It is essential for you, as a content writer, to be able to align your content with basic SEO rules. After all, you aim to drive traffic to your page, and much of this research comes through search results.
Therefore, I decided to sum up the first 7 rules I have learned when I started copywriting 4 years ago and provide them to you, our readers, so we can all take part in creating better digital content for everyone to read. So, what are those tips? Let’s find out!
1. Understand your content:
Before writing your content, it is essential for you, as a copywriter, to understand why is this content being created. And then match the content with the reason for its creation. Keyword and content intent change from one post to another. Therefore, you should be flexible and be ready to change your style to ensure SEO success.
After all, creating content that leads to different results than intended can be even worse than no content at all!
Keyword intent can be simply listed as:
- Informational: Compels the user learn about the topic, such as this post!
- Navigational: Drives the user to visit your website, such as this post!
- Commercial: Encourages the user to buy your product, such as this post!
As you can see, the first page could rank different intents for the same keyword. But having a flower shop rank high on the Christmas page would probably not lead to any clicks. So, understand your content, understand your keyword intent, and make sure to properly implement it.
2. Understand your reader:
Even though it seems easy for you to create content, who reads the content is more important than the content creation itself. Therefore, before writing, to better know who your reader is, focus on what emotions you would like them to feel and which actions would you like them to take.
It’s important to understand previous patterns from the readers and build upon those patterns to improve your content. So, don’t be afraid to use as many tools as you can to improve your writing, your knowledge of your competition, and your Reader’s reactions. A tool I tend to use when researching keywords for Bested.it and to check our competition is WordStream* (free).
3. Use visuals
People are visual being. We like seeing imagery with blog posts. Why? I suppose it creates a sense of trust to see things rather than just reading them. So, make sure to use visuals in your posts, and link your Pinterest account to promote your blog. Make sure to add the alt-text to your image (this is how). And if you feel the need, change the social media photo from the featured post photo. Make sure to use copyright-free images so Google will not flag your post or website. I use Unsplash or make my own visuals.
4. Optimize your article with headings and subheadings:
Headings, such as the one in the line above this are section and subsections titles for your readers to see on the page, they are <h1>,<h2>,<h3>, <hx> HTML tags. Each webpage needs to have a <h1> tag that contains the main keyword that your content is focusing on. Most times, Content Management Systems (CMS), such as WordPress and Wix automatically include a <h1> tag for your page.
The subheadings <h2> <h3> should also include some keywords and in most times they are used in the order going <h2> -> <h3> -> <h4>, then when a new sub-topic is used you start from <h2> again.
5. Optimize your meta tags
A meta description is a short paragraph in the snippet under the URL when your website is shown on search engines.
Even though it is essential to be creative when creating content, I mean, you are creating after all, when it comes to your meta tags, creativity comes second. Be concise. In 156 characters, you need to add your keywords and create a description seductive enough for a user to click on it and become your reader.
Meta descriptions are Essential! Therefore, if you have not done this before, go back to all your previous posts and add one to ensure that every post you have written is living up to its maximum potential of driving traffic to your website.
6. Linking
There are different types of linking you could do:
Backlinking:
Backlinks are when one website links another website and are a major factor that helps your website in increasing its legibility and ranking if these backlinks are to high-ranking, high-quality websites.
Having your website mentioned by a high-quality website not only drives traffic to your website, but it also boosts your relevancy and usefulness for search engine users. In simpler words, Google sees the backlinks that lead to your website as a user vote. The more you have, the better your ranking can become. Backlinks also drive exposure, brand recognition, referral traffic, and organic ranking!
Outbound linking:
Outbound links are links to other websites on your website like when I linked Unsplash up there! These links help Google understand what your page is about. Just like backlinking, the more relevant and high-quality the linked website is, the better chances that search engines recognize your website as a trustworthy source. Be sure not to link farms or overlink as the search engine might see you as a spammer.
Interlinking:
Internal links are links for content on the same website, like how I am about to ask you to check the services we offer! These links will help you promote your business and other content like I did a sentence ago. And as you can tell, are my favorite type of linking because they drive traffic to my older posts and keep them relevant. So, don’t miss the opportunity to promote your content, services, and products.
Checklist:
- Research your keywords
- Understand the intent of your keywords
- Check the tools you need
- Research competitor’s content
- Identify the length of the post you want to create
- Use visuals
- Optimize your meta tags and photos’ alt-text
- Interlink posts
- Fix a permalink (remove stop words from your permalink)
- User proper heading tags
Bottom line:
Remember, content writing is a lengthy process. Anyone can write content, but not everyone can create SEO-optimized content without practice. Don’t forget that content should always appeal to your target market and answer their questions. Not every post should be about your products or services. At Bested.it, we offer different editing and proofreading services, but we still care about our writers’ growth and improvement.
Like our writing style and need help with your next blog post? Focus on your writing. We’ll handle the rest. Book your editing package now.
Disclosure Statement: Best Edit only recommends resources we have personally used. Best Edit is not affiliated with any of the companies or their apps listed in the article and has not received any compensation from them. Best Edit prides itself on its transparency and will never intentionally misinform our readers. If you find any issues with our articles, please contact us at info.bested@gmail.com.
