What is SEO Writing? Beginner Tips to Rank on Google
It’s not enough to write great articles that are easily found by search engines.
Does it make sense to have great content, but search engines don’t find it?
GrowthBadger reports up to 80% of all blog traffic comes from organic searches. Another interesting statistic is that 91% don’t receive any organic search traffic through Google. The information is based on Ahrefs an SEO tool.
Your content may not be easily found by Google. Bloggers and editors are looking for SEO-savvy writers.
While paid ads can be used to get traffic, SEO is my preferred long-term strategy.
There are many misconceptions surrounding writing content for SEO. Let’s start with the basics.
SEO Writing: What does this mean?
SEO writing is the creation and improvement of articles for websites to appear in organic search results (unpaid) of search engines.
SEO writing is an old art of storytelling. This is about creating transactional content.
Copywriting falls under the heading. You’ll see some similarities.
Your goal as a writer is to satisfy readers’ itch with your content.
Let’s face it, even though we write for all search engines (and we do), we only really have one search engine in our minds. Google.
What skills does an SEO content writer need?
These skills are essential for SEO writers:
- Expertise in the Subject
- No experience is necessary to conduct research and make informed decisions.
- Describe the topic clearly and concisely
- Spell-check your sentences to make sure they are correct
- Meet the expectations of the reader (see the below)
- Ability to search keywords and create articles
- Analysis of articles in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page)
- Update any articles that aren’t well-ranked to improve your SERP.
- Time management skills and ability to meet deadlines
How to create SEO
Content will be optimized for organic search traffic. SEO refers to how you present the information.
Google doesn’t “trickle” anyone. You’re not writing for Google today.
Have you ever written a complicated or confusing article? Google will rank it lower than a book. SEO content is more about copywriting skills.
SEO Content Writing Tips (TL: DR)
- SEO doesn’t mean telling a story. It means solving a problem.
In your introduction to a topic make sure you get to the point within the first two to three paragraphs.
They want to know how to fix their sink. Don’t tell them about your father’s help. - A Good Headline — The page title is the most important.
The headline is the most important thing to improve your article’s rank. These headlines can be used as a comparison to traditional headlines.
While freelance writers might not be able to decide the headline, many writers have the final say. Get ideas for headlines from the SERP (Search Engine Response Pages).
I suggest creating a folder with generic headlines from articles that you have clicked on. - Use formatting — Most people don’t read blogs. They just skim them.
How people consume content is one of many differences between writing for traditional media and the internet.
You shouldn’t write for walls. This can cause your readers to glaze over and bounce to other websites.
Try to find something the opposite of what you were taught at school. - One primary topic
Don’t try to do too much with articles. Focus on one keyword when writing articles.
Google recognizes secondary keywords - You. Must. Write. Short. Sentences.
These sentences and paragraphs may not be very concise, but they are still concise. We usually use 3-4 sentences per sentence.
It will be easier for your reader to skim your content and move on to the next stage. - Use Formatting built into WordPress
These options exist:- Subheadings
- Bullet points (also called unordered lists)
- Ordained lists (also known as numbered lists)
- Bold text
- Tables
- Images
- Call-out blocks
- Videos
This makes it easier for users to understand your content. Google uses user experience as one metric when ranking websites.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is the first step to SEO content writing.
Keyword research can be multi-layered. To get you started, we will only briefly touch on the basics of keyword research.
Many questions are asked about SEO. “.
Keyword stuffing is an old SEO trick that involves repeatedly repeating the same keywords within an article. Google can see more of what you write and is smarter.
Google’s constantly-evolving search engine does more than just understand broken-up keywords. Make sure you use the keyword X many times in your articles.
Although keywords are still important, it’s important to remember that they can only be used to help you decide what topics to include in your articles.
Why? It matches what users are looking for when they search for that topic.
SEO Strategy – Choose keywords that have high monthly searches but low competition.
Long-tail keywords are the most important
Focusing on keywords with shorter tails is a mistake when doing SEO keyword research. Although they have higher volumes, their intent is almost always lower.
Ahrefs reports the keyword “affiliate marketing” ranks at 87 percent difficulty with 109,000 monthly searches.
- Do you want to become an affiliate marketer
- Affiliate marketers might be interested in a product.
- Affiliate marketing can be a great way to make money from blogs.
Searches may lead to the intent and audience of searches being different. This makes writing articles more difficult.
We chose to target the long-tail keywords “affiliate marketplace for beginners” Ahrefs states again that although the monthly search volume is lower at 3100, it’s still easier to rank for keywords that have a difficulty of 71.
I am currently at the third search result for this keyword.
This allows me to create articles for specific people. Most people who seek affiliate marketing are beginners.
Long-tail keywords can be more effective when doing keyword research.
One primary keyword
Do not try to be all things to all people You could write about unclogging your sink but you should address each person’s specific needs
When you write on a similar topic you rank for related keywords Secondary keywords are also important keywords you should rank for in your research.
Surfer is a tool that helps you to find the right topic and content for your article.
How do I find the search volume and difficulty?
We started SEO because there were no tools to help us find keywords and search volumes.
SEO tools can do this. We highly recommend the KWFinder tool.
Our Take
Mangools’ KWFinder offers a great alternative to Ahrefs. It lets you search only for keywords.
KWFinder from Mangools not only includes a keyword search tool but also:
- SERPChecker –SERP Analysis
- SERPWatcher — Tracking Rankings
- LinkMiner – Backlink Analysis
- SiteProfiler – SEO Metrics & Insights
They have the best long-tail keyword research data.
Ahrefs is also used for competitive analytics. Ahrefs has not been able to assist me with low-volume queries.
Keyword Intent
Once you’ve mastered the basics of SEO keyword research and keyword intent it is easy to forget about
A common misconception is that you must write for Google and not for people to read. Google’s search algorithm today can match search results with people’s expectations.
Your SEO must be relevant to the user’s intent.
You need to understand your audience and use the same language.
We often use it as an example for a different search query such as “what’s a loan” or “what’s the best mortgage rate”.
Both are great search terms but the intent behind each one is different.
How do you determine the intent? A search engine’s success can help you. To find keywords that match your intent, you can look at the Google search engine rankings.
Your intent should match your content. You can find information about competitors’ websites by looking at their content.
Surfer gives you instant results which will help you choose the topics for your article. This tool can also be used to speed up updating articles that don’t rank well for desired keywords.
Our Take
Surfer is an addition to our SEO toolbox.
Off-Site SEO vs. On-Page SEO
Page SEO refers to all content you put on a blog and any links within a site, as well as the menu structure, graphic design, user experience, and navigation.
Offsite SEO refers referring to mentions or links that point towards a website homage or article on a specific blog. You want to get more backlinks to your blog.
SEO should focus on what you control first. Backlinks to websites have been less important in recent years for Google.
If your blog is well-respected on the topic, you can rank for keywords that are low to medium competitive with no backlinks.
Google determines that an article should rank based on previous content.
Backlinks are vital to articles and websites.
SEO On-page is a great place to start as an SEO writer. It’s where you have the most control.
Conversion Rate Optimization and SEO
SEO is an iterative process. It allows inputs (Google has more than 200 ranking factors) as well as outputs (SERP span>
The scientific method can be used to create articles and determine which ones work.
Searching for the right search terms and updating your blog content is a must. We updated content to improve accuracy and look at Google’s feedback.
We would like to let you know that you are a blogger on another person’s site.
For-hire authors will only write one article and then stop. You need to look at SERP to identify areas that need improvement.
We would be editors of a blog and take the time to review all content and incorporate it into your republishing plan.
