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What Information Is Most (and Least) Important When Using Automated SEO Tools for Deathcare Marketing?

Last week we talked about automated SEO tools, including what they are and the pros and cons of using them for deathcare marketing. One of the disadvantages of these tools is their scoring mechanisms, which are often based in part on nuanced writing, grammar, and page details. Find out why a high score isn’t always the ultimate goal.

 

About Automated SEO Tool Scoring

Most SEO tools such as Ink, Clearscope, or Surfer SEO score your content—typically on a scale up to 100. Each tool recommends a “threshold” score that means your content is most likely to perform—often it’s 80 to 90 or more.

Some factors that go into these scores include:

  • Whether you used the right keywords (the right number of times or in the right places)
  • Word count
  • Number of subsections and the words per subsection
  • How many long or “difficult” sentences you used
  • Whether you used passive voice or other writing structures (or not)
  • Inclusion of meta titles and descriptions
  • Inclusion of images and captions

While the SEO information provided by these tools can start you off on the right foot, you can spend a lot of time chasing a high score. You may find yourself rearranging sentences and phrases to get a style the tool seems to like, which can be a waste of time when your readers don’t care or wouldn’t like the style the tool pushes you toward.

 

So, What Can You Ignore From Automated SEO Tools?

When creating deathcare marketing content, you should know your audience well. That lets you make decisions about what they may want or need in content so you can take good SEO tool suggestions and leave ones that don’t matter (or are actually bad).

Here are some things you can ignore when working with SEO tools—even if it means your content doesn’t score as well in the tool:

  • Keywords that don’t make sense. You know more about your audience and topic than a machine does. Take the keywords that are appropriate and avoid shoe-horning ones that aren’t just because the tool lists them.
  • Headers that are low quality or repetitive. Rewrite subheadings that are confusing or incorrect grammatically. Don’t include repetitive subheadings; simply pick the best one for your content. Definitely skip irrelevant heading suggestions.
  • Questions that aren’t relevant. If an SEO tool offers People Also Ask or FAQ suggestions, you don’t have to include a FAQ section or shove all the questions into your content. Simply be aware of places you can organically ask and answer the most relevant questions to help increase your chances at winning a snippet.
  • Style or grammar suggestions if you know what you’re doing. You might be able to increase scores in these tools by chopping all long sentences into more basic ones or cutting out all passive voice or contractions. None of that necessarily makes your content better for the reader, so if you’re confident in your style and voice, feel free to ignore some of that advice.
  • Word counts within reason. Just because the tool says you need 2,300 words doesn’t mean you do. Cover your topic comprehensively and don’t add fluff just to reach an arbitrary word count.

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