To gain traction with target audiences, your content should accomplish two goals- appeal to them and solve their problem. It is critical for the content to adhere to the best practices associated with search engine optimization services for better reach. Search engine algorithms prioritize quality content that showcases expertise and authoritativeness. Creating an article that is optimized for Google and also appeals to targeted readers is not an easy task. We have listed some tried and tested SEO content writing tips for producing well-optimized content.
Also Read: A Complete Guide To SEO Copywriting in 2020
Use a Good Mix of Keywords
Businesses need to be analytical while writing SEO to rank high in SERP. Research and select important keywords and phrases that customers use to search for products and services, and incorporate them into your content. However, refrain from keyword stuffing, it will do more harm than good in the long run. When creating a blog post, you should use long-tail keywords having low volume and low competition and also include semantic keywords in the content. However, for pillar pages, you should target short-tail keywords with high competition.Solve the Audience Queries
SEO content writing is not just about arranging the keywords in a particular order. The content should solve the target audience’s pain points. Users tend to share content that is relevant and useful, increasing the reach of the content. To create engaging and valuable content, businesses need to understand user intent. As per Google’s evaluation guidelines, searchers have four different purposes while searching for a term or phrase:- They want to gain knowledge about that topic
- They plan to take action or learn how to take action
- The searcher might be looking for a particular source, like a website, profile, or page
- The user is searching for a place/destination to travel to
Also Read: How to Detect and Reoptimize Underperforming Content to Boost Engagement
Arrange the Content for Skimmers
Users have quite a short attention span, meaning they might leave the website without reading the content completely. Even if the visitors stay long enough to read it, they won’t read between the lines. Therefore, businesses need to organize their content for skimmers by:- Using bullet points and subheadings to highlight important details
- Writing short sentences and paragraphs
- Placing important information at the beginning of the content
- Creating a strong call-to-action at the end of the content piece
Create a Diverse Backlink Portfolio
Links are an important part of SEO optimization services. However, quality matters; spammy links can do more harm than good for the website’s authenticity. Therefore, when promoting blog posts, don’t just target the big sites as smaller sites offer valuable links too. They’re often more responsive and industry-specific.Include Facts and Figures
Facts and figures are essential components of creating persuasive content. They support the hypothesis and argument in the content. If you want to make the SEO content writing engaging and inspiring, support it with valuable data. However, it should be presented in a way that doesn’t make the content look like a boring report. Also, ensure that the data makes sense to the target readers. If they struggle to understand the numbers mentioned, they’ll lose interest and leave the page, no matter how useful the content is.Aim for Featured Snippets
Featured snippets are short texts that Google displays at the top of the search results. They provide answers to searchers’ queries without having to click anywhere and are also referred to as zero-click searches. Google displays the content on the position zero from the web pages in the Google index repository. The featured snippets can be lists, tables, steps, and definitions. Google snippets provide instant answers to the search queries and thus receive the most traction. Therefore, companies need to target that position by following SEO best practices. You can optimize the content to increases your chances of appearing in the snippet with these techniques:- Use a SERP tool to identify if a featured snippet exists for your targeted keyword, only 12.3% of queries have one
- Find out and study how the snippet is structured, whether it is a paragraph, table, or list.
- Add the question that the snippet answers in the blog post’s subheadings
- Answer that question below the subheading and be concise. It should be more detailed and engaging than the existing one. However, use the same structure as the original snippet.
Implement On-Page SEO Techniques
When search engines crawl through the website, the first component they search for is the HTML tags. On-page SEO optimization services are important to gain visibility and appear on the top of the search results. Therefore, businesses need to understand how to apply these techniques. They need to use the target keywords within the first 100-words of the article. Over the past few years, the search engine’s algorithm has evolved tremendously, with Google incorporating the user signal into it. These are simple indicators of:- Time on-page
- Bounce rate
- Organic click-through-rate
- Return-to-SERP rate