Hey! Are you a new writer? Wondering how Google ranks every piece of content that goes on the internet?
Do you want to learn to write crisp and engaging top SEO-friendly content for your brand? I’ve got you covered!
For all the new writers around, this is your SEO content brief. If you want to better understand SEO content writing as a new writer, keep reading!
The top goal of writing SEO-friendly content is to attract organic traffic to your blogs or the website. Let’s diver deeper into it.
What is SEO Content Writing?
SEO content writing refers to writing highly optimized content for a specific niche or a topic to rank in the top search results of Google. The process involves researching relevant keywords and phrases that help answer the user’s intent.
Google utilizes “spiders” that actively crawl content to determine its purpose and correctness. Throughout this crawling process, they acquire extensive knowledge about the webpage by analyzing the language used in it.
SEO-based content writing enhances the content on the page for smoother crawling by search engines and gets an organic click-through rate. It helps in getting a higher position in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
A 2020 Search Engine Journal study found that the clickthrough rate for websites in position one on the search engine results page (SERP) is 25%.
Why is search engine optimization important in content writing?
SEO content writing help your content rank organically on Google. If your content isn’t search engine optimized, it won’t be visible in top search results.
SEO drives 1,000%+ more traffic than organic social media… crazy right?
Have you wondered why is it so important to rank on the first page of the search results?
The first result on the first page gets clicked on by more than 28% of people searching. I hope the fact is encouraging enough for you to start writing SEO-optimized content.
Also, 53.3% of all website traffic comes from organic searches.
On the other hand, this can also be achieved through running PPC ads but only when you have a big advertising budget. You can also hire a freelance SEO content writer to bring organic traffic to your website.
Writing optimized content can be challenging without the right guidance. As a beginner writer, you must be wondering how to start with SEO content writing…
Here, I have listed top 10 tips for creating SEO content. These tips can be helpful in writing:
- Website content
- Blogs
- Product pages
- Ad copy
- Copywriting
- Landing pages
So let’s get started!
1. Remember You Are Writing For Humans!
The main goal of SEO content writing is to attract visitors to your website. But, that’s only possible when you get in their shoes and write in a readable, easy, and understandable manner.
No matter how much amount of technicality and complexity you try to put into the content, it’s of no use if your audience doesn’t understand it.
2. Understand Google’s Crawling And Indexing Algorithm
A web crawler or a web spider — is a bot that searches and indexes content on the internet. Have a look at its mechanism!
Google’s search algorithm is pretty straightforward. The best-quality pages get ranked and are likely to get a good amount of backlinks.
Understand what search engines are looking for and it shall help you to rank your content on the internet!
3. Do A Comprehensive Keyword Research For
The internet is full of keywords and search phrases. You have to perform keyword research and know how to choose the best keywords for SEO content writing.
You will be amazed to know that 94.74% of keywords get 10 monthly searches or fewer. Hence, you must target keywords that have enough search volume, but low to medium competition.
For keywords research, you can use tools like:
You can find the trending keywords right on Google as well!
Simply search for the topic you are willing to write about. Look out for the Google Instant suggestions about what the people are searching for and simply write easy-to-understand content for those questions. Long-tail keywords perform well in search result queries.
Also, 50% of search queries contain over 4 words.
4. Include Focus Keywords In The Meta-description
Meta-description is the summary of the blog or article. It might also be displayed as the featured snippet if the authority and relevancy of your content are optimum.
Include your desired focus keywords in the meta-description, to sum up what your content is exactly about.
5. Use Short Sentences And Paragraphs For Better Readability
Short sentences and paragraphs make it easier for the readers to understand and interpret the content. Complex words or too-long sentences are a big turn off to most people.
As I said previously… you are writing for humans! The advantage of keeping it simple is that most of your audience will connect with your piece instantly! They’re also more likely to share your content with others!
6. Link Your Article To High-authority Sites
Using hyperlinks to show the source of the content exhibits the credibility and smartness in your content. The basic goal of your content should be to educate people and keep them hooked to your article.
Giving backlinks to quality websites and getting backlinks to your article improves the domain authority of your website.
You never know… giving a backlink to a quality website can fetch you a good one in return!
7. Google Loves Longform Content
Though today’s readers have a small attention span, Google prefers longer, in-depth blog posts.
According to HubSpot, the ideal blog length should be between 2,100 and 2,400 words.
You’re probably wondering – won’t this make the content too wordy? Yes, but you can simplify the content into smaller sections to make it look clean and neat.
8. Include Facts, Figures, Numbers And Stats
People are more fascinated by reading numbers or figures. It creates trustworthiness and justification in the minds of your readers.
Let’s say you write “Popular search queries have featured snippets in their search results.” This sounds too general. But it makes more sense if you mention “12.29% of search queries have featured snippets in their search results.”
Statistics in your SEO content improve the value readers get from your content. This also makes the content more engaging for the audience!
9. Use Compressed Images In The Content For Faster Loading
Would you be interested in waiting for 20 seconds for an article to load? No, right? Similarly, Google prefers and ranks fast loading blogs. Fast load times improve your blog’s user experience dramatically.
To load your web page faster, reduce the size of the images in your blog before uploading. The ideal size of most images in your SEO content should be less than 150KB.
Content writers who use 7+ images per post are 2.3X more likely to report strong results.
You can use a free tool to compress your images online, like Squoosh.com. But hey, do remember to incorporate as many images as possible, because people are visually craving creatures! Haha!
10. Write Catchy Blog Titles To Grab Attention
By now you probably already understand the basics of good SEO content writing practices. But, your content will only be searched and read if it has an interesting headline or title.
Wondering how to title blog posts for SEO? Write a compelling title that includes your main keyword and a teaser intro.
For example: “5 Brilliant Tips to Get Glowing Skin”
“Top 10 Tips to Grow Your Youtube Channel”
“20 Most Mysterious Places in the World You Must Visit”
Top 5 SEO Statistics!
- The top three Google search results get 54.4% of the total clicks.
- SEO statistics confirm that long content drives 77.2% more links compared to short articles.
- SEO can drive a 14.6% conversion rate.
- Organic Google results with 3-4 words in the title drive higher CTR.
- 75% of SEO is off-page and 25% is on-page .
Ready to start SEO content writing?
I hope this blog serves as a great starting point for your SEO content writing journey. SEO content writing is about providing a smooth and valuable reading experience. Good SEO content can no doubt help you achieve your goals!
So come on, get started with your SEO content writing! I hope this article helps you write quality content for your brand. You’d be fascinated to know that Google receives over 102,249 search queries every second. Pull your chair, sit right, and start writing wonders!
Written by Ashay Chandekar from Socinova. Images have the copyrights of the respective sources.
