05/11/2024
This is how I create Topical Maps from scratch (SEO content strategy)
This post was inspired by a post seeking help finding keywords and topics to write about
For this guide, I will use 'Software Development' as our primary topic in developing an SEO content strategy (Topical Map)
Step-by-Step Guide on Creating an SEO Content Strategy (topical maps)
Follow these steps:
Step 1. Research the software development niche.
Step 2. Find alternative semantic terms people use to search for software development keywords such as:
"SAAS development,"
"SAAS development,"
"Software programmer,"
"Software Development,"
"Software Programmer etc.".
Another example could be:
Let's say, In the weight loss industry, people search using terms like:
"weight loss,"
"lose weight,"
"burn fat,"
"reduce weight,"
"get thinner,"
"fat burning,"
"emaciate..."
This step above is the secret to developing an all-around content strategy (topical map) that covers your niche thoroughly without leaving anything behind.
Step 3. Gather all the semantic parent keywords to run a comprehensive keyword research campaign.
I prefer Ahrefs over SEMrush for this because Ahrefs allows multiple keyword analyses in one go, while SEMrush only allows one per analysis.
Step 4. Review these keywords, remove irrelevant terms, and export keywords that are ideal for your business.
Once done, manually review the keywords again in Google Sheets (I use Excel for large keyword sets) and remove irrelevant terms.
Step 5. Cluster these keywords to form your topic clusters. There are plenty of clustering tools are available to use;
"thruu,
"keyword cupid,"
"keyword insights,"
"larseo,"
"seo utils,"
"writerzen,"
"cluster ai" and much more.
Step 6. Analyze your clusters, remove duplicates, merge, and consolidate very similar topics.
This is the most difficult and time-consuming part of developing a content strategy for any given topic.
Why?
Imagine comparing 1000 topics to up to 20 different topics in the same cluster just to ensure you're not targeting the same keyword with different topics (which is content duplication and cannibalization)
PS:- one my clients wasted thousands of dollars because they didn't develop a content strategy beforehand. Worst part was that they hired the wrong person for the project - more on this below.
If not done right, you will waste money and time in content creation.
For example, if you search for:
"SEO class,"
"SEO course,"
and "SEO training,"
on Google, you’ll see that about five out of ten results rank prominently for all these keywords.
What does that mean?
It means you only need one page to rank for these keywords. Creating three pages targeting each topic would result in:
1. Wasted time.
2. Wasted resources.
3. Wasted money (you created three pages instead of one).
4. Most importantly, topic cannibalization, which hurts your SEO campaign as search engines will struggle to rank one of the three pages you created.
One of my clients in the USA made this mistake by hiring an inexperienced content strategist to plan and create content for their website.
Because they didn't follow the basics (developing a content strategy first), they went ahead and created 42 topics targeting three unique topics.
Here’s what they did:
The company is an HVAC marketing agency in the USA. Wanting to rank for HVAC marketing terms, their content creator created about 42 pages targeting:
1. HVAC marketing agency
2. HVAC marketing company
3. HVAC marketing firm
4. HVAC marketing services
5. HVAC digital marketing agency
6. Best HVAC marketing agencies
7. Best HVAC marketing companies
8. Best HVAC marketing firms
9. Best HVAC marketing businesses
10. And 30 more...
Let's do the math:
Assuming one content costs $1 to create
They created 42 pages instead of 3
39 content was wasted
39 x $1 = $39
Then factor that into the actual cost of writing one content for your website
A lot was wasted
We could have used the wasted budget to create unique content to dominate the industry and generate more traffic and business leads
The outcome of not developing a content strategy before content creation?
1. Stagnant growth (their organic traffic suffered).
2. They spent 39 times the amount of money required to create unique content on duplicate content.
To solve these problems, I pruned (deleted) 39 pages from their site and 301-redirected some to other relevant page
Also, new and unique content targeting different angles was created for them (as you can see money, time, and resources wasted but we prevented further wastes by developing a content strategy before writing new piece of content).
Finally, I created a content strategy that helped them write unique content in the HVAC marketing industry
The outcome?
1. Increase in traffic
2. Reduced cost of content creation
3. Prevented content cannibalization
4. Promoted content diversification
5. Helped them build topical authority in their niche
I have a case study about them coming soon, as I’m launching my content strategy agency next month in November.
Step 7: Use the information we gathered after clustering our keywords to create a topical map (a visual representation of your entire content network, which is the guideline for an effective internal linking strategy).
For this you can use:
1. Boardmix,
2. Miro,
3. Lucid Chart etc.
Step 8. Create a content plan to schedule your content calendar. This is the second most challenging and time-consuming part.
You will need to figure out
1. what type of content to create,
2. search intent for each topic,
3. ideal title and meta description that align with searchers’ intent,
4. recommended schema markup,
5. content brief summaries to guide your writers,
6. micro search intent that thoroughly explains what the searcher is looking for,
7. and much more.
Once done ✔, you have a complete content strategy with a topical map for your website or blog.
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