Tag Archives: seo content writing

10 fundamental qualities of effective SEO content writing

fundamental-qualities-of-SEO-content-writing

Effective SEO content writing involves writing content for the search engines as well as human beings. SEO content writing has some fundamental qualities. If you stick to these qualities, you experience a significant improvement in your search engine rankings.

With a big share of search engine traffic coming from Google, whenever we talk of search engines and SEO content writing, we normally assume its Google.

Over the years Google has evolved its ranking algorithm in such a manner that it isn’t just the the fundamental qualities of your written content on your web page or blog post that has an impact on your search engine rankings. Social proof of the quality of your content is as important as the content itself.

No matter how advanced the search engine ranking algorithms become, it is going to be very difficult for them to match human intelligence because human intelligence doesn’t just depend on mathematics and logic.

Human intelligence depends on past experiences, emotional biases and future expectations. So, when people access your content, when they view your content, an entire ecosystem of emotions, experiences and bits of knowledge is used to evaluate your content.

Effective SEO content writing takes into account all these factors when creating optimized content for your website. SEO content writing takes into account the needs of humans and the factual information that the search engine algorithms need to process the nature of your content.

Where is your audience coming from? What problems your visitors are trying to solve? What information they already have? What are their backgrounds?

SEO content writing needs to understand where your visitors come from

There can be hundreds of such attributes that can only be thought of by human beings, and only professional SEO content writing can achieve this feat.

Therefore, in its ranking algorithms, Google has incorporated user behavior also. So, no matter how great your SEO content writing is, unless it earns social validation, unless people react to it positively, it is not going to enjoy good search engine rankings.

Fundamental qualities of effective SEO content writing may include

  1. A compelling title
  2. Main keywords in the title
  3. Keyword and search phrases within the body text
  4. Focusing on a problem and its solution
  5. Quality of SEO content writing
  6. Ease of reading
  7. Linking to other internal webpages and blog posts
  8. Strategic use of images
  9. Formatting and arrangement of the text
  10. Length of web pages and blog posts

These fundamental qualities of SEO content writing may be described differently on different websites and blogs, but the underlying features never change.

Universal concepts of SEO content writing remain the same

I repeatedly say on my blog that there isn’t much difference between quality content and SEO content. Quality is of utmost importance.

The only thing that changes in SEO content writing is that you arrange your content in such a manner that it’s easier for the search engine crawlers to access the main part of the content, analyze it, and then rank it for the right keywords.

Below I’m discussing in detail the points listed above

A compelling title for your web page and blog post

Your title is so important that it has a direct impact on the rankings of a particular URL. Some people also call it the “headline”.

Why is your title important?

The concept takes its cue from the traditional printing business. Ever heard the phrase “screaming headlines”?

importance of headlines in SEO content writing

People used to buy newspapers and magazines after reading the headlines. If the headlines were not compelling or interesting enough, those newspapers and magazines wouldn’t sell.

On the Internet, people don’t click your link if you don’t have an interesting headline.

Whether your link appears in search engines or on social networking websites, it’s the headline, your title, that prompts people to click your link.

Your title is the promise you make to your visitors, of what you are going to deliver. Headlines and titles are so important that many SEO content writing services charge extra money for coming up with creative and optimized titles.

Main keywords in the title

Main keywords in the title in SEO content writing

In terms of effective SEO content writing, what does a keyword mean?

A keyword isn’t just a random word or expression to lure people to your website through SEO content writing. It is an expression being used by your prospective customers and clients to find you.

It’s important that your keyword phrase appears within your title or headline. People tend to click your link more if your hypertext contains a search term they have just used.

Keywords and search phrases within the body text – most important part of SEO content writing

Although a greater number of SEO experts discount the overall importance of keywords in the body text of your web page, they matter for effective SEO content writing.

Keywords and search expressions, when used naturally through SEO content writing, convey to the search engine algorithms what you are talking about.

If keywords didn’t matter, how would the search engines distinguish one link from another?

The use of keywords within your body text also keeps your SEO content writing focused. Writing SEO friendly content doesn’t mean going on a rampage with your keywords.

Just make sure you don’t overuse them. After a certain number of times, their appearance in your content writing begins to have a negative effect on your SEO. High quality SEO demands a judicious use of keywords while professionally dealing with the topic.

Effective SEO content writing means focusing on a problem and its solution

Why do people use search engines?

They are mostly searching for solutions to their problems. They are seeking answers to their questions. They are looking for opinions and reviews. They are looking for suggestions.

They want answers to their questions. They want solutions to their problems.

A quality SEO service knows that.

Are you solving their problems? When they visit your link, do they find what they are looking for?

Google has a way of finding whether you are delivering the promise you have made through your headline or not.

Web pages in the form of questions and answers, problems and solutions and lists of tips fare better on Google.

When people ask, “What do SEO writers do?” I tell them SEO writers convince search engines that they have exactly the answer people are looking for.

Quality of SEO content writing

Quality SEO content writing

The quality of your SEO content writing is as important as the keywords and search phrases that you use. In fact, the quality of your content is MORE important.

Effective SEO content writing these days involves writing optimized content as well as highly engaging content. Unless your writing is able to engage people, it is not going to enjoy higher search engine rankings.

Quality SEO content writing means

  • It is well-written
  • It is written in a conversational style that is easily understandable
  • It does not have factual errors
  • It delivers on the promise made in the title
  • It does not have spelling and grammar errors
  • It is unique and not a rehash of something published somewhere else
  • People feel encouraged to share with and engage with it
  • Ultimately, it convinces people into doing business with you

Ease of reading

SEO content writing and ease of reading

As mentioned above, your SEO content writing should be conversational and easily understandable, and this is one of its fundamental qualities.

Avoid using complicated jargon. Use simpler and shorter sentences. Use shorter paragraphs.

When you are writing SEO content, you are not aiming for a Pulitzer prize. You just want better search engine rankings along with creating engaging content.

This is not just important for your human readers, it is also important for search engine algorithms because when you use simpler language and a simple structure, it’s easier for them to analyze your content.

Many SEO and content experts recommend that you follow the Flesch–Kincaid readability criteria, though, I wouldn’t advise you to over-obsess with it. Just use your natural style.

The Flesch–Kincaid readability grade followers recommend that use a writing style that is easily understandable to a 6th-8th grader.

simple SEO content writing doesn't mean writing for dumb and dumber

Again, there is no need to over-simplify content because on many blogs I have seen people go to ridiculous lengths to create even single-sentence paragraphs.

Having said that, I sometimes use single-sentence paragraphs these days when I feel that a paragraph has said what it means to say.

Try to capture one thought in one paragraph.

When you are trying to find SEO writers for your SEO content writing job, make sure that your writers are not obsessed with their writing styles and understand your need.

Linking to other internal web pages and blog posts

This technically may not be a part of the fundamental qualities of effective SEO content writing. Linking to already existing web pages and blog posts on your website makes it easier for search engine crawlers to access an index content.

This also helps you avoid creating duplicate content. If there is a concept that you have already explained in another web page or blog post, why rewrite it? Using the appropriate hypertext, link to the web page of the blog post, instead. Linking to appropriate content within your website and outside of it, is an integral part of SEO content marketing.

For example, read this if you want to know what is SEO content.

Strategic use of images

Importance of images in SEO content writing

Aside from the cliché that “one picture is worth a thousand words” visuals actually help you keep your readers focused on your content.

Including images these days is an integral part of effective SEO content writing.

Most of the SEO tools advise you to maintain a particular ratio of text and images and if you don’t maintain that ratio, you get negative markings for your SEO score.

Formatting and arrangement of the text

Of course, text is important for meaningful SEO content writing, but you also need to make it easier for people to read and comprehend your content.

To achieve this, you need to format and arrange your text in a user-friendly manner. Most of the people will be accessing your content from their mobile devices. So, make sure that your content is easily readable on mobile phones.

Use headings and subheadings to organize various sections of your web page or blog post. If you need to list multiple points, use a bulleted list.

Also use the bold font type to emphasize in particular sections or words of your text.

Basically, make your text easily scannable. The information should be organized in such a manner that if a visitor simply goes through the headings, subheadings and the bullet points, he or she should be able to get the gist of your entire web page or blog post.

Length of web pages and blog posts

Google these days prefers longer web pages and blog posts. This is to weed out what they call “thin content”.

Longer web pages and blog posts are difficult to write and hence, they act as a deterrence for spammers and people who just want to create junk content to generate search engine traffic.

Try to write normally 1100-1500 words.

Does it matter?

My personal observation is, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. It depends on the sort of web pages and blog posts you are competing with.

Longer web pages and blog posts are preferred, yes, and they definitely have a positive effect on your SEO, but there is no need to go on and on if you have got nothing to say.

Remember that ultimately it is the quality of your content writing that makes the difference, not how long or how short it is. Make it relevant. Try to provide as much information as possible. Try to make it as comprehensive as possible.

So, these are the 10 fundamental qualities of effective SEO content writing. The way they are presented may change, but their inherent implication remains consistent.

How to improve your SEO by following Google’s “high-quality content” guidelines

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When it comes to recognizing high-quality content to decide your search engine rankings on Google, whose guidelines it pays to follow? Of course, Google’s high-quality content guidelines. If you follow them you can certainly improve your SEO.

This Search Engine Land update says that these high-quality content guidelines are basically for Google’s internal content creators.

Your web content is not just text. It comprises of everything a web page typically has including the HTML source code, the images and videos and JavaScript and other web scripts. Therefore, Google has different style guides that can be accessed by you to improve the overall quality of not just the content but also the way your website serves that content to people as well as search engine crawlers. These are the style guides:

You must wonder, if there are so many things that can affect your search engine rankings, why put so much stress on writing SEO content?

This is because SEO content writing is a building block. It paves the way for better search engine ranking. Even if you get everything else sorted out, unless you have high-quality content that is search engine friendly, you’re not going to be able to improve your SEO.

Improve your SEO with the following high-quality content writing guidelines from Google:

Here are a few things you can keep in mind while writing content for your website or blog. Nothing much new is there but it helps to always revise the fundamental concepts of writing well for better search engine rankings.

The guidelines from Google below are mostly for writing purposes, after that the Google guidelines also tell you how to use optimized images for your content. First, content writing…

  • Write in a conversational style. It is recommended that you write the way you talk. Since the search engine crawlers will also be accessing your content, try to write very simply so that even a robot can understand what you are writing.
  • Sound authoritative and knowledgeable. Remember that Google wants to present content that represents expertise. Your content should help people solve problems. Yes, you can write authoritative, knowledge-written content using simple language.
  • Whenever possible try to follow the American writing style for grammar and spelling. This is probably because the Google ranking algorithm mostly uses the American writing style.
  • Write simple concise and very short sentences with very simple words so that both your users and robots can understand what you are saying.
  • Use numbers and bulleted list when describing steps or when listing multiple points sequentially.
  • When you are linking to other websites and blogs make sure that they are reliable and trustable and don’t contain inferior quality content.

How do other web page components help your SEO according to Google guidelines?

  • Use svg formatted files or optimized .png files and don’t forget to use the alt text for your image tags.
  • Tables are good for organizing information but use them only when you have multiple columns to show.
  • This is something new. Do you know <strong> and <b> have different meanings? Whereas <b> is for visual emphasis, <strong> should be shown for text of strong importance.
  • Whenever possible keep HTML and CSS separate.

There are various other recommendations in the guidelines but these are the basic ones. You may feel that some of them are for aesthetics but they actually help you create more clear and concise text.

You may not be able to apply all the guidelines when writing content for your website or blog but you can at least stick to the standard guidelines such as using simple language and arranging your information in such a manner that it is easier for the Google crawlers to access your content.

Does following these Google guidelines really help you improve your SEO?

I wouldn’t say no. The guidelines are for the internal Google content creators so the company wouldn’t like to give wrong guidelines to their own content creators. That’s one thing.

The other thing is, in these guidelines there is nothing that goes contrary to writing, creating and publishing quality content. Everywhere it is recommended that you use simple, conversational language while writing content not just for the search engines but also for your visitors. You should use the language that is used by your prospective customers and clients, especially when using the search engines. Images should be optimized and the loading time should be minimized.

Don’t get too bogged down by these guidelines, but inculcate them in your day-to-day content writing habits and you will see an improvement in your SEO by default.

Looking for a content writer for SEO? 20 qualities to look for

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Are you looking for a content writer to improve your website SEO? Hiring the right content writer for your business website and blog is very crucial.

Need web content writer for SEO?

Although it is very easy to find a content writer for SEO on the Internet, in case you end up with a bad choice, you won’t just be wasting money, you will be wasting your precious time and you will also end up with lots of poor-quality content.

Before I discuss other aspects of choosing the right content writer for not just SEO but also for your overall website conversion rate, let me quickly list 20 qualities to look for before deciding.

20 qualities to look for when you are about to hire a content writer for SEO

  1. He or she should be a prolific writer.
  2. Must have excellent command over the language he or she is writing in.
  3. Your content writer should have very strong research skills.
  4. Having a strong social media presence is a definite plus.
  5. He or she should be a fast learner.
  6. Your content writer should know the intricacies of SEO.
  7. Your content writer should also understand your need for better conversion rate.
  8. He or she should understand and acknowledge the importance of quality content.
  9. Your content writer for SEO must have great proofreading skills.
  10. He or she should be aware of the concept of following writing style guides.
  11. Your content writer must be able to strike a balance between keyword optimization and high-quality content.
  12. Having his or her website is a great plus.
  13. Having his or her own blog that is regularly updated is a very big plus.
  14. He or she should have a great response time.
  15. Your content writer must be a great communicator.
  16. He or she should be able to understand your business needs.
  17. He or she should be able to write on vertically-focused topics.
  18. Your content writer must have a conversational yet impeccable writing style.
  19. He or she should have a very strong bias against plagiarism.
  20. Your content writer should be reachable through multiple modes – email, phone and instant messaging.

These qualities of an SEO content writer will ensure a steady supply of great-quality content for your website or blog for a long time.

10 tips on how to write SEO content for your website.

What is the greatest challenge businesses face, when looking for a content writer for SEO?

greatest-challenge-when-looking-for-an-SEO-content-writer

Accountability is the greatest challenge businesses all over the world face when looking for a content writer for SEO, or rather, a content writer for any other business writing need.

The problem is, very few business-decision-makers, especially those people who are controlling content marketing departments in various companies, are aware of quality content. When they are looking for a content writer, their primary concern is improving search engine rankings through the so-called “optimized content”.

So, when they see that a content writer can cleverly use keywords and key phrases within the content, they think that they should hire this particular writer.

This is not a clever decision.

Read Why hire Credible Content writing services.

If you are serious about content marketing and also about organically improving your search engine rankings, you should look for a writer who is more interested in writing quality content than simply improving your search engine rankings.

Without quality content search engine rankings don’t matter. No matter how great your SEO is, unless your content converts, the writing doesn’t matter.

Consequently, they go with ANY writer. When they go with ANY writer, more often than not, they end up with an unreliable SEO writer, and again, consequently, they end up blaming the entire expertise for their own decision.

I have personally seen that writers who don’t understand content writing are not reliable. They are providing their services simply because it’s easier to provide writing services on the Internet. For them, it is not a business. Their stakes are not high. Many are doing content writing when they are between jobs or when they have got nothing better to do.

It is always better to go with a content writer or content writing service that’s a business.

So, the biggest challenges that businesses face while trying to hire a content writer for SEO are:

  1. Not having a clear idea of what quality content is.
  2. Hiring wrong content writer due to the lack of a clear idea of what quality content is.

How can a trained SEO content writer improve your search engine rankings as well as conversion rate?

trained-SEO-content-writerAn SEO content writer should be aware of the following concepts while creating content for you:

  • How to do keyword research.
  • How to optimize your content for appropriate keywords and search terms.
  • How to organize your content for search engine optimization.
  • Possibly, how to help you promote your content.

Agreed, capabilities mentioned above require greater expertise than a normal content writer can provide you, but if you can get all these expertise from a single source, it will be good for your business as well as your SEO.

Why keyword research is important before content writing?

Thorough keyword research gives you a direction and keeps you focused. It also gives you a clear idea of for whom you will be writing your content.

Suppose you are selling study tables. Will people be just searching for “study tables”? No, they may search for terms like

study table for kids
buy study table online
small study table
study table home delivery
study table with chair
wooden study table
bedside study table
folding study table
study table with cartoon characters
animal shaped study table

… and so on.

If you want people using these search terms to come to your website (assuming you are selling study tables) then you will be optimizing web pages and blog posts using these search terms.

But then, getting people using these search terms to your web pages and blog posts will only benefit you if many among them buy study tables from you.

This is where high-quality content matters.

Whatever people are searching for, if they are not happy with your content, they will go back and look for another website.

Anyway, once you have a list of keywords, you know what content you need to generate. You know what questions you need to answer. You know what things to tell people.

This is why it’s very important to have as comprehensive as possible a list of keywords before you start preparing (or your content writer) SEO content.

A trained content writer understands your need to optimize your content for your keywords as well as have relevant, engaging content that turns visitors into customers and clients.

Normally, when people are looking for a content writer for SEO, somehow, they end up neglecting the conversion part. Remember that the conversion rate of your content is as important as its ability to draw targeted traffic from search engines.

SEO Writing And How It Improves Your Search Engine Rankings

SEO-writing-can-improve-your-search-engine-rankings

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.

want-to-improve-your-search-engine-rankings-with-SEO-writing

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.

quality-content-writing-is-good-for-your-SEO

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.

5 Qualities of an Effective SEO Content Writing Service

image 5-qualities-of-an-effective-SEO-content-writing-service

What do you understand by an effective SEO content writing service? What should be the fundamental qualities of such a company promising to improve people’s search engine rankings?

Recently I was interacting with a client (who is into Internet marketing business) and he was complaining that neither SEO content writing service companies nor their clients truly understand the real meaning of search engine optimization. They are trapped in a vicious loop.

What’s that loop?

vicious-SEO-loop

Somehow, they get hold of a list of keywords that catches their fancy and then start optimizing the website based on those keywords, paying little attention to whether these keywords will get more business or not. They are happy just to see their links appearing on the first page of search results for the chosen keywords.

But this happiness is short lived, as soon it dawns upon them that their improved search engine rankings are not bringing new business. Having spent all that money and effort, they end up thinking that the concept of effective SEO does not exist.

Read 10 SEO content writing rules you cannot ignore.

We need to redefine qualities of effective SEO content writing services

Most of the mainstream web page optimization companies these days acknowledge the importance of effective content. Read 5 reasons why content writing is important for SEO.

After Panda and Penguin updates, Google shifted its focus from keyword-oriented ranking to quality-oriented ranking.

It was very easy to rank your content based on keywords. All you had to do was, publish lots of content around your chosen keywords and you were good to go. But to create lots of keyword-centric content, people ended up creating trash content, Google often terms as thin content.

Useless links would rank higher and the content that wasn’t focusing much on keywords but was of good quality, was pushed lower in the rankings. They didn’t know how to optimize your website; they just knew how to optimize your website for selected keywords. A big difference.

Even top SEO consultants of that time didn’t have a clue about conversion rate, and even if they did, they couldn’t care less.

A search engine like Google can only survive if it can find useful information for its users. This is something it competes on. It needs to ensure that there is no dearth of quality content in the search results.

This is why, these days, though, your keywords are important, more important is the quality of your content. The fundamental qualities of your content these days are an integral part of ranking algorithms in all major search engines.

meaningful-SEO-content-writing

Read Give the right answers and improve your search engine rankings.

So, what are the basic 5 qualities of an effective SEO content writing service?

  1. Content optimization with right keywords and search terms.
  2. Providing answers to people’s questions and queries.
  3. Using great headlines to attract people to your website.
  4. Writing content according to well-defined personas.
  5. Updating and repurposing existing content.

When we talk of SEO content writing it is understandable that you want to improve your search engine rankings and get better results. There is no problem in that.

But your search engine rankings should translate into more business through the traffic. Your content should be able to draw the right people to your website and this means knowing the right words to target.    Let’s go through these 5 qualities of an effective SEO content writing service, one-by-one.

Content optimization with right keywords and search terms

It is the job of your SEO content writing service to know the right keywords for your business. The service should be able to find out what search terms people are using to find a business like yours, a product like yours, or a service like yours.

When you are effectively optimizing your content, it is not about getting ranked higher for your favourite keywords, it is about getting ranked higher for the keywords and search terms people are actually using.

An effective SEO content writing service ensures that proper research is carried out to find out the expressions people are using on search engines and then create content around those expressions.

Providing answers to people’s questions and queries

People these days search for questions and queries on search engines. Especially after voice search became mainstream, people started carrying out searches using conversational expressions and when we are conversing, we normally ask questions, something like “where can I find this service”, or “how much does this content writing service cost”.

Using great headlines to attract people to your website

Every copywriting expert says that if you want to learn about headlines, carefully observe how newspapers use headlines to make people buy the day’s copy of the newspaper. This is why the phrase “screaming headlines”.

The content writer from your chosen content writing service should be able to create effective headlines that successfully draw people to your website from search engines and social networking websites.

Your keywords should be used when creating headlines.

In terms of webpages and blog posts, the headline is the title. This title appears in search engine results as hyperlink. If people can see the keyword or the query they have just used in the text of the hyperlink, they are more prone to clicking it. So, make sure that while you are using the keywords for creating headlines, the headlines are compelling enough to draw people to your website.

While we are at the topic of headlines, never use headlines to mislead people. This is counter-productive. You will begin to lose your search engine rankings and worse, people will stop trusting you.

Writing content according to well-defined personas

Whom are you writing your content for? Why am I writing this blog post? Whom am I talking to?

I’m talking to people who understand content writing and content marketing and additionally, would also like to use content writing for SEO. They want to know how to do it.

They may also like to hire an SEO content writing service so this blog post educates them about what all the chosen company should be able to achieve in order to holistically improve their search engine rankings.

Similarly, when content is being written for your website or blog, it should be written for a well-defined persona.

Persona means the profile of the person accessing your content. What does that person want? Where does he or she come from? How much does he or she make? How old he or she is? Is he or she married or not?

You can create a long list of questions to define the ideal persona for your content.

Updating and repurposing your existing content

Among the major qualities of an effective SEO content writing service, this is also important. Improving your search engine rankings also means continuously updating your existing content.

Read How to repurpose old content.

Search engines continuously want to crawl fresh content. They don’t want to crawl outdated content. So, if you published a blog post or an article or a web page a year ago, perhaps it’s time to revisit it and revise it according to the current information you have.

Similarly, your SEO content writing service should also encourage you to repurpose your content.

Repurposing content means reusing it indifferent forms. Perhaps you can create a slide out of an existing blog post? What about infographic from the data that you used in one of your previous blog posts? You can also create a YouTube video using one of your articles as background. This gives you an opportunity to create fresh content out of existing content and your SEO content writing service can play a crucial part in this.

To be frank, deciding to hire an SEO content writing service is one of the most important business decisions you are going to take because the future belongs to content marketing. What content you have on your website will decide what sort of presence you will wield on the Internet in the coming months and years. Consequently, any SEO content writing service you decide to work with, must have these qualities to enable it to deliver you effective content.