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What Really Matters In SEO Content

 

A while ago we thought that the phrase “content is the king” was gone forever, but it seems like it has started appearing again in the SEO world. Also, when you consider the saying that “content is queen,” it makes sense to say that content is very important—to the extent that we have a new sub-industry in the SEO world—SEO content writing.

Also known as “SEO copywriting,” SEO experts have had a problem with SEO content writing, particularly because of keyword stuffing and failure to provide value to the reader. Although this is a bit of a stereotype than reality, you should note that there’s a need to go beyond keywords to creating high-quality content, which is SEO friendly and attracts new clients.

What’s up with the need for high-quality content?

Here, the main focus is basically on “high-quality” content—and these terms are becoming more subjective every other minute. Because of this, we’ve had questions like:

  • What is high-quality SEO content comprised of?
  • Is the content measurable?
  • Can the content be recreated repeatedly?

Here’s, the formula:

Keyword research + on-page SEO + good writing = high-quality content

What’s Beyond Keyword Research?

In SEO, it is important to understand that you don’t need the formula to be consistent with writing great SEO content. When you excessively depend on vigorous keyword research, as well as on-page SEO, you will end up creating “dry content,” that appeals only to search engines rather than your target audience.

Understanding the art of good SEO content writing can make the much-needed difference between creating a flow of dedicated customers and attracting a couple of website visitors.

With that said, there’s an amazing opportunity between “content” and “creative content.” The secret here lies between going past keyword research and understanding how you can use words to attract traffic, as well as drive conversions.

Doing Keyword Research the Right Way

Although this post talks more about going past keywords, it’s important to discuss the level of keyword research needed before moving into creating content. One thing about keywords is that they are a static component of SEO content—however, they should not be as important as traditionally perceived.

  • First, the approach that you use to create new content must fit in your current SEO strategy. Although this is a no brainer, it’s a prevalent issue when it comes to creating SEO content.
  • For example, most business owners and SEO experts normally export copywriting—and there is normally a little collaboration with the writer on the keywords that should be used. Also, even if keywords are provided, there is a possibility that the writer will not understand the basics of using keywords when writing past “keyword density.” As a result, the writer ends up creating in-cohesive content, that’s not SEO-friendly.
  • Second, when doing keyword research for new content, it is important to look past the data. Yes, it’s true that SEO tools can give you tons of information when it comes to competition level and search volume, but, can these tools give us the information we need to know the kind of content that’s engaging to readers? By conducting a Google search on your target phrase and seeing the post titles that come up, as well as the comments and social shares they get, you will get an idea of the content that’s attracting users, and also tempting them to engage.
  • Finally, SEO experts, as well as copywriters tend to spend a lot of time looking into a term that they think are relevant—and they don’t even take some time to see how the whole picture looks like.

Although great SEO can boost your rankings, there are several other factors that you need to consider, like:

  • Does your audience read the entire post?
  • Do they share your content?
  • Do they opt to use your CTAs?

This should be your main focus when it comes to SEO content creation. Make sure that you have an outline in addition to your keyword research. This will help you to avoid skipping the essential things—which will assist you to drive conversions.

Organize Yourself

How often do you create new content whenever a new idea pops up into your mind?

Yes, you might be a fan of creating new content whenever you are inspired, but you need to have a structure for your content right from the start. Content that’s not organized doesn’t have a good conversion rate.

It’s important to note that there is a big difference between writing with a conversational tone and writing based on the ideas that cross your brain. What you should note is that there is a way in which you can capture your creative flow, while still creating content that will attract readers and eventually convert.

First, you will need to create an outline of your page or post, and this should include your title and sub-headings. Then, you should organize your content into different sections, which are cohesive, and make sure that you keep your readers interested.

Next, you should determine if, and where the content fits into your site, as well as the purpose that it will serve. You can also go a step further to determine the external links that you will use. Having a good plant assists in the general organization of your content, and also ensure that the content fits into the framework of your current website.

Make Sure That Your Content Stays On-Brand

There is one element of SEO content writing that is rarely discussed—branding. Today, more and more SEO experts are becoming aware of the connection between SEO and greater marketing strategy—and this shows how branding can play a big role in the success of your business.

When we talk about branding, there’s no exception in your website content. That’s the reason why it can tricky to hire a copywriter who’s not conversant with your industry or brand. Hiring such person risks shifting your overall writing tone and become inconsistent with the rest of your brand message—and the interesting thing is, readers can pick even the slightest variations.

One way to make sure that you create an on-brand message, which remains aligned to your business is to make use of a language that you use throughout your entire websites, as well as marketing materials.

For example:

  • Does your brand use the word “driven” instead of “passionate?”
  • Are there components of your tagline that can be separated and used throughout your content?
  • Have you used a professional tone or conversational tone in your About Us page?

These are some of the things that can make all the difference you need when creating your content.

A good SEO copywriter can pick up the tone, message, and vocabulary used by one brand, and then use it the pages and posts. This ensures that the target audience doesn’t question who created the content, as well as the message in the content.

One-thing about on-brand content is that users can depend on one brand, so long as it’s consistent with its style of creating content—and this leads to trusts. If a reader trusts your brand and understands its primary mission, it means they are more likely to make a purchase.

Integrity and Genuineness Matter

These two look like fluffy words that don’t have a place in the world of SEO. However, integrity and genuineness drive more than traffic when it comes to content creation—these are the elements that draw the line when it comes to paying customers and website visitors.

Today, we have numerous SEO and marketing strategies that you can use to drive traffic to your page. However, the actions that users take when they get to your page is what matters. You cannot arm-twist your users to buy—you only need to be honest and genuine.

Users are becoming aware of shady marketing strategies—and the traditional ways of manipulation used by some people are no longer effective. If your website makes it clear about your brand message, the services that you provide, and how it can assist prospective customers, it has an upper hand against its competitors.

Therefore, you should make sure that you create authentic and honest content, which is aligned with your business’ ethics. Failing to do so will make you lose your customers before they even convert.

Research about Your Target Audience

Creating good SEO content is not just about writing about what you believe your target audience wants to read but listening that what they need to know. You need to ask yourself the following questions when creating content:

  • Are you in sync with the needs of the users?
  • Are there any questions in the comment section that you need to address?
  • Does your content cover their common concerns, as well as pain points?

When you do that, you will be able to create solid content, which will meet the immediate needs of the users, and also push them to seek your services.

Doing mere keyword research won’t be enough to let you see what users are searching for. When you use that as the basis of your content, you will just attract readers—and nothing else. However, if you manage to keep the users on your site for a bit longer by writing informative web content, there is a possibility that they will get hooked by your content from start until the end.

Moreover, if you engage with your users using a language that they understand, and then address their concerns, you are more likely to persuade them to fill out your contact form, call you, or subscribe.

If you have a challenge in coming up with engaging and fresh content ideas, you need to be intentional when it comes to paying attention to what your prospective customers and current customers are saying and asking for. Then, you can do a quick research on whether there are any websites that have addressed these issues, and how they have done it.

If you don’t snatch up these opportunities, and other businesses are, then you are losing a chance to make money.

Micro-Management Can Make the Much-Needed Difference

Well, most people agree with the fact that long-form content can be boring. Because of that, it’s a challenge to keep your readers engaged throughout your content. But, when you master the art of micro-management, you will be able to elevate your SEO content to another level.

When it comes to creating informative content that’s long, you should always consider trying some ways to keep the readers engaged. When we talk about micro-management in content creation, we talk about integrating different elements in your content to make sure that your readers continue scrolling, clicking, and reading more.

Now, this is where your understanding of your target audience comes into play—you should make sure that you have an idea of the type of content that keeps them engaged. A good method to check what works and what doesn’t is trying out various approaches and then looking at the end result.

The following are different ways to improve micro-management

  • Bulleted or numbered lists
  • Funny memes or GIFs
  • Interesting and informative videos
  • Surveys or quizzes
  • Infographics
  • Visually attractive design
  • Bold test
  • Blockquotes

Calls to action

  • (CTA)
  • Though-provoking questions
  • Examples
  • Stories
  • Helpful tips

Adding some of these ideas into your SEO content can make a significant difference. With time, you will start getting a clearer picture of what your target audience love, what keeps them engaged, as well as what attracts them to perform certain actions on your website. These ideas are not exhaustive—there are lots of freedom to be creative—and you will definitely love the results.

Never Ignore Content “Freshness”

When we talk of content freshness, we talk of fresh and new content on your site—but this goes way beyond that. You should also make sure that you are giving your readers unique ideas. So, how do you do that? By incorporating competitive analysis in your SEO content strategy.

When you scroll through any digital marketing or SEO website, you are more likely to find basic pages and posts like what is SEO? And the reasons why you need to hire an SEO expert, among others. These topics have saturated these websites, and the topics have been a point of discussion for a long time.

But, there is one thing that these websites, as well as other websites outside the SEO industry, have failed to do—conducting a proper competitive analysis when creating a new content idea. You will find that these websites are reworking and recreating the same content used by their competitors—which is not a good idea.

What you need to stay at the top is to check what your competitors are doing, and then going a step further to do it better. At times, this means doing a completely different thing. When you are about to create a fresh piece of content, just check to see what other people in your industry are doing, and then see how you can push that a step further.

Staying ahead of the curve is the best thing to do here.

Make Good Use of Data

It’s impossible to create good SEO content without putting data into consideration.

Today, we have numerous tools that can assist both business owners and SEO experts to monitor the content that performs better, and why. These tools assist in tracking conversions wherever users are doing an action and also seeing what works and what doesn’t. The data that’s collected indicates the kind of content that SEO experts can, as well as should write in the future.

When you continue monitoring your analytics, you will be able to have a good picture of the numbers of your traffic, as well as the time users, spend on your pages, bounce rate and other valuable metrics that show the performance of your content. These statistics will allow you to learn from the mistakes that you made, and also use the copy of the strategies that are working. If you don’t have this knowledge, then you are walking blind, and you will end up playing a guessing game, which is not good when it comes to content creation.

Following data during your content creation process will assist you to make sure that you are following the right track, and that using the above principles is working well for you.

Bottom Line

There is no shortcut when it comes to creating SEO content. However, there are basics that you should follow—create content addressing people, structure it for search engines, and then create an engaging experience, that’s bound to give you the traffic that you want.