How to Write for SEO
We write a TON of SEO-related content for clients. The point of SEO is really twofold: to please the bots (Google) and to please the reader (give them the answer they want).
SEO writing is not about adding a ton of pointless content (although sometimes it can seem like that’s part of it.
Instead, it’s about making sure both bots and humans are happy.
So how do you do both?
It’s pretty simple really.
Headline: You need to have a killer headline that includes the keyword(s) you’re trying to rank for and is super clickable. The bots will look at the keywords. Humans will decide if they want to click.
Intro: You want a short intro (3-5 sentences) to get things rolling.
Key Info: Right at the top, you want the key information. Maybe this is a strong CTA (if a product page). Maybe it’s a section designed to rank for a featured snippet. Maybe it’s a bolded 1-2 sentence answer to the question the page is optimized to rank for. The point is, you want this right at the top.
Other Info: From there, you can go ahead and backfill the rest of the article with information about the topic. You continue to put the most important info toward the top and add the less important information on the bottom. When adding this other info, you want to use various methods to break up the text. Some of the most common:
- Subheadings
- Bullet pointed lists
- Videos
- Images
- Callout
- Accordians
Here’s the thing: when is the last time you read everything in an article on the web? Maybe if you joined a paid newsletter you might (hopefully I’ll get you to read this….hey, I can dream!).
People don’t usually read full articles online, so make the information as easy to extract as possible.
If you combine this with quality technical/keyword-based SEO, you’re going to win.
Until Next Time,
Tyler @ Analytive
