According to Internet Live Stats, Google now processes over 40,000 search queries every second, translating to over 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide. What does this mean for business owners? You need to be able to get found online.
In this blog post, learn how to build your web authority, plan your SEO and content strategy, optimize your content, and measure ROI with HubSpot SEO tools.
HubSpot SEO
Everyone knows search engine optimization (SEO) is important, and we ALL want to rank on page 1 of Google, but this topic can often seem overwhelming for the average marketing professional and business owner when you have to think about everything on your website from mobile, content, speed, user experience and more.
So where do you start?
Well, if you have HubSpot, you are well taken care of because it comes with a ton of SEO tools to make your optimization and web ranking goals achievable. So let's dive in and see what's included.
HubSpot SEO Topic Cluster Mapping & Performance
Within the last couple years, SEO has shifted from a keyword strategy tactic (where you would target single words or phrases) to a topic cluster model (where a single 'pillar page' acts as the main hub of content for a overarching topic with many subtopics content pieces linking to it).
Watch this video for more information on topic clusters:
Essentially, multiple subtopic content pages (like blogs) that are related to a main pillar page topic interlink with the pillar page and each other.
This internal linking strategy signals to search engines that the pillar page is an authority on the topic, and over time, this page and all the pages linking to it will rank higher for the topics they covers.
The topic cluster model is a way of organizing a site’s content pages using a more deliberate site architecture.
When you purchase HubSpot's Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise level subscriptions, one of the first SEO tools you have access to is the SEO module, under 'Marketing, Planning and Strategy, SEO.'
HubSpot SEO Topics Tab
When you go to the main SEO module, the first tab you'll see is the 'Topics' tab.
This is where you will add all your main/pillar page topics.
A topic is a main goal, problem, or idea that your customers are interested in. You can research and compare which topics are worth writing about directly in the HubSpot SEO tool or any other method you'd prefer (like Google search or another SEO tool of your choice).
When you're researching new topics, the tool calculates the following metrics for you:
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Monthly Search Volume: the average monthly searches for this term in search engines. Longer or niche terms might have no or low monthly search volume. Broader terms might be highly popular but difficult to rank for.
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Difficulty: an estimation of the difficulty you will face breaking into the front page of search results for this topic. This score is measured on a 100 point scale, meaning it's easier to see success with topics that have lower score.
After creating a topic in HubSpot's SEO tool, you can:
- Filter by date range - of when the topics were added.
- Check sessions - number of sessions that started from search to content in this topic.
- Check length of session - the average time between the start and end of a session.
- Check bounce rate - the number of sessions with exactly one analytics event, divided by the total number of sessions.
- Check inbound links - number of links from other websites to any content in this topic.
HOT TIP: If you want to dive deeper into analytics around your topics and subtopics, there is a link from this page called 'View Topic Analytics' that sends you to the 'Analytics Tools.'
HubSpot SEO Recommendations Tab
The second tab on this page is called 'Recommendations.'
This is where you can find and fix some more technical SEO issues to get more search traffic.
Here you can add URLs, and HubSpot will scan your URL and any linked pages for SEO recommendations.
Pretty neat, huh?
HubSpot SEO Topical Coverage Tab
When you want to get more specific details about a certain topic, you'll click on that topic.
Here the first tab you will see is the 'Topical Coverage' tab - which is the heart of your content strategy.
Here you can research and add your Pillar Page topics and blogging subtopics which help search engines understand the problems you are trying to solve.
- A pillar page is a comprehensive resource page that covers a topic in depth. This page links to high-quality content for supporting subtopic. A pillar page should apply On-Page SEO best practices, referencing the topic in the page title, URL, H1 tag, body copy, and alt text of images.
- HOT TIP: There should also be content on a pillar page that can convert visitors, since all your supporting content links back here. So, think about some kind of educational eGuide here to provide even more value.
- Subtopics address a specific question or function about your pillar page topic. These content pieces should include a link back to your pillar page to drive traffic to your website. When you attach a blog post, landing page, or website page to a subtopic keyword, the SEO tool tracks how many inbound links you have referring back to your pillar page.
This tab is also where the visual topic cluster map lives that will let you see how your main topics (Pillar Pages) are linked to your subtopics (blogs, landing pages, or website pages).
This part of the general SEO tool is essential for keeping your content topics and subtopics organized, and your internal linking strategy on point.
HubSpot SEO Content Performance Tab
The second tab you'll see under each topic is the 'Content Performance' tab.
This is where you can again see some brief analytics like:
- Time per page view
- Inbound links
- Bounce rate
Under that section, you will see more analytics about each subtopic that you have linked to that topic like:
- Content name
- Subtopic
- Time per page view
- Inbound links
- Bounce rate
- Confirmation that its linked to your main topic
From here you can also access each individual subtopic content piece and dive deeper into performance and optimization. Stats here include:
- Filters by date range
- Frequency
- Views
- Total submissions
- New contacts
- Customers
- Average bounce rate
- Time on page
- Exit rate
- Entrances
- Source details
- Engagement type
Conclusion
Well that wraps up everything you need to know about the general HubSpot SEO tool.
