While paid advertising and social media-centric marketing strategies are critical to your brand’s growth trajectory, search engine optimization (SEO) is still king. To earn a top spot on search engine results pages (SERPs), you need to master the art of SEO content writing.
Wait a minute — isn’t SEO all about keywords? Not exactly. Although keyword research represents an essential part of good SEO, you’ll also need optimized content that’s appealing to consumers and search engines alike. In this crash course, you’ll learn everything you need to know about SEO content writing.
The Basics of SEO Content Writing
SEO content writing aims to create optimized copy that aligns with the search intent of your target audience while also providing value and relevance. Content creation falls under the umbrella of on-page SEO, as it focuses on filling your site with high-quality pieces, such as:
- Blogs
- Landing pages
- Service pages
- Other written assets that appeal to users and search engines
There are a few ways to tackle the challenge of creating search-engine-optimized content. You can handle this task yourself or partner with a third-party SEO copywriter. The latter approach is more appealing to many businesses, as a skilled copywriter can deliver a consistent volume of high-quality content.
How to Win at SEO Content Writing: 9 Essential Tips
If you want to create SEO-optimized content, you’ll need to:
1. Be Thorough With Your Keyword Research For SEO Content Writing
Selecting the right keywords to target is the first (and perhaps most important) step on your SEO content writing journey. You need to pick phrases relevant to the topics you are writing about and the needs of your target audience. Choosing terms that align with users’ search intent increases your odds of getting noticed by the right people in the ideal phase of their journeys.
However, don’t be afraid to target lower-volume or longer-form phrases, as they are less competitive. For instance, suppose that you run an HVAC company in Austin, TX. Instead of simply targeting a phrase like “HVAC repair,” consider something more specific, such as “24/7 HVAC repair in Austin, TX.”
2. Create High-Quality Content That Prioritizes Readability
We can all agree that your content needs to be good, but what does that mean? For starters, your copy should align with your audience’s needs and deliver real value, including educational, informative, or entertaining content. However, you also need to structure content to match user preferences.
Regardless of your industry, it’s essential to make your content readable and scannable. After all, about 43% of readers will only skim your blogs anyway.[1] If users can’t easily find the information they are looking for, they might just bounce.
3. Choose a User-Friendly Format When Creating Content
Making your content skimmable is only the start. You also need to:
- Optimize the content’s format and overall structure
- Use many subheadings
- Choose a font that is easy to read
- Incorporate bullet points wherever practical
Generally, you should use one subheading every 100-150 words. This approach ensures you don’t have huge chunks of text, making it difficult for users to find the subtopics that are most interesting to them.
4. Target Featured Snippets and Rich Search Results
Also known as “position zero” results, featured snippets are selected search results at the top of Google’s organic search results page. Optimizing your content for featured snippets can significantly increase visibility and drive traffic to your website. To optimize for featured snippets, focus on providing concise, well-structured answers to commonly asked questions within your content.
You should also work to obtain rich results if these search responses are relevant to your brand. A rich result also appears toward the top of the SERP, including non-textual elements like images or carousels.
5. Understand Search Volume
Search volume reveals how many people search for a particular term or topic. When conducting keyword research, it’s essential to identify phrases with a high enough search volume to generate meaningful traffic. However, you also want to target phrases with low search competition rates.
This isn’t to say that you should never target high-volume, high-competition phrases. Instead, incorporate a mix of highly competitive and less competitive terms into your marketing strategy.
6. Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Title Tags
Title tags and meta descriptions have a significant impact on your SEO rankings. A title tag specifies the title of your web page and is often displayed under your blue page link on SERPs. You should also incorporate the primary keyword a page is targeting into the title tag.
The meta description provides a preview of the topics covered on each web page. Like the title tag, the meta description (or at least part) is displayed on SERPs. You should also work your primary keyword into your meta descriptions to increase your odds of ranking.
7. Be Consistent With Your Blog Posts
You must remain consistent once you’ve mapped out the topics and keywords you want to address with your blogs. This means publishing regularly and sticking to a publishing schedule.
If you are new to blogging, don’t be too ambitious with your posting schedule. It’s better to consistently publish one blog every other week than to commit to multiple blogs per week only to miss your deadlines. You can increase your publishing frequency once you get accustomed to posting content.
8. Track Conversion Rates and Other Relevant Metrics
Closely monitor your marketing efforts and track metrics such as:
- Site traffic
- Click-through rate
- Leads generated
- Conversions
Each of these metrics provides a piece of the SEO puzzle. Combining them lets you better understand what works and what doesn’t and how to create a more effective search engine optimization strategy.
Take advantage of free analytics tools like Google Analytics. This platform can easily be connected to your website and provides detailed insights into SEO performance.
9. Embrace Holistic Digital Marketing Principles
SEO content writing represents a foundational element of digital marketing. However, it doesn’t operate in a vacuum. You need to view organic content creation as part of a greater strategy.
Your blogs and other content should complement your paid ads and social media brand-building efforts. Likewise, you can use paid ads and social posts to promote organic content and drive valuable traffic to your website.
Elevate Your Visibility With Full Circle SEM
Becoming an SEO content writing guru can feel like a daunting task. Fortunately, you don’t have to navigate this path alone. At Full Circle SEM, we offer various marketing solutions, including personalized search engine optimization services. Explore our SEO offerings, and let’s get your brand noticed.
Sources:
[1] https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/business-blogging-in-2015
