What makes writing content for SEO different than writing content in general? SEO content writers would probably answer that the major difference is given by the keywords. The keywords can be words or phrases that represent the topic of the article and that are most frequently used by visitors when searching for information on the internet.
Keywords are the key
When writing content for SEO, it doesn’t matter how good a writer you are if you do not know how to choose, use, and place keywords, because your article will never be found and read by internet users. You can have the most exciting, well written and informative article; if it is buried at the bottom of the search listings, nobody will ever read it.
Search engines scan website content, and if they find the keywords the user has typed in the search box, your website will show up in the listings. Depending on the quality of the article, the keyword placement and density, the article will receive a ranking in the search listing: it might appear on the first page (the one everybody fights for), on the second page, or on the last. The higher the ranking, the more the chances your article will be read.
Keyword research
Writing content for SEO means more than just doing research on the topic and writing a beautiful text. It also means researching for the most relevant and frequently used keywords that have the lowest competition.
First, you have to search for a few keywords that are most suited for the article you want to write. They should be frequently searched for and as descriptive as possible. A long, descriptive keyword is better, because it reduces the number of search results and increases the chances that your article will have a high ranking.
Competition is another important thing to take into consideration. You should choose as a main keyword a phrase that has a low competition. To find out what your possible competition is, search for that keyword on the internet, and see how many search results you receive. The lower the results number, the better.
Keyword placement
After you have decided on the main keyword, and some secondary keywords, you have to place them in the text. Writing content for SEO implies putting beautiful and informative clothes on a keyword skeleton. This keyword skeleton has a head (the title), a neck (the introduction) a body (the text body), and feet (the ending). Therefore, the keyword has to be placed in the title, the first paragraph of the article, evenly throughout the body, and in the ending paragraph. If you use subtitles, something you’d better do, place your keywords in some subtitles too.
Keyword density
Besides the placement of the keywords, their density is of equal importance. A high density will signalize search engines the fact that the article is a valuable source of information for that keyword. Placing the keyword once every 100 words is a good strategy. It is also important not to overdo it. Stuff your text with keywords and the search engines will consider it spam!
If everything until now seemed very technical, here comes the artistic part. Keywords have to be placed naturally, so that sentences flow smoothly. This last part is what makes writing content for SEO an artistic activity that needs literary talent also.
