SEO writing is perhaps one of the most important skills business owners, content creators, and other professionals working online in some way can have. But while the skill is definitely a necessary one, it can seem somewhat intimidating for those who have no prior experience with search engine optimization.
Luckily, learning the basics of SEO writing is not as difficult as it seems. There are some key points you should understand that will help you build a foundation and then add more SEO-related knowledge to it. Hence, here’s how to start SEO writing as a beginner.
What Is Search Engine Optimization?
Before you understand what SEO writing is like, you should first understand SEO. Search engine optimization or SEO is the process of optimizing and customizing web content (or an entire webpage or website) to make it more discoverable for search engines and to drive more traffic to it. Properly using SEO can be very effective for saving you both time and money.
SEO can be applied not just to text, but also to other elements on your website starting with visuals (images, videos, GIFs, etc.) and ending with meta descriptions. SEO writing is about creating text (such as blog posts and articles) while using SEO to make this content discoverable by search engines. Here are the basics of SEO writing:
#1 Choose Your Keywords
Once you have chosen a topic you want to write about, you will need to choose your keywords. Your keywords directly relate to your topic, so make sure to stick to it as closely as possible. Your keywords can be both short (one-word keywords) and long (phrases that are as long as sentences). Some keywords can be mentioned in your text more often while others only need to be mentioned once. You should also use keywords in your title, URL, and metadata for more impact.
#2 Start with The Title
Speaking of your title, this is what you’ll start from before you actually write your text (whether it is a short blog post or a lengthy guide). A good title should contain your main keywords and should be coherent and relatively short. Try to keep your title under 66 characters – this will keep it from being cropped when it shows up in search results. Don’t use clickbait in your titles, but still try to hook your readers in some way.
#3 Format Your Content
Experts from the term paper service reviews sites all agree that formatting is something many writers know about yet tend to forget. By using sections with titles and including bullet-point lists, your text becomes easier to read for your audience. Moreover, when your page ranks in the top search results, it could show up as a list above all the other results which could bring more attention to your content.
#4 Include Relevant Links
Link building is by far one of the most powerful SEO techniques available to you. First, you should link internally to other pages on your website to improve navigation. Second, you should link externally to relevant, high-ranking pages on sites with authority. Third, you should get others to link to your website (by guest blogging, for example).
#5 Make the Length Appropriate
As mentioned earlier, the text you are writing could be of any length for SEO to be applied. However, you should still consider the platform you are posting to and the topic you are covering. If you are writing a lengthy guide for your blog, you could probably write thousands of words. But if you are writing a short announcement, you could probably keep it around a few hundred words.
#6 Use Appealing Visuals
You could use a website that will write a paper for you or write the text yourself, but whatever you choose, you should still remember to use visuals to go with this text. It could be a single image or an elaborate video or even several GIFs – whatever it is, the visual will enrich your text. Besides, you can also optimize your visuals for search engines as you did with your text.
#7 Add Tags and Metadata
Some of the more technical aspects of SEO are tags and metadata. If your website lets you add headings or subheads, you should add such header tags to help guide your reader. In addition to that, work on your meta tags, page title, and description. As mentioned earlier, use relevant keywords for these.
#8 Proofread and Edit
Last but not least, make sure to proofread and edit your text before you actually publish it. Correct any grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other errors and eliminate unnecessary words or complicated sentences. If your text is poorly written, many potential readers will quickly click away from your website which could influence your site rankings. In other words, poor writing is indirectly related to SEO, but it can still play a significant role.
Final Thoughts
All in all, SEO writing is unarguably something you should learn, even if you only acquire basic knowledge about it. Use the tips in this article to help you understand what SEO writing is and how you can use it for achieving your digital marketing goals.