Search engine optimization or SEO for short, is an integral part of how your website will increase its page rank, decrease bounce rate, and boost its credibility and authority in search engines. If you want your website to grow and flourish, it’s important to have SEO skills down to a science. With that said, SEO writing is not always second nature to everyone. When that is the case, it is helpful to get advice from experts. In this article, we will discuss some key SEO writing tips you need to know in order to create the best possible SEO content out there.
Table of Contents
Always Keep the Audience in Mind
One of the first things you need to understand about writing in any capacity is that knowing your audience is such an important facet of creating content worth reading. Your audience determines the language you use, your tone of voice, what words you choose to define or omit during your edits, etc. If you do not know who your audience is, you could find yourself writing in a way that does not resonate with your readers.
You need to connect with them on a personal level to help them really understand the concepts that you are trying to relay. Especially when it comes to SEO content writing, you need to make sure you speak in a way your readers will understand. If you are an expert on the content, that’s amazing! However, you need to remember that most of the people that will read your content are first hearing about the concepts. Think about the way professors teach at a university.
Good professors do not talk to their students the same way they would to their fellow colleagues who are experts on the subject. No, they think about how they can make the concepts understandable to an audience who is new to the material. They understand their students learn better in different ways with some being visual learners while others being more auditory. They adjust their teaching style according to the needs of their students and provide various examples to help their students connect the concepts to real life.
As a good content writer, you need to do the same. SEO is a big topic with multiple facets, its own unique vocabulary, and many difficult concepts. It can be extremely overwhelming for those who are new to SEO to grasp its concepts. So take time when writing your articles, and as you proofread, ask yourself if this is something you would understand when you were first learning about SEO.
Be Intentional and Personable
In our fast-paced and virtually never-ending resource of online information, you need to ensure that your content is sticking in people’s heads. How do you do this? Make every word count. Do not bombard your content with useless information. Instead, make each sentence in your piece have a specific purpose. If you read through your piece and find that you can omit certain sentences and the point you were trying to make still comes across, delete it. It’s better to have a concise and well-formatted SEO piece than something unnecessarily lengthy and confusing.
Use Interesting Headings
In addition to cutting out frivolous information, make your headlines and subtitles flavorful and interesting. Add some adjectives to make them feel personable and alive. In the realm of SEO, it’s easy for material to get a little dull at times. Spice things up and keep your readers engaged by adding some personality, some humor, and perhaps a few vibrant images. Remember, you want people to stay as long as possible on your site and good SEO writing begins with incorporating your own knowledge of SEO topics. So be intentional with your words and give your readers value.
Include Keywords
A practical way to signal to readers and search engines like Google that your content holds value is by including keywords throughout your SEO writing pieces. Including relevant keywords can boost your visibility in search rank and will help you reach potential site viewers who are genuinely interested in the content you create. However, be careful not to include too many keywords. Adding too many keywords can be off putting to readers who might feel as though you are being overly redundant or confusing. So, make your keyword usage tactful and natural so that your search engines pick up your site and your readers can easily comprehend and digest your writing.
Also, do not be afraid to place keywords in places beyond the main body of text. Feel free to add keywords to the blog tags that are found at the bottom of articles or sometimes on the side of the website. Remember to be careful about how often you include keywords so that you avoid keyword cannibalization. But do not let that stop you from including them every now and then. Every keyword counts!
Structure Conquers All
Another SEO tip to keep in mind is that good structure is everything. The structure of your articles can either significantly aid your readers in understanding your SEO writing or make them steer clear of your website altogether. You need to make sure you are writing in a structured way. If this is something you struggle with, it is best if you create some sort of outline for yourself. Outlines are great because they allow you to distinguish your big concepts from your smaller supporting concepts and organize them accordingly. With a good outline, you’ll be able to lay out your entire article from top to bottom. It will also briefly give you the chance to plan out any specific examples you want to cover, any images you want to include, and important points you want to make sure you cover.
How to Organize Your Content
Think of your outline like a triangle. The larger part of the triangle provides the basis or foundation of the article’s content. In other words, the main idea or question that your SEO article is trying to answer. The middle or medium-sized part of the article is going to separate that big idea into subtopics. At the very tip of the triangle are all the supporting details, real-life examples, and other content pieces you are going to include to help you illustrate your point to your readers.
To put this into context, think about the topic of internal linking vs external linking. This would be your main idea or the biggest part of the triangle. The medium part of your triangle would be subcategories. These could be defining what internal linking and external linking are, how to include them into your website, and the pros and cons of each. The tiniest part of this article could be an infographic that explains the process of creating an internal and external link. Regardless of how you think about it, if you struggle with maintaining order with SEO content writing, making an outline is a great option for you. We recommend creating your outline on a platform like Google Docs and making use of the list features to input your information.
Spread the Word
You could write the best SEO content in the world, but if no one sees it, it will never get read. That’s why you need to use your knowledge of SEO to increase your reach, get readers, and make some conversions. How do we achieve this? While there are a number of marketing efforts you could do, but here are some of the most important.
Internal Linking
The first is internal linking. Internal linking is so important in SEO writing and any sort of online writing in general. When you place a link to other articles that you have created on your site, it encourages users to check out another page on your site. In addition, It gives your site more authority in the eyes of search engines. It shows that your content is valuable and so your article will fare better in search results.
Social Media
Next is social media. Use your social media platforms to your advantage and link to your articles as often as you can. Keep it in the bio of your Instagram, announce it on your LinkedIn, or even get creative and make a TikTok. Whatever you choose to do, post it as often as you can and get your others to post about it as well. Post your articles in forums and include vibrant descriptions about what is discussed. In addition, make sure to include share buttons at the end of your blog posts. This way, people have the opportunity to easily share it across Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook.
Get Backlinks
Lastly, find ways to get some backlinks. Backlinks are when links to your article get placed on other sites. You can reach out to blogs to help you rack up a few, or you could place some yourself. High-quality backlinks receive a higher ranking in search engines and can increase traffic to your article.
Practice SEO Writing
With all of these SEO tips in mind, the best way to improve your writing is through practice. The more you can practice your skills, the better they will be. If you find yourself still struggling with writing quality SEO content, you could outsource your writing. SEO Design Chicago has experienced content writers ready to take your content to the next level.
FAQ:
- How do I create an internal link?
- How do I make SEO writing interesting?
- What’s the best social media to promote my SEO writing content?
- How can I structure my content?
- How can I get more backlinks?
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