Did you know 56% of content writing positions now list search engine optimization skills (SEO) as a requirement?
Mastering complex SEO skills takes time (and a little patience).
The good news is, if you understand just a few steps, you can confidently say, “Sure, I can write that SEO post for you!”
And today, I’ll give you all the goodies without the headaches.
Sound good?
Let’s go…
1. Answer Online Reader’s Burning Questions
Google, Bing, and Yahoo are the go-to search engines people turn to when they need an answer to any and all kinds of questions as quick as a wink. These search engines help their users solve problems and make informed purchases, while providing hours of joy to the curious types.
Everyone is “Googling” to get answers these days. And, when you write content, one of your primary goals is to provide a good answer to a burning question.
How your potential reader searches for the answer you provide is what you’re looking to match in your content — using keywords.
There are two kinds of keywords:
- The primary keyword is what your searcher types into the search engine. It’s also the subject of your post.
- Secondary keywords are related to the subject (primary keyword). They lay the breadcrumbs search engines follow to understand your content better and to help more people find you (because not everyone uses the same search terms).
So, the Googlebots that “crawl” your post say, “Aha! I know what this post is about and who would want to read it.”
For example:
If you type “how to make money blogging” into a search engine, posts will appear for ways to make money blogging like this:
These posts, ranked two and three on page one of Google, are optimized to snag a page one ranking in the search engine for that term.
When you’re given a content brief to write an SEO-optimized article, you’ll often see one primary keyword and several secondary keywords.
We’ll discuss how you should place those keywords, as we go through the content structure.
2. Write the Link Your Reader Clicks
The link your reader clicks on a search engine results page is called a title tag.
When you write your SEO title, aim for 70 characters or less. If it’s longer, it will get truncated, and searchers won’t see part of it.
Title tips:
- Place your primary keyword in the title — ideally, at the start of the title.
- Use click-through-rate boosters (CTR boosters). You can boost the chances of earning a click by phrasing your title as a question, by leading with a number, or by evoking curiosity.
- Use a free tool like SEOScout to check the length of your title to make sure it fits the character space limit. A truncated title is clickable, but it looks unprofessional (which leads to fewer clicks).
Let’s look at some examples:
11 Email Copywriting Tips That Convert Like Crazy (+ Examples)
This title leads with a number, followed by the keyword “email copywriting,” and then finishes with the eye-catching (+ Examples).
The parentheses and the plus symbol can work as CTR boosters.
Here’s another example:
How to Write an Ebook: 21 Dumb Mistakes to Avoid in 2022
“how to write an ebook” is the keyword, placed at the beginning. The title includes CTR boosters — a colon, a number, AND the year.
One more example:
Again, the keyword is at the beginning. And the title includes CTR boosters — a colon and the year. Writing posts that feature the year is attractive to readers, as they feel they’re getting up-to-date info. Even better, the title includes “free,” which is a fantastic trigger word.
Before we move on, spending 20% of your writing time on your title isn’t unusual. It takes time to master fitting your message into few characters.
3. Write an Opening That Grabs Rankings
If you can do it naturally, include the primary keyword phrase in the first 100 words of the post (while keeping it inviting for your reader).
For example:
This is a strong opening that seamlessly includes the keyword in the first sentence and adds intrigue… what’s different?
4. Write Subheads That Keep the Post Flowing
Placing the primary and secondary keywords in your subheads continues to lay down breadcrumbs for the search engine to follow.
For your main subheads, style your subhead as an H2 in your Word or Google document.
For subheads that highlight supporting points under one of your main subheads, set the style to H3.
Aim to use your primary keyword in your first and last main subhead. Sprinkle secondary keywords into your other subheads wherever they fit naturally.
5. Place Secondary Keywords in the Body
If you’re writing naturally about your topic, you’ll find your secondary keywords tend to appear in your copy without a lot of thought or effort. But, read through to make sure you aren’t missing opportunities to weave in those secondary keywords.
6. Add Closing Text
In the last paragraphs of your piece, be sure to work in the primary keyword phrase. But again, make sure it reads naturally. You’re laying down breadcrumbs for the search engines, but you don’t want to sacrifice the reader’s experience while doing so.
7. Add an FAQ to Your Post
Depending on the keywords, it may be a challenge to work some of them into your piece in a natural way. You can overcome that problem by offering an FAQ toward the end of your piece.
Here’s an example using the “how to make money blogging” keyword phrase:
The post has seven subheads that give actionable guidance, such as writing ebooks, online courses, and affiliate marketing. The following keywords would clutter the post:
how do you make money blogging?
do bloggers make money?
how do you start your own blog for free?
The writer added these keyword questions as FAQs. That enabled him to keep his writing quality high, and still include all the keywords.
The best place to insert an FAQ is before the close.
For example:
This transition example does double-time, as it also tells the reader they’re almost done. The FAQ is followed by a brief close that includes the call-to-action.
8. Add Graphics That Are Informative
You don’t have to become an artist to jazz up your posts and break up the text in a way that adds interest for your reader (which amounts to their spending more time on your website).
For example:
- Use simple screenshots for examples, just as I’ve done with this post.
- Insert free images from stock photo providers like Pixabay or Unsplash.
- Create and insert graphs using a free tool like Canva.
- Insert YouTube videos. These are SEO gold, as they increase the reader’s time on your post. This tells Google your post is answering the reader’s questions.
Writing SEO Content Isn’t Rocket Science
The search engines and your reader will follow the “keyword breadcrumbs” you drop.
If you follow these eight tips, you’ll help your content to be easily recognized by search engines and more useful to your readers.
You might find you want to go deeper into becoming an SEO content expert.
But for now, start applying what you learned here to improve your own website and to dazzle your clients with your new SEO knowledge.
