SEO writing is one of the most influential forms of writing on the Internet. Whether it is New York Times or your neighbourhood food processing factory trying to attract customers on the Internet, everybody uses SEO writing to draw search engine traffic.
Since the late 1990s search engines have been the mainstay of most of the businesses on the web. This is because 90% traffic, and even more, still comes from search engines, mostly Google. So, naturally, every business wants to improve its search engine rankings.
This Search Engine Watch article on the click-through rate on Google says that the CTR for branded keywords is 50% for the top result position (#1 rank) – CTR is like, if 100 people see the result in front of their eyes, 50 among them click it.
For the nonbranded keywords inquiries, the first position gets a 33% CTR. The second place gets 15% CTR. The third place gets 10% CTR.
Just imagine, if the CTR for the third place is just 10%, what the CTR must be for the remaining search results on the first page, and how low it must be on the second page.
Consequently, businesses want to use SEO writing to appear on the first page at least, and after that, to appear in the top three results.
Read 10 SEO content writing rules you cannot ignore.
In recent years the concept of SEO writing has been redefined
In the initial days of search marketing, SEO writing mainly involved selecting your keywords and then creating lots of content around those keywords, with their various combinations.
Yes, the same thing happens even now. In fact, more than 80% of the clients that approach Credible Content for SEO writing services are merely interested in getting better search results for the keywords they think should be able to grow their business. To be frank, even at Credible Content it is our constant effort to cover all possible keyword combinations and search terms to make sure that we get targeted traffic (that converts) to our website and blog.
But that’s just a tiny part of it. I have personally observed that it’s not about optimizing your content for selected keywords. There might be many keyword and keyword combinations you think are important for your business but there are zero searches for them on Google. This fact can only be known by using specialized keyword research tools.
The point that I’m trying to make is, optimizing your content through SEO writing, though, is important, more important is creating engaging content. Your content should be able to inform your prospective customers and clients and help them make the right decision.
Read 10 tips on how to write SEO content for your website.
SEO writing and quality writing are interrelated
There is a newly-emerging concept called “Search Task Accomplishment“: does your link that appears in the search results help people accomplish something? If it doesn’t, it loses its rankings. If it does, it improves its rankings.
Suppose someone searches for the phrase “how to optimize my website?” and one of your links appears among the top three results. The person clicks the link, comes to your website or blog and after reading a couple of sentences, goes back to Google and searches again.
If the person does that Google uses it as a negative indication that the information the user was looking for wasn’t available on the link it was ranking higher for.
The user clicks another link and finds the information he or she is looking for. Google takes this as a good indication. It increases the ranking of that link and decreases the ranking of your link.
It shows that if your content doesn’t solve any purpose, even if initially it has good search engine rankings, those rankings are lost if other links have better information.
Hence, SEO writing, along with taking care of your keywords, also involves providing valuable information to your visitors. You should be able to find the solution your link promises to provide. If your website title misleads them into visiting your website you begin to lose your search engine rankings. Quality writing is very important for your search engine results.
How to use SEO writing to improve your search engine rankings
Here are a few pointers you should keep in mind if you want to improve your search engine rankings through SEO writing:
- Do an unbiased keyword research: This is a new concept I am talking about on my website and blog repeatedly these days. You will be surprised to know, even shocked sometimes, that the keywords that you think is very important for your business, are not being used by your prospective customers and clients. Yes, zero searches for them. Make sure you are doing proper, unbiased keyword research before starting your SEO writing process.
- Provide solutions rather than make claims in your titles: Remember the title is a very important. Your web page title or your blog post title appears as a highlighted hyperlink in search results. When people post your link often it appears as the biggest text in the update. Spend ample amount of time creating the most appealing and compelling title, preferably a title that offers a solution to a nagging problem. For example “Worried about your content quality? We can help.” Or “Suffering from very low website conversion rate? We have a solution.”
- Creatively use your keywords in the title: Being creative can be very useful during your SEO writing process. You have to use your keywords, but you have to use them in such a manner that they should become an integral part of your SEO writing. It shouldn’t appear as if you are using them just to get better rankings. They should be a part of your conversation.
- Focus on the quality of your content during SEO writing: When you prepare your first draft, don’t bother much about your keywords if it’s a problem. When I write content for my clients I’m so used to naturally using keywords and search terms that I can seamlessly use them during my first draft. In fact, all the ideas that come to my mind are wrapped around those keywords and search terms. But for you if this is a problem, first, just focus on the quality. Make sure that your content is compelling and it offers a solution people are looking for.
- Strategically incorporate your keywords: When you have created your first draft, start inserting your keywords in sentences. Your keywords should appear, preferably, within the first 100 words, once. Throughout your text, you can use the exact phrase a couple of times and then use its various parts all over the text. You can also use the exact phrase within the headline tags but don’t overuse it unless there is a reason.
When I provide my SEO writing services to my clients – whether I work on the project myself or through one of my content writers – I make it clear that my primary concern is quality content. The writing should be of great value. We should be writing to serve your prospective customers and clients and not to hoodwink them into visiting your website.
Yes, keywords are important for your SEO writing, but they come later. They are important for your search engine rankings, but if you don’t have good content, they’re not going to help you.
Want to improve your search engine rankings? Looking for an SEO writing service that can help you improve your rankings and conversion rate holistically and organically. Let’s have a talk.