Creating a semantic core is easier than you think.
This step by step guide will help you create a semantic core for each page of your website. Simply follow these 8 simple steps for the first webpage, then easily replicate the process for the rest of your web pages. This how-to guide assumes that you’ve already created an account with Cruxdata. Start with your home page, then your top product or services webpages.
Navigate to the SEO main page where you will see your top-level SEO scorecards displaying your critical SEO metrics. The suite of SEO dashboards and tools are displayed in an expanded
Once you select Semantic Core from the menu, you will see the semantic core form. You will notice that each entry in the Semantic Core consists of the web page’s URL, primary keyword and keyword cluster.
If this is your first entry, start with your home page. Enter your home page url in the “New URL” field.
When developing a keyword strategy for your home page, select a keyword or phrase that best represents your company, product or brand Most websites have product-specific pages, so it's important to avoid optimizing your home page for product-focused keywords. Instead, focus on a broader keyword or phrase that accurately represents your company's identity, industry and overall offerings.
To create the next semantic core entry, begin with your primary product page and determine its primary keyword or phrase. This keyword or phrase should be the search term that most closely matches the content of your page and is likely to be used by users when searching for products or services like yours.
Consider the search intent of the targeted page. Once you have determined your primary keyword enter the keyword into the primary keyword field.
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Navigate to the Ranking Keywords dashboard, Here you will analyze the keywords that you currently rank for. Select keywords from the table that you currently rank for in the top 10, keeping in mind that moving from a lower position (7-10) to a top three (1-3) position can have a dramatic result on your website visitors from search engines. In addition, you need to retain your top ranking against competitors. Secondly, select keywords that you rank for between 11 and 75 that have moderate to high search volume AND a keyword difficulty below 50 - the lower the better. The goal is to move the selected keyword’s ranking into the top 10.
Navigate to the Competitor Dashboard. The Competitors Overview table gives you a great overview of which competitors have the most keywords ranking. Visit their websites and analyze their website structure, on-page verbiage, and whether they have a blog or newsletter published on their website.
Below the Competitors Overview table is The Competitor Keyword Overlap table, which shows the rank for each keyword for each competitor. The table is color coded to easily discover keywords that multiple competitors are ranking for. Find keywords that again have moderate to high search volume. Determine which page on your website each keyword would be applicable for. Add the keywords to the corresponding Semantic Core Entry.
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Navigate to the Keyword Suggestions dashboard. When selecting keywords for a particular semantic core entry, keep in mind search intent of the page, then consider search volume and keyword competition. Each new keyword you select should align to a specific page on your website and corresponding semantic core entry. There are numerous keyword suggestion tools available, many of them free. You can use these and add your keyword cluster. Remember: search intent, adequate search volume, and medium to low keyword difficulty.
Examine your URL, TItle and Section Titles on the targeted page. Make sure that the keywords used in these on-page descriptions are included in your keyword cluster. Many times website owners don’t realize that their URL, page title and section titles do not contain keywords they are targeting. Note: if you edit your URL, make sure to do a 301 redirect of the old URL to the new one.
You now have new keywords from Ranking Keywords, Competitor Analysis, Suggested Keywords Tool, and page titles. Enter your keywords in your semantic core keyword cluster.
Note: The semantic core table will take up to several minutes to update. If items do not appear to be updating, refresh your browser.
Review the keywords in the semantic core entry and remove any keywords with low search volume or high keyword difficulty. Keep only the keywords that you plan to take action on. Actions inlcude using them in web page copy, blog posts, newsletters published on your site, and in your HTML descriptions .
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To outrank your competitors and consistently increase the traffic from search engines to your website, create a semantic core for each web page.
This means repeating steps 1 through 8 for every semantic core and webpage. You do not need to do every page at once. Many website owners start with their homepage and their top 3 to 5 pages to get their SEO program rolling.
