Planning and strategizing are a vital part of SEO Editing.
However, without great content to back up your plan, your strategy won’t be worth much.
To create great content, you’ll need to follow these tips for SEO content writing.
- What Is SEO Content Writing?
- Why is SEO Content Writing Important?
- Types of Content You Can Write
- 9 Tips for SEO Content Writing
- Conclusion: Write for People (Not Search Engines)
What Is SEO Content Writing?
SEO content writing is the process of creating written content that appeals to both readers and search engines.
For content to appear in search engine results, it needs to be written in a way that search engines can easily understand.
At the same time, your content needs to engage your audience and provide them value.
Years ago, when search engines weren’t as robust as they are now, writing for SEO and writing for readers would have been two very different tasks.
Luckily, however, search engines have become really good at differentiating high-quality content from low-quality content.
This means that by creating truly valuable content (while keeping some basic SEO principles in mind), you can start ranking in search engines.
Why is SEO Content Writing Important?
SEO content writing is important because it helps you rank in search engines.
This means you can drive more organic traffic to your site.
Organic traffic is the best kind of traffic because it is free and you’re less reliant on paid advertising.
So, by investing in an effective content strategy, you could be saving yourself money in the long run.
SEO content writing is also important because it establishes your expertise in your niche.
This means potential customers are likelier to trust your brand.
Finally, writing SEO-optimized content provides real value to the searcher.
Since you’re providing the user with the content they are looking for, they are not only likelier to convert into customers, but to be more loyal and maybe even become advocates for your brand.
Types of Content You Can Write
Content marketing can include a number of different types of content.
This could be videos, podcasts, or infographics.
However, search engines can only read text.
As an SEO Editor, that’s why I tend to focus on written content.
Here are some of the types of written content you can create.
How-to and Tutorial
How-to and tutorial content are informational articles that teach your audience something related to your niche.
They help solve a problem for the searcher while establishing your brand as an authority on the topic.
Because so many searches on Google are for this type of content, it’s a great way to reach new people organically.
By providing value to your audience, you build trust with them and help them enter your marketing funnel.
Guides
Guides are the go-to source for information on a particular topic.
These are typically long articles that cover your keyword or topic in-depth.
This type of content works well as your cornerstone content, which is the most important content on your site.
Guides are usually evergreen, meaning they can produce traffic all-year round (as long as you keep your content up to date).
Like how-to content, they also establish your brand as an authority in your niche.
Lists
The article you are reading right now is a listicle (don’t worry, we’ll get to the SEO content writing tips soon!).
Lists are easily digestible articles that break information down into small pieces.
This type of content is highly shareable, meaning it’s likelier to perform well on social platforms.
While social media sharing may not directly influence how well you rank in search engines, it’s a great way to drive more traffic to your site and build more awareness for your brand.
Case Studies
So far, we’ve largely focused on informational types of articles.
However, case studies are a great type of content to create that is more promotional in nature.
Case studies can cover how your product helped a customer solve their problem.
It’s especially useful for users who have already entered your marketing funnel and considering your product or service.
By showing how your product or service has helped others, you can build trust with your audience and encourage them to convert into customers.
Interviews
Interviews can help you connect with other influencers in your niche and establish your credibility.
It’s also good opportunity to build backlinks to your site which will improve your SEO efforts.
By collaborating with others within your industry, you can expand your reach, build your authority, and develop your brand awareness.
9 Tips for SEO Content Writing
SEO content writing sounds like a daunting task, but if you’re creating great content for your audience, you should have nothing to worry about.
However, you should keep the following tips in mind when creating your content so Google has an easy time reading it too.
1. Know Your Audience
The way you write your content will differ depending on who your target audience is.
For example, you’ll likely use a different tone for an SEO blog than you would for a mommy blog.
To write for your target audience, it can be helpful to create a buyer persona.
This is a fictional representation of your target customer.
When you know who your audience is, you can write in a style that suits them and create content that solves their unique problems.
2. Target the Right Keywords
By targeting the right keywords, you can write content that is hyper-focused on a particular topic and become the go-to source for information on that topic.
However, you’ll want to do your keyword research and make sure you are targeting keywords you can actually rank for.
For example, ranking for a term like “soccer cleats” will likely be too difficult to rank for.
However, by targeting keywords related to your niche, you stand a better chance at ranking in the SERPs.
For instance, you could try targeting a keyword like “best soccer cleat material.”
By creating a robust collection of content targeting long-tail keywords related to your niche, you’ll be more likely to show up on Google.
Once you’ve built your brand’s authority in the niche, you can start targeting more competitive short-tail keywords.
3. Use Your Keyword Naturally
Obviously you’ll want to use your keyword throughout your content.
However, it’s important to remember not to keyword stuff or use your keyword where it doesn’t make sense to do so.
If you’re writing truly valuable content, your keyword should show up naturally throughout the text as you write.
If you’re keyword is coming up as you write, perhaps your content is not focused enough and you should consider revising your article or target keyword.
4. Keep it Simple and Concise
You should make your writing as accessible as possible.
This means using language that is easy to understand so you can engage the highest number of readers possible.
By keeping your sentences short and your word choices simple, you’ll be able to create content that provides value to the maximum number of people.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that your writing style should reflect your target audience.
If you’re writing content for academics in a highly-technical niche, you’ll likely need to utilize longer and more complex sentences.
5. Write an Attention-Grabbing Headline
Even if you have the greatest content online, it won’t matter much if people aren’t clicking on and reading it.
This is why writing a great headline is vital for SEO content writing.
You should make it clear what the article is about, and entice the reader to click on it.
Remember to keep it to an appropriate length. Google will cut off the end of your headline when displaying it in results if it’s too long.
6. Utilize Subheadings
Large blocks of text can easily overwhelm readers.
This is why utilizing subheadings is a great way to break your content up into more easily digested pieces.
Also, subheadings help Google understand your content.
Subheadings organize your content for both readers and search engines, so you should be sure to utilize them in your writing.
Try to keep each subheading to less than 200 words and you’ll have well-organized and easy-to-read content.
7. Have a Great Hook
The beginning of your article is your hook.
This is your opportunity to tell the reader why they should read the rest of your article.
Explain why the information in the rest of the post is so important, and try relating to your audience.
If you want people to engage with your content, you need to tell them why they need to and explain the value you are providing.
8. Write a Meta-Description
While your meta-description will only be read if your content shows up in search engine results, it’s still a key part of SEO content writing.
The meta-description is the short block of text that appears below a search result headline.
It is your opportunity to explain to searchers why they should click on your result and the value they can gain from your content.
9. Link to Your Other Content
The tips we’ve covered so far are all about how to create a single piece of great content.
However, an effective SEO strategy needs to consider how all of your content works together.
This is why your internal linking structure is so important.
First, you’ll want to make sure you’re linking to your cornerstone content early on to signal to Google that it is the most important content on your site.
Second, you may want to consider including a CTA at the end of your content to encourage the reader to convert into a customer or learn more about the topics you’ve written about on your site.
Finally, internal links to your other content are a great way to keep readers engaged.
If you talk about a topic your reader might want to learn more about but don’t link to an article about it, they’ll likely to turn to Google to learn more.
By providing internal links to your content, you keep your readers on your site and can help guide them through your marketing funnel.
Conclusion: Write for People (Not Search Engines)
If you take nothing else away from this article, let it be this: write for people, not search engines.
Creating valuable content should be your main priority.
If people are clicking on your content and not gaining anything from it, you won’t reap any of the awesome benefits that great content marketing can provide.
This is why having a skilled SEO copywriter is key to great content marketing.