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Search engine optimization (SEO) content writing is content built for humans and structured for search engine algorithms. It aligns with your audience's intent and appeals to Google as content of high quality, helping you rank higher. When it works, SEO content writing makes you more discoverable and boosts your brand's relevance.
What Is SEO Writing?
SEO content writing, also known as SEO copywriting, is a method for creating web content to enhance search engine rankings. SEO content writers use language, structure, and layout to appeal to a web page's target audience — and the algorithms that decide where that content appears on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Why Does SEO Writing Matter?
Ranking higher in search results helps you capture more traffic. Moving up one spot on the SERP for a query can increase your click-through rate (CTR) by 2.8%, according to new Backlinko data. CTR measures the percentage of people who click on your link. Each step up makes a bigger difference, with the top position earning a click-through rate of 27.6%.
A higher search position also improves your chances of inclusion in AI Overviews, which appear at the top of the SERP. If you rank first, you have a 1 in 4 chance of being an AI Overview source. More visibility means more clicks, which translates to increased traffic.
Start With Search Intent
Optimizing your content for SEO involves meeting the needs of your target audience. It's a matter of learning as much as possible about that audience, then choosing topics that align with their needs. SERP results improve when those topics align with search intent.
Identify Target Query Types
To match content with intent, you need to know why people are searching. There are four basic types of searches:
- Informational: Searchers want to learn about a topic. High-ranking content is valuable, comprehensive, and trustworthy.
- Transactional: Searchers use words such as "buy" or "on sale," signaling a desire to make a purchase. Product pages can target these searches.
- Navigational: Searchers want to visit a specific website. Branded websites and review sites can do well.
- Commercial: Searchers are typically conducting research in preparation for a purchase. Results include comparison pieces, product guides, and how-to videos.
Your content might target one or more of these query types, depending on your goals.
Analyze the SERP
To learn more about your readers' search intent, conduct a Google search using a sample query that reflects their interests. The results will reveal what kind of information people are looking for in response to their questions.
Review high-ranking pages, looking at the format and approach of each result. Pay attention to the level of detail and type of information. Consider what's necessary to cover and identify topics that others aren't addressing. Filling those gaps will help you offer more value.
Conduct Keyword Research
The right keywords are pivotal when writing content for SEO. Google determines ranking results by comparing the language of a query with many different websites, looking for the highest-quality match.
You want to appear in search queries from your target audience, so you need to find what they're searching for.
Find Keywords That Match Intent
SEO-friendly content typically has three types of keywords:
- Primary keyword: One word or phrase that reflects the main topic of your content
- Secondary keywords: Multiple terms that relate to your primary keyword
- Long-tail keywords: Multi-word phrases that reflect a more specific intent, signaling a precise match
Using multiple related keywords helps you rank for more queries, while reinforcing the topic of your content. The best way to get started is with paid or free SEO tools, such as Ahrefs Keyword Explorer or Google Keyword Planner.
Establish Keyword Priorities
Once you've brainstormed keywords for your content, it's time to organize them by demand, difficulty, and value. High-demand keywords receive a high volume of searches. They have high traffic potential but may be more challenging to rank for.
Less competitive keywords may generate lower overall traffic but offer more strategic value for your business. Prioritize terms that will get the highest-interest traffic, but sprinkle in higher-difficulty terms to cast a wider net.
Build a Smart Outline
Outlining is essential in all content writing, especially when SEO is involved. It helps you provide the thorough answers Google and readers love, while also including all the necessary keywords.
Cover Topics, Entities, and FAQs
SEO content writing doesn't usually follow a "one piece, one idea" rule. You have a focus topic and keyword, as well as subtopics and related ideas you want to rank for.
A lot of content also includes something called an "entity," which is essentially a noun — a person, place, organization, or concept. Entities are too generic to rank for on their own, but you can use context to improve your chances. For example, if you want to capture people searching for Honda Civics, add a section to your outline titled "Average Price of Honda Civics in Chicago."
Finally, make sure your outline includes answers to frequently asked questions about your focus keywords and entities. You'll find ideas in SERPs under "People Also Ask."
Map Sections to Buying Stage
People searching for your content may have needs at all stages of the buyer's journey. Consider which sections of your outline are best suited for each stage, and include language that targets those needs.
Most SEO content will target one buying journey stage more than others, but it's essential to address the others, as well. Aim to have at least one paragraph for each of the following stages:
- Awareness: The consumer knows they have a need.
- Consideration: They start researching potential solutions.
- Decision: They refine their options and make a choice.
When in doubt, address later-stage needs near the end of your piece. You don't have to be obvious — just a nod toward solution options or decision-making can be helpful.
Make On-Page Optimizations
When you first start thinking about SEO and content writing, it's easy for the wordsmithing aspect to take over. That's important, but there are also technical elements to include.
Create Metadata and Refine Structure
SEO depends on elements called "meta tags" — a short description and a shorter title that describe the content on the SERP. Writing SEO-friendly meta tags can help you boost your search engine ranking and increase website traffic.
Include a version of your focus keyword in your metadata, but make sure it fits. Don't "stuff" the keyword where it sounds awkward. Google will notice, and it may hurt your ranking. That's Keyword Placement 101.
It can also help to include your primary keyword in the page's main title, headings, and subheadings. SEO pros call these H1s, H2s, and H3s because they tell Google and readers how your subtopics relate. Internal links help to connect topics and subtopics to your broader website, and so do descriptive URLs for each page.
Look for Schema Opportunities
Website builders use coded tags, or structured data, to tell Google more about a page. This data, also known as schema markup, explains the function of specific website elements and how they relate to one another. Think of it as translating human language for an algorithm.
Schema markup can help your SEO content appear more prominently in rich results, including image and product searches. If you tag key business information, such as services or hours, you make it easier for Google to highlight relevant information in search results. Using schema may require extra exploration of technical SEO, but it's worth the effort.
Format for Readability and User Experience
Every aspect of SEO content writing, including technical SEO, is about connecting with your audience. Providing valuable content is job number one, but to do that, you need to format your content in a way that makes it easily digestible.
Structure for Scannability
Web users tend to skim content before they read it. Dense paragraphs can deter people before they fully engage, while scannable content draws them in and encourages them to read more.
Use your outline to structure your content logically, with descriptive headings and subheadings. Keep your sentences and paragraphs concise, using bulleted lists to highlight related points. You can also break up blocks of text with images and pull quotes — direct quotes indented or otherwise set apart from the main content.
Use Plain Language and Inclusive Formatting
When more people can read and understand your content, your potential customer base increases. It's essential to keep your content accessible to all, using straightforward language and a reading level suitable for sixth to eighth grade, according to the Bureau of Internet Accessibility.
Remember that people with impaired sight or hearing may interact with your content. Engage them by including captions in videos and enhancing images with alternative text, also known as alt text, which describes the visual content for screen readers.
Integrate Multimedia To Boost UX and Rankings
Images and videos can make your content more engaging for all users. If you're working on getting traffic to your blog, see what happens when you add images, video, or audio streams. These features can increase dwell time on your page and help visitors understand your content on multiple levels.
Multimedia can affect page load time, which can frustrate users. Avoid potential slowdowns by incorporating technical SEO elements into your content creation. Popular media optimization techniques include:
- Image compression: Reducing the size of your media files so they load faster
- Lazy loading: Fully loading images starting at the top of the page, because that's what users see first
- Blurring up: Loading a lower-quality image until the rest of the page loads, then letting it sharpen
Remember your standard accessibility modifications — alt text, captions, and transcripts for videos.
Writing Techniques of High-Performing Pages (With Examples)
Original content is essential, but that doesn't mean you have to reinvent the wheel. Examine the structures and formats that have been successful for other websites, and use them as starting points.
Lead With the User Problem
Imagine yourself in the reader's shoes. What problem do they need help solving? Acknowledge their struggle early in the content, then proceed to deliver clear solutions and proof.
For example, when Compose.ly took on SEO writing for Casebook, a social services management company, writers prioritized empathy. They wrote clear, actionable content about topics such as challenges in child welfare, opening with this paragraph:
Children’s safety depends on child welfare systems that work. The problem is that most caseworkers are overwhelmed with massive caseloads and have to rely on outdated processes that make their jobs nearly impossible.
The piece goes on to describe potential solutions to five significant challenges, incorporating the client's solution as a key ingredient.
Use Original Insights, Data Points, and Credible Citations
Today's readers expect content to earn their trust. When writing for the City University of Seattle, or CityU, Compose.ly integrated higher education statistics from sources such as the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics and Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce. These sources supported content explaining the benefits of pursuing a degree as an adult.
Credible data can enhance almost any topic, especially those with a high potential impact on users' lives — health and finance, for example. Google scans these topics for signs of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, or EEAT for short.
Follow a Pattern
Certain types of SEO content writing have standard formats you can use as guides. A few of the most popular are:
- Ultimate guide: Comprehensive coverage that serves as an internal hub, linking out to other resources
- Buying guides: Product comparison and best-of-category pieces that counteract objections, include side-by-side tables, and provide clear calls to action
- Case studies: Client success stories including methodology information, measurable outcomes, and lessons learned
Use these frameworks to streamline your content creation, meet reader expectations, and effectively structure your content strategy.
Publish, Measure, Improve: Turning Content Into Compounding Gains
Every piece of SEO content you publish should give you information for next time. Review your strategy by tracking key performance indicators, such as:
- Impressions: The number of times your link appeared in search
- CTR: The percentage of SERP viewers who clicked on your link
- Positions: Your page's SERP ranking
- Time on page: The average time a visitor spends on your page
- Scroll depth: How much of your content people view before leaving the page
- Conversions: How often a visitor completes a targeted action, such as purchase or subscription
If the numbers aren't coming out in your favor, consider polishing some of your older content. You can update low-performing pieces, or it might be time to prune some pages and redirect visitors elsewhere.
Optimizing your link strategy can also help. Look for opportunities to obtain links from other sites and internally link to relevant pages. Both can help Google assess the value of your page.
Ready To Scale SEO Writing That Ranks and Converts?
SEO website content writing involves many moving pieces, but it's an essential element in a well-rounded content marketing strategy. Fortunately, you don't have to do it alone.
Compose.ly is here with content writing services that help you rank higher. Whether you need optimized content, keyword suggestions, content planning, or all of the above, we can take the challenges of optimization off your hands. Hire professional SEO writers today and see what optimization can do for your business.
