What is SEO Content Writing And Why Does It Matter?

SEO content writing is more than just writing content for the search engines.

In recent years, this type of writing has received a bad reputation and it’s not too hard to see why.

Search engine updates such as the most recent Google Panda were implemented with one purpose: To eliminate low quality results.

According to the Wikipedia page linked above, “The change aimed to lower the rank of ‘low-quality sites’ or ‘thin sites’, and return higher-quality sites near the top of the search results.”

Quality raters were hired by Google to measure websites based on various factors including design, speed, trustworthiness, social media and authority. These results were then input into a new algorithm which attempts to devalue low quality sites.

But how does an algorithm determine the difference between low quality and high quality content? To help answer this question, Google provided a list of what counts as a high quality site.

In that list, Google has provided questions for the webmaster before publishing a piece of content. Here are just a few that I’ve chosen to take a look at:

• Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
• Would you trust the information presented in this article?
• Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
• Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

Reading between the lines, it’s clear that Google wants content to be written for the user and to provide value.

In other words, focus on delivering quality content that is simply not a rehash of other material that can be found online.

No one will ever know for certain how Google ranks their pages but search engine experts can still speculate on current trends and what is most likely to make the most difference.

Gone are the days of writing content around long tail keyword phrases and reaping the benefits of continuous traffic. In the past, this was actually extremely easy but the search engine optimization landscape is much different now.

One of the strongest ranking factors was getting backlinks and if you had enough of them, you could easily rank for just about any factor.

Of course, optimizing your content had the added benefit of driving more traffic and getting higher rankings as well.

Times are changing

According to an interesting study done by SearchMetrics.com for Google ranking factors, they found that:

…social signals from Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are frequently associated with good rankings in Google’s index.

This means that quality content matters and social media signals are a great way to measure that. Content that is full of grammar mistakes, poor structure or no research to back it up is never likely to be shared.

Sure, there are black hat types of programs which can automate such social media signals but search engines are getting increasingly smarter.

What is SEO Content Writing?

SEO content writing, is simply the practice of writing optimized content based on a certain set of keywords with the goal of getting traffic from the search engines. However, the end goal of SEO copy should always be to provide value for the readers as this type of marketing could ultimately lead to new prospects and sales.

How to write optimized SEO content

Writing SEO content that will stand the test of time and against future algorithm updates, I believe the following are key elements that make quality copy rank highly in the search engines.

1. Keep the content keyword focused

I strongly advocate writing for the visitors first, and then optimizing it for the search engines later.

The content should be focused around keywords which are relevant for your products or services.

Obviously, you’re not going to rank for “iPhone” anytime soon but if you offer services that repair broken screens in a certain city then a keyword phrase that would make sense would be “repair broken iPhone screens in Los Angeles” or something along those lines and then writing content that aims to solve that visitors problem.

Keyword resaerch can be done by going to the Google AdWords keyword tool, browsing through forums, looking at blogs in your niche, using Google Trends or even using question and answer type sites such as Quora or Yahoo! Answers.

Once keyword prhases are located, the next step is to optimize the content by including the keyword in the Title, Headings (H1, H2, H3), within the content and in image ALT tags.

The key though is to never over do it as this can actually have negative impacts. Above all else, always focus on delivering quality content with SEO in the back of your mind.

Another crucial part about quality SEO copywriting is to include LSI keyword phrases that are related to the main phrase that the content is being optimized for. Doing this takes more time but it has the added benefit of driving tons of long tail searches to the website.

2. Provide value

Would you feel comfortable linking to the piece of content that was just written to one of your social networks such as Facebook or Twitter?

If not, then you can be sure that others would feel the same way. Content that is link worthy essentially means that it provides value and is well researched.

This means that the content offers some type of information that imparts value to the reader such as a how to guide or even a resource that visitors can use.

This can be done in a number of ways by providing a detailed analysis of a story, conducting research,  sharing your opinion, writing a tutorial, or even giving some of your best tips away.

This is essentially what content marketing is and still remains one of the best ways to market a website.

3. Structure your content

Writing for the web is different compared to other forms of writing.

Studies have shown that browsers generally skim through webpages and rarely read every single word.

To help make your content easier to digest on the web, make sure that it follows appropriate structure by using short paragraphs, headings to break up ideas, relevant images, bullet point lists and even videos or graphs if you have them.

The benefit of doing this is that it makes the content much easier to read and it also helps to keep visitors on your site for much longer.

Structuring content also means thoroughly proofreading your work. Nothing is more unprofessional than written copy that reads terribly or is filled with grammar mistakes.

All content pieces should be optimized to have a natural flow to it and should go from one idea to the next seamlessly.

Taking the time to write such an optimized piece takes time but your readers will definitely appreciate it in the form of social media shares and links which is extremely valuable in the long run.

Does SEO content writing work?

It absolutely does. I started this blog mainly as a learning tool but I also wanted to challenge myself to prove that these content writing tips work. Mainly, that  writing optimized content brings in targeted traffic which is what I aim to do with the long term view of gaining high search engine rankings.

Writing SEO is simply another form of internet marketing but it takes time to implement which is why many never even bother with it in the first place. Following through with such a plan can be extremely beneficial but the key is to get all the pieces of the puzzle together into one coherent piece.

If you are interested in having a strategy implemented for your own website, then be sure to visit my SEO content writing services.