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How to boost your content with these 5 SEO tactics

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5 SEO tactics to boost your content

Search engine traffic is very important for your business.

But search engine traffic doesn’t just come your way simply because your website or blog exists.

You need to provide quality content to search engines like Google, constantly. The search engines are hungry for fresh and high-quality content.

The problem is, it isn’t just the quality of your content that boosts your SEO (although the quality is fundamental): you need to apply some tactics to make it easier for search engines to crawl, index and rank your website links for the appropriate keywords.

You need to keep it in mind that it’s the algorithms that are deciding which link to rank, and how. These algorithms go through various facts like

  • what keywords you have used
  • how you have formatted the information
  • what is the quality of your writing
  • and most importantly, how people react to your content.

You may like to read how Google actually ranks your content.

Most of the content marketers tell you that you needn’t worry about your search engine rankings as long as you are publishing great content.

Although this is theoretically correct and it may even happen in the future, right now, you have to take care of a few things to make sure that your content is indexed and then correctly ranked.

I have listed below 5 SEO tactics that can help you boost your content on search engines.

Boosting content with SEO tactics

1. Focus on problems and solutions

People are normally looking for solutions to their problems on Google and other search engines.

For example, if I think that my content isn’t performing well, I may be looking for a content writer.

If conventional advertising isn’t working for my business, I may be looking for alternative ways to promote myself.

If I have a back pain, I would like to know how to cure my pain using home remedies or natural ways.

I might be looking for good schools in the new neighborhood I plan to move to with my family.

I may want to know what were the best songs in the 70s.

Web pages and blog posts that address the “how”, “where”, “why”, “when” and “what” of different situations fare well on search engines.

2. Do your keyword research before writing content

If you want to boost your content on search engines, then you need to take your keywords very seriously.

“Keywords” in SEO context means all those search expressions people may use to find what you offer.

For example, people who are looking for a content writer may like to look for “content writing services” or “small business content writing services”.

So, these are the keywords I should be focusing on when writing content for my website and my blog.

People also look for longer keywords, for example, “looking for content writer to improve my SEO”.

Similarly, if you sell handmade bags from your website some people may try to find you using “handmade bags” or “handmade bags as Christmas presents” or “medium-sized handmade bags”, and such.

Selecting the targeted keywords is a whole different branch of study and there are actually specialist people and tools that can help you find the right keywords.

Why is it important to do keyword research before writing content?

It’s because the keywords should be an integral part of your content writing process. They shouldn’t be an afterthought.

Also, a pre-compiled list of your important keywords keeps you focused. It constantly reminds you what content you need to write and create.

3. Use your keywords in the title of your web page or blog post

Your title is one of the most important parts of your web page or blog post. I charge extra for coming up with well-sounding SEO titles.

Whereas the complete body of your content exists on your website or blog, when it appears on other sources like search engines, social media and social networking websites, and on the websites and blogs of those who want to link to you, it’s your web page or blog post title that is used.

On the search engine results pages it is your title that appears as the primary hyperlink.

It has been observed that people click those links more that contain the search term or the keyword they have just used.

Perhaps, this is the reason why Google looks for the keywords in your title and a big part of your SEO is affected by the presence or absence of your keywords there.

4. Write shareable content

The benefit of writing shareable content is that it spreads fast. It is shared more on social media and social networking websites.

It is repurposed more.

More Webmasters and bloggers link to content that they think shareworthy.

Why create shareable content?

Google takes into account the way people react to your content.

How many people are linking back to your content?

How many people are reacting to your content in terms of responding to it and sharing it from their social media and social networking profiles?

How much time do people spend reading your content?

Useful content is shareable content. Content that contains lots of information that can be immediately implemented to improve something is quite useful.

List articles, popularly called as “listicles”, enjoy a greater possibility of being shared because they contain the exact number of steps, solutions or resources. People know what they are sharing.

How do you know what is shareable?

You can check out Google Trends to know what is trending and create topics around trending topics.

You can compile a list of solutions to a problem: 10 ways you can improve your SEO in just a week.

Make your title as compelling as possible and then pack as much information as possible.

5. Remain focused to your core subject

Don’t dilute the focus of your website or blog by writing about random topics.

If you provide legal services, then your content should talk about your legal services and how you can help people with your knowledge of the law.

If you are into carpentry, then talk about carpentry: the various tools you use, the qualities of woods you use, and the sort of work you have undertaken.

Staying focused on your core subject will help you create a repository of useful information on your topic. This tells Google that you are an expert and hence you publish authoritative content.

Authoritative content is ranked higher compared to general content.

Aside from these 5 tactics to boost your SEO you should also

  • Write longer blog posts and web pages (Google and other search engines prefer longer text to shorter text).
  • Use images wherever necessary. Try to use an image after every 300 words.
  • Link to other blog posts and web pages from other blog posts and web pages.
  • Make sure you use your keywords within the first 100 words of your web page and then in the last para.
  • Use your keywords every 100-200 words, but not unnecessarily.
  • Use shorter sentences. It makes it easier for search engine algorithms to make sense of your content.

Read 10 fundamental qualities of effective SEO content writing.

What are SEO tactics?

I normally don’t prefer to use the expression “tactics” in terms of SEO and content marketing, but since many people use it, I’m using it just to make a point.

The most important on-site SEO tactic to boost your content is, making it easier for the search engine crawlers to access your content, make sense of it, and then rank it.

For off-site SEO, try to spread your content as much as possible.

Share your content links on social media and social networking websites.

Repurpose your existing content using different formats – YouTube videos, GIFs, PDFs, infographics and slides – and then upload these to the appropriate platforms.

Encourage people to link back to your content to earn social validation.

Why I don’t call these tactics is because this is an ongoing process. You may call it, a way of life.

You need to create high-quality content otherwise it is not appreciated by your target audience.

You need to strategically distribute and disseminate your content because there is too much of it on the Internet and it is difficult for people to pay attention to a particular piece of content.

Become an information hub, and be known for the quality of your content.

Whether you call these tactics or an ongoing process, there is 100% guarantee that you can boost your content with these SEO practices.

5 Qualities of an Effective SEO Content Writing Service

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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.