How to write killer SEO content for your wedding business
Is your wedding business ranking #1 in google? No? Then it’s probably time to change a few things…
Why content is key to SEO success
The entire business world has a finger (or in most instances, an entire hand) on the pulse of SEO because it’s now recognised and accepted as a primary vehicle for customer attraction and sales.
And if this isn’t the case for your wedding business yet it soon will be; that is, if you get it right.
It’s easy to get bogged down with popular terms like ‘keywords’, ‘links’ and ‘tags’ but ultimately the difference between success and failure in SEO lies with quality content.
Pssst! If you’re new to SEO and don’t have a clue what those popular terms actually mean, don’t fret. Check out this Complete Glossary of Essential SEO Jargon!
Are you making sure that all of your content is as relevant, interesting and engaging for newly engaged couples as you can?
Succeeding as a wedding business online is down to producing the right content, and choosing the right content to produce is reliant on you understanding what your potential clients / couples are searching for online, and then providing them with the best answers to their questions.
Here are four SEO content tips that will guarantee you soar to position one in the search results…
Tip 1: Act natural – optimise content but relax when it comes to keyword density
It’s important to know which keyword terms you’re optimising for but don’t let keywords rule your writing.
Even some SEO pro’s are guilty of meticulously measuring keyword density using tools like SEO Quake; counting the number of times a keyword is used on a particular page in body content, meta data and alt tags.
And whilst it can be good to check your content with these kinds of tools and ensure your keyword density is meeting minimum requirements it’s essential that you always write for engaged couples first before you consider how Google feels about things.
According to SEO guru Rand Fishkin, this is the general rule of thumb for keyword repetition:
Google understands how words and phrases relate which is exactly why you haven’t got to worry too much about keyword repetition rules. Avoid over-optimizing your website and make sure you don’t cram in keyword phrases for the sake of it.
Include the keywords that brides and grooms in your local market are searching for to find your type of wedding service in your page titles, blog posts and website copy but always use natural language that is relevant, credible and accurate.
Google rates high quality content that meets the user’s needs so deliver the content and experience engaged couples want and answer the questions they’re asking. This is a far more effective way to boost rankings and improve usability than getting keyword stuffy.
Tip 2: How to choose content topics that will help your wedding business rank well
The best way to approach choosing a content topic is to combine insight into long tail keyword phrases with any content gaps in your wedding specialism, and to think of the questions engaged couples will want answers to.
Firstly, you’ll need to select your core subject or specialism, for example: “wedding venues in London”. You want to rank well for this keyword phrase and be considered an expert when it comes to delivering relevant content and results to searchers as it’s something that’s closely related to what your business does.
Next, you’ll want to Google the phrase yourself and check out which articles or sites are already ranking well for the term “wedding venues in London”.
How’s the competition looking?
If nobody else seems to have answered this question well and you’re sure you could do better, go ahead and focus on writing content for this relatively broad phrase. But if there are loads of relevant results already (which is likely when looking at broad search terms) it’s best you try to think of* different *words or phrases that are still relevant to this core keyword term. This will allow you to create truly unique content and have a better chance at ranking well for more specific search queries.
If we take the example “wedding venues in London”, related phrases could include “affordable wedding venues London”, “wedding venues London art gallery”, “wedding venues London and Essex” etc. Ideally, you want to carve out a relevant but differentiated niche for your topic, for example: “How to hold an affordable wedding at a London venue”, as these kinds of long-tail phrases are likely to be* less* competitive and will help you build authority around your core topic without going head to head with an established website already ranking well for this topic.
Take a look at some of the other words or phrases existing articles include frequently and use tools like Ubersuggest and KeywordTool.io to help you expand your related keywords lists.
Tip 3: Optimise your images for SEO
Choosing the right images to accompany your written content is really important as Alt Tags contribute as a ranking factor for Google when deciding if your content is high value.
Here are the key things you should consider when choosing images to help support your content and improve your SEO value:
Images must be engaging, high quality and attention grabbing.
Images must relate to your topic, add value to the piece and /or illustrate a point that is difficult to explain to enhance the overall reading experience.
Think about the size of the images you’re using as loading speed is a core SEO indicator and slow websites will lose readers and potential new business.
Remember to optimise your images with Alt tags and relevant descriptions that relate to the keyword phrase you’re optimising for.
Separate words with a hyphen when labelling images, not with a space or underscore. Search engines only recognize hyphens as word separators and this can affect how your images rank during a search.
Bridebook Business Tip: if you struggle to gather high quality, original images to support your content, why not try to connect with wedding photographers working at the same weddings as you, and offer to link them if they let you use a few of their photos? Links are absolutely vital for SEO so it’s a great currency to bid in when pairing up with other wedding suppliers to exchange favours.
Tip 4: Post fresh, new content regularly
As a rule of thumb, you should be looking to share a blog post or content of some description on topics of interest to your target audience around 2 or 3 times a week.
This could include one post on your own wedding website and a guest post for another related wedding website. Try submitting features to popular wedding blogs to help boost your website traffic and visibility. Publishing articles on third party platforms or partner websites can really help boost your rankings as it means you’re accessing a new audience and earning a relevant backlink to your own site.
Top Tip: ask any websites you publish content on if they can give you a followed link back to your wedding website in return for the content you’re contributing. Followed links act as signals telling Google that another related wedding website endorses yours. Also, try to use your core keyword term as anchor text in your backlink to earn extra SEO points!
Remember to share all of the content you produce on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and on any social channels you’re active on. There’s no point producing all that great content if nobody knows about it!
Are you content with your content?
Conduct a quick audit of your wedding website today and decide which content will stay, which will go and which can be re-purposed or edited to be improved.
The best way to fall short of SEO expectations is to leave stale, uninteresting content on your site.
Use our SEO content tips to start improving your chances of a position 1 ranking and we promise, the wedding bookings won’t be far behind.