Before you start learning how to write SEO content with keywords, you should first be quite clear about SEO content, its purpose, and how it can help your digital marketing efforts.
What is SEO content?
Long time back, when I started my career as a content writer, we were told that SEO articles need not be of good quality. All that is needed is keywords and more keywords. Keywords will help in ranking the article and the website.
No – today, this concept does not hold!
An SEO article is a high-quality article, which is written not just for search engines but also to provide value to readers. An SEO-optimized content is written for a number of reasons – the primary reason being getting more traffic to a website from search results.
So, that was the basic idea for creating SEO content.
- SEO content helps in ranking higher in search results.
- The content has to be 100% unique or original.
- It needs to be engaging, informative, and most important provide value to the reader or answer specific questions of the reader.
Elements of creating SEO Content
Now, when any writer gets the task to create SEO content – there are a few elements that should be considered. The content has the objective of helping the website rank well.
Thus, these elements are extremely crucial:
- Keyword strategy
- Structure of the site
- Copywriting
As a writer, you will be responsible to develop high-quality content with the proper use of keywords.
Search engine bots will read the website as it crawls. Thus, the quality of your content plays a major role in determining the ranking of the page in search engines. However, other factors are equally important though – such as site design, technical details (page load speed), navigation ease, domain, and others.
But the content quality does play a significant role.
So, we are back to our main question – how to write SEO content and use keywords properly?
Write Content for Your Readers Not Search Engines
However, the truth is that you might write a great long-article – one which can be of 3000 words, you might include attractive images, but still, the blog might not attract enough traffic.
So, what needs to be done is – develop a framework for your article?
Find the Topic
This is a major decision that needs to be taken meticulously. Before you start typing, think again – what is the traffic potential?
For example, if your website sells bakeware, you can write posts on topics related to –
How to bake a carrot cake?
Types of baking trays available
How to clean your baking dish?
How to bake a pie
Once you have the basic topic, you can create broader topics like –
How to bake a carrot cake without eggs?
5 Ways to Clean your baking dish at home
How to bake a pie in easy steps
Understanding the Search Intent
Since you will be writing for your readers, you have to understand their search intent as well. There are three factors that help in understanding search intent.
Type of Content
Format of Content
Content angle
Now, what do these mean?
Type of Content – When you search on a topic and find some top-ranking content – you have to see what this content is about? Are these product pages, landing pages,s or blog posts. In case you find that these are not blog posts, then perhaps, this topic is not going to help you.
Content Format – How is the content written? Is it a HOW to article which people are loving or is it a listicle or is it a step-by-step instruction. You can base your content on what the readers love.
Content Angle – This is a significant decision because you will find out what your readers are seeking. Are they looking for a quick solution or what they are valuing? For example, if any reader is searching for a recipe, is the reader a beginner or an expert?
So, yes, these were some of the things you need to do before you start writing your content with keywords.
Writing for Your Audience – Step by Step Guide
Introduction – one paragraph that should convince the reader that what they are seeking is available in the article.
This is the heart of the article. A good introduction captures the attention of the reader. As you write an introduction, remember to introduce the topic well, especially what the article is going to be about and how it is going to help readers.
The introduction should arouse interest in the mind of the readers and assure them that the article or content will definitely answer some of their questions. Besides this, the introduction should be brief – maybe of 4-5 lines and should include the keyword at least once.
Never stuff the introduction with fluff or keywords unnecessarily. The introduction of SEO content should be straight to the point, include keywords, address the topic, and assure the reader that their query will be answered.
Structuring The Content
The structure of SEO content is extremely important.
Easy to read
Have a look at this article and notice its structure. You will find that –
There are numerous small paragraphs.
Sentences are short and none of them are more than 20 words. Long sentences tend to get complex and users find it difficult to understand.
No one paragraph is huge or more than 150 words. No one likes to read lengthy paragraphs.
There are many subheadings, bolded phrases, and lines in italics which makes it easy to emphasize or highlight information.
The subheadings are given H1, H2, H3 tags. This is done as a part of the optimization process. It helps in improving readability.
You should limit the use of passive sentences in the content. Passive sentences ruin the value of an article. Hence, when you write SEO content, make an effort to use minimum passive lines.
Read: How to structure an article properly
Use Keywords Throughout The Content
It is a good practice to use keywords throughout the content for SEO purposes. Ideally, the keyword should be included in the subheadings and in the body.
However, you have to ensure that the keywords do not look to be inserted forcibly. They should appear with the natural flow of the article.
What happens if you stuff keywords?
If there are too many keywords used, your readers will find it annoying. Secondly, search engines will not appreciate it and your content will be flagged off as spam.
Write Long Content
Digital marketers are now emphasizing the need for long content. The longer the content it, the better its chances are for getting good search engine results.
Ensure that you are writing the content of at least 1000 words. If you are able to write more, the better. But, you have to keep it informative and not just fill in words to make it long.
Here are some things you SHOULD NOT do when writing long content –
- Never repeat information. It will increase your word count but result in a poor quality article.
- You should never include fluff. Just remove any sentence which does not add value to the content.
- Do not write long paragraphs.
- Never write irrelevant things or something which is not related to the topic.
- Do not copy-paste information
Do Not Miss Tagging
If you are writing SEO content, you will need to create tags and categories as well as you publish your content. Make the most of your keywords, as you use them as tags. However, you still have to be relevant and not just tag the keywords because you have to.
Images are Important
Whenever you choose to write SEO content with keywords, you have to use images relevant to the content. However, you have to ensure that the images are copyright-free or else you will invite penalty. When adding images do not forget to add Alt text for the images.
Unique Content – Nothing is More Important Than Unique Content
Last, but not least, the importance of writing unique content can never be denied. If you want your article to do well on search engines, you have to create original and unique content. In case you are puzzled and wondering how to ensure that your content is unique, you can check numerous online tools available for content writers.
Read – How to write unique content
These were some of the many things you can do to ensure that you write effective SEO content with keywords. If you need more information, do write back to us.
Recommended Reads:
- How to write correct Grammar
- How to Write Catchy Headlines that work like magnets
- Researching Skills of a content writer