How To Write SEO Content Without Harming Usability

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On-Page SEO

The ultimate goal of every website is to rank well on the first page of Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) for your targeted keywords/keyphrases. For the majority of sites, especially web stores and companies offering services, getting into the top 3 of the SERPs, preferably number 1, is the target!  It is not easy to compete in the online markets, no matter what your targeted keywords are. Experts claim there are two key things that affect site position in Google – website content and backlinking.  That’s why it’s so important to learn how to write SEO content!

Both content and backlinks are equally important. If any of the two elements lags behind, no positive results are generally possible. This means that no matter how many quality backlinks a site might have, it will drown in Google’s search results if its content contains some serious SEO mistakes. It should be mentioned that the majority of web content creators and copywriters, as well as site owners and administrators, hate the word SEO. However, these are the rules of the game. Search engine optimization needs to be taken into account when creating any content type. In fact, this is what this article is going to focus on.

Everything In Moderation

Excessive focus on SEO makes your content look messy for human visitors. Copywriters have to realize that websites visitors do not care about SEO and site goals. They came to get the kind of information they were looking for. Whether or not visitors stay on the site depends on what they find there. Thus, stuffing your text with keywords and keyphrases all the time is not a good idea! Yes, it is possible to give Google a hint that a particular page is created for a particular keyword, however, any texts should be user friendly and should sound natural. It is important to think of a balance between readability and SEO. No matter what On-Page SEO techniques are applied, it is essential to bear in mind that the text should be useful for your visitors.

Keywords & Keyphrases

There are little secrets to help Google understand which page is designed for which keyword. It is generally recommended to use primary keywords in the beginning paragraph, in your title, subheadings, etc. (read more below) As mentioned above, do not overuse keyword or keyphrases as Google may penalize the site. Keyword density up to 3% is considered normal. Use of a bold or italic font is another way to help Google index your page as designed for a particular keyword as search engines pay extra attention to formatted text.

How To Write SEO Content

To improve website visibility for search engines, webmasters often use various On-Page SEO techniques to. Here are some that you should focus on;

Title — Not only do visitors take notice of your titles, search engines do as well! Using your primary keywords/keyphrases in your page/post title is very important.

Meta Description — As well as titles, visitors also choose whether or not to visit a websites depending on the description shown beneath your page on the SERPs. Search engines also use this to help identify what your content is about. Thus, your meta description needs to be informative and easy to read, whilst including your main keywords/keyphrases.

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An example of what your search results will look like in Google SERPs

H1-H6 Tags – These mean subheadings and subtitles. Use of keywords in H1 and H2 tags is highly recommended. Besides their SEO importance, they grab your visitors’ attention and emphasize certain parts of your text.

Internal Linking – It is recommended to link to other pages on your site within your content. This helps to increase the time a visitor spends on your site, with the added benefit that search engines can index your website more efficiently.

External Linking – Including external links to quality sites (with high PageRank) also positively influences the credibility of your content, as well as boosting SEO. For instance, referring to sites like YouTube, Facebook or Twitter is definitely a good idea, especially when it relates to your content. Wikipedia backlinks will also benefit the site visibility as well as make pages informative for visitors.

Content Layout – There is a rule – do not write huge paragraphs of text since it negatively influences readability of your content. Short and to the point paragraphs are much easier to read and can help to break up your key points. Using images is also good both for SEO (you may use keywords in the image title and alt tags) and can help illustrate your ideas/points to visitors who can better understand what’s the text about. Proofreading texts is a must too!

Content that is SEO and user friendly is a key element for website promotion. Even websites with excellent design and great products/services, may experience problems making it to the top of Google SERPs because of poorly written content (from SEO point of view). Perhaps, you have noticed that some sites, with ordinary design and deals you can find everywhere, have excellent search engine rankings. This is a direct impact of SEO friendly content that is helpful for potential customers.

To sum it up, the benefits of SEO friendly content for site owners are:

  • Better search engine positions in SERPs
  • Advantage over competitors (competition online is intense, you know)
  • Conversion of traffic into monetary profits (the more traffic you get through SEO, the more money you can potentially make)

By creating SEO content for your site, visitors will be able to find all your useful and helpful information, products or services that they have been looking for.

Ultimately, there are two approaches to creating site content – DIY or hiring professional copywriters. The decision is yours!

What do you think? Do you make sure all of your content is optimized for search engines? Have you recently learned how to write seo content and seen an increase in your website traffic? Let us know by leaving a comment below!
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Thank you to my Guest Post Author: James Lindeman

James is associated with WriteMyPapers as their content writer and editor. He specializes in writing of essays and researches on different topics.
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