UX design, mobile optimization, internal linking and more. All of this works together to present the best information for a searcher, and thus results in higher rankings in SERP’s.

Dominating in search isn’t a quick fix. It takes months to begin ranking. However, by optimizing these on-page elements you can enhance the visibility of your site, while increasing your chances of dominating keyword competition.

Creating High-Quality Content Creation to Stand Out

We cannot stress the importance of creating high-quality content. In the day and age of AI generated content, visitors are thirsty for real impactful content. Building a content creation strategy that is aligned with your keyword research and competition is the first step in pumping out quality, relevant content.

What does high quality content look like?

Content that answers questions, informs site visitors, engages readers and attracts your target audience are key components of quality content.

When building content, you want to keep relevance, authenticity, and value at the forefront of each piece of content. Utilizing the competitive keyword analysis will help guide your content strategy to create impactful content that your audience is searching for.

Always incorporate graphics, videos and other visual elements that engage your audience while they are reading your content. This content can help your audience digest more complex information and serves as on-page SEO content for search engine purposes.

Consistency also plays an important role in creating website content. If you post five new pieces of content one month and then make no new updates for 6 months, that isn’t effective. You want to focus on consistently updating your website with fresh, relevant and engaging content for your audience. Building a blog is a great way to create content and post in a consistent manner. Consistency attracts search engine crawlers and can help you dominate in search results.

Altogether, high-quality, consistent content creation will help your brand stand out in search results. Always create valuable, engaging, consistent and human-based content for your audience.

Harnessing the Power of Backlinks for SEO Success

Off-page SEO refers to backlinks, or other websites linking directly to your website. Backlinks play an important role in the success of any SEO campaign. Focusing on increasing backlinks consistently can help improve your website’s authority for better ranking positions in search.

You want to think of backlinks as a check mark or validation from another website. These backlinks indicate that your website is trustworthy, provides valuable content and is authoritative in your industry. Search engines utilize backlinks as a ranking factor, therefore, it is important to ensure a healthy backlink profile with a strategy to increase.

There are numerous strategic ways to increase backlinks, however, the center point of any backlink strategy is high-quality, relevant content. You never want to purchase backlinks or build them quickly. Slow and steady will win the race when it comes to this aspect of SEO. A few ways you can build backlinks include:

- 1. Launch a PR Campaign
  2. Guest Blog Posting
  3. Skyscraper Content Method
  4. Link Outreach

One important aspect of link building is to regularly monitor your website’s backlink profile. If any backlinks are included that are spammy, or could harm the authority of your website, you always want to disavow those links. Maintaining your backlink profile will help increase your chances of ranking in search results.

Ready to take your SEO efforts to the next level?

Backstage Digital is a full service digital marketing agency that lives and breathes SEO. Our services are built with transparency and results. Schedule a free discovery call to see if we are the right fit for your business here.

February 28, 2023December 7, 2023

7 Content Marketing Strategy Tips To Help Boost Your Website’s Ranking

Tired of searching for your products and services only to find your competitors ranking? We are diving into some steps that you can take today to boost your website rankings.

1. Keywords Matter

When it comes to your website verbiage or blog content, keywords matter. Numerous times, we work with a client who wants to rank for specific keywords or phrases, yet none of those terms are listed throughout their website.

When creating content on your website, always conduct keyword research. You can use a tool like SEM RUSH or Google’s Keyword Planner, which is free. Whatever you do, don’t skip this step, as it is crucial to boosting your ranking in search results.

Because 75% of searchers never go past the first page of search results (Source) conducting keyword research and targeting your content is crucial for ranking in search results.

2. Create long-form content on your website

Did you know that organic results that rank on page 1 of Google contains an average of 1,447 words? (Source) Creating long-form content on your website not only helps you build your audience and deliver value to your visitors, but it is also imperative for boosting your website search engine rankings.

If you have drafted a blog that is about 500-700 words and are looking for ways to bolster the content, consider a few of the following ideas:

Add real life examples or case studies that tie into the content you are writing about
Find trusted sources to reference and give insight into the data presented
Integrate complimentary and relevant topics throughout the content

Drafting long-form content doesn’t need to be complicated, it needs to be strategic.

3. Create Sticky Content

Have you ever come across content that is so valuable you immediately save it, share it, or print it? Sticky content does just that. It tackles a topic that is hyper-relevant to your audience and meets a need that they have. Another way to think about this is “share-worthy” content. In the SEO world, creating share-worthy content might be a post that has statistics that are industry relevant that other writers may link to.

A great way to brainstorm sticky content ideas is to tackle the frequently asked questions you receive regularly. Take a deep dive into individual questions to create sticky, relevant content for your visitors.

4. Utilize Calls-to-Action Across Your Website

Have you ever heard of the KISS method? Keep it super simple, or keep it stupid simple 😉. This method is so important to utilize on your website. You need to visually tell the website visitor what action you want them to take next. Should they watch a video, sign-up for your newsletter, fill out a form or purchase a product?

Utilizing clear and concise CTAs on your website walks your visitor through the journey on the site in order to convert them.

5. Keep a Close Eye on the Competition

Understanding what your competitors are doing and how they are ranking on search results is important as you craft a content marketing strategy for your business. While we never recommend copying what others are doing, understanding how your target audience resonates with competition allows you to pivot your content marketing strategy, re-align your approach and move the bar within the industry.

6. Create a Content Calendar

We are big believers in “putting pen to paper” when it comes to your content marketing strategy. Creating a content calendar gives you a bird’s eye view of what content is coming up, what content is in production and builds cohesion across all of your marketing channels.

7. Measure & Analyze

Taking monthly snapshots of your efforts and results is extremely important for understanding your ROI. Ask questions about what is working and what isn’t. Take the data and utilize for upcoming campaigns and re-alignment.

Running reports are just the first step, digesting the reports to know what step to take next is crucial to continue to move the needle forward.

About Backstage Digital Agency

Backstage Digital is a full-service digital marketing agency based in The Woodlands, TX. Their team of expert digital marketers build custom websites for their clients and create lead generation campaigns that convert. To learn more about their services, contact the team here.

July 7, 2022July 11, 2022

7 Questions to Ask your SEO Agency

Are you considering hiring an SEO agency for your business? Or perhaps you already work with an SEO agency but the results are lack-luster.

SEO can be technical and most business owners know they need to invest in this channel, but aren’t sure exactly what to ask their SEO agency to ensure they are the best fit.

We have laid out 7 questions to ask your potential SEO agency or your current SEO below.

7 Questions to Ask Your SEO Agency

When it comes to SEO, what is your process when you onboard a new client?
- This question will give you insight into the processes, procedures, team and technical aspects of the SEO agency. You will want to see if they will put together an SEO strategy, keyword research, blog topics or website page list at the start of your campaign.
Does your SEO agency perform both on-page SEO and off-page SEO?
- This is an important question. Many agencies don’t offer both, but the magic happens when you optimize on-page AND off-page SEO elements. Find out what type of content building, link building, local SEO efforts, etc. that they will be managing on a month-to-month basis.
When can I see results?
- Understand that SEO is a long game. It is a long-term digital marketing channel that takes time. If an SEO partner promises results within the first 1-3 months, it is a red flag. Transparency is key, and most often the efforts done now can be seen in 3-6 months.
What type of reporting will I receive?
- Seeing your results is essential to understanding where your investment is going. Be sure your SEO partner will generate monthly results for your campaigns that you have access to.
How do I know what changes your team did on my site?
- This is a great question to ask and builds trust with your potential SEO agency. Some agencies will supply you with a monthly work diary, which includes a complete list of every change their team made on your website. Ask for this, you will want to ensure the SEO agency is actually doing the work on your site.
What keywords are we targeting?
- This is a great question to ask and builds trust with your potential SEO partner. Some agencies will supply you with a monthly work diary, which includes a complete list of every change their team made on your website. Ask for this, you will want to ensure the SEO agency is actually doing the work on your site.
Do you have any case studies I can review?
- The proof is in the pudding when it comes to SEO. Even with external factors and changing algorithms, seeing what results an SEO agency can achieve on their client SEO campaigns helps you understand what they can do for your business.

If you are looking to partner with an SEO agency in The Woodlands, TX, fill out the form here and someone from our team will reach out.

About Backstage Digital

Backstage Digital is a full service digital marketing agency based in The Woodlands, TX. Founded in 2017, Backstage Digital believes in transparency while generating actual results from client campaigns.

September 21, 2021September 21, 2021

Five Things Your Competitors Know About Authentic Online Marketing

Authentic: We hear this word often in business, not only when it comes to online marketing.

Build authentic relationships.
Create authentic marketing messages.
Send authentic letters or notes.

The reason we hear this word throughout all facets of our business is because authenticity stretches across every person in your company.

But how can brands show their audience that they are authentic without coming on too…inauthentic?

Let’s see what consumers think about authenticity and brands online.

86% of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding what brands they like and support.
81% of surveyed consumers said that they need to be able to trust the brand in order to buy from them.
66% of consumers think transparency is one of the most attractive qualities in a brand.
77% of consumers buy from brands who share the same values as they do.
79% of people say that user generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions.

These numbers are astounding. And for a business owner like yourself – they should impact how you position your brand online.

What Exactly is Authenticity?

Webster defines authentic as “not false or imitation: real, actual” – which sounds simple enough. But how do we translate this throughout your online marketing.

Here’s Five Things Your Competitors are Doing that You Should be Too!

Do you watch your competitors online marketing and wonder why yours is falling on flat ears? Keep reading.

1. PEOPLE Are the Heartbeat of Their Business

One of the best ways to build authentic marketing campaigns online is to show the backbone of your business, your employees.

Your employees not only serve your customers but they are the difference in a thriving business and one that well, isn’t thriving.

Likewise, consumers want to support businesses that care and support their employees. Pulling down the sheet to show the back-bone of your business and integrating your employees throughout your marketing messages builds authenticity online.

2. Understand How to Serve Your Audience

Authentic online marketing stems from the understanding of your audience. Answer these questions before creating content online:

Who is your audience?
What do they like/dislike?
When they make purchased, what do they value the most?
When it comes to your brand, what means the most to them?

By identifying what matters to your audience your brand can build authentic, relevant content that inspires, educates and helps your audience.

3. Humanize Your Tone of Voice

Do you know what drives a consumer mad online? Seeing the same generic, bot responses to any questions that are posted to their brand.

Allow your social media managers to craft responses that are both authentic and human. Not only does this humanize your brand on social media – it builds great customer service and leaves a lasting impression.

Automated, generic responses are one of the most inauthentic things your brand can do online.

4. Consistent Content Creation & Publishing

Whether you content is on social media, YouTube, blog content or Podcasts – having consistency builds authenticity online.

Why?

The content your brand creates and publishes should serve your audience. But, if you go MIA for a few weeks, it leaves “some not-so-good tastes” in your consumer’s mouths.

Your audience follows you on these channels because they are interested in your brand. When you provide inconsistent content for them, it shows where your priorities are.

5. Support Non-Profit Causes

Does your business support non-profit organizations? This is a great way to build authentic messaging and get your audience involved.

Consumers want to feel that they are doing good when they spend their money. Showing them how you support different causes and organizations is just one way they know your brand is one they want to support.

However, inviting them to support the organization with you builds a human connection with your audience that drives an authentic approach.

Cut Through the Noise

When it comes to cutting through the noise in today’s online marketing arena – be authentic. Transparent companies that are considerate, compassionate and honest with their consumers build authentic online marketing campaigns.

Brands that are authentic in everything that they do seeps into their marketing messages online.

About Backstage Digital

Backstage Digital is a digital marketing agency specializing in lead generation for their clients. We create custom digital marketing campaigns that generate results for our clients. More importantly, our clients have a 24/7 dashboard to review the ROI of all digital marketing campaigns. Contact us to learn more.

May 19, 2021September 10, 2021

7 Ways to Ignite Your Business with Digital Marketing

7 Ways to Ignite Your Business with Digital Marketing

Digital marketing can sometimes feel overwhelming because there can be so many moving parts for your business. We are here to help! Below we have outlined 7 ways to use digital marketing to ignite your business.

1. Engage on Social Media Platforms as Your Business

Did you know that many forget about this important aspect of social media marketing? So many times, a business jumps on their Instagram page to make a post and then closes the platform until it is time for the next post.

Take a few minutes before you post your content to interact with individuals in your feed, find new prospects through searching hashtags and responding to any comments or DMs on your profile.

Not only will this help humanize your brand, Instagram loves it when you hang out on their platform vs. just hopping on to post and hopping off.

Sort your Instagram following to those you’ve least interacted with and make an effort to build a relationship through social media with those individuals!

2. Launch an Email List Building Strategy

Does building an email list seem overwhelming? It doesn’t have to be! Start small and continue to provide value to your audience, while creating actionable ways to build your email marketing list. Below are some ways to increase your subscribers:

Include options on your website to subscribe
Create social media posts to promote your emails, exclusive email content helps increase subscriptions
Launch a promotion or a giveaway for those who signup for your email
Attend tradeshow events to grow your audience
Launch Social Media Advertising Campaigns that build your email list

Building your email list should be a top priority for your business. It is essential to have subscribers who want your content and are interested in what you are saying. Things can change quickly on digital channels that you do not control.

3. Keep Fresh Content on Your Website

Built your website years ago and have just let it sit since then? Guess what, that is not helping your business much at all. Having a monthly website strategy can help you play into search engine algorithms while also keeping your audience up to date on new services, staff changes and more!

Not sure what content to add to your website? Consider launching a blog and strive to create one blog post a month!

4. Plan, Plan, Plan

We like to call this “putting pen to paper” and that is exactly what you should do. Take some time to brainstorm ways that you can leverage digital marketing channels that align with your business goals. Your plan should always start with goals, then outline exactly what steps you will take to meet those goals.

If planning an entire year’s digital marketing efforts feels overwhelming, start with a quarterly plan, and begin executing.

5. Create a Marketing Funnel

Want to supercharge your business? Create a marketing funnel that continuously brings new prospects into your business. A funnel does the heavy lifting with automatic emails or SMS messages from those who opt-in to your offer.

Be sure to market your funnel across several different channels like Google Adwords, Social media ads and on your website!

6. Generate Lead Magnets

A lead magnet is something that you create and giveaway for free in exchange for contact information. This could be an e-book, checklist, webinar, etc. This type of lead magnet is great for building out your pipeline as well as increasing your email subscribers.

Keep your lead magnet hyper-targeted to your ideal audience for higher conversion rates of the right prospect.

7. Think Long-Term and Short-Term Marketing

Certain digital marketing channels (like Google Adwords and Facebook Advertising) are short term and your ROI typically happens quicker. Long-term digital marketing channels include SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and organic social media content.

Most short term channels include monetary investment, but the payoff is quicker for your business. These will definitely generate short-term successes but are just as important as your long-term strategies that help your business continue to grow. The ROI for long-term marketing channels is a bit longer, but the wait and effort are worth it!

Invest time and resources into a multi-channel marketing approach to build a lasting business.

Digital marketing can ignite your business but only if a strategic approach is taken. If you are looking for ways to take your business to the next level, let our team help!

About Backstage Digital

Backstage Digital is a digital marketing agency serving small and medium sized businesses across the US. We specialize in SEO, PPC, Social media marketing, social media advertising and data analytics. We serve as the marketing arm for our clients and build strategies that meet business goals. Contact us to learn more.

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April 6, 2021September 10, 2021

5 Great Questions to Ask a Digital Marketing Agency Before You Hire Them

Written By Brittni Castilaw

When it comes to hiring a digital marketing agency partner, there are several things to consider. If you’ve interviewed a potential agency, you probably have certain questions you’d like answered. We’ve outlined a few to add to your list to ensure you find the right fit for your business.

How Long Has Your Digital Marketing Agency Been in Business?

Learn more about the agency’s background by asking about their history. While there isn’t a magic number of years that gives you a hard yes/no during your interviewing process – what you’re looking for is expertise in the digital marketing field.

Even agencies that are newer have the potential to bolster your business. Use this question to learn about the expertise of those who will be working on your project and what they can bring to the table.

What Type of Clients Does Your Digital Marketing Agency Work With?

Most often, digital marketing agencies work with specific niches. It is important to understand if this partner has experience in your business area. This can give you assurance they will be able to meet the objectives of your campaign.

This question also opens the conversation to allow the agency partner to expand on what type of results they have garnered for businesses like yours.

How Quickly Can Our Project Get Started?

There is likely lead time for most digital marketing projects. This will depend heavily on what type of project (website, SEO, Social Media, Etc.), how quickly contracts are signed and access is given to the agency. Lead time could be 1-2 days or a couple of months.

Understanding the timeline helps keep everyone on the same page and under the same expectation. Digital marketing agencies work with several clients so understanding how your project aligns with their timeline is important when deciding.

Do you have any case studies?

We like to call it “the proof is in the pudding” – because that is exactly what this is. Ask them for previous work results. You want to see that they have delivered results for their clients in the past.

This will build trust between you and the digital agency partner which is essential prior to jumping into a business relationship.

How Often will I see Results?

If an agency does not provide any type of reporting, this should be a red flag. Having monthly reporting should be the minimum. What’s better is when a client offers technology that delivers 24/7 digital marketing reporting for their clients.

Backstage Digital’s client dashboard giving you 24/7 access to your digital marketing results.

Transparency in your digital marketing spend is a factor when seeing results. Having a digital marketing agency partner that delivers results and timely reporting is an important factor. Learn more about how to track ROI for your digital marketing efforts here.

Digital marketing agency partners provide valuable strategies, deliver impeccable results and can serve as a right hand to your business. Selecting the best fit is essential to having a successful partnership. Contact us to see if we can help propel your business forward with digital marketing solution.

About Backstage Digital

Backstage Digital is a full service digital marketing agency based out The Woodlands, TX serving clients across the US. Our goal is to be an extension of your business while delivering leads utilizing online marketing channels like social media marketing, SEO, paid advertising (Google Adwords, YouTube and Social Media Advertising) and Content Marketing. If you are interested in partnering with our team, fill out the form here and we can jump on a quick call to see if we should work together.

November 6, 2017

The Importance of Keyword Research

The hard truth about digital marketing is your audience doesn’t use the same keywords that you do to describe your products and services. Your business offers a solution to a problem and your website has to clearly communicate how your company can solve their problems. So where does keyword research come in?

Keyword research is important in attracting new prospects. Your clients start at Google to research, analyze and understand how to solve their problem. It could be anything from cleaning to dining to finding a local pediatrician. The things that people type into Google aren’t important – unless they are typing in keyword phrases that segment them into your target audience.

TIP: Use Google’s Free Keyword Tool to Conduct Keyword Research

Let’s say you are a local dermatologist. You might offer a range of services on your website to help your audience decide what they need from you. You might offer services to treat acne or eczema or even aesthetic services like Botox and dermal fillers.

But what do your prospects type in? They might not know what service they need, and rather search with intent, questions and reviews rather than a specific service. So think of phrases like the below:

“How to get rid of forehead wrinkles”

“Acne treatments for teenagers”

“Underarm sweating treatment”

Your website has to offer quality content that answers questions your audience is asking. And your prospects do not use the same words that you do to describe the services you offer.

Quality content isn’t one paragraph describing that topic, but rather, well-thought out content that answers questions for your visitors. When you think of Google as a business, it is easier to wrap your mind around how SEO ranking work.

Google’s job (from a search perspective) is to serve up the best results for a particular search query. They are extremely good at this job because they hold the market share in search engines (opposed to Bing or Duck Duck Go). Your job, as a business owner is to create the best content for your specific search keywords that move your pages up on search results.

TIP: Shoot for 300+ words on website pages that you are working to rank for a particular keyword phrase.

This is why keyword research is important, if you use the term “hyperhidrosis” across your site regarding your underarm sweating – your audience will likely never land on your site. Your competitor (who has likely done keyword research) will outrank you and get that traffic.

Keyword research is important to your SEO strategy, not because it’s just a step in the process. It drives warm leads straight to your site. When you do it right, you can attract people who are actually looking for your products and services, what more could you ask for?

If your website isn’t bringing in quality leads and serving as a hub for your entire business – it’s not doing its job.

October 24, 2017October 24, 2017

How to Spot Black Hat SEO

Here’s the deal. There is no easy, fast way to get your website to rank number one in Google search. If there was, everyone would be number one.

When a marketer or an agency promises a number one spot with a “secret method” – shake their hand and walk them out.

I’m still in awe of the amount of black-hat SEO tactics that are being promoted in today’s digital marketing arena. If you are looking to hire an SEO agency and don’t know exactly what to ask, or look for – these questions will help.

What goes into your SEO strategy for my website?

For this question, you want to hear the process of how they will deliver results. There are over 200 ranking factors that Google looks at. These include meta tags, back linking, social signals and content. Focusing on one of these isn’t going to be successful. Understand their process, what goes into the planning and more importantly, how they will execute.

How would you build links for my website?

Several business owners understand that link building, or backlinks, to your website is a good thing for SEO. While backlinks are an important factor, the type of links impact your rankings. If someone will “sell” 3,000 backlinks for $50 – it’s not a deal. Don’t buy into that.

The only way to obtain credible links is by offering quality content that provides value. Once you do this, you can promote those pieces of content in order to increase your backlinks.

How do you incorporate keywords throughout my site?

This is an important question. If they mention that the keywords will be hidden or tiny to give signals to search engines…RUN! This is the furthest thing that you need for your website. Keywords should be used in a normal manner, that is beneficial to the audience. Tagging pages on the backend, incorporating keywords and phrases in the copy are great ways to include your targeted keywords on a page.

I cannot stress enough that once SEO is done wrong, it’s extremely difficult (and expensive) to go forward. Google knows what they are doing and they can see all of the black hat tactics mentioned above. They will demote your website and could possibly remove your site from their index.

Don’t fall into empty promises. Remember that SEO is a marathon – strategic and small changes are what bring you over the finish line.