Most business owners understand how important content writing is for their overall digital marketing strategy, especially as it can improve organic traffic and potentially even lead to sales and a higher page ranking in search engines.
However, not every business owner understands how to write SEO content and how it can differ from everyday articles you might write for print. Whether you outsource content creation or intend to tackle it yourself, keep the following rules in mind.
Answer Questions
Rather than writing about things that interest you, research what questions people are asking related to your field and create content that answers them. For example, if you’re in the cannabis industry, and people are asking, ‘what is HHC cannabinoid?’ You can create a blog post with that question as the H1 title and provide the in-detail answers people are looking for.
If your content is well-written, informative, and backed up with credible sources, you might become an authority in the space, helping your website stand out in search engine results against your competition.
Write for Readers, Not Search Engines
You might know that particular keywords and hyperlinks can improve your website’s SEO and make it more prominent in search results, but it’s essential to strike a balance. If you write for search engines first and readers second, there’s a chance your content can appear too keyword-stuffed and strategic. Google doesn’t like overstuffed content, and you might not get your desired results.
Instead of writing for Google, write for your readers. Answer the questions they’re asking and write well-structured paragraphs with all claims backed up with links to reputable sources. The more natural and credible your content is, the more search engine algorithms might like it.
Write Long Content
You might assume that the content you write for your website can be any length as long as it’s of value to readers. While that’s half-true, the latest Google algorithms reward longer and more informative content. Any thin, poorly written, short blog posts and articles can sometimes perform worse than high-quality content of 1,000 words or more. If you don’t have time to write long pieces for your website as part of your marketing strategy, consider outsourcing this vital task to a copywriter.
Ensure Your Content Is Unique
When you’re short on time or lack writing experience, it can be tempting to find articles online written by others and copy them. Not only can this be against the law, but it can negatively affect your SEO strategy. Google might see that your content has been taken from another page and mark it as spam.
If you’re drawing inspiration from someone else’s content to create your own, ensure it’s 100% unique. Alongside writing your own content rather than reusing someone else’s, you can run it through a plagiarism checker to ensure complete uniqueness. If you’re worried about relying on other people’s content too much to create your own, consider utilizing the services of a marketing company with professional content creators to take over the writing task for you.
SEO writing is reasonably straightforward, and even people who have never written content for their website before can eventually master the skill. However, it’s crucial not to neglect some of the most important SEO rules. The quality of the content and the rewards your website reaps from it might just depend on them.