How many times a day do you use Google or another Search Engines to find the answer to something?
Faced with a problem, challenge or even a choice, we ‘Google it’. Have a look at your search history to get the feeling of how much you use a search engine. Did you also know that 89% of businesses use Google to buy from too?
How do Google/Bing/Amazon etc, know how to ping up the best answers for you? Magic? No they look at the link between the quality of content on the topic searched and show or ‘serve up’ the best. This technique is known as Search Engine Optimisation or SEO.
So when you are thinking about creating marketing content such as a blogs, articles or website pages that you wish to be ranked highly for visibility in Search Engines, you need to be mindful to have a cluster of key things covered, in order to guarantee SEO-friendly content.
WHY?
We, as consumers or clients, are searching answers through content found on websites, blogs etc. Regardless of what we’re looking for and where, it’s content that provides it. I tell my clients, the more content you put out there, the higher your chance for greater search visibility.
Faced with a search request the search engine will ‘crawl’ a website page reviewing the content to determine its topic. Based on this information & their algorithms they can match a person’s query with pages they consider the most relevant to it. Analytics like page length and structure are also considered. Going by the latest research, the optimal article length for SEO is around 1,000 words. …whilst the ideal length for blog posts is 1600 words.
HOW DO I OPTIMISE MY CONTENT?
Keyword Research
Search engines will be discovering what phrases potential customers/ clients/buyers will be entering into them. Keyword research is when you identify keywords in order to find and research terms people enter into their chosen search engines. You should focus on long-tail keywords (4 or more words). Because these have a lower search volume while still holding the significant possibility of having a great rank on the Search Engine Results page or SERPs.
SEO is not about getting ANY OLD visitors to your site – it’s about attracting the targeted readers to sell to (first as a lead and later, as a customer or client). Once you know the keywords that are used by your audience you should look to include these within the content you create.
Keywords will attract the relevant reader according to how your site is ranked for keywords that those people are SEARCHING for.
Copywriting with keywords & SEO in mind is 70% prep & research and 30% writing. Identifying terms and topics relevant to your business; thereafter converting them into initial keywords.
Find out what keywords your competitors are ranking for?
That’s how you’re able to understand how rankings will behave when faced with different search terms.
For example, in the case where a competitor has low ranking for keywords, you can easily come to the conclusion that you’ll be able to rank with some high-quality content that’s both extensive and appealing.
For that to happen however, you have to use the SEO-friendly practices explained in this article.
Keyword Density vs Keyword Frequency
Keyword “stuffing”. Don’t do it! It’s been sussed by Google and thrown into Spam.
You must use keywords of course, but do not saturate your article or blog, and think about the size of the document and correlate the length with the number of keywords.
SEO-Related Titles and Headers
Titles are still one of the most important factors when it comes to search engine-driven searches.
In fact, it’s the “face” of your post, and it’ll basically let the search engine understand the context to which your post belongs.
For an SEO-friendly article or blog post, you should try analysing your post’s context. At that point, you have to find a keyword that suits the context that has been specified.
SEO-Friendly URLs
Just in case you’re not sure what “URL” means….It is the address of a World Wide Web page and as an example, this article’s URL is:
https://www.pickled-ginger.com/SEO-Content-Tips –
Tips….
Do NOT use useless & ugly URLs such as https://www.domain.com/987123££121
Do NOT use long URLs such as: https://www.domain.com/don’t-even-think-about-writing-your-site-url-longer-than-this-one
Use hyperlinks from content so complex URLs are hidden from the reader but still help you to maintain your search engine ranking.
Ultimately…Content is KING!
You can never forget that – in order for any post to be truly SEO-friendly – engaging content is paramount. Create content that has quality; content that is appealing and vibrant, informational and specific, detailed and unforgettable.
Without awesome content, these SEO content marketing strategy tips will be meaningless!
REMINDER:
You should always create content that’s well written, adds value to your audience and is informative.
You need to avoid writing a piece of content that has fewer than 300 words.
The longer the content, the better the chances you’ve got of ranking well.
CONCLUSION
SEO can seem overwhelming. It needn’t be. The aim of this article is to offer you an understating of how the audience reaches you and handy tips to allow you to write your online blogs with SEO in mind.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Elaine is running a workshop on the topic of Basics of SEO for Blog Writing and Social Media on Wednesday January 30th. If you would like more information here is a link to register:
Register for Elaine’s workshop
About Elaine in her own words:
“I’m a copywriter, proof reader and editor having attended a grammar school (ie you can take the girl out of the grammar school but you can’t take the grammar out of the girl) and working in PR, marketing and the legal profession for all my working life (that’s a long time) I have WORDS and CREATIVITY coursing through my SEO blood!”
If you would like help with creating SEO optimised content you can contact her:
Email: elaine@pickled-ginger.com
Telephone: 07775 438538
Website: https://www.pickled-ginger.co.uk