What is SEO Writing: Basics and Best Practices

Writing is a huge aspect of SEO content optimization, and being able to write effective SEO copy can make a big difference in your website’s success.

However, writing for the primary purpose of SEO can be difficult to master. There are a lot of factors to consider, such as using the right keywords for SEO, making sure your content is readable, and that your writing flows well.

In this guide, DLinkers go over the basics of SEO writing and some best practices that you can use to make sure your writing is effective.

What is SEO Writing?

Writing for SEO, or SEO writing, is the process of creating content that is optimized for search engines. This means that your content should be designed to rank well in search results and be easily found by potential customers.

This is a process that involves:

• Researching keywords that your potential customers are searching for
• Incorporating those keywords throughout your writing
• Creating readable and engaging content (so people will actually want to read it!)
• Knowing what search engines are looking for
• Giving the best answers to the questions people are asking

The goal of SEO writing is to create content that is not only easy for search engines to find but also relevant and valuable to the people who are reading it. This is also called writing not just for machines (search engines) but also for humans.

Why is SEO Writing Important?

In the grand scheme of things, writing for SEO is important because it can help you reach your business goals. Great content, along with a well-optimized website, can help you attract more visitors to your site which can lead to more customers and sales.

Here are a couple of ways that SEO writing can help you reach your goals:

• It can help you rank higher in search results.
• It can help you attract more website visitors.
• It can help you engage and connect with your target audience.
• It can help you generate leads and sales.

By writing SEO-friendly content, you can help your website rank higher in search results. This means that when people search for terms related to your business, your website is more likely to appear near the top of the results.

You can think of it as: Visibility =  Traffic = Sales. The higher your website ranks, the more visible it is, and the more traffic (and potential customers) you’ll get.

Writing can also help you build trust and credibility with your potential customers. If people see that you’re writing informative and helpful articles about topics related to your business, they’re more likely to classify you as an authority in your industry.

It’s also worth noting that SEO writing is not a one-time thing. Creating quality content is an ongoing process that should be incorporated into your overall marketing strategy. Check out Local SEO services for more info.

9 Best Practices for SEO Writing

1. Do your research and understand your audience.

Good writing involves excellent research. This is especially true for SEO writing, where you need to understand both your target audience and what they’re looking for (search intent).

There are a few ways that you can research your target audience:

• Look at your website analytics to see who’s visiting your site and what they’re interested in.
• Conduct surveys or interviews with your customers to learn more about them.
• Use social media listening tools to see what people are saying about your industry.
• Look at your competitor’s websites and see what they’re doing well (and where they could improve).

To do effective research on the SERPS (search engine results pages), you need to understand what people are searching for and how those searches can be categorized. This will help you better target your writing to the right audience.

Here are a few questions that you should ask yourself when doing SERP research:

• What keywords am I targeting?
• What is the search intent behind those keywords?
• What are my competitors writing about? What can I write about that’s better than what’s already out there?

Tools like Answer The Public, Google’s Keyword Planner, and SEMrush can all help with your SERP research. Even Wikipedia’s table of contents can give you an idea of what topics people are interested in and how they’re organized.

2. Write for your audience first, search engines second.

While it’s necessary to understand how SEO works and what the best practices are, it’s even more important to write for your target audience first. 

After all, they’re the ones who are going to be reading (and hopefully enjoying) your content.

Here are a few tips for writing SEO-friendly content that’s still enjoyable to read:

• Make sure your writing is clear, concise, and easy to read.
• Use short paragraphs and sentences.
• Use an active voice as much as you can.
• Use imagery and storytelling. Break up your content with headings and subheadings.
• Include calls to action.
• Use bullet points and lists.

To help you create content that’s made for your target audience and not just for search engines, consider using a tool like Google Analytics’ User Flow report and/or Google Search Console’s Queries report.

Both of these reports can give you insights into what people are searching for and how they’re interacting with your website. With this information, you can better tailor your writing to match their needs and interests.

3. Do your keyword research.

Once you know who your target audience is and what they’re looking for, it’s time to start your keyword research.

There are a few different ways that you can go about this:

• Use Google’s Keyword Planner or SEMrush to get ideas for related keywords that you can target.
• Use Google Trends to see how popular certain keywords are and if they’re increasing or decreasing in popularity.
• Look at Infinite Suggest or SEORCH to get ideas for long-tail keywords that you can target.
• Use tools like Google Search Console and Ahrefs to see what keywords your website is already ranking for.

Remember, your goal with keyword research should be to find a balance between two things: Keywords that are popular enough, and keywords that aren’t so popular that you’ll be buried on page 50 of the SERPS.

To get started, try to come up with a list of 10-20 keywords or keyword phrases that you want to target. Once you have your list, you can start writing your content.

4. Come up with relevant content topics.

If your business is selling shoes, you can’t write about just any old thing related to shoes. You need to come up with content topics that are relevant to your business and what people are searching for.

Some relevant topics that you could write about might be:

• How to pick the right running shoes for you
• The best way to break in new shoes
• How to clean your shoes and make them last longer
• Tips for storing your shoes so they don’t get damaged 

To come up with relevant content topics, start by brainstorming a list of potential topics. Once you have a list of potential topics, you can use a tool like Google Trends or SEMrush to see how popular they are and if people are searching for them.

Sprinkle the keywords you’ve researched throughout your content, but don’t go overboard. A good rule of thumb is to use your keyword(s) once for every 100 words of content.

Read more on writing here: 6 Content Writing Exercises to Do When You’re Suffering From Writer’s Block 

5. Create an outline that includes your keywords.

Before you start writing your content, it’s a good idea to create an outline that includes your target keyword(s). This will help you stay on track as you write and make sure that you’re including the keyword(s) where they’re most relevant.

Your outline should include:

• An introduction that includes your target keyword(s).
• A main body that discusses the topic of your content and includes your target keyword(s).
• A conclusion that summarizes your content and includes your target keyword(s).

You want to include your keyword(s) in your outline, but don’t force them in if they don’t fit naturally. The goal is to create an outline that sounds natural and flows well, not one that’s crammed full of keywords (keyword stuffing). Try to include them in:

• An H1 or H2 heading.
• The beginning of your introduction.
• A couple of times throughout the main body of your content.
• Toward the end of your conclusion.

Read more: 7 Amazing Content Marketing Schemes That Will Drive Traffic for 2019 

6. Optimize your title tags and meta descriptions.

Few things are more frustrating than spending hours writing a great piece of content, only to have it lost in the sea of search results because you didn’t optimize your title tag and meta description.

What’s a title tag? It’s the blue clickable link that appears in the search results. The title tag is what tells people what your article is about, so it’s important to make sure that it includes your target keyword(s) and accurately describes your article.

Meanwhile, the meta description is the short blurb of text that appears under the title tag. The meta description doesn’t necessarily have to include your target keyword(s), but it should accurately describe your article and grab attention.

To optimize your title tags and meta descriptions, follow these tips:

• Include your target keyword(s) in your title tags.
• Keep your title tags under 60 characters.
• Keep your meta descriptions under 160 characters.
• Write eye-catching and attention-grabbing meta descriptions.

7. Utilize internal links that point to other relevant pages on your website.

Internal linking is an important part of SEO writing, but it’s often overlooked. Internal links are simply links from one page on your website to another page on your website.

Utilizing internal links helps improve your website’s SEO in a few different ways:

• It helps Google (and other search engines) crawl and index your website more effectively.
• It can help improve your website’s Page Rank.
• It helps reduce your bounce rate.
• They help to improve the user experience by providing more information on a topic.
• It can help keep people on your website longer.

To add internal links to your content, simply find a relevant page on your website that you want to link to and add a link to it. 

Make sure the link is relevant to the topic of your article and that you’re not just adding links for the sake of adding links. 

8. Mention LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords.

LSI keywords are simply words and phrases that are related to your target keyword(s). For example, if you’re writing an article about SEO writing, some LSI keywords might be: copywriting, web writing, SEO content, etc.

By mentioning LSI keywords throughout your content, you can help improve your content’s SEO. This is because LSI keywords help the search engines better understand the topic of your article and what it’s about.

To include LSI keywords in your content, simply mention them throughout your article where they make sense. 

For example, if you’re writing an article about SEO writing, you could mention web writing and copywriting as two types of writing that are often used for SEO purposes.

9. Optimize your images.

Including images in your articles can help break up the text and make your content more visually appealing, but did you know that they can also help improve your content’s SEO? This is because you can optimize your images to include your target keyword(s).

To optimize your images, simply:

• Include keywords in your file names.
• Use descriptive ALT tags that include your target keywords.
• Make sure your images are the right size.
• Only use relevant images.

Read more: Visual Content Marketing Checklist: Important Visual Elements You’ll Need

FAQs

Q: Is SEO writing only for articles?

A: No! SEO writing can be used for any type of content, including blog posts, social media updates, product descriptions, and more. 

The key is to simply include your target keyword(s) where it makes sense and to write for both people and search engines.

Q: Do I need to include my target keywords a certain number of times?

A: No, there is no magic number of times that you need to include your target keywords. 

However, keep in mind that if you stuff your content with too many keywords, it will turn off both your readers and Google.

Q: What’s the difference between SEO writing and copywriting?

A: Copywriting is focused on selling a product or service, while SEO writing is focused on ranking in search engines. 

However, the two can be combined to create effective, persuasive content that helps improve your website’s SEO.

Conclusion

SEO writing is one piece of the puzzle that is your website. It’s important, but it’s not the only thing that matters. A well-rounded website will also have great design, helpful and informative content, and a user-friendly interface.

By following the tips in this article, you can start writing SEO-friendly content that will help improve your website’s visibility and traffic in no time.