2. Writing SEO-friendly content is based
on two purposes –
• (1) Making the content search engine friendly
so that it its visibility on search engine
increases
• (2) Quality of the content so that it appeals to
the readers who will find it interesting enough
to like, share or comment.
3. • For most, these two things seem to be very
contradicting but I would like to differ. Earlier,
SEO-friendly content was all about having a high
density of keywords or related phrases that
would rank it better on the search engines. But
with Google’s release of three major algorithm
updates – Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird, the
way of optimising content has changed
considerably. Now it is only the quality of the
content that matters the most with little
importance given to keyword stuffing.
4.
5. • Looking back into the matter of the two contradictory goals
of making both the readers and search engines happy, we
can see that writing the perfect SEO article does not look
easy. But that it is not the case if you know how to combine
these two ideas in such a manner that it proves to be
efficient on both sides. Just like a good cook who creates his
signature dish with the perfect combination of ingredients; a
good SEO writer knows how to use the words to create
beautiful piece of content. Always remember that in the
end, it is the quality of the content that matters above all.
• A generous amount of quality and some pinch of quantity (or
keywords and phrases) and voila! You get the magical SEO
content that will make your marketing campaign
successful. Is it that easy? Let us find out.
6. What makes content good?
• Before optimising for search engines or making
it SEO-friendly what matters most is the
content itself. So what are the necessary
ingredients for content to be deemed good?
Remember we are talking about good here and
not something extraordinary. It is not
impossible to come up with good content. As
the purpose of SEO content is to market itself,
you need to be a good storyteller and grab the
attention of the readers.
7. Let us dissect and check out the
anatomy of good content.
• Heading/Title–This is the first thing that the
readers see and if you want to make them
read the rest of the article, the title/heading
should be very convincing. Otherwise the
whole purpose for writing the article would go
to waste.
8. • Write according to your audience – As a good writer
you should understand your audience and write
accordingly. If the content type does not match with
the audience, no one will share, like or comment. If
you are writing for the masses, it is always a good
habit to write in a simple and easy-to-read language.
But, if you are writing for a specific category of
people, always try to use the jargon and terms used
by the people in that profession, so that it appears to
be written by someone who knows about the field.
9. • Use facts to corroborate your ideas – Unless you are a
prominent person in your field of work, it is highly
important that you mention some references to the
ideas that you have mentioned on the article. This will
uphold the credibility of your article when readers find
that they are corroborated with the facts given on
credible and reputedsites.
• Give voice to your ideas – Sometimes ideas are
original and they need to be proven. So you have to
provide that voice in these ideas to make it convincing
to the readers. If they think that is unique and
something that is worth discussing, there is high
chance of it going viral.
10. How to make it SEO-friendly
• Now comes the dressing part; the way how we can turn this
good content into good SEO content. Let us look at the ways
how it can be done:
• Word count – Google is very finicky when it comes to word.
Write too short and it will not like it. While on the other hand,
if you make an article too long readers will not bother to read
it. A recent study on Google ranking based on word counts
have shown that Google loves articles which are above 1000
words and dislikes anything below 500. So if you want to make
Google happy, try writing wording than 1000.
11. • A picture is worth a thousand rankings –
Include images in the text. It not only makes
your article become lively but also it helps in
your ranking. How? You can optimise the
image with alt tags which will help in showing
your page in image searches also. Try to use
your own image or something which does not
have copyright.
12. • Sprinkling the keywords–Do not staff the meat
(text) with keywords. Just sprinkle it or dress it up
such that it is hardly noticeable. Make sure to use
the most important keywords and more
importance should be given to long tail keywords.
• Linking – Link your other pages with relevant
anchor texts. This way you will be interlinking your
page better and this also improves your ranking in
a large extent.