Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to optimizing a website to increase organic search engine rankings. SEO content, therefore, is content created to attract search engine traffic. Given that most web traffic comes from search engines writing SEO-friendly content is undoubtedly one of the best ways to improve your website’s visibility. And the best part is, unlike search engine marketing, SEO clicks are basically free. Here’s how to write SEO friendly content that will help you get higher rankings on SERPs:
Optimize Linking
Links are one of the most important SEO ranking factors. There are three kinds of links to think about:
- Backlinks/external links: These are links pointing to your site from other websites.
- Outbound links: Links to other websites from your site
- Internal links: This involves linking to a page on your website
The first two tell search engines a lot about your content’s quality, value, and reputation. High-quality links (from/to reputable and authoritative websites) can improve rankings, while low-quality, spammy links will hurt your rankings. The latter helps search engines understand the relevance of your content. Linking your content to another authoritative page on your site will help boost the second page’s search engine ranking. Try to use reasonable links and add a descriptive anchor text that describes what the link is about.
High-quality Content
Content is what users come to see first and thus is a significant SEO ranking factor. Content can take different formats, including text, video, or even image. But what is good content?
- Unique and original: This doesn’t mean you must propose something completely new. Just avoid duplicate content and plagiarism.
- Informative: This is the ultimate purpose of a search engine
- Actionable
- Grammatically correct with no spelling errors
- Accurate, relevant, and up to date
- Engaging and thought-provoking
- It should use the optimal content length: Google likes long articles, preferably 2000 words. But for a typical blog post, 300-500 words should be the minimum.
Search engines reward sites with high-quality content that fits the above criteria.
Use Keywords Wisely
Keyword placement is probably the most important step in SEO content writing. To achieve that, you have to start by performing keyword research. Identify one primary keyword that is popular with users, has a low competition rate, and is closely related to your blog post. Then, you’ll need to identify two-four secondary keywords that you can also use in the post. To identify secondary keywords, look up your primary keyword in search engines and choose a few search phrases related to it. Be sure to use the keywords in the title, Meta descriptions, headlines/sub-headlines, ALT tags, and the main text.
Use Headlines and Sub-headlines Correctly
The proper use of headlines and sub-headlines does several things for SEO optimization. For starters, headings help search engines grasp the main points of a long blog post, which helps with ranking. They also make content skimmable and easier for readers to read. Here’s how you can optimize your titles for SEO:
- Use the target keyword in your title, particularly at the beginning
- Keep the title under 65 characters. Google only displays the first 60 characters in the search results.
- The title should describe the post’s content accurately
- Write catchy titles using emotional modifiers like free, best, surprising, amazing, or how-to to hook your audience and increase CTR.
- Posts’ titles use H1 heading tags by default. So, the main sections of the post should use H2 heading tags while the subsections use H3 heading tags, and so on.
Summary
All these SEO-friendly content writing tips will eventually allow you to rank high on SERPs. But keep in mind that good SEO takes time. In that case, you may want to consider implementing both Google Ads and SEO if you want to speed up your ability to get more leads and sales.
About the Author
Emily Lamp is a professional writer, working closely with many aspiring thinkers and entrepreneurs from various companies. She is also interested in technology, business growth, and self-improvement.
