Everyday you are working on SEO content, you are fighting a battle. Some days, the battle is being fought even though it feels like there is no win coming from it at least instantly. It is all for the long run.
But even in the long run you won’t get results if your weapons aka content SEO is weak. You need a full fledged plan to assemble one piece of SEO content that will give results. It ain’t easy doing that, but it is possible and absolutely worth investing in.
Here is a detailed explanation of SEO content by someone whose content is loved by Google. Sharing my expertise of the last five years with you, binge read it because it is going to be worth it.
What and why of SEO content
Google anything, literally any term, the first 10 links that are raining are because of content SEO. Of course there are other efforts being done as well to make them rank but one factor they are ranking because of the content they have.
Checkout the above image, why are these links ranking in the top 10 on Google? Simple answer – SEO content.
So what is SEO content?
Any content that is written both for the user as well as search engines is called SEO content.
“But why would I write for search engines?”
Because that is where your users are searching. I assure you that there are 100 more pages on Google with 1000 more links on the benefits of curtains. Yet, only a few of those are in the top 10.
Because no matter how good your content is, no matter how amazing its quality is, if it is not written from the perspective of search engines as well, it will not rank.
There are robots from search engines that crawl your content and they work systematically, that is why we also write our content systematically. Your content will only help and reach its users if it first ranks on Google.
So like it or not, you need to follow the system as well and that’s why we are discussing how to create SEO driven content without losing the freedom to write creatively.
Creating SEO friendly content – A guide with chronologically arranged steps
Creating SEO content is for the experts and today, I am going to make you one! The following process is what works for the most. It has just been customized based on my personal experience with SEO content.
This is truly how I write my SEO content and the content piece you are reading right now has been written by following the same process.
Get keywords sorted out before starting
If your hardcore stream of work is just SEO content then ask the SEO person to give you a keyword bucket based on which you will structure your blogs. If not, then build your own keyword group for the blog you are going to work on.
There is a whole process to do so, but currently what we are going to discuss is why keywords first? Here is why.
- Keywords tell you what your readers or probable customers are searching for. Why would you create a content piece nobody’s searching for?
- While doing keyword research you also get to know the volume of them, you get to know how many people are searching for which term and that gives you an idea about which keywords to target in your content.
- You need a structure for your content, keywords help you build that structure and outline for it.
Zapier is currently ranking on top for the keyword “best software for video editing” but that’s not it, this particular blog is ranking for a total 7,800 keywords as per the data from Ahrefs. Have a look below 👇.
So, keeping the above example in mind, we clearly know that keywords are extremely crucial to be found by your readers. But what is even more important is how they have been grouped, and finally how they have been included within the content.
Because your content will not rank for just one but thousands of queries at a time and keywords give you an idea about what all you can rank for thus, helping you build an outline for your content.
In short – No keywords = No rankings
Use the keywords to research
Once you have your main and secondary keywords with you, it is time to dig deep into the black hole of content and do your research. Now how to do your research?
Pick your keywords, divide them in segments, they will give you various different headings that will act as the building blocks for your blog.
So by now, your main topic is segmented into several small topics, research those topics individually and start with your SEO content. Include your keywords within the content but organically – organically being the word of emphasis here.
Checkout the snapshots below where I have searched the queries which are very similar and close in meaning to each other, yet they are giving different results.
In the above image, the keyword searched for “learn stock market” and in the snapshot below the keywords that has been searched for is “how to learn stock market.”
As different as the results are from both the queries, they are still a lot similar in intent. When you do your research based on the primary and secondary keywords you have got, you can narrow down your research to certain headings that are a must have in your blogs.
And that is how you use keywords to master research with SEO content.
Dig deep, understand the intent of your reader
You have done your keyword research, you now have an outline also, all that is left is putting it all together and writing something that people want to read. That is where the intent of your readers come into play.
What exactly should the details of your blog be about and they will go in which direction. Here are ways to figure that out.
- Duh, put your brain to use. What is a particular keyword telling you. For instance, ‘buy Apple’ can have two intentions. Either but the ‘fruit’ apple or the ‘brand’ apple. Those are the two directions your brain should go into.
- Scan the top ranking pieces of content, pick up the headers they have, and understand the direction the blog is going in. Those pieces are ranking because the content is taking care of user intent and there is no harm in taking a learning or two.
It is funny how both the apple brand and fruit are ranked to be bought for the query “buy appl.” Now clearly, the query is not very clear, this is what happens with a lot of other keywords that you need to add to your blog and thus, in one such situation, cracking user intent becomes 10 X more important.
So dig deeper, and find out what your user is looking for.
If you are not an expert on the topic, become one at least theoretically
Research is not reading an article or two and then moving on. Research is reading 20 or more articles, scanning them through and through, and then figuring out why these pieces of content ranking and how can I surpass these to make my SEO content rank.
To make your content better than those already ranking – you need to dig deep into the information and give both your users and the search engine something that is not there in any of those ranking content pieces.
That is the place your creativity and your understanding of the topic comes into play. You need to become an expert on things you are writing about.
“How is it possible to become an expert at everything?”
As someone who created SEO friendly content, you are more than just a content writer. If you are writing about sales, you need to first understand the technicalities of it, read from the experts, and then put your own brains to use. Once you have done that, in that particular moment you will be an expert.
So flip a content topic inside out, tear it apart into pieces, and do smart research because by now you know what your reader’s intent is, what your keywords are, thus, become only an expert on those aspects ‘theoretically.’
Checkout the snap below to understand this better.
I wrote this top ranking blog on telecommunication facts ages ago in the beginning of my career and it still ranks. Why? Because I dug so deep while doing my research that I wrote this blog with all the knowledge I had on the topic.
Does that mean I have become a telecommunication expert? Clearly not!
So the reason it is ranking is because the content has been supported with facts and data that I read while ‘secondary research’ and added some elements of personal experience to the content and thus this blog is now ranking!
Write only as much is needed, no fluff
This is a major point yet one of the most overlooked content SEO tactics. You do not have to write 10 thousand words to make your content rank. You need to write just enough and just as much as your reader has asked for.
Along with that make sure that the content you are writing is also 100% practical. Keep it crisp, to the point, and ensure that you are not writing any unnecessary content. Keep it easy both for yourself and your reader just ensure that you are not compromising on the quality.
Just consider how would you like it if this blog had more headings before the SEO friendly content writing guide? Consider I had the following headings with 500 words under each.
“What is SEO?”
“What is SEO content?”
“How are SEO and content related?”
“Why should you do SEO content?”
“Benefits of SEO content”
I am sure you would have skipped most of it because it would have then been just pure fluff content that would add no value to you. Always keep in mind that adding value is your sole purpose when it comes to writing content be it for SEO or not and that’s how you should keep it as well.
Checkout the snapshot below, that is giving you the table content of a blog on SEO copywriting tools written by ZeroAdo Crew. Surprisingly, even for such a competitive keyword, the blog ranked on position 13 within 24 hours of publishing.
As an SEO content person you know how big of a deal that is.
Now the question is how?
Simple answer? Because it is a no BS edition blog with exactly only the things that the reader is looking for. There is no fluff content. The reader has asked for SEO copywriting tools and he is getting just that!
[Source – ZeroAdo]
Checkout another example of no fluff content below. Here this blog on benefits of sports shoes have earned a snippet from Google for writing no fluff content and giving simple and clear cut answer to what have been asked.
[Source – Bryant Ho MD]
Write for both reader and the search engine
A human and a search engine are two exact opposites that you need to write your content for. Yet you need to make it work and here are some ways on making it work.
Improve its readability
Readability is how easily your content can be read. Now this holds true both ways for the language as well and how the content has been placed as well.
“Explain technical concepts using simple language and analogies to improve comprehension.”
Ayush Sood, Freelance Content Writer & Marketer
In a conversation, one of my fellow peers, Ayush, stated that, make your content readable by using language so simple that even a child can understand it. That was stuck with me and now that is one thing I always keep in mind while creating SEO driven content.
To make your content further readable try to ensure that you are using smaller paragraphs for your content to make them easily readable.
Try not to have a paragraph longer than 3-4 lines, when paragraphs are small, it seems like the content is less and the human brain does not try to avoid it. When there are 5-6 lines of content altogether, the congested-ness of it is not appealing to anyone.
This way the content is readable for the human and easily crawlable for the bots as well.
Check Out the image above, this is the product page of one of ZeroAdo’s client which is ranking in top 5 on Google for the query “inbound sales software.”
The reason this page is raining is because even though inbound sales software and everything related to it is highly technical yet, it has been explained in the simplest way possible on the page. There is not even one jargon or industry term that can confuse a reader.
So even if one is not aware about the inbound sales or other aspects of it, they would still be able to understand the content and that is what good SEO website content is all about.
Make it scannable with heading tags
It cannot be said enough but heading tags are one of the most important things that one needs to have in SEO content. If heading tags are not there, then the content is going to have a tough time to rank. Why?
Because…
- Heading tags make content scannable, a two thousand word piece of content becomes scannable with just five headings.
- These headings also depict the importance of the content within a blog. For instance, the biggest heading is the most important one which is the Title.
- When you know about heading tags you can strategically place your keywords and follow the rules of SEO copywriting to write headings that make your content rank.
When you use heading tags, you are making the content easy to read for the user and easier to crawl for the search engine, thus, a win-win situation.
Checkout the snap below, when you add proper heading tags that is how the structure of your blog looks like. The outline is crystal clear and one can understand everything just by reading the headings.
This is the kind of content which is loved both by the search engines and also the readers.
Make it credible with links
Your content holds no value until it is written from your experience based on your expertise of the subject or if you have written it based on your research and have cited the sources.
This holds especially true in case of secondary research when you take statistics from other sources. In such a situation, it is not important to give links to the source to make SEO friendly content but it is also a moral obligation to give links to the ones who deserve it.
When you do that, it is acknowledged by Google and thus it improves credibility of your own content as well making it ‘not a spam.’
Checkout any blog from ZeroAdo, I assure you that you would find a source cited for every image, statistic, and quote that we have taken from somewhere.
Checkout this blog on slide-in pop up examples by ZeroAdo. We have given links wherever due to a;l the brands we have given examples from.
Visuals and videos – add a ton of them
Who does not like visuals? Videos and images are not important just to enhance the user’s experience but also to add value as a whole to your content.
What would this content piece be like without all the visuals you have seen? Boring! I know.
You don’t want your users to be bored, because when your users are bored, they bounce off from your website thus giving a red signal to google that this content is poor.
You don’t want to make your content just rankworthy. You want it to rank as well as maintain that ranking for a long-long time.
Checkout the visuals added by the Unrola team to their content. I was swayed just because of these visuals and I haven’t even read the content yet! That is exactly the effect your readers have too when you added visuals to your SEO content.
Here is another example of adding a video within your content by Unrola to add value to your users 👇.
Make it plagiarism free
Duh! This one is a no brainer. If your content is copied, it won’t rank, when it won’t rank, no one will read it, and when it is not being read, you won’t have any leads for your business and services. Along with this, what else would happen that you will get penalized by Google for it.
I am sure you do not want that. So do not plagiarize. You are smart enough to research and write then why take credit for someone else’s work? Do top-tier SEO content creation yourself and own it with pride when it ranks in top #10!
Now to clear any confusion we are doing to discuss all the things that come in plagiarized content.
- Any content directly copy-pasted from a third party website is plagiarism.
- Any piece of paraphrased content is plagiarism as well. It is the same content, same context, same idea and just different words – so I would suggest not acting smart with the search engines because believe me they can figure it out.
- Any content picked up from one website and then spun using any tool to change the language is plagiarism as well.
- Adding any information added from a third party site without giving credit to it is plagiarism.
Keep it evergreen
The SEO content you are writing is not for today, tomorrow or next three months. It is going to be there for a long time and hence it has to be evergreen to remain relevant. It should be relevant to your users even after a year.
Of course, a few small tweaks here and there are always going to happen to keep your content updated but for that the content base has to be evergreen.
Check meta tags
As an SEO content person it is your responsibility to make sure that the meta tags of your content are always appropriate. You did not write an entire piece for content spending hours and days in it for it to be on the 100th page just because a few meta tags were not sorted while publishing.
Meta tags hold huge value for any search engine, the organic addition keywords in your meta title and meta description play a huge role in your content since those are the first things that any search engine crawls through before going in-depth.
Anyway, summing it up, always define your meta tags beforehand so that there is nothing that can threaten the rankings of your content.
Checkout the image above with the metadata of one of ZeroAdo’s blogs on SEO copywriting examples that ranked on number on Google within 36 hours of publishing.
Of course there are other factors of SEO content writing involved there but appropriate metadata has played a crucial role as well in its success.
Have fun while doing it!
Last but not the least, creating SEO content should not be a burden, instead the process should be enjoyed because the fruits of your labor are going to be very sweet.
Content is in SEO & SEO is in content!
You can take out SEO out of content but you cannot take out content out of SEO.
What does this mean?
Well, the content you might be writing might not be from an SEO perspective but if it is not, then who is even going to read it? 🙂
Content has always been a huge part of SEO and it always will be, both go hand in hand.
