You may have found this blog if you’re looking at how to become an SEO content writer, or perhaps you’ve dipped your toe in the water but want to know more about what it takes to write an SEO-friendly blog or webpage. You’ve come to the right place. We’ve put together our own blog post around how to write content for SEO, from meta descriptions and page titles to blog posts and more, plus we’ve also added some top tips at the end, so if you haven’t got time to read the whole post, head to the bottom to grab some key takeaways. We’ll start with the basics so if you’re brand new to the world of using keywords to create SEO friendly content, we’ve got you covered.
What is SEO writing?
This is a nice straightforward one – SEO writing is creating content that is optimised for search engines. Successful SEO content means that when you type a search query into Google, your content will appear on the first page of the search results (the nearer the top the better). This drives more traffic to your website and can help to increase conversions as your site is more easily found. The better your content, the more chance you’ll have of appearing in those sought-after top positions on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Creating SEO optimised content
Writing content for SEO is achieved mainly through a couple of avenues – firstly (and most importantly), by ensuring that your content includes a set of specific keywords around the topic you’re writing about. Secondly, by writing high-quality, relevant content that reads well and appeals to your audience. Google tweaks its algorithm regularly, so it’s no surprise that it’s pretty clever at spotting rubbish content. Some things to think about when you’re writing: what purpose does my content serve? Am I answering my customers’ queries? Is my content easy to read and digest? Does it make sense to my audience? Am I including my keywords where they naturally fit within the copy? What does the content look like on the page? If you think about all these things when creating your SEO-optimised content, you’re on the right track. But how do you achieve all this?
Source your keywords properly
If you want to know how to use keywords in article writing so that your content has the best chance of ranking, you need to know how to find them. Once you’ve decided on your topic (or you may want to let the keywords lead your topic choice – we recommend this!), you need to get a list of relevant keywords to use within your copy. There are lots of free tools you can use to explore keywords and the search volume attached to those phrases (how many people are searching for those particular words). Here’s a short list of tools we like to use:
- Google Keyword Planner (free, but you can get more detailed info if you have a Google Ads account)
- Answer the Public
- AlsoAsked
- Ahrefs
- SEMrush
- Keyword Tool
Look at the search volume and competition levels if this information is available – you can then choose a selection of relevant terms (hopefully with low competition), that fit well with your topic.
How to write an SEO-friendly blog post
Now you have your set of keywords to focus on, there’s an art to including them. The last thing you want to do is simply chuck them in with no thought. This is where Google gets clever – it’s looking for relevant content that flows nicely and is written for the user. In order to have a chance of hitting those top spots in the SERPs, don’t stuff your keywords into every sentence, they need to fit naturally within the copy and make sense. Use them where relevant and use the rest of the copy to explore the topic in more detail if you can.
We recommend aiming for longer, more in-depth blog posts, and if you have two topics that are similar, it’s worth considering putting them together to create a longer, more detailed blog post. Meaty, keyword-rich content which shows expertise and authority on a subject is the ideal way to go. Becoming an SEO content writer takes practice, but if you keep your audience at the forefront of your mind (along with your keywords), you can’t go too far wrong.
How to write an SEO-friendly webpage
When it comes to webpages, the key principles we’ve already talked about for a blog post are the same as for writing an effective SEO-friendly webpage. Consider your keywords and use them to create well written, naturally flowing copy with your audience in mind. We also recommend breaking the copy up into clear and concise sections using subheadings, as this helps your audience navigate your content, but also helps Google understand what the page is about.
How to write a good meta description
Part of being a successful SEO content writer is making sure you have a good meta description to go alongside your web content or blog post. This is a sentence that appears in the SERPs, underneath the title, and helps to explain what your content is about. These are important as it’s the first piece of content potential site visitors will see, so it helps them to decide if your page is where they want to go or not.
When writing a meta description, make sure you include one of your top keywords, give a description of what the content is about, and aim to stay within 50-155 characters. It’s easy to see examples too – simply search for something in Google.
Alongside a meta description is a meta title. This specifies the main title of the webpage (appearing on your browser tab), so you’ll want to again include the main keyword, and then finish off with your website name so you can chuck a little branding in there too.
Top tips on how to write content for SEO
- Use keyword tools to pick out phrases to focus on – don’t go for too many, try and focus on one topic per piece of content.
- Don’t stuff keywords into your content, naturally occurring placement is always best.
- Use keywords in the H2 and H3 subheadings in your content.
- Put in the time – well-thought-out content written for the user is most effective.
- Don’t forget to write a meta description and meta title.
- Make sure Google is crawling your content – you can check using Google Search Console (see URL Inspection in our GSC blog post).
- Don’t expect content to rank overnight, it takes time.
For more tips on acing your website content, check out our 5 key factors for successful content blog post.
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