SEO writing is now like a complicated math problem that no one knows how to solve. It requires you to find the secret to get the best results. With that, search engine factors are more advanced now, the algorithms are changing and updating all the time. On top of that, companies everywhere are writing SEO-focused content.
Ultimately, there are tons of writing companies out there because people are now aware of how important SEO copywriting is. That’s how the market got cluttered, and the competition is now very high.
If you can’t write for SEO yourself, it’s important to choose a company to help, and we’re available. Let’s learn more about SEO writing and what a writer should know and be able to do.
What Is SEO Content Writing?
Writing for SEO means that you please the reader with the content and the search engines. In a sense, SEO writing takes on storytelling, descriptive information, and niched content that focuses on the audience who reads the blog post.
Ultimately, your goal is to write so that your website ranks higher in major search engines. SEO copywriting is straightforward and requires the right strategy, keyword research, and discipline. You have to understand the search intent of the audience and what content they like to consume to bridge the content gap.
With that, SEO copywriting combines these elements:
- Google (and other search engines)
- Audience
- Information gap
Why Writing for SEO Is Crucial
Writing for SEO is crucial because it’s the best way to ensure that the content reaches the readers. In a sense, SEO is the ticket to more organic traffic and getting the top spot in Google. Without it, people can’t find the content, and it doesn’t serve anyone.
Ultimately, search engines are how the people get to your content and become site visitors. Therefore, writing content is crucial, but it must be SEO content that strategically places the keywords where they need to be.
The Basics of SEO Writing
The right SEO copywriter doesn’t use shortcuts to get you an instantaneous top position, thousands of backlinks, or high volumes of organic traffic. Our goal is to use our well-documented strategy to write SEO content that works. This requires effort on our part so that the results come to you over time.
What’s an SEO Writer?
An SEO copywriter is there to write content that’s optimized for the website so that it ranks at the top of search engines. A traditional copywriter only writes to develop an idea, communicate a message, and describe an event/situation. However, SEO specialists examine and track the results for the content to boost your search engine rankings for each blog post.
When writing SEO-friendly content, you must think about both of those aspects. You use the strategies and means to communicate effectively. With that, you also have to think about the search intent of the person. That way, your SEO content is something they need and want.
What Skills Does the Content Writer Require?
SEO copywriting uses a complex strategy, so they have to understand how to write with a unique voice and writing style. An SEO content writer must understand the audience and watch what the competition does to do it better.
Becoming an expert in SEO writing requires more management and organizational skills because you have to know which topics to approach, analyze everything, handle keyword research, and take the right actions. With that, you must understand what topics are already covered on the blog, come up with new ideas, and create new content as necessary.
That’s not all, though. The person you choose must think about all the content already on the site, including the homepage, product pages, and more. From that full evaluation, they get your brand’s tone and voice down pat.
Content marketers must focus on the right techniques, such as syndication, amplification, pruning, curation, and more. That way, they can boost your content’s value and make it shareable on social media.
Ultimately, blog management and writing skills are the most important to master. The writer must be able to think of new ideas, listen to what the readers want, accept feedback, and answer questions. From there, they can repurpose content effectively.
How Does Your Content Performance Impact Search Engine Optimization and Ranking on Search Engines?
The content you create impacts rankings and SEO. Higher performance scores correlate with top rankings in the Google search results.
Ultimately, you need to use the right tool to determine how well the content is optimized for your target keywords. It tells you the keyword density you have, which is crucial when you write SEO content. With that, you can also find out if the blog post uses the right search intent. Search engines take all of that information to rank you higher or lower in the results based on the information provided.
You want to have a higher performance score. With that, you can sometimes see how the content might rank.
Writing SEO – How to Do It
Now that you understand what it means to write for SEO and the importance of it, you should focus on your strategy and the SEO writing process. Here are a few writing tips to get you started:
- Choose topics of interest and the right questions that others ask about specific topics. Then, elaborate on your terminology and focus on keyword optimization.
- Don’t build content for environments or topics that are already saturated with a lot of content.
- Find the content gaps for related keywords by spying on the competition. When you know what others are writing, you can do it better.
- Understand the search intent of your potential customers and then fill in that gap. Make sure you deliver the right content. For one keyword, there could be tons of topics.
- Try to use evergreen topics because they can still be informative years after they are written.
- Build different types of content, such as white papers, videos, how-to articles, lists, and more.
- Don’t forget to update your current articles while delivering new content.
- Create a summary or structure for the content when you decide on the right topic.
- Use visuals to break up the monotony and appeal to a younger crowd.
- Focus on internal link building within your site’s web pages.
- Check the website for duplicate content and then fix any issues. Use an SEO tool to conduct the audit or let us help with that.
- Focus on the user experience and have a fast website.
- Create a website that’s mobile-friendly so that people get the information they need, regardless of the device they prefer.
These writing tips are just the beginning. You must write for the user or person reading it first.
Guidelines for SEO Writers
Now that you have the SEO tips to help with content creation, you must work on your skills and writing style. Remember: SEO copywriting techniques are necessary to write the best article. Now is where you put the magic into action.
When writing SEO-friendly posts, it can sometimes be time-consuming or challenging. Ultimately, most people choose to hire an expert in SEO writing to make it easier for them. That way, you don’t have to worry about proper grammar and all the rest. Plus, search engines can find you, people want to read the content, and you’re sure to see results. Let us help by contacting a representative today!
Keyword Research
The first step for crafting SEO content is to do keyword research. It’s important to get appropriate keyword ideas from the “questions people ask” section of Google and know your preferred topic. Then, you can find the keywords related to the primary keyword.
Searching for the target keywords can also help you determine if you should write content about that topic or if there’s plenty of information out there already.
Finding a target keyword isn’t hard, but there are a few things to understand. It’s often better to use a tool to get examples of options, find out search volume information, and any related keywords.
Search volume refers to how many times people search for specific keywords. You want it to be fairly high, but it can’t be so high that there’s too much competition. The goal of SEO content is to rank first in the results. It’s impossible to do this if thousands of other websites rank for the same word.
As you write SEO content, you should also focus on keyword density. This is how often that word or phrase appears in the text. Generally, you want to keep it around one or two percent. However, it’s crucial to avoid keyword stuffing. If those words and phrases are naturally written, they are sure to reach your target audience more effectively. When you stuff words in where they don’t belong, the article is awkward. Google notices this and ranks you lower.
Search Intent of the Site Visitors
Your visitors come from many directions, so you must ensure that they feel comfortable on your site. They require trust, and you can provide that through the information you offer. The person feels that you understand them.
To get to that point, though, you must understand the context of the search and ensure that your content matches search intent to fill in the gaps. You must create a buyer persona so that you grasp their interests.
Google found that traditional keyword searches have limitations and can’t offer topical results based on the term queried. For simple keywords, there are many related keywords out there and tons of information online.
Therefore, Google developed patents to help it understand context so that it can produce results that matches search intent of the user. Ultimately, what you get is an organic search with all the keywords related to that one.
When you write content, it’s important to focus on the target audience and include relevant keywords. However, search volume comes into play. The search volume indicates how many times per month a person types in that word or phrase into the search bar. You want the number to be high enough to warrant content creation, but it must be low enough that there are still gaps within the content to fill.
The goal is to find as many keywords as you can about a topic initially and then choose the topic later. As you get to the on-page optimization aspect, you use focus keywords. In a sense, you don’t want to use just one keyword. Look for a few others that are similar so that you can rank for all of them.
There are different types of search intent, too: navigational, informational, and transactional. To determine how to write the piece, you must research the keywords and see what is out there. If it’s primarily transactional, you may want to inform the readers more about the product.
Type of Content People Look for from Google
Before you write content that focuses on SEO, you must understand what the users want and what Google encourages you to craft. Content and SEO go hand-in-hand. Most of the time, users look for something on the search engines because they need information or answers.
To find the reason behind the query, you require deep SEO analysis to show the best search results. From there, you create the content for the users so that Google can rank it.
TOFU
Top-of-funnel content focuses on informational content to teach your visitors something, answer questions, and address pain points. With this type of SEO writing, you aren’t selling to the visitor and should avoid commercial content. Usually, the goal is to build awareness.
MOFU
Middle-of-the-funnel writing is transactional in nature. Here, you want the users to be informed and understand that your services or products can help them. This is crucial for your marketing strategy. MOFU content comes from white papers, case studies, product reviews, discounts, events, webinars, and much more.
BOFU
Bottom-of-the-funnel pieces are navigational or at the purchase level. You’ve got brand loyalty. It’s a way to offer validation that you provide valuable content that responded to the client’s needs. It can include customer stories, live demos, and much more.
Your audience may be divided into all stages of the funnel, and there are specific triggers that pull them to the next stage. That means you must create content that converts them.
Choose Evergreen Topics
The second step of the research phase when SEO writing is to choose topics that pull people to the website. Evergreen articles use information that doesn’t change with time. It solves a problem, and it’s relevant for many years to come.
If your goal is SEO content writing with an evergreen flair, consider these tricks:
- Focus on the historical evolution of topics/services/products
- Create how-to guides
- Use FAQs
- Share best practices
- Use case studies
- Try best-of articles
When you write content that can be used for many years, it contains the target keyword and doesn’t have to be updated or refreshed. Plus, it constantly pulls in readers and brings them to your brand. Just make sure that you don’t have keyword-stuffed content because Google frowns upon it and ranks you lower.
Double-check for Any Duplicate Content
While there isn’t a penalty if you have content duplication issues, it does damage your site. When Google finds duplicate content, it may not include your piece in the search results. It throws it into the Omitted Results area.
This is exactly what you don’t want!
It tells Google that you spammed the web with your SEO writing techniques, and it may stop indexing your site. In the past, Google Search Console told you if you had such issues. However, it’s no longer available.
Still, various auditing tools detect duplicate content. You can easily see what meta descriptions and title tags are the same and change them.
Create a Summary List for Your Information
Once you have your specific keywords, make a list of them for your SEO article. Here are a few steps to take:
- Write your topic/title
- Add your keywords
- Include the ideas or structure using bullet points for the information to discuss
- Add a confusion or final note
SEO writing doesn’t have to be difficult, but it does require you to be organized. Remember: creating content is what we do best. Let us take care of it all for you!
Craft Content Templates that Focus on the User Experience
Each blog post you write must have a creative template or a natural flow. The web content should have clean visuals, and it doesn’t hurt to have a cover photo with the title. That way, you can quickly share it to Pinterest or Facebook.
The structure of the article is then synced with your website’s design. Most people use WordPress, making it easier to implement the same layout each time.
Google likes numbers, bullets, and straightforward answers. Plus, you may win a spot in the answer box to be ranked even higher!
Always cater to the user and think of their experience. This includes optimized images for faster site speeds, but you also require sharing buttons. Other elements to consider include:
- Adaptable screen resolutions
- User location integrations
- Separate sections of text and images
- Simple fonts
Include Tags in the Body and Title
The title of your content matters a lot. When you add the keyword phrases closer to the beginning of your title tag, you get more advantages. One, you can increase click-through rates because the user wants to click on a title tag that contains the information they want.
With that, you can avoid Google changing your title tag or showing a different title in the SERPs. Sometimes, Google does that based on the search from the user and what relevant information is found on the page. If Google feels that your information is prudent but doesn’t match exactly, it could give the user a different meta description and title tag.
However, if you provide good hints, it figures everything out and rewards you with higher rankings.
You should also optimize your title tags to include multiple keywords. However, don’t just throw them in to have more keywords.
It’s important to add a title tag so that search engines know how the content is structured. A title tag has a big influence on the content because it’s displayed as the blue link in the results.
Don’t forget about the meta description. This is the information displayed under the title in the results. Most search engines include it when you craft one.
Each meta description should be unique to that page. However, Google can rewrite the meta descriptions if it doesn’t like what you provide. It’s often not as good as yours, so make sure that the meta description is relevant, descriptive, includes the keywords, and has the right length.
If you don’t craft a meta description yourself, Google may include words that it finds on the page. This can help you, but it often doesn’t. Typically, it’s best if you write your own meta descriptions. Those who hire us to handle their content requirements can rest easy knowing that each piece has a meta description.
Write Relevant and In-depth Content that Comes Up in the Search Results
Now that you know which content should be written, it’s time to write SEO-focused information and meet the user’s needs. Remember, Google likes relevant and in-depth content.
Content creation is so important. The key is to add content to your site that’s of higher quality. That improves the time your visitors stay on the page to keep them engaged.
Often, longer posts are better and rank higher. Ultimately, top-ranking articles are about 2,000 words long. When SEO writing is your goal, it’s important to craft posts that offer enough information without using fluff terms.
Use Internal Linking
Internal links can offer more value for the webpage, and it’s crucial for SEO writing. Here are the advantages of doing so:
- Internal linking ensures that search engines understand the content.
- It also helps the user stay on the website longer and navigate other interesting topics.
You can use internal links when writing about something that requires more explanations. Link to another page on the site where you talked about it.
Bad internal links mean that you have a poor architecture. You don’t want to mislead or confuse the reader. Therefore, the links should drive to valuable and accurate pages with the right anchor text.
The process isn’t hard because you know your website very well or can search to find the right article. When you have more internal links, Google values it higher. However, you can’t use too many links when you write SEO-focused content, or it drops the value. Keep it to about 10 or 15 links per 1,000 words.
Alongside internal linking, you also have external links. This is where other sites link to yours. To get the ball rolling, you might want to link to someone else’s website. Why does that matter? It shows that you care about the reader and their needs. If you don’t have the information, someone else does. Ultimately, if you link to reputable sites, you can be placed higher in the search engine results pages!
Be Mobile-Friendly
Google rolled out its mobile-first index recently. At the time, Google showed different search engine results for mobile than it did for desktop users. The system of indexing, crawling, and ranking a desktop website version is different than the process of doing so on mobile.
Websites are now trying to make the shift to the mobile-focused index.
When focused on mobile friendliness, here are a few ways to rank for mobile search results:
- Verify your crawl rate
- Add the mobile site to Search Console
- Use your robots.txt testing tool to verify your mobile site
- Provide structured data for both the mobile and desktop version
- Create a dynamic and responsive site
Mobile searches account for about half of the global web pages, and they continue to rise. People are definitely viewing information while on the go and use their smartphones and tablets to get the job done.
With that, though, you can’t forget about desktop website traffic when SEO writing. People use various devices to perform different actions. When they buy something, they may do so from a laptop. However, if they’re researching, they might do it on a smartphone.
Don’t neglect either option; ensure that your website looks the same, regardless of the device used to view it.
Create URLs That Are Google-Friendly
Most people don’t think about the URLs when SEO writing, but they can make a huge difference. The best format that sees higher rankings are those that are concise. If the title length is 50 to 60 characters long, and your URL length is anywhere from 90 to 105, you should be good.
When you use a concise URL, it offers more benefits than if it’s hard to read/remember or long. If possible, the URL should contain the keyword, too.
However, a concise URL is helpful apart from the search results concern. For example, if casual users don’t remember full URLs, they might still remember yours because it’s easy.
As you write SEO content, think about the URLs and structure of your site for the best results.
Spread the Word
Content amplification is crucial to help you reach a bigger audience and multiply the links your site gets. This is almost mandatory if you want to boost website traffic and have people know about you.
When you’re finished writing the article, the process doesn’t end. Now, you have to create awareness and push it to get it seen by interested people. While this is a form of social media marketing, it’s not the traditional version. The goal here is to amplify it. In a sense, the amplification process strengthens the signal of your post by:
- Reaching new audiences with traditional advertising
- Using storytelling to get a social boost
- Building a community around the brand
- Using syndication on various websites to build a blog audience
- Collaborating with influencers to get links
- Integrating promotional messages and buttons on your webpage
The Importance of Updating Content on Your Website
Updating your existing content is crucial because of Google’s algorithm updates. Google is now focusing on offering the user more recent search results that are fresher and better. In fact, it favors fresh content for specific topics and queries. If your primary keyword is a QDF (Query Deserves Freshness), Google shows it in the most recent results.
Writing for SEO doesn’t mean that you just publish new content. You must also update what’s already there. When you do that and add more information, it expands the keywords that you’re targeting to result in more traffic. Plus, if you have longer content pieces, you can optimize for multiple keywords; just make sure that you’re not keyword stuffing.
You should always ensure that your articles are updated for quality and relevancy.
Here are a few things that impact your rankings relating to freshness:
- CTR (a huge ranking factor)
- Posting new content more frequently
- Site domain performance (how many unique domains link to your website)
If you’re not sure how to find out how fresh your content is, it might be time to consider your site’s analytics. There are many tools out there to help you, and we can also assist by auditing your website and determining what information is evergreen and what isn’t.
Should You Remove Underperforming Content from Your Site?
Yes, you can delete content that doesn’t perform well. There are various reasons why that might happen. It could be of low quality or uses black-hat strategies. Sometimes, you just write about a topic that’s not interesting enough to get search traffic. Alternatively, the keyword could be in such a competitive niche that you don’t get placed high in the search results.
On the other hand, it could be tricky to delete content because you don’t know when you might want it again or if it could become relevant later. Therefore, it’s better to de-index it. You can do that by adding a special code to the page.
Ultimately, you have removed it from the SERPs pages, but you still get to see it on the admin page. De-indexing is often easier and safer.
Likewise, you can do the “noindex. follow” command, which tells the robot not to index it. That way, the user can access it if they use the link in the follow tag.
Before you decide to take drastic measures like this, it’s crucial to perform an audit of your site. You should also see how the content ranks, if the information is outdated, or if it’s valuable.
A good strategy here is to:
- Identify any low-performance articles by focusing on bounce rates, ranking positions, and engagement.
- Decide which content should be pruned, and then if you should redirect it, leave it alone, or de-index it.
- Consider link building for a few articles, re-optimization to get the best content on that topic, and improve the content scores.
It’s also a good idea to talk to SEO writing experts with experience in this area. They can give you the best tips on how to increase traffic and clean up your website.
While you’re pruning your site, it’s crucial to keep writing articles. Make sure that it’s valuable content the reader wants to know, and the search engines can follow.
Here are the three actions you may take based on your content types:
- De-index the content that performs poorly but serves a purpose to the users. It doesn’t show up in the results, but people can still access it.
- Delete any content that doesn’t offer value to the user.
- Redirect URLs if you choose to delete or repurpose specific pages. You must redirect the traffic so that users get valuable and relevant content. Otherwise, you get broken pages and lose links.
To answer the question of whether or not to delete underperforming content from your site: No, it’s usually better to repurpose it. This is actually a highly appreciated strategy. You’re adding fresh content to make it great, re-optimizing it for more keywords to boost rankings, and have more options for social media marketing later down the line.
Conclusion
Writing SEO-focused content isn’t easy for most people. You understand how to run a business, but the digital aspect of things bogs you down.
Though search engine optimization is crucial, it’s often overlooked because people don’t know how to do it. You’ve learned many great SEO writing tips to get you started. However, the process of optimizing content you already have or crafting newly optimized pieces can be a challenge.
You don’t have to go through the SEO writing process alone. There are plenty of SEO experts out there, and we are one of them. It’s easy to use our tested SEO content strategy to ensure that each piece of content is excellent. That way, more people see the information you put out and choose your company over the competition.
