Building A Content Engine For Scale - Eda Kavlakoglu, IBM
•
0 likes•63 views
In this presentation, I'll talk through about how we think about inbound content at IBM. This will include a variety of topics such as: workflows, staffing models, approaches to keyword research, writing and content creation. Finally, I'll share how I think about feedback loops for both business and individual performance.
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
Similar to Building A Content Engine For Scale - Eda Kavlakoglu, IBM
Similar to Building A Content Engine For Scale - Eda Kavlakoglu, IBM (20)
More from DigiMarCon - Digital Marketing, Media and Advertising Conferences & Exhibitions
More from DigiMarCon - Digital Marketing, Media and Advertising Conferences & Exhibitions (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Building A Content Engine For Scale - Eda Kavlakoglu, IBM
- 1. MASTER CLASS Eda Kavlakoglu PROGRAM DIRECTOR IBM PHILADELPHIA, PA ~ OCTOBER 30 - 31, 2023 DIGIMARCONMIDATLANTIC.COM | #DigiMarConMidAtlantic Building a Content Engine for Scale
- 2. ibm.com Building an inbound content engine atIBM Eda Kavlakoglu Program Director ,ibm.com October 31st,2023
- 3. IBM isuniquely positioned to win inSEO IBM is one of America’s oldest and recognized brands with a longstanding history ofinnovation. We’ve got somecredibility We also have an old website (and can acquirenew ones) And anygood SEOunderstand how this can support your backlinking efforts.
- 5. Business problem: Like many companies, IBM disproportionately invested in paid media campaigns to drive traffic to ibm.com Goal Increase organic traffic to ibm.com and subsequently reduce IBM’s dependency on paid mediacampaigns Approach Build content aroundkey technologies that keyword research IBM is invested in using the topic cluster framework keywordmapping Content research Content validation Editorial Content staging &publish KPIs Organic visits toibm.com Page 1 searchrankings
- 6. Keyword research allows you to understand the ecosystem of content around a majortopic IBM Cloud / Date / ©2020 IBM Corporation 5 Keyword research Step1 Machine learning AIvs machine learning machine learningvs AI machine learningcourse machinelearning certification what is machine learning machine learningdefinition LLM machinelearning machine learningpython … Unbranded search around“machine learning” generates atleast +2M global searches permonth
- 7. Understanding different search intents allows us to map keyword modifiers to different page templates IBM Cloud / Date / ©2020 IBM Corporation Keyword mapping Step2 6 machine learning machinelearning courses machinelearning certification machinelearning python what ismachine learning machinelearning definition Learnpage template AI vsmachine learning machinelearning vs AI Blog page template Training page template Codepatterns pagetemplate
- 8. Content research involves deep investigation to write authoritative content IBM Cloud / Date / ©2020 IBM Corporation 7 Content research Step3 Writers shouldread: • competitive (i.e.ranking content), • marketresearch, • thought leadership, • academicpapers, • book excerpts, • watch videos This way, they can summarize and distill the important aspects of a topic for theiraudience. Writers at IBM are rarely the first to cover atopic. They should review existing contentacross our: • blogs, • Developersite, • Existing topicalpages They should alsoconduct outreach to SMEsto clarify ambiguity within their research. Writers shouldseek to fill a gap within the existing content. Theycan: • provideclearer definitions, • consolidate morerelevant information, • resolveconfusion betweenterms, • Add new facts or data Addingvaluefor yourreader will give them a reason to come back. Inform youraudience Provide a companyPOV Add novelty
- 9. Clearscope allows you to assess gaps within your content and to refine it in a more self-directed way IBM Cloud / Date / ©2020 IBM Corporation 8 Validate research with Clearscope Step4 Clearscope has been an invaluable tool in our content development process asit: Validates that writers have been comprehensive in their content research 1 2 Provides direction aroundpage structure 3 Identifies data-driven, actionable ways toimprove content 4 Provides a bar for writers to achieve
- 10. Content edits typically fall into four main categories IBM Cloud / Date / ©2020 IBM Corporation 9 Editorial Step5 Writers maymisunderstand part of their topic during content research, vetting content for misinformationis an important part of the review process Writers sometimes have trouble connecting their thoughts fluidly within an article. When this happens,writers generally need to elaborate the point moreclearlyor improve thetransition Large companies typically have some kind of Style Guide to help themscale their content anddesign practices. Editors typically help ensure consistency across your website. Fact- checking Logical flow IBM Style Guide Even with spellcheck, writers need oversight to ensure appropriate spelling and grammar usage, particularly if part of yourstaffis based across the globe Grammar & spelling
- 11. After approval from editorial, the writer stages the content and passes off to production for QA and publish IBM Cloud / Date / ©2020 IBM Corporation 10 Staging, backlinking, QA, and publishing Step6 Backlinks are a critical component to ranking in search. Check backlink profiles of top- rankingpages to understand whatyou need to compete for that term in search. Google uses thisto evaluate you on: • UX/findabilityof content on yourwebsite • Authoritativeness of yourcontent Part of this is within your control; some of it mayless within yourcontrol as you’re dependent on referral links which accrue over time.Before publishing you should: • Identify waysto link content in meaningful ways across yoursite • Build the most valuablecontent that youcan! • Redirectarchived links meaningfully acrossyour site
- 13. There are two working models to drive your inbound content strategy: agencymodels 1 agency models: youcan outsource the content. However , this requires a lot of time, and in the game of search, time is a valuable resource. This model also has a lot of overhead, leaving you one layer removed from the writer; as a result, the content typically still requires a lot of editing. Keyword research: work withyour SEO team to find topicsthat matter to your business and audiences Submit content brief to agency with Clearscope link Agency sends outline to client: Note these have alreadygone through an agency editor Agency sends 1st draft to client: again, these have alreadygone through an agency editor Client editor returns outline to agencywith feedback Client editor returns 1st draft to agencywith feedback Agency sends 2nd draft to client: again, these have already gone through an agencyeditor Client editor sends final edit to SMEfor review Final edits shared with agency and submitted to productionto build (Notagreatbangfor yourbuck in the long-term,if youaskme) Sample workflow
- 14. There are two working models to drive your inbound content strategy:in-house 2 In-house writer model (recommended): bring writers in-house, which can also be through agencies, freelancers, and contractors. This model is more streamlined as you’re giving direct feedback to writers and building domain and writing expertise within your teams over time; this also allows you to win in search more often and more quickly, which is important when using Clearscope (reports change over time!). Keyword research: work withyour SEO team to find topicsthat matter to your business and audiences Assign content to writer &writer conducts content research Writer returns outline to editor Writer sends 1st draft to editor Editor returns outline to writer with feedback Editor returns 1st draft to agency with feedback Writer sends 2nd draft to editor Editor reviews and gives green light for writer to send final edit to SME for review Writer makes final editsand builds the page within the CMS Sample workflow Writer sends final edit to SME for review
- 16. Data allows you to manage for performance and understand your high (andlow) performers on the team IBM Cloud / Date / ©2020 IBM Corporation 15 Data is keyto creating meaningful, constructive feedback loops Your project management tool shouldtell you about your team’soutput: • the velocity of individual writerson your: • the topicdifficulty • personal issuesanindividual maybe experiencing • process bottlenecks Your keyword research and web analytics tool shouldtell youabout yourbusiness outcomes: • pagerankings • organic webvisits • content grades High performers will typically churn out a higher volume of content; that said, more content does not equal goodcontent. Velocity can also prompt questions for context. If output was lower one month, you can have a conversationwith yourwriterto understand why. It’s also equally important to look at both page rankingsANDorganic web traffic data. • Organicweb traffic → teamperformance • Page rankings→ individual writer performance • Contentgrades → individual writer performance Certain topicsare inherentlylarger traffic drivers,so it’s better to evaluate writers on pageranking Content grades over time can also give you a sense for the quality of writing. Content that decays faster maynot have been of the highest quality.