You may have come across the term “SEO” at least once in your life. For the regular web browser, that term may not mean much. However, for online business owners and blogs, it can be their most powerful tool for generating engagement and finding new customers.
Understanding how SEO works takes a high amount of research, but that information can save you from making any bad decisions while advertising your online website. In most cases, these website owners hire SEO writers to “Optimize” their content. Knowing SEO writing should always be a staple in a writer’s curriculum since it can heavily boost a website’s metrics.
On this page, we’re going to go over the basics of what SEO writing is and why it’s such an essential tool in today’s world. If you want to know more about how you can boost your business by optimizing your content, keep reading!
What is SEO, and What Does It Have to Do With Your Website?
First, we need to address the basic concepts. SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization,” which refers to creating optimized content for your website in order to get a higher rank in the most popular search engines.
People often believe that the best way to get a higher rank in a search engine, you have to put in great content. While that’s true, it’s only one part of the equation. If you want to get the most out of your website, you need to provide both remarkable content and carefully planned search engine optimization.
You can’t get the most optimal results if you’re missing a part of this equation. For example, if you continuously pump out good content, but your website isn’t optimized for SEO, it may not rank high in the search engines, making it less likely to be seen by web browsers.
On the other hand, if you have an amazing SEO on your page, but your content isn’t relevant, users may go for competitor sites to find the information they’re looking for.
Overall, proper SEO is the key to making your website thrive among all the competitors, so make sure that you follow all the rules necessary to make your content relevant and optimal for search engines.
What Does SEO Writing Imply?
To put it simply, SEO writing involves implementing key phrases and keywords inside the website’s content. Proper SEO writing can help your website to become organically more visible to search engines; in other words, your website can appear among the first websites when a user looks up a keyword related to your content.
To put things in perspective, the higher your website ranks in a search engine, the more likely it is for users to visit your site; if your content is good enough, you can get a higher conversion rate and organic traffic, which is great news for any website.
Keep in mind that SEO writing isn’t something that you can do without proper planning. If you want to make things right, you need to study your content, your audience, and your goals. After you’ve gathered that information, you’re ready to begin writing.
SEO Writing – Primary Strategies
Here is a list of the main factors that every SEO writer must consider before optimizing a website’s content. If the writer follows these instructions carefully, they’re likely to gain much better results.
Create a List of Relevant Topics to Write About
The first step into SEO writing doesn’t involve writing at all! Optimizing your content begins by studying what you want to tell your target audience and how you’re going to say it to them.
A great way to find relevant topics is to think about your product, service, or post, and look for what people generally ask about that specific topic. There are some Q&A websites, such as Quora, that can help you with that.
After you’ve identified what topic is relevant for your audience, you can move on to the next step.
Consider the Audience You’re Writing For
Writing content can get much easier if you know who you’re writing to. While it’s impossible to cater your information to everyone on the internet, you can classify your audience by gender, age, or interests.
By classifying your audience, you can have an easier time finding out what that specific type of audience usually likes, which can help you optimize your content so that your potential users find it interesting to read.
Convert Your Relevant Topics Into Relevant Keywords
A “keyword” is the word or phrase people normally type into the search bar when looking for something. For example, if someone is looking to buy a smartphone in Florida, they may search “smartphones in Florida” or “smartphones Florida.”
In that sense, you need to take your topic and convert it into a keyword so that you can include it in your content; that way, when people look up that specific keyword, your website is more likely to show up.
There are primary and secondary keywords. The primary keyword is the one people type into the search bar to find the relevant website, meaning that it’s the one you need to rank higher in the search engine. On the other hand, secondary keywords (or LSI Keywords) are there to complement the primary ones; they’re don’t have to be specifically relevant to your website, but they must be relevant to the topic you’re talking about in general.
For example, the main keyword for a smartphone shop in Florida can be “smartphones in Florida,” and the secondary keywords can be “purchase smartphones,” “smartphone shop near me,” or “buy smartphones online.”
Remember that keywords play a significant role in your SEO, so you need to make sure that you do research on which ones are the best for your website. It’s always recommended to check competitor sites and look for more keywords that can help promote your content.
Write Engaging Content
As said before, you can optimize your website as much as possible, but if your content is not relevant, people are not going to stay on your website. To make sure that you’re writing engaging content, find a unique way to tell what you want to say on your website. In other words, make your content stand out from the competitor’s.
It’s easier said than done, but with proper research and dedication, you’re likely to do great.
Use Headings to Organize Your Content
An excellent way of outlining your content is by using headings. These are normally used to break down the content into sections, making it much easier to read. A compelling heading can positively impact your SEO, so make sure that it’s engaging and inviting to the user.
Headings are also great places to place keywords, so if you find that your keywords fit your headings naturally, try to include them occasionally.
Keep Track of Your Keywords/LSI Keywords and How You Include Them Into the Content
When it comes to keywords, there are two common mistakes that SEO writers make: not including keywords naturally and overstuffing the content with keywords.
If you want to know if you created good content, read the article from start to end. You’re going to notice that you did a great job if the keywords didn’t feel forced into the sentences. Keep in mind that your audience shouldn’t know whether you included keywords in your content or not.
On the other hand, some SEO writers believe that writing many keywords is good for the website; this is usually called “over-stuffing” or “over-optimizing,” and it can be bad for your website. The keyword density can vary depending on the article and its length, so focus on writing good content and including the keywords where they feel natural.
Write an Engaging Meta Description
A meta description is an HTML element that summarizes what your website is going to talk about; this description appears under your website’s title in most search engines, giving the users a short overview of what to expect.
While a meta description doesn’t heavily impact your search engine rank, it can make a user go into it if it’s compelling enough. In that sense, make sure that your meta descriptions are attractive to read so that you attract more traffic to your website.
Consider Adding Internal/External Links
Internal links are links to other related sections in your website that may complement the content the user is reading. In contrast, external links are links to other resources you used to write the information on your website.
Both of these types of links can be an excellent way of making your website “SEO-friendly,” which can generate more organic traffic to it. Remember that the more “Complete” your content feels, the more likely it is that search engines, such as Google, are going to rank them higher.
Consider Adding Visuals
Visuals such as images, videos, or infographics can help make your content look more eye-catching, which translates to a higher conversion rate. If you can complement your content with audiovisual resources, consider including them.
Monitor the Results
Proofreading the content before posting it is the best way to ensure that everything reads naturally and fluently; it’s also your last chance to make any small changes to make the website stand out more.
After the content is posted, make sure to monitor your analytics to see what’s working and what’s not working. Google Analytics is a great tool that can help you measure how your website is doing.
Conclusion
SEO writing may seem overwhelming at first, but it only requires constant practice to get it right. Preparing yourself to show your content in the best way possible puts you ahead of competitors, and it may also drive more users to go to your website for reliable information.
