Menu
close
We often collaborate with writers and build sites for clients that have limited experience writing with SEO in mind. We decided to make this overview to help get an understanding of how to optimize your content for search engines.
Writing for SEO involves creating content that people enjoy reading and that helps them solve their problems as fast as possible. Search engines are designed to identify and rank that type of content. There are various details to consider when writing in order to improve your chances of achieving higher rankings.
Our suggested approach for starting out with a new article or blog post is this process:
There's a lot that goes into SEO, but some key things to keep in mind include using relevant keywords, making sure your website is easy to navigate, and having high-quality content.
In addition to the above, we will also discuss general SEO tips such as:
I hope you find this article useful and consider sharing it with someone who could benefit from learning SEO writing too.
When creating content for your website, it's important to first choose a keyword to target. This keyword should be relevant to your website's content and something that people are frequently searching for.
If you are a professional writer, you will probably get the keyword from your client, but I thought I would give you some information on this topic in case you are tasked with keyword research too.
To find the right keyword, you can use keyword research tools. These tools allow you to see what keywords people are searching for, and some of them allow you to see how often they are being searched for.
If you are writing for a small website with little authority, it can make sense to target a less popular keyword with less competition so you have a higher chance of ranking.
It is more fun to rank position 1 for a keyword that gets 100 searches a month than rank page 3 for a keyword that gets 1000 searches a month.
On the other hand, if the website you are writing for is authoritative, you can go for more popular keywords.
If you only work on one article, you can skip this section.
But if you are working on an elaborate SEO strategy for a website, it makes sense to keep topic silos and clustering of content in mind.
Once you have chosen a keyword to target, you can use keyword clustering to group related keywords together. This creates a more organized and deliberate site architecture which can help improve your SEO strategy and allow your website to rise up in the rankings.
To create topic clusters, you need a large set of keywords you want to rank for:
Start with the most niche topics that have the least overlap with other topics.
For example, if you have a blog about gardening, you may choose the keyword "organic gardening" to target. You can then use keyword clustering to group related keywords such as "natural gardening," "sustainable gardening," and "green gardening" together. This will make it easier for search engines and users to understand the content on your website and improve your chances of showing up in search results.
Here is an example of how topic clustering could be done for a blog about “writing for beginners”:
Keyword Cluster | Keyword | Search Intent |
---|---|---|
Writing Fundamentals | Writing for beginners | Informational |
Writing Fundamentals | Basic writing skills | Informational |
Writing Fundamentals | Writing tips for beginners | Informational |
Writing Fundamentals | Writing exercises for beginners | Informational |
Writing Fundamentals | How to improve writing skills | Informational |
Writing Styles | Creative writing for beginners | Informational |
Writing Styles | Technical writing for beginners | Informational |
Writing Styles | Persuasive writing for beginners | Informational |
Writing Styles | Business writing for beginners | Informational |
Writing Styles | Narrative writing for beginners | Informational |
Writing Tools | Writing software for beginners | Transactional |
Writing Tools | Writing apps for beginners | Transactional |
Writing Tools | Writing templates for beginners | Transactional |
Writing Tools | Writing books for beginners | Transactional |
Writing Tools | Writing courses for beginners | Transactional |
Writing Resources | Writing blogs for beginners | Informational |
Writing Resources | Writing podcasts for beginners | Informational |
Writing Resources | Writing communities for beginners | Informational |
Writing Resources | Writing workshops for beginners | Informational |
Writing Resources | Writing challenges for beginners | Informational |
If you would like to make a good cluster based on the keywords you are targeting, I recommend collaborating with an SEO agency.
Agencies typically have experience from many industries and a set of professional tools to help them make keyword analyses based on multiple data sources.
If you don’t currently have an agency helping you out, feel free to reach out to us and see if we are a good fit for your project.
Consider the intent of the person searching for the keyword.
When you're writing for SEO, it's important to think about why people are searching for a certain keyword. This is called "search intent." It's what the person who types a keyword into a search engine is looking for. Understanding search intent can help you create content that meets the needs of the people searching for that keyword.
To research search intent, you can start by searching for your target keyword to see what kind of content is ranking well and try to understand the intent behind those searches.
You can also analyze the keywords you want to target by looking at the words and phrases in the keyword and trying to understand what the person searching for that keyword is looking for.
Additionally, use tools like Google's Keyword Planner and Ahrefs' Keyword Explorer to see what related keywords and phrases are being searched for.
As you can see, this is not really rocket science, but something that is often overlooked or forgotten. Especially when you get into the flow of writing it is important to zoom out and double check you continue to keep the search intent in mind.
Creating an outline for a blog post involves researching what's already out there, figuring out key points, organizing content, deciding on an article angle, choosing a content format, and analyzing top-ranking articles.
It can be a good tactic to identify websites in the top 10 results that rank despite having a low domain and page authority and few referring domains, as this basically tells you that google ranked them based on the quality of their content and not the site authority. You can use a tool like MozBar (linked below) to get this kind of insight directly on the search results page.
When you have found pages that are performing well against all odds (low authority), load them up in your browser and see how the are structured and take inspiration from that.
Blog posts should have only one h1, the main title of the post, but can have multiple h2 and h3.
Each h2 can be followed by a number of nested sections that each have an h3. It is important to be structured and logical in the way you use h1, h2, and h3.
I have seen examples of sites that started with multiple h3 headers followed by more than one h1 header without any obvious structure.
To verify you set the outline up correctly, you can use a tool such as Detailed SEO Extension (linked below). This chrome extension allows you to analyze on-page SEO and get suggestions for improving your website's ranking.
Search engines rank content that:
The average organic CTR forThey can measure this easily. If you click on a search result and immediately go back and click another result they know that the first result didn’t answer your question.
On the other hand, if you keep reading the page you clicked, it must mean it is useful.
Based on these two metrics, it is important to grab people's attention in the search results and afterward hook the reader by writing a compelling introduction that clearly explains the value of reading the rest of your content.
Here is a statistic for your reference when it comes to CTR (Click-Through Rate):
SEO is 2%, though the #1 result in Google's organic search results has an average CTR of 27.6% and the first position typically has a CTR of 39.6%. A good CTR for organic searches is anything above 3%, and the first result in Google's organic search results had an average CTR of 31.7%
To grab people's attention in the search results, you can make an effort to write compelling SEO titles and Meta descriptions as they are the texts that search engines will feature on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). These two will only be considered as input for the search engine as they often make their own using machine learning, so you don’t have full control over what the searcher will see in the end. But it is still worth it to optimize for clicks.
When people click the link and land on the website, you need to get their attention and prove the worth of the article instantly.
You can use persuasive writing frameworks to improve the conversion rate and time spent on each article.
Here are a few examples of persuasive writing frameworks you can look into.
AIDA Model: This framework helps grab attention, build interest, create desire, and make a CTA. It stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. For example, if you're selling a product that helps with weight loss, you would first grab attention by highlighting the problem of being overweight, build interest by explaining how your product works, create desire by emphasizing the benefits of using it and make a CTA for the reader to buy the product.
Pain-Agitate-Relief: This framework helps identify customer pain points, amplify the consequences of those pain points, and offer a solution. For example, if you're selling a product that helps with back pain, you would first identify the pain of back pain, agitate it by emphasizing how it affects daily activities, and then offer relief through your product.
Solution-Savings-Social Proof: This framework focuses on stating the problem, emphasizing the savings that come with the solution, and using testimonials from satisfied customers. For example, if you're selling a product that helps with energy efficiency, you would first state the problem of high energy bills, then highlight the money saved by using the product, and finally, include testimonials from happy customers.
Story-Solve-Sell: This framework helps you tell a compelling story, demonstrate the solution your product offers, and make a call to action (CTA). For example, if you're selling a product that helps with productivity, you could tell a story of a person who struggled with time management, show how your product helped them solve that problem, and then make a CTA for the reader to buy the product.
Now that you have started writing your text we can move onto a bit more technical suggestions.
SEO writing is a special kind of writing that helps websites rank higher on search engines like Google. It's different from regular writing because it includes optimizing the content for search engines.
To do SEO writing well, it's important to think about keywords, create content that answers the user's intent, and use techniques like structuring posts and using keyword-rich phrases.
It's also important to keep in mind that SEO writing is for humans first and search engines second and to always create compelling and informative content.
Some general tips:
The key to writing SEO-friendly headlines is to be straightforward, written for humans, include keywords, and use emotional and attention-grabbing vocabulary. Furthermore, keep the headlines short and easy to read, with simple wording.
On-page optimization is all about making sure your website is easily understood by search engines and users.
This includes optimizing elements like title tags, meta descriptions, body content, alt attributes, and URL structure to ensure they are relevant and accurately represent your website's content.
Here are some examples of H1 headers that are two ends of the scale when it comes to length. Ideally, you would come up with some middle ground of 4-6 words that grabs the attention of and includes the keyword in the beginning.
A bit too short H1 | A bit too long H1 |
---|---|
"SEO Tips for Beginners" | "Learn How to Optimize Your Website: A Guide for Beginners" |
"Best Running Shoes for Women" | "Top 10 Running Shoes for Women: A Review" |
"Healthy Breakfast Ideas" | "10 Delicious and Nutritious Breakfast Recipes to Start Your Day" |
"DIY Home Decor Ideas" | "Design Your Dream Home: Creative and Affordable Decorating Ideas" |
"Gardening for Beginners" | "How to Start a Garden: A Comprehensive Guide for Novice Gardeners" |
Better Alt Text Examples | Bad Alt Text Examples |
---|---|
SEO Guide for Beginners | SEO Tips |
Organic Gardening Techniques | Garden |
Professional Headshot | My Profile Picture |
Modern Kitchen Design | Kitchen |
Hiking Trail Map | Map |
Along with the SEO title and meta description, the URL is one of the first things people see in the SERP (Search Engine Result Page).
A short and logical URL structure will help search engines understand what your website is all about and make it easier for users to navigate.
Examples of good and bad URLs:
Good URL Structure | Bad URL Structure |
---|---|
example.com/seo-optimization | example.com/page?id=23 |
example.com/keyword-research | example.com/category/subcategory/what-is-keyword-research-and-hhow-to-get-started |
example.com/on-page-optimization | example.com/how_to_do_on_page_optimization_for_beginners |
example.com/technical-seo | example.com/technicalseo?version=2 |
example.com/measuring-seo-success | example.com/measuringseosuccessandhowtotrackit/long-page-name |
Now that you have created a nice and short URL you can link to and from this page on the website. In the next section, we will discuss internal linking.
A well-structured website with logical information architecture and internal linking makes it easier for users and search engines to understand and navigate your website.
Make sure your internal links are relevant and provide value. Link to other pages on your website that have relevant information, which will help keep visitors on your page and improve your SEO.
Be mindful of the anchor texts when linking both internally and externally. Use a descriptive anchor text that accurately reflects the content of the page you’re linking to. This way, your readers will get a better understanding of what the link is about, and search engines will recognize the relevance of the page to your website.
With your new page optimized and crosslinked on the site, you need to make sure that Google indexes it. If you link from existing indexed pages to this new page, it will probably be noticed fairly quickly, but it is always good to be on the save side. In the next section, we will discuss getting indexed on Google.
Submitting your website to Google is important in order for search engines to find and index your content. This will increase the chances of your website appearing in search results and drive more traffic to your site.
Here are the steps to submit your website to Google:
It's worth noting that Google may already have found your site, so you can check if your site is already indexed by searching site:yoursite.com on Google.
If you want a higher chance of ranking and getting indexed, it can be helpful to get a backlink from an existing authoritative page.
When you start ranking, you want to make sure that your efforts across the site makes a the difference, and luckily you can easily track your SEO performance. We will look at this in the next section.
Measuring organic traffic and keyword rankings is essential for SEO success. This will help you understand how your website is performing and make adjustments as needed.
Tracking visibility is also essential for SEO success. This will help you understand how your website is performing and make adjustments as needed.
You can track your visibility for free inside Google Search Console (GSC).
Setting up GSC is a great way to track your website's SEO performance for free. It provides valuable insights into how your website is performing in organic search results and how users are interacting with your website.
With GSC, you can find the right keywords to target, monitor your rankings, analyze the performance of your website, and set up tracking to make sure that you are getting the best results possible.
GSC also allows you to identify technical issues and make sure that your website is optimized for SEO. With all of these features, GSC is an essential tool for any writer looking to improve their SEO performance.
Along with your content, there a multiple technical roadblocks that can lower your chances of SEO success.
Let's address some common issues like page speed, mobile friendliness, and security to ensure your website is easily understood by search engines and users.
Implementing best practices for these issues can improve visibility in search results and provide a better user experience.
If you find the list above overwhelming, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We are experts in auditing websites for issues like the ones above and finding ways to solve them so your website doesn't rank worse than your competition.
As with anything else, having great tools can be game-changing. Here is a list of tools you might find useful in your SEO writing process.
If you use a cool tool that is missing from the list, please let us know.
As you can see, there is a lot that goes into SEO writing, but it is definitely possible to create quality content that serves the reader so well that Google rewards you for it with a good ranking.
If you feel this is a piece of cake and would like to collaborate with us on writing other articles, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Maybe you are on the other side of the table and need help improving your company website and the rankings of your content. We would love to help you out.
I hope you found this article interesting and helpful.
It often takes a lot of time, effort and strong technical background in order to build a WordPress website that functions properly and...
Ready to sell more online?
Design. Build. Optimize. Websites for B2B.