Where’s the first place you turn whenever you have a question you need to answer?

If you’re anything like the average person, you’ll turn to Google more than three times a day. In fact, there are currently over 100 thousand Google searches conducted every second.

So, clearly every business needs a strong SEO strategy that helps them to be found on Google. But with multiple ranking factors at play, what should your marketing team focus on when creating content? 

That’s the question we’re going to be answering today. Join us for a deep dive into what you can do to improve your search engine rankings.

What is SEO content?

Your writing has to be worth reading, but people have to find it first. When your audience types in search queries related to your business, you want to show up on the front page of the search engine results. 

Why? Because most people click on the top results and don’t look further than page one. If the answer to their query doesn’t come up, they’re more likely to reword what they’re asking than to look at page two of the result pages.

Quality, SEO-optimised content is what will get you high enough in the rankings to be noticed. It combines content strategy and SEO strategy so your content is optimised for both the search engines and your audience.

It’s as simple - and as complicated - as that.

Why is SEO content important at all stages of the customer journey?

When putting your writing skills to use, you need to work out not only what your customers want, but what they’re searching for at each stage of the customer journey.

It’s vital to match the purpose of your content to your users’ search intent. Google is really good at understanding what keywords and search terms people use when they’re looking for different types of content. It then serves different types of content, depending on whether the user is looking for more general information or is looking to buy there and then.

Your content writing needs to be planned out to meet them at every step along the way. That way you can make sure you’re filling any gaps in your existing content.

In the early stages, where you’re focused on attracting the attention of buyers searching to educate themselves online, you need informative blog posts to draw them in. 

In later stages, you’ll be looking to engage customers who are evaluating different solutions with more in-depth content. Finally, you’ll want to address the needs of people who are ready to purchase with content that answers objections and questions.

Towards the bottom of the funnel, you might be more focused on leads you’ve been nurturing and educating from the start of the customer journey. In that case, why focus on SEO at all? However, thinking like that would be a mistake. All of your content should be optimised for search to capture the attention of buyers wherever they happen to be on their buyers’ journey.

Now you know why we said it’s both simple and complicated!

How to succeed with SEO content writing

When it comes to content and SEO, you really can’t have one without the other. Follow our guide below to ensure that your content creation always keeps SEO in mind and gets you ranked in the SERPS.

1. Start with your audience

As ever, it’s all about creating a great user experience for your audience. Trying to optimise for the search engines without considering whether your content is enjoyable and serves the needs of its readers won’t get you anywhere. Google actively prioritises search quality and penalises shady ranking manipulation tactics.

Know what questions your potential clients are asking when searching online. Then create every piece of content to answer a question they’re asking. Use the same language and jargon that your clients use so that they feel heard and understood when they read your content.

Make sure your articles deliver on what you promise. Your title and description have to match what’s in your article. If what you’re claiming doesn’t match the searcher’s intention, searchers will click away from your article rapidly, and the search engines will notice and rank your article lower.

In other words, you can’t claim to be writing an instructional blog post on how to climb Scafell Pike safely and then give your readers an article on the best mountain climbing gear that you happen to sell instead. You aren’t meeting either their expectations or their needs.

Of course, you want to sell what you do, but bait and switch is not the way to do it. Nor will it help you with the search engines.

Instead, take the time to find out what your customers are searching for and provide them with answers Not every post has to directly show off your products or services. A well-researched and written article will establish you as a trusted authority. And that, over time, will lead to a growing reputation and, of course, to sales.

2. What is the purpose of this piece of content?

Do you know the purpose for each and every piece of content you publish online? The key to successful content marketing is to create content that both addresses the audiences' need and serves a business objective.

Before you create any content, think about what you want your audience to take away from each piece. What do you want them to know once they’ve read your article? What do you want them to feel? And, crucially, what do you want them to do next?

When you're clear what action you want your customers to take when they’ve consumed your content, you can create a path for them to follow. You can use clear calls to action, buttons, links, forms, and more, to guide them along their journey with you. You might want them to look for more information, sign up to your newsletter, book a demo, or even buy.

This all depends, of course, on where they are in the buyer’s journey. By knowing who your content is addressing and what you want them to do as a result of reading your content, you'll be able to match your content to your users' search intent and have it reach people at the right stage of the buying cycle.

When you're not clear on your content's objective, two things can happen. First, you lose the attention of your hard won visitor. Maybe they ricochet away from your page because they don't understand its relevance. Or perhaps they drift away after reading your piece thinking because there's no clear next step. The second thing to happen is that your bounce rate takes a hit, or your average time on page drops, signalling to the search engines that your page isn't relevant or is low-quality.

3. Organise your content into topic pillars

A highly effective way of organising your content is by pillar pages and sub-topics. 

It’s an excellent way to get the attention of the search engines and to ensure that every last page on your site is indexed. 

It also creates a better experience for your customers, too. By creating a clear information hierarchy with your content, they can easily see what your expertise is. They can also continue to explore your content by following internal links to more information.

Pick between three and five broad topics for your content to cover. Then create a comprehensive pillar post for each one. 

Each of your broader themes can be split down into related sub-topics. For example, if you write about SEO, you could create an authoritative guide that gives your reader an overview of the subject. You can then develop your content further with a series of shorter, more in-depth articles on keyword research, on-page optimisation, internal linking building and more. 

4. Research your competitors

Once you have your customer research in place and know what you want to appear in search for, take a good look at your competitors. You can learn a lot from authoritative websites and high-ranking articles.

Pull up the top 10 ranking articles for any search term you’d like to target. Examine everything about each article, including images, metadata, subheads, and more.

Analyse the page structure to see how they’ve put their content together. What keywords and phrases are they using in the headline and subheads? Examine the length of the articles to see what the average length is.

You can also pick up ideas for topics from your competitors. However, avoid writing content that doesn’t add to the conversation. Can you add a fresh point of view or make your piece more authoritative or up to date?

Then, in a nutshell, aim to do better.

5. Use keyword research to shape your content

Knowing what keywords and phrases you want to target can help you create the structure of each and every piece you write.

Paid keyword research tools like SEMrush will help you to find phrases and questions to include in your articles. You can also find keyword suggestions for free by using the Google Ads Keyword Planner. 

The “People also ask” box at the bottom of the search engine results page is also a great source of insight. This tells you about what searches are related to the one you’re researching, which is great for keyword and phrase suggestions. 

Also, pay attention to Autocomplete. When you’re typing your keyword or search phrase into Google, see what else comes up as Google tries to predict your search term. This, again, may give you further suggestions for keywords and more content to write in the future!

When complete, use your keyword research and competitor research to generate an outline of your article. With a clear outline, it’s easy to stay on track and not get lost in irrelevant side issues.

Use the questions and longer phrases you’ve uncovered in your research in subheadings. This not only includes key search terms in the H2 and H3 tags on your website, but it helps your user to skim read your articles (more on that later).

6. On-page SEO

Be rigorous about on-page SEO best practices so that Google knows what you intend the page to rank for. 

Make sure to include your main keyword in your page title, the URL, and in the first 100 to 150 words of your article. It should also appear in image alt text and meta tags, and in the meta-title and meta-descriptions that appear on the search engine results pages.

These last two need close attention. They need to signal to the search engines what your content is about, but they also need to be enticing to be clicked. This means they need to be short enough not to be cut off by the search engines, while including your keywords, and be compelling enough to draw the reader in. 

Don’t settle for your first attempt. Keep working and reworking until you land on something that is catchy for both the reader and the search engine!

Aside from creating your outline, your keyword research also generates a list of required and optional semantic keywords for each article. These are variations on your main keyword and thematically related keywords that give the search engines more context on the relevancy of your article. Make sure these are included in your content brief so your content writers ensure they cover each one.

Creating links, both internal and external, help Google to determine what the piece is about by linking it to other relevant content. Internal linking is particularly important as it helps the search bots to crawl your site properly and index every page. It helps to show the search engines what your site is about and encourages them to think of you as an authority on your subject.

It’s also really helpful for your customers as they can easily find more information and further answers to their questions.

7. Don’t forget the visuals

Visual design and rich multimedia can also boost a user’s dwell time on your page, signalling to the search engines that your content is high-quality.

We’re quick to judge, navigating sharply away from pages that look shabby or unappealing. Good design, on the other hand, lends itself to appearing more credible and trust-worthy. You don’t want to put people off before they even begin to read your epic content and fall in love with your business.

Make your content visually appealing

A great wall of text isn’t appealing to read, even if it’s an interesting subject for your audience. You need to allow plenty of space to give peoples’ eyes a break when they’re reading online. Use lots of white space and break up big chunks of text with subheads and images.

Bear in mind that your site will appear differently on different screen sizes. Make sure that your content displays well on mobile devices, and that your site is optimised for mobile usability as this will have a big impact on your search results.

Make your content skimmable

Many people skim your content before they give it a more thorough read. In fact, 43% of people say they skim read blog posts. So, if you use great subheads, you can lead people through your articles and make them want to read more. 

Bullet points and numbered lists serve the same purpose, creating visual structure for your reader. Lists and tables might also improve your chances of appearing in the coveted Google snippets spot.

Finally, number 8: Track your results

There’s no point in doing all of this if you’re not measuring your results. Pay attention to what is working for you and do more of it. You should have a complete picture of what’s working for you and what isn’t after a few months.

You’ll find that a suite of metrics give you a greater understanding of your search performance than just focusing on your organic traffic numbers.

You can use Google Search Console or paid tools like SEMRush to track your search performance for keywords and your top landing pages.

Stats like Average Time on Page and your Bounce Rate will highlight pages that engage your users or that turn them off. Again, use tools to scan your pages and offer suggestions to fix issues with your pages and optimise your content. 

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This article gives you a whistlestop tour of some of the many considerations you need to bear in mind when creating SEO focused content. There are a lot of factors in play, and sometimes the smallest tweak in your approach can pay huge dividends.

If you’d like to find out how your content strategy can boost your search visibility, we’d love to have a chat. Get in touch for a conversation.