Let’s be honest; content marketing is all about reaching your targeted audience. All the time, effort, and brainpower you put into your content are useless if you cannot attract a reader to your post. You can always share your brand and work on social media platforms. But for most brands, a great chunk of business comes from organic search traffic.
Search engine optimization or SEO makes your content easily readable to search algorithms. This way, when people search for something that your brand offers, your stand a better chance of appearing higher in the search engine results page or SERP.
Here we have a mini guide for you on how to write SEO-optimized content for your website and make it reader worthy.
What is SEO?
Before we go any further, first, let’s understand SEO. Search Engine Optimization is optimizing your written website content for search engines. It helps your brand rank higher on SERPs and increases the possibility for you to attract more visitors and double your website traffic.
Blog posts, landing pages, website content, and images can be SEO-optimized. All you have to do is implement a few key strategies.
Why is SEO Important in On-Page Writing?
Simply put, Google’s algorithm favors high-quality content. Search engines like Google determines content quality based on certain key factors, such as presence of internal and external links on your website pages, optimum keyword frequency, placement, text length, and others.
From a logical standpoint, Google’s role is to deliver the most relevant results to its user for what they have searched. This is why the algorithm is constructed to look for certain signals indicating that your website content matches user query. Thus the more high-quality content you write and incorporating all the SEO techniques, your have a better chances of ranking higher on your desired keywords.
How Does the Use of Relevant Keywords Help Improve Your Search Ranking?
While Google keeps us on par with the frequent algorithm updates and changes, one thing has stayed constant throughout this time: keywords. Keywords have helped inbound marketers optimize their content for search engines and match it with user search intent.
Thorough keyword research helps you find the relevant keywords and pick the ones that are best to target. It also provides valuable insights into what your target audience is searching for on Google. These insights can help you design more impactful content and overall marketing strategy.
When you identify the best-fitting keywords for the content that you publish on your website and incorporate it into your on-page content, the better you will rank on search engines. This means that you will ultimately attract more traffic to your website and increase sales.
This way, every time someone clicks on your content on SERP, it depicts that the search engine most likely presented a good match. In return, Google associates your website with the keyword your audience searches. It in turn displays your webpage in the results every time anyone searches for that specific keyword, ranking you higher eventually.
Tips on Writing Quality Content for SEO
Google prioritizes quality content. But since ‘quality’ is a rather subjective term, let’s learn how to incorporate quality in your content.
The key to remember: There is more to optimized quality content than just well-written text.
The best practice is to build your knowledge according to the topic you selected for on-page content. Consider the user intent and ensure you write to address the “why” behind the search.
Secondly, know your audience. Knowledge of the topic is not enough; you must remember that you write for humans to read. Your content should be readable and understandable by individuals of all ages and educational levels. A standard level of readability is to create simple sentences with 8th-grade-level reading skill requirements.
The length of your content should be short and sentences concise. Incorporate relevant keywords strategically and ensure they are placed at least once in your H1 and once in the H2 of the page you are creating. Remember that your target keyword should be specific enough to reflect the intent of your audience and avoid over stuffing.
Lastly, incorporate relevant and attractive images where needed.
1. Write for Humans First
While an SEO-optimized copy should appeal to the search engine’s algorithm, it must also entice a human reading the text. After all, you write for the people. So remember not make your writing formulaic and tone robotic. Instead, you appeal to your audience’s emotions and maintain clarity.
2. Construct Powerful Headings that Instantly Sparks Interest
The headline of your page is the first thing your reader will see. This will help them decide whether they are interested in reading the content further. Studies show that 70% of individuals only read the headings of a website page before sharing it with others.
Therefore, remember that you have to use very little text to make a very big impression. Do not underestimate the power of an effective headline. Make the headings of your page clear, interesting, and impactful. Ensure that you incorporate your keyword in the heading.
3. Write Shorter, More Meaningful Sentences
Keep in mind that the average person reads at an 8th-grade level. Hence, your written content should cater to an average reader. Use short and precise sentences to deliver your thought. Keep the word limit to 20 or fewer words per sentence to support user-friendly content. Moreover, this also makes the algorithm comb through your content.
4. Keyword-Rich Phrases Must be Your Go-To
Using relevant, keyword-rich phrases in your headings and throughout your content is a must. This helps both the search engine and your readers to know what your webpage is about. Avoid too many keywords or keyword stuffing that can distract your reader. Moreover, it can also result in search engine penalties for keyword stuffing. Make sure you smartly place keywords in your content.
5. Promote Organic Link Building
While link building has come a long way from the days of link buying and link farming, they are still the backbone of SEO. Ensure that you place internal links for all of the keywords used between pages. Do not use the same keywords on multiple pages without linking them together, termed “internal linking.” Create internal and external links throughout your websites to ensure proper ranking on search engines.
Conclusion
Designing a readable and SEO-friendly content is not an easy job as you need to take care of user intent and their search behavior. However, taking help from the above points will not only help you rank higher but also give you a chance to entice a loyal reader base.
