Content optimisation has more to it than you think.
To understand how to optimise your content, we first need to understand how optimisation works. It’s the key to any problem, really – see how it works, so you know how to tweak it to your advantage.
Let’s start with the fact that it is easier and simpler to explain what optimisation is not. Optimisation isn’t simply throwing in tons of keywords here and there and hoping someone clicks on it. And it is not pushing out hoards of hastily-written content either.
So what is optimisation? How can a writer use it to their advantage? How can it be done efficiently?
The simple answer: Search Engine Optimisation or SEO.
The more complicated answer is as follows; when you know what steps to take, writing becomes more than just a string of words but instead clickable content optimised for SEO. Adding an SEO stage when creating content for the web is great and will be beneficial for website performance today and in the future.
Learn more about how you can optimise your content through this guide.
SEO-friendly content is a text written in an artful way that search engines love. By love, we mean understandable by an algorithm.
It sounds complicated, but it really isn’t, we swear.
To put it simply, SEO-friendly content helps the search engine connect a question to an answer. The question is usually something searched on Google. So if someone searches, “What is the best Italian restaurant near me?” or “How to build a shed?”, SEO helps a search engine find the best answer to these questions. The search engine then displays the most relevant information by placing it at the top of the page.
And because the article is the top search result, people are more likely to click on it than say an article on the 10th page of the site.
Using this to your advantage, SEO can help you be at the top of the search engine, so traffic will be directed towards you.
It’s a pocket-friendly way of advertising!
The key metric to measure the success of your content is organic traffic. Once you have that, your website will most likely be performing positively.
Where does SEO come in?
SEO comes in to help push organic traffic even further. It helps readers find the article in the first place and stay for as long as possible to, hopefully, click on one of the links on the piece of content. And by optimising your content, you are able to reap the benefits of the text written.
Here are some of the many benefits SEO-friendly content can do:
Now that you know the benefits, are you convinced that SEO is the way to go? We sure do hope so! Keep reading to find out how to optimise your content and have SEO-friendly text.
In this article, you will get a run-down of how to create SEO-friendly content to bring more traffic over to your website ano bring more value to the audience you’re catering to.
What is keyword research?
Research is the foundation of any job or technique and SEO isn’t any different. Keyword research should be the start of your SEO process and is the key to successful organic content distribution.
What are keywords?
Keywords are the phrases or words people enter into search engines to find an answer or more information about anything under the sun.
Although not the end-all-be-all of SEO as others may think, understanding the keywords people are searching for helps you:
To start, ask yourself what a user might search to find your content.
Choosing a primary keyword
When writing a piece of content, it’s tempting to shove every single keyword you find to fully optimise the text. Sadly, this is not how things work and can lead to unreadable and less comprehensive content.
To avoid this, select a primary keyword and use that as a focal point for your article. It becomes the main focus of your article, so to speak.
Select secondary keywords
Additional keywords can be used to optimise your content further and should be closely related to the chosen primary keyword. In this way, you can insert more keywords without compromising the focus of the article.
Now that you have identified the keywords, you can now plug them into your work. Writers have different methods of doing so but a general rule of thumb is to put keywords where they seem natural and never out of place.
If the keyword doesn’t fit in the paragraph, remove it!
What is search intent?
Search intent is what users are trying to accomplish with searching through Google or any other search engine. This means, if a user is looking for an answer to a question, a search engine’s algorithm helps the query along so the user finds their answer immediately.
So as someone optimising SEO, your text should convey the correct search intent for a keyword. Search intent can be:
Some indicators can help when identifying the keyword, such as featured snippets, people also ask, site links, and various types of ads.
Once you’ve figured out the search intent, you can now angle your article to the search’s purpose.
Once you’ve written your article, you now need to figure out your meta title.
An article always has two headings. The first is your H1 tag that serves as your title and shows up on the page, and a meta title or description that is viewed as a snippet of the article when viewed on a search engine.
Both tags should have your primary keyword, even though they aren’t identical.
For H1 tags, they should be catchy and unique! Differentiate your title from others on similar search pages.
Although H1 tags are important and should be eye-catching, meta descriptions are integral for SEO. This is because the meta title acts as an introduction to the content of your article. So if your meta title isn’t great, your audience will most likely not click on it. In essence, these descriptions are the primary piece of information that determines whether or not a person will click on your article and visit the website.
Here are some basic rules for meta titles to incorporate into your work:
These are the basics of writing compelling SEO articles. With this guide, you will be able to optimise your articles to the best of your ability.
With all the details you need to remember for titles, meta descriptions, keywords, and finally the content itself, its essential to remember to keep the article fun and creative. At the end of the day, people will want to read fun, informative articles.
Smarter Media is a digital growth agency using our Smarter Approach to help your business grow digitally. Working side by side with our clients, we use our ‘Smarter Way’ Process to create a plan that delivers results and our ‘Smarter Promise’ to do what we say we will. For a more comprehensive look at SEO, or to find out how you can achieve a better ROI with SEO & Paid Media working side by side, set an appointment with Smarter Media today!
Still unsure which SEO Management Company to work with, you can talk to an SEO expert at Smarter Media about it. If you are ready to ask serious questions and take the definitive step towards online business success, feel free to get in touch on 01793 292 171 or hello@smarter-media.co.uk today.
