30 second summary:
- By using a range of techniques to optimize your content, you can make your written text easier for search engines and users to use
- Taking the time to plan your content topics and doing extensive keyword research can have a big impact on performance
- Understand the role of accessibility in written content and the importance of providing as much context as possible
You should always write for your users first, but you can still implement SEO best practices while doing so
Content optimization is essential because it helps users and search engines easily understand your written text. In addition to this, there are tons of other advantages you can gain by optimizing your content. You can increase engagement rates, gain links, generate brand recognition, and appear as an expert in your field. Also improve your organic search rankings.
Sounds good, right?
Let’s see how you can benefit from all this, and more, by effectively optimizing your content.
Think about your topic
Before you write Before content, you need to decide what topics you will be covering. It sounds obvious, but it’s worth thinking about. Spending some extra time planning will help you identify specific topics and talking points that can be discussed. This will help shape your keyword research, which plays a huge role in creating SEO-friendly content.
At this stage, it’s worth thinking about what you want to focus on. You want the topic to be broad enough that you can craft detailed content about it, but not so broad that you can’t cover everything.​​​ You may need to split the topic into multiple articles. Or, if your subject is too vague, you may need to focus on something more specific.
Do detailed keyword research
Keywords Research has always been an important part of producing quality content. It is the foundation of content production and ensures that you rank for relevant keywords that have a good chance of competing. There are several different types of keywords you should be aware of when doing keyword research.
Short-tail keywords
Short-tail keywords, also known as head or main keywords, consist of up to three word composition. These keywords usually have a large volume, but because of this, they are highly searchable and therefore highly competitive.
Because these keywords have broad search intent, they should be used with more precise keywords to give users and search engines a clear idea of ​​what your page is about of.
Long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords are terms composed of more than three keywords, which are shorter than Tail keywords are more specific. These keywords generally have lower search volume but also lower search difficulty, which means they are less competitive.
These keywords are important because they allow you to target the exact search intent of your users. A user searching for the short-tail keyword “motorcycle” may be trying to buy a motorcycle, find more information about a model, or just see a picture of a model.
A long-tailed variation of this search could be “motorcycle helmet with bluetooth speaker,” which narrows the user’s search intent to very specific products.
LSI keywords
LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords are loosely related to your head keywords keywords. While these keywords are related to your main keywords and overall theme, they are not necessarily directly related.
Instead, they are used for theming to establish a broader topic depth and clarify what the overarching topic of the content for search engines and users is. If your short-tail keywords are the trunk of a tree and your long-tail keywords are branches, then your LSI keywords are branches.
LSI keywords branch off from the main keyword, but are still relevant enough to provide additional context and information. These can be a little hard to find, but by using the suggested search
Local keywords
These keywords are not always relevant, but if you want to improve your ranking for local terms, Then including local keywords is essential.
Fortunately, this is much easier than implementing other keywords. You simply add your location to your content along with your main keywords. But remember, don’t stuff keywords for keywords’ sake! Try to mix and use as many variations as possible.
People also ask (PAA) Key phrases
Likes
The suggested search function, the common people also ask function is an excellent way to get related keywords and phrases. These are phrases that users have searched for before, so we know they have value and have good search volume.
So how can we use this to our advantage?
By creating content specific to these queries, you will increase your chances of appearing on search engine results pages for these terms.
Best of all, these questions are often different from the primary keywords you typically target. This means your content will be more diverse and unique, and will specifically target the pain points your audience is looking for.
Always write for users first
Nowadays people browse There’s more content than ever, so it’s important to keep it short, lively, and engaging. Gone are the days of writing exclusively for search engines, and Google’s recent helpful content update has really cemented that.
This update highlights the importance of writing for users first. Your focus should be on creating engaging, informative, and understandable content. Then you can always finish your work and make tweaks and edits to optimize SEO best practices.
Be careful not to make it too mechanical, as search engines can find keyword stuffing away from within a mile! Keep it fluid and try to insert your keywords in a natural way; both users and search engines will love it.
Add alt text to your image
If You include images in your articles (you should), then adding alt text is crucial. Alternate text is a written copy that describes the image to users who cannot see or load the image.
First, alternative text is a core principle of web accessibility for visually impaired users. Its secondary function is to provide additional context and descriptions to search engine crawlers, allowing them to properly index images.
Since some images contain key information or provide context to the rest of the page, it is critical to take the time to write appropriate alt text. By doing this, you will adhere to accessibility standards and improve your SEO at the same time.
Remember internal and external links
Another One way to optimize your content is to include both internal and external links.
Internal links can be used to take users to relevant, closely related pages that will provide them with more information they may be looking for. This makes it easier for users to navigate your site and helps create a strong site structure.
External links are also useful because they can be used to point to external data and information sources to back up your content. Using valuable external links increases the authority of your content in the eyes of search engines.
Just make sure you keep a healthy balance of follow and unfollow links on your external tabs.
Consider site speed
Site speed is in search It’s always important when it’s good in the engine. No one likes a slow website, and users are more impatient than ever waiting for it to load. Even an extra second of load time can drive some users away and cause them to bounce off your site.
You should regularly check your website speed and make sure your website is running well. Consider removing unnecessary code and compressing large images, as these are common factors that slow down your website.
Break down your content
Imagine you land on a Web pages, the first thing you see is a wall of text with no paragraphs, headings, or subheadings. It won’t completely appeal to you, will it?
If your content is broken down into digestible chunks, users are more likely to consume your content. This makes it easier for them to quickly get the information they are looking for.
It also gives you the opportunity to weave your keywords into the title and subtitle, which is great for search engines. It’s a win-win!
Keep up to date
Remember that even if you Having written a well-written, SEO-friendly article, hard work doesn’t stop there. Google loves it when you go back and update existing content because it shows you’re keeping your site up to date.
Are there any new developments that affect the topic of your post? Or maybe you can explore a new angle with some new data? If you can somehow update your article and add information that will benefit your users, it’s worth taking the time to do so.
Enjoy the benefits of optimized content
Now that you know How to optimize your content, you will have a better chance of ranking for your chosen keywords. In addition to this, your users are more likely to stay on your website longer, increasing your engagement rate and the time spent consuming your content.
As a result of consistently producing high-quality content, you may find that your site is attracting more links from external sources. This will improve your domain authority and help you become a trusted and authoritative source of information.
So if you’re looking for ways to give your content a boost, consider implementing some of these tips into your writing. It’s not always possible to include everything we’ve mentioned here, but if you write for your users first and pay attention to keywords, you’ll be on the right track.
Rob Phillips is the Digital Manager at Coast Digital.
Subscribe to the Search Engine Watch newsletter for insights on SEO, the search environment, search marketing, digital marketing, leadership, podcasts, and more.
Join the conversation with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
