In a time where more and more businesses are turning to their online presence to boost awareness and profits, perhaps this is something that is a little new to you. Many business owners that I speak to commit hour after hour to compiling their latest blog post and are then left somewhat confused as to why there have been no visits and no interaction. These business owners know that what they’re offering is worthy of attention, but they just can’t seem to rank in the search engines, meaning that they’re missing out on valuable new clients.
If you recognise yourself as one of these business owners, then perhaps now is the time to learn all that you can about SEO content and how you can use this to benefit your company. This brief overview will show you how quality content can help you get found in the search engines.
What is SEO content?
Perhaps being so new to the world of online business you’re not quite sure what SEO content actually is. Perhaps you’re yet to learn what
SEO even stands for
(search engine optimisation). On a basic level, SEO is all about optimising your website so that search engines recognise it and will rank it accordingly. Usually, when talking about search engines, people are referring to Google. Yes, there are other search engines out there but Google is the most popular by far.
So, knowing that we are wanting our website to be found by Google and for Google to display us as high up as possible in the search results, how do we make sure that this happens? Well, this is where the content side of SEO content comes into play. Content refers to practically anything that may be on a webpage. The kind of things being referred to are:
- Blogs
- Infographics
- Guides
- Videos
- Articles
SEO content is, in effect, content that is produced that helps the likes of Google to find and display your site when a relevant search is made.
How to write content for SEO
If you’re looking for plenty of hits on your website then SEO content writing is something that you’re going to want to master. Rather than just writing in such a way that informs potential customers how great your product or service is, SEO content writing is all about writing in such a way that Google will display it. There is of course a balance: no one should be writing just for search engines and so the SEO content still needs to be engaging to any reader.
If you’re wondering how to produce online content that Google will love, here a some of the things that you’ll need to consider:
A great headline
We all know that a great headline is essential to any piece of content. It is often the title alone that inspires people to click as they feel the need to read on. While headlines are certainly important in terms of grabbing your reader’s attention, they are also important where Google is concerned. Including keywords in your title gives a little nod to Google and lets it know what your writing is all about.
When it comes to deciding which keywords you should be including in your title, it is worth using online tools that will show the ones that are relevant to your industry. Google itself offers a keyword planner and this is a great resource when it comes to planning your content.
The importance of keywords
When referring to keywords, these are the words that your potential customers are typing into Google when they need your product or service. If you were perhaps looking for a
great copywriter, you might type ‘copywriter’ into your search bar. If that copywriter wanted to be found, they’d have to make sure that word appears on their website.
The word ‘copywriter’ will bring an array of results so then the copywriter may look at using long-tail keywords. These are short phrases that people may search for (such as professional copywriter in Lincolnshire) rather than short-tail keywords which tend to be a single word. Long-tail keywords can be less competitive if you’ve got your research right and can bring you far superior results.
Building links
One way that you can make your website more visible is by linking back to pages on your own site and linking to
other blog posts
that you have created. Assuming that the links are relevant, this shows Google your other pages matter and may allow them to be seen as more authoritative.
When writing SEO content you can also link your blog posts to other relevant articles on websites that you do not own. This is only worth doing if the site is relevant to your own field and if the site is seen as a great authority in that area. As your site grows in popularity, it is possible that some of these sites may link back to and this shows Google that your SEO content is relevant and deserves to be shown higher up in the search results.
What about SEO copywriting?
The term SEO copywriting is often heard when people are talking about content creation. The key difference between the 2 is the intent behind it being written. As we have seen, SEO content writing is about producing valuable content that will be picked up by the search engines and give your site a welcome boost in the rankings.
Generally, SEO content will be something that adds value to the reader and will only make subtle suggestions about purchasing your product or service. SEO copywriting goes a little further and can be seen as a persuasive style of writing that encourages the reader to take a particular action such as to buy.
How to produce great SEO content
When it comes to creating any content for your website the key point to remember is that you are writing for people. It is all well and good focusing on keywords and getting carried away by the latest changes to the
Google search algorithm,
but unless you write with the reader in mind you are unlikely to produce content that is readable and engaging. Going overboard on keywords will make your writing nonsensical and Google may even completely ignore your website because of it.
Of course, having an SEO strategy in place will make creating SEO content that much easier. If, like many business owners, you simply do not have the time to create the content yourself it can be worth looking at the services of a
professional content writer.