Are you still “baking” SEO articles on your blog, but can’t find yourself in the TOP positions in Google? Or maybe you’ve been dreaming about writing for a long time, but everything seems too complicated?
Indeed, in both cases, many forget that content should be aimed primarily at humans, not just at Google’s mysterious algorithms. And this means that not only good keyword analysis is important when writing, but also the relevance, practicality, illustrations, headlines of the topic.
Believe me, Google Crawlers (or otherwise Google Crawlers, which you can read about here ) will be sure to notice when hundreds, or even thousands, read, comment, share, and quote your content. You say it’s hard to achieve? In this article, we’ll share our experiences with creating SEO content and outline the basic steps on how to do it.
What is an SEO article?
This is written content based on in-depth keyword analysis that can be understood and identified by Google’s algorithms. At the same time, it’s engaging, engaging news that readers want to comment on, share, and quote.
It is important to identify that there are several types of SEO articles:
- SEO articles on blogs are usually very specific, topic-specific content that is often quite practical.
- SEO articles for linkbuildinim. These are articles with an active link that helps us rank higher in the category or product we want. When we publish such an article, we do not aim to rank it, our goal is to improve the position of the next page we want with the help of the links in the article.
In this text, we’ll talk more about SEO texts on blogs and provide steps on how to create an article that ranks in the top positions on Google.
Is SEO copywriting different from classic text creation?
And yes and no.
If this question had been asked about 5 years ago, probably most SEO professionals would have answered yes.
In fact, there was not enough attention paid to SEO texts in our market at the time: they were mostly written for linkbuilding purposes, SEO article writers added a lot of exact keywords to them, the link was always in the headline, and the length of such text did not exceed 700 words. – whatever the topic.
Today, however, we can see that SEO content is becoming more and more interesting, relevant and less congested with keywords. Why did this happen?
Simply put, many world-renowned SEO experts (such as Neil Patel, Brian Dean) have started talking loudly about the need for content to be created for PEOPLE rather than search engines – because their involvement is one of the most important aspects of achieving top 10 positions on Google.
This may sound quite simple, but actually earning readers’ applause is far more difficult than “baking” traditional SEO texts.
Today, a good article must be interesting, but at the same time easy to read, relevant, but at the same time original; practical but wait .. it can never be boring!
And where else is the famous EAT model, which proclaims that only expert, authoritative and reliable content can occupy high positions. Doesn’t this apply to all written content, articles at all? So when writing SEO articles one should keep all this in mind.
The key difference we notice when creating SEO written content is the keyword search. Copywriters or journalists who write for news portals rely primarily on the criteria outlined above. An SEO specialist without relevance, expertise, reliability, first of all, must make sure that the topic has enough searches – we will talk about this in more detail a little later.
Why is it important to create for people?
We will not be surprised to say that the reactions of readers, shares, comments, quotations of other experts on the Internet are like virtual points that describe the goodness of the content. They add up and this is ultimately reflected in the TOP 10 of Google results.
However, according to world-renowned SEO expert Neil Patel , in SEO processes, it is important to understand that not only the quantity but also the quality of the pages that cite you is very important. So if you want to be visible on Google, think about what content your colleagues, various experts, or even the media would like to cite when writing an article?
It could be an interview with an interesting person, a recipe for an incredibly delicious brownie cake, a thorough market research, or a first-person comment based on your professional experience.
10 Basic SEO Content Development Principles
While the saying “create for a person” may sound abstract enough, in reality the SEO content creation process can be put into sufficiently precise and consistent steps. In this part of the article, we will present them.
1. Analyze your keywords thoroughly
Anyone who has had the opportunity to create written content will agree that generating a theme and main idea is the hardest part of the creative process. At this point, we can only say that creating SEO content makes it even harder to do so.
Imagine a situation where you come up with a damn interesting topic, ideas just come to mind, but after checking the SEO keyword search, you see: no one is looking for such a keyword.
How many searches are enough?
It depends on what market you are working with. Since the number of searches in Lithuania is not large compared to the major markets, we would recommend considering a keyword with 300 searches per month. Completely different figures are in major markets such as the United Kingdom, Germany or even the same Poland. What to talk about in the US. The searches there are definitely bigger.
To find out the number of searches, we highly recommend using the Ahrefs tool, which you can try for as little as $ 7 for the first 7 days. This program for SEO analysis has even more useful features that are very useful to reach the heights of Google.
If you haven’t heard anything about Ahrefs so far, Backlinko has prepared a detailed article on this tool, so feel free to read on!
2. Don’t overload your text with targeted keywords
A good decade ago, renowned copywriter Brian Clark said that in SEO texts, the main keywords should not make up more than 5.5% of the total text. That sounds incredible today: that means there shouldn’t be more than 55 direct keywords in a 1000-word text!
However, the trends are changing and in 2021 we would suggest using them much less. Look for synonyms, try to paraphrase – Google is smarter than you think, so synonyms and cohesive, keyword-free text will not only be more appealing to readers, but will also rank better on Google.
Below is an example of how the key keyword ‘coffee’ is used as many as 8 times in a small 4-sentence text – that’s really too much. Google may suspect that you are doing this specifically, so we encourage you to search for synonyms and paraphrase sentences to make them sound as natural as possible.
3. Analyze the Google TOP 10
Still, you shouldn’t blindly trust search alone. The intentions of the keywords themselves also vary, so far from all times your article has a chance to rank.
Let’s try to expand it deeper. Well, for example, you decide to write about coffee. When you check your keyword searches, you’re happy to have as many as 4,000 searches per month. But let’s look further. Only e-mails selling products are ranked in the TOP 10. Stores – Don’t see any article or blog.
According to an article on SEO copywriting by Yoast.com , Google wants to show its users what they want to see in the TOP 10, otherwise people will simply stop using this search engine. No matter how utopian it sounds, it is true. People who enter the keyword ‘coffee’ into the Google search box simply want to take action and buy it, but they’re not interested in the articles.
In this case, it is very important to understand what keyword types exist. Neil Patel distinguishes the following:
- Transactional or commercial are the keywords we see in our Google TOP results when we enter them into Google’s search engine. stores with product offerings (e.g. coffee, books, down jacket, lawn mower)
- Informational content is the keywords that a Google user seeks to find useful information for free. These are the keywords needed to create SEO texts (pregnancy, apple pie, coffee and cholesterol)
So if you want to write about coffee, you might want to consider the topic, “Coffee and Cholesterol,” which has 900 searches? Here are the Google TOP 10, which, as you can see, is made up of content alone. This keyword is appropriate for your blog.
4. Get to know your competitors
Once you’ve found the right keyword, we recommend that you don’t run away from the first page of the Google SERP . View articles written by TOP 10 competitors, their subtopics, length, titles. As mentioned, Google ranks what people want to see, so competitor analysis can be a great inspiration when planning your article.
5. The topic has to solve a certain problem
However, we don’t really encourage competitors to copy, on the contrary, we suggest looking for a specific corner for the topic presentation. However, when thinking about it, it is worth remembering that the main purpose of the blog text is to provide the reader with a solution in search of an answer to a particular question that arises for him.
Through our experience with content, we’ve seen that practical articles tend to rank higher. Well, like various recipes, tips, guides and so on. Remember, there is an infinity of content online, so people are looking for value.
6. The title will determine the readability of the article
In fact, we live in an era of clickbait banners. Some people are outraged, others are critical, but the truth is that controversial names still attract readers.
In no way do we encourage the reader to be deceived or manipulated, but time should be allowed for thinking about the title. First of all, the title should be intriguing, but also outline the essence of the article (because otherwise, the reader will just leave).
An article in the Search Engine Journal states that readers are attracted to certain statistics, numbers, a quote, or simply a question form used in the title. Such titles generate a better CTA score.
For example:
„TOP 99 el. Stores in Lithuania: What Platforms and Optimization Tools Do Leaders Use? ”
“SEB bank survey: 62 percent. people say they are interested in investing “
“Sugar substitutes – can they be sweet and healthy?”
It’s also important to remember to include the main keyword you choose in your name after performing a keyword analysis.
Also, it is always helpful to have multiple variations of article titles and test them. For example, send a newsletter with one name to half of your blog subscribers and a different one to others. You will then see which title encourages you to click more on the link and read the full article
7. H 1, H2, H3 – user satisfaction will depend on it
On the technical side, H1, H2, H3 are HTML codes for headings (you can read more about this in the Seo Sherpa article ).
In general terms, however, it is a larger font text that describes the main theme of the relevant part of the text. At school, we were taught to write in paragraphs. One paragraph had a statement, a statement, arguments, and a partial conclusion, and the entire essay had a single title, a title.
The principles of writing online are different. Today’s reader rarely reads the text from A to Z, he tends to scan the article and delve only into those parts that seem interesting to him. This is why headlines become essential when publishing articles online. If you don’t post them, you’re likely to face a high reader rejection rate, because when you see a solid text, it will simply be lazy to read it.
The main advice when writing the title of each part of the article is to try to summarize the main idea of that part as concisely as possible. This will make it easier for users to read and increase their satisfaction.
In addition, the headers H1, H2, H3 are useful when it comes to Google algorithms. A study by Moz found that headlines are the second most important ranking factor. So use headers and don’t forget to include the keywords you need in them.
8. Photos, videos – readers love dynamics
No matter how good an article you write, it won’t attract readers if it doesn’t look appealing. What do we mean by that? Before publishing the text, you need to think very carefully about the illustrations – this will encourage the reader to stay on your page longer and enrich the content you have prepared.
These can be photos, infographics, charts, tables, screenshots, various types of video material.
If you know graphic design and / or photography, you can create your own illustrations – this will give you a huge advantage over your competitors. Even if you are not a professional, there are endless tools in today’s world that you can use to create high-quality visualizations yourself. We recommend using the well-known Canva .
You can also use photos in photo caches. True, enough quality can be found and for free. Here are the sites we share:
When writing an SEO article, it is worth noting to properly optimize the illustrations. Use Alt tags and descriptions. You can read more about proper photo SEO optimization here.
9. Meta-title and description
If you take the time to think about the title of the article, you can feel free to use it as a meta-title tag. True, it should be remembered that the characters in it have a limited number. That is, if your meta-title is longer than 60 characters (with spaces), it won’t be visible at all, so it’s a good idea to keep that in mind when writing your title.
You can always check the length of your meta-title on this site.
A meta-description is usually an intriguing, interesting part of your article: maybe statistics, an interesting discovery, or maybe an unexpected conclusion? Put the most interesting sentence of your article in the meta-description. The optimal length of a meta-description should not exceed 160 characters.
10. Comments section – Give your readers a voice
If readers of your blog do not have the opportunity to comment on the article, we recommend that you install it. The ability to comment not only increases reader engagement, but also allows them to get to know them better. By seeing the questions they have, you’ll know what’s interesting to your audience and so you’ll be inspired by the new content.
In addition, there is also a social proof marketing strategy where people tend to rate content better when they see positive feedback from others. So we invite you not to be afraid to give your readers a voice, because you will win.
And finally. We don’t even doubt that applying these principles will be great for creating an article for your blog (this applies not only to bloggers, but also to e-commerce businesses that have an article section on their website).
However, it is important to understand that each market is different, so different article writing techniques apply to different articles. However, as we mentioned at the beginning, in order to see your content in TOP Google positions, the most important thing is to write to people, not to the Google mechanism. If people like your content, Google will definitely appreciate it.
Authors of the article: Simas Šarmavičius and Salomėja Galdikaitė.
I hope you enjoyed this article.
If you would like to consult for email marketing strategies or increasing traffic and sales in an SEO advertising channel, email me . Let’s grow together.
