How To Write SEO Friendly Content

Blogging is now popular and even college students see it as an opportunity to learn and earn. I have already written a few guides on how to make money from blogging to motivate people. But the most asked question from people is “How To Write SEO Friendly Content?” Not just bloggers, but several people who are thinking to make a career in content writing also ask the same. You may be a good creative writer who knows how to put words together in an impressive manner, but it needs to be SEO friendly to get visibility in Google’s search results pages. Until your article is ranking well, you won’t get much benefit from your hard work.

I run multiple websites from which some are really popular and get good ranking in search engines. I still write articles for my primary blog but I also work with interns who write an article for a few of my other blogs. I always try to teach them how to make your content better for SEO by optimizing it for keywords people search for.

While writing an article, it is really important to take care of several things. In this article, I will talk about all these things in detail.

Start with research

Keywords are the most important thing. Before start writing, you need to have a list of keywords to include the article. I always prepare a list of keywords before writing on a topic. The list includes primary keywords and long-tail keywords on related topics. That means, the focus should be on all similar keywords that we can put into one article.

I am not going into the details of how to make the list of keywords that has potential. That is the part of Keyword research and I will cover that into a separate article later.

If you are really serious, start using SEMRUSH. This is the keyword research tool I use and recommend. This tool gives search data of a keyword and recommends the related keywords. So, you know what is the right keyword to target. SerpStat is also a similar and cheaper tool if you think SEMRUSH is a bit costly for you.

Also see: Best Keyword Research Tools

While writing the article, you need to take care of the inclusion of all important keywords but it should be natural. The content length also plays an important role depending on the topic. You also need to answer all the questions people may ask.

Planning

Before you start writing, it is really important to make a plan. You need to first do proper research. So, pick the primary keyword you are thinking to write on and perform a Google search. Now see all the articles ranking. Check the content length and what kind of content they added. Now you have to write content that gives more value than they already did. I know it is not always easy, but you can always try. I have already told you about the importance of word count. It is not as important as people believe, but it certainly plays an important role while writing a guide on something.

Look for popular questions people ask

When you perform a search for your primary keyword pick, not just look at existing articles, but also see the FAQ section and related search section. It will give you an idea of what people are asking and searching on Google. See how it looks like in Google search.

This is how the FAQ section looks in Google search.

Now pick the questions that you can include in your article. You will have to answer them while writing the content. This is a good way to optimized your article for a specific topic.

Related search topics can be found at the end of the search results.

You can also include some of the related topics into your content if they make sense.

Now give your time in writing the content by including all the keywords, answering all the questions and related searches your picked. Try to write longer content without making it boring. Do not overuse keywords. There’s an optimal keyword density you need to follow. But three is no specific rule and keyword can be used more times if that fits naturally.

Think carefully before you write. Are a proper plan and structure of the article. Something should be in the introduction part and then there should be a detailed body part. In the end, there should be a summary in the conclusion. You should always take care of these three sections. So, plan accordingly. Always use simple words and sentences. Use headings and paragraphs properly.

Even if you are good at writing, it is always a good idea to use professional Grammar Checker Tools. These tools point to grammar and spelling-related mistakes. Grammarly is the one I use and recommend. It not just points to grammar and spelling errors but also recommends alternate words to use for better content.

Here are a few important points you need to take care of.

a) Include your primary keyword in Post Title and Meta Title. The post title is what your readers see, but Meta Title is what search engines show in search results. SEO plugins give you an option to select Post Title and Meta Title separately. If you have not specified any Meta Title, Post Title will be shown.

b) The Meta description is also important. You need to write a good meta description of 160 characters by adding a keyword and call to action words. If you have not been adding a proper meta description, you need to edit your older posts and add a proper meta description.

c) You should also not ignore Image Alt Attribute. To ensure that Google or any other search engines can understand what an image is about, use a descriptive image name and the Alt attribute. WordPress gives an option to choose ALT (Alternative Text).

d) Interlinking is also important. It is always a good idea to link back to your old blog posts. It not just gives your readers additional content to read, but also force Google to re-crawl these old posts. It reduces the bounce rate and also gives your old blog posts more exposure. When you interlink, make sure to use proper anchor text.

e) Make proper use of heading tags. WordPress theme uses article title as H1 in the content. So now the use of H2 and H3 is up to you. Always make sure you are using these heading properly by adding a proper keyword. Headings have a good impact on the overall SEO of the page. So, it is always a good idea to take care of heading tags.

f) Take care of the permalink. It shouldn’t be too long, but it is also a good practice to include the primary keyword in the permalink. You should also remove stop words from the permalink. Most of the SEO plugins automatically remove stop words from the permalink. Stop words are words like “a” “an” “the” and many more that search engines ignore.

Here’s a quick summary of the practices you need to follow.

• Proper keyword research to make a list of keywords
• Write an in-depth guide that includes all important keywords and answers popular queries
• Make proper use of Post title, meta description, heading and image ALT tags
• Interlink old articles.
• Post permalink

SEO-friendly content is really important if you want your blog post to reach a wider audience. So, you should always give your time in keyword research. Start using SEMrush if you are not already using it. This is one of the tools I use and recommend. Every blogger should start using it. It helps in keyword research, tracking the position of your website in search and also in competitor research. Everything a blogger needs.

I hope this article was useful. If you still have any questions, you can always ask using the comments or reach me on Twitter. I have added my social media links in the footer and contact section.

Deepanker

I am a tech blogger, traveler, and entrepreneur