Andy Crestodina, Co-founder of Orbit Media, recently gave some insight for our SEO Pocket Guide for Content Marketers. He came up with a lot of great content – so much that we could only fit a small part into the guide. Here are the rest of Andy's SEO tips for content marketers. Enjoy!

Tip 1: Go beyond keywords

In the old days, we targeted keywords. Today, we target topics.

It's not enough to just pick one phrase and use it in the title, header, and body text. You should spread your meaning out across a broader topic, and indicate relevance by using the related words and phrases.

Which phrases are related? Here's a post that shows you where to find them all. But for starters, just look at the bottom of a search results page when you search for the primary phrase.

Make a list of these related phrases. As you write, look for opportunities to include these phrases in your content. Not only does this help you adapt your content for semantic SEO, but it will make it a better, more thorough article.

Tip 2: Watch your analytics

It's likely that you already have a few pages that are performing well in search. These are the traffic champions that show up at the top of your Behavior > Site Content > All Pages report. Why do they get traffic day after day, month after month? It's probably because they rank high!

But what about the pages that almost rank high? What about the phrases for which you rank high on page two? Do you know what those phrases are? In Google Analytics, there's a list of the phrases that you almost rank high for. A list of your page two phrases. If you can find those phrases and the corresponding pages, you've found your lowest hanging SEO fruit!

To find these phrases, you'll need to use an advanced filter on your Queries report. Here's a video that explains. You can also find the step-by-step process on this page.

Tip 3: If you want links, focus on people

Finally, grow your authority through links, but don't become a spammer. The key here is to focus on the relationships that may lead to links, without worrying too much about the links themselves.

It sounds strange but it makes an enormous difference in the long run. The key is to focus your social media efforts on networking with content creators. When you begin to build relationships, look for opportunities to collaborate. Here are the basic ways in which content creators collaborate.

1. Quote and mention

2. Ask for a contributor quote

3. The expert roundup

4. The deep dive interview

If you want someone to mention you, mention them first. If you want someone to quote you, quote them. If you want someone to link to you, link to them.

You get what you give in this world. Use your site as a networking tool, give as much value as you can and authority will follow...

Get more great insights from Andy at The Content Experience on-demand video stream.