SEO Content Writing – The Six-Step Guide

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Most SEO experts agree that creating content is essential for your SEO efforts and strategy. However, there are varying definitions to tell you what “great” or “excellent” means. The many mixed ideas about how crucial content writing also make it confusing to some.

With that, most people use a different method for writing SEO-friendly content. Often, people focus solely on the users who gain information from the web content. Others tend to think only about how Google ranks content writing. You may even hear people saying that keywords are the only thing that matter for SEO copywriting. Therefore, it’s hard to know what to do when SEO writing blog posts and other things.

If you’re unsure, these steps might help you. Otherwise, it might be best to hire an SEO content writer to do the job.

What Is Search Engine Optimization Content Writing?

SEO writing is primarily targeted toward the search engines to help you rank on the first page of results and focuses on specific search terms. You must do your keyword research and gather together audience insights to ensure that you’re doing things right. In a sense, you want to get quality, organic traffic.

However, it’s nearly impossible to gain website traffic for conversions without thinking about how each search engine crawls the site and understands the information you put out.

It’s not really all about the exact keywords you use, but it’s not as complicated as you probably think. Here’s what matters for SEO copywriting.

In a sense, there is no perfect formula when writing SEO-friendly content. In fact, most SEO copywriters overcomplicate the process immensely and move away from the goal of SEO content writing – to help the clients or you make money and for others to learn something.

Although there is no secret formula, there are a few steps to take with content writing to appease the search engines.

Remember, writing for Google does not mean that the content is optimized for sales, visitors, and the like. Your SEO copywriter should be aware of this and figure out the best method for your needs.

How to Write SEO Web Copy – Four Steps

To create content effectively, here are the steps for SEO content writing:

1. Use the Primary Keyword in Your Page Title

Typically, it’s simple to use your target keywords in the page title. Right now, you aren’t focused on keyword density (which is how many times a particular phrase or word shows up in the content.) You should have researched your options to find appropriate keywords to help generate organic traffic. With that, you also need to consider search intent when SEO content writing, which is how consumers use the terms to find a product or service.

2. Use More Important Keywords Higher in the Website Copy

When focused on content creation of blog articles and other things, you should use the relevant keywords at the top of the copy. SEO experiments have shown a strong correlation between the placement of keyword phrases and rank. SEO copywriting with this idea in mind ensures that the top-ranking keywords are found sooner when skimming the article.

3. Use Keyword Variations within the Article

You should focus on keyword density when writing. Instead of using the same phrases, try finding other words that convey the same message. For example, if your keyword is “laptop,” other words could include “device,” “machine,” and “equipment.”

Every search engine likes it when you vary the words so that you’re not stuffing them.

4. Study Competitors that Have Good On-Page Content

Ultimately, this is the best way to find out what search engines prioritize. Look for the number of words, headers, italics, bold, the image, alt text, and everything else. Remove and add about 15 percent of the content so that it varies from what ranks already and you’re golden.

What is the key to writing content focused on SEO? To get content that sells, you must understand how to write for a search engine and the user. With that, internal linking could be your best friend if you do it correctly. Google likes that, and most users enjoy getting extra information on their terms and when they want it.

Steps for Great Content Writing

1. Identify Your Target Audience

The first thing you need to think about is the effectiveness of the copy, and that depends on you knowing your target audience very well. You could write a quality market research guide, but the content is terrible because the target audience was all beginner marketers.

Another big problem is when the company features sales copy throughout the blog, but the audience has already bought the product or visited the page for insights and got a product brochure in the blog instead.

When focused on SEO writing, the goal is to find out what the audience needs and then provide the content they want. It also adds a voice to your content, helps with keyword research, and determines your USP (unique selling point.)

You’ve got to know exactly what target keyword (keywords) you need to make the information pop. There are many ways to do this, and market research is the best thing you can do. In fact, you can offer social media polls, online surveys, and use a free tool to help you research the keywords that fit your industry and needs. With that, you might talk to local entrepreneurs in the same boat to gain insight.

That way, you know that you’re providing the audience what they need to know so that they can buy from you and feel comfortable doing so. Without that knowledge, your SEO content writing fails because the research is off, especially if you’ve based the content and keywords on what the competitors have done.

While you should consider the competition, their SEO copywriting might be focused on gaining subscribers instead of selling products. Pay attention to your competitors, but think about your needs and goals for your website.

2. Know Why You Write the Content

Ultimately, it seems to be a no-brainer to know why you’re using SEO content writing. However, most people overlook that step when optimizing content for their sites. Yes, you want more organic traffic to your website, but you fail to go deeper than that. Plus, most marketers fail to focus on searcher intent when they publish a blog post.

Having more traffic doesn’t necessarily put you on the first page of results, and it’s hard to get direct traffic. Yes, organic search results are much better than paid ads, but there is a way to write content that meets those needs. If you’re handling SEO effectively, you know that traffic isn’t all you’re focused on. You need your clients to see a good ROI, which means money. Therefore, your article must go beyond the basics.

Another misconception is to attract links. This could be very good for you if that’s your goal. However, conversions take on various forms. You may want to drive phone calls, convert subscribers, sell items, or gain a larger social media following.

This means that the intentions of the content must shape that approach. Focus on the big picture and now the small one. Write what’s best suited for the purpose you have and the goal you want to achieve instead of only trying to please Google.

Google does have a formula for ranking. However, highly competitive areas need top-quality SEO skills to generate link-worthy content that people want to read.

3. Must Study the Data when Writing for SEO

Once you’ve got a solid understanding of what the audience needs and wants, it’s time to support that with data. You can’t just assume that you know the best keywords for your content. You must provide the data to support the claim.

This is where the research you’ve done comes into play for your content writing. If you’ve been doing SEO for a while, you probably have a good SEO content strategy. Regardless, you want data that:

  • Shows that your search volume for those terms justifies the strategy
  • Covers competition for those terms
  • Proves that Google users are searching for those keywords.

All of that can ensure that you’re not jumping into the process blindly or wasting your time to write content that no one wants to search for. In a sense, search volume is the best way to measure the success of your research and key terms.

Searchers’ intent comes into play here, as well. The content must give someone what they want when researching your keyword. For example, let’s say “conversion rate optimization” is the keyword you want to rank.

Plug that into Google and see what comes back. You may notice that those who search for “conversion rate optimization” need a guide on what to do. If you write about conversion rate optimization, you are giving the people what they want because they haven’t found it yet.

4. Create Your Plan

Creating your SEO copywriting plan isn’t considered a standard operating procedure for most people. However, it’s a step that can be very beneficial when you’re getting organized and choosing the intention of your content. Plus, if you work with a content manager, it helps them figure out the best writer for the job.

Planning takes on many forms. You could write an outline for your content before writing it. Likewise, it’s possible to create a document that focuses on the primary keywords or just make a calendar to determine when to post information.

Each option services a purpose because it ensures that your content is concise, focused, and fits into the existing site’s framework.

Having a plan is crucial to map out your target keyword and avoid keyword stuffing. With that, you may be writing a lot, such as for a full website, so you need to ensure that each piece is right.

Once you’re done with all that, the search engines are sure to like you. Still, it’s best to add other details, such as meta descriptions, page titles, internal links, and title tags. Create them now or with each piece to ensure success.

With that, you may also want a plan for social media platforms and outlets. That way, you can easily share your blogs or articles to get the information out there for more subscribers and potential customers.

What Is a Meta Description?

A meta description doesn’t directly impact your rankings on Google. However, it can boost the organic click-through rates. Therefore, it’s a good idea to write a unique description for each page on your website. Make sure it’s something that searchers want to click to read your result.

What Is a Title Tag?

A title tag is just an HTML element to specify that this is the title of your web page. Typically, a title tag is displayed in the SERPs and is the clickable hyperlink for the result.

5. Know the Best Practices for On-page SEO and Search Engine Rankings

When you’re finally ready to optimize the content for search engines, you should think about the best practices for your on-page SEO. If the site is already optimized, there isn’t much more you can do. Generally, those who are skilled in SEO already have a process to optimize their content. Therefore, you might try advanced methods.

However, the content can still generate website traffic for you if you’ve got the basics down, such as a meta description, H2s, page titles, alt text, internal links, and all the rest. You should check each blog post that is already on the site to make sure it’s optimized.

With that, all new blog posts should have those things with them. You may also find free tools online that checks against billions of on-page mistakes most people make. That way, you avoid the most common errors and ensure that your page ranks better.

Please don’t overthink this step, though. The ultimate goal here is to drive people to your site and convert them into subscribers or buyers. Therefore, you’re writing first for the users, and then you can optimize for Google.

6. Test Your Content to See What Works in Search Engines

The final step to consider when creating SEO content is to test it. There are plenty of ranking factors to ponder, and no one is really ever sure whether their article gives the best user experience. Testing can help with that and ensures better on-page optimization.

Sometimes, people think about this as an extra step, but when you A/B test your content, you know what direction to take for future articles. There is plenty of information about what might work and what doesn’t. That way, you can fix those issues to gain more traffic and conversions.

In some cases, you might find that a post of a certain length works better than another. Your audience could prefer exciting titles instead of the more traditional informative ones.

Please note that SEO copywriting isn’t hard science. The trends change, and the follower base can evolve. With that, Google search uses a different algorithm all the time. In the end, your goal should be to focus on keyword optimization and meet your audience’s needs. That is what’s sure to get you at the top of the search results to see more conversions.

Other Helpful Tips

Another aspect of SEO copywriting that doesn’t get enough credit is keeping the original content under your domain name. If you’ve got the option of hosting with Blogger or WordPress (for example), you can host the blog from your subfolder in your domain. Whenever you’ve got opportunities to show other content, such as whitepapers, infographics, and videos, ensure that they’re all embedded into the website and share directly from there.

Social media is also your best friend and has a wealth of potential customers just waiting to hear about you. While the SEO content writer probably isn’t focused on shareability, you should make sure that the content is written in a way that people want to share it. That way, you get more brand awareness, and your loyal fans do all the work for you.

Right now, Google is a huge fan of smaller paragraphs or one-sentence paragraphs. Mobile-friendliness is a big deal, and smartphone users don’t want to scroll forever. All that white space is a good thing!

If you don’t feel that you can do it all yourself, there’s no shame in hiring SEO writers. Just make sure that the SEO writer you choose understands your goals. Don’t be afraid to send detailed instructions, so you get what you want. With that, you can hire a marketing team to help you bring everything together.

When To Hire Someone

In general, you should hire an SEO writing company when you need to attract traffic to your site and want high-quality content. Typically, SEO content writers understand SEO enough to write content that’s compelling and informative. However, they might not be focused on conversions.

Your SEO content serves many purposes, such as:

  • Converting visitors to subscribers, buyers, or leads
  • Directing users to other site pages
  • Attracting authority backlinks
  • Driving clicks from SERPs
  • Increasing rankings for keywords

Therefore, you need SEO content writers who focus on webpage and blog posts to boost traffic. With that, you get residual benefits from SEO copywriting. Amazing content writing can drive social media shares, improve conversions, and keep users on the site for longer.

Search engine optimization also ensures that you’re established as an authority figure, which means you rank higher. There are so many platforms requiring copy, such as Facebook Ads, Google Ads, landing pages, and more. You need a copywriter who knows how to convert traffic efficiently.

Social media marketing is a huge part of that, and in reality, everything you do is tied together in some way. Your website is the hub where all of the information is located. Google gets that information out for you for free, and your social networks can also bring forth brand awareness.

Before long, you see more conversions, higher sales, and are successful as a business owner.

Conclusion

SEO copywriting doesn’t have to be hard, but most people tend to focus more on Google than the website visitors. You might get plenty of traffic to your site, but if they don’t stay and read or convert, they’re not helping you.

Ultimately, content writing should focus on giving quality content and offering information that no one else has. That is what classifies websites as authority sites, and Google likes that a lot. Therefore, don’t be afraid to dig deep into the research and take your SEO content writing to a new level.

If you don’t feel qualified to do that yourself, you can always hire an SEO content writer to help.

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