SEO or Search Engine Optimization is important for a business to consider when developing their content strategy and creating or writing content for their website, blog, etc.
When it comes to SEO maybe you’ve heard people say ‘it’s all about keywords!’ or ‘we need to optimize our content for SEO!’, but what does this actually mean and how do you optimize your content for SEO?
Firstly, despite the temptation to write for search engines, it’s almost always better to write for people first, and then to see how well you can optimize that content for search engines without sacrificing quality or user experience.
This is not to say that you should not think about SEO before coming up with your content plan or before writing a post or page of content. It’s important to put an SEO content strategy and content plan in place before starting tow write or publish content. However, once you understand how to write content that is good for both search engines and for people, you will be able to more successfully write quality content that can then be easily optimized for SEO.
Writing for SEO
1. Always include the key phrase in the URL (in the format that makes the most sense).
Example: If the key phrase is ‘wine for dummies’ and your article title is ‘The Best Book on Wine for Dummies’ you want to make sure that your URL includes wine-for-dummies.
2. Always include your key phrase within the first sentence of the first paragraph if possible (i.e. if you can do so without it sounding strange).
If not possible, include it within the first paragraph. Additionally, you want to include it in subheaders where possible or where it makes sense.
Example:
Let’s say you write an article about Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon where the keyword/key phrase is ‘napa valley cabernet sauvignon’ and one of the secondary key phrases is ‘napa cab’. You will want to try to include the key phrases within the body of the post and to include your main key phrase in sub headers/headers where possible like so.
[Sub-header] XYZ BRAND OR WINERY NAME Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
[Paragraph] With it’s smooth, silky edges and lingering finish, this XYZ Napa Cab is one of my favorites. Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum.
3. Include the keywords and key phrases that have been outlined as our focus keywords and phrases throughout the article in a natural way. Don’t keyword stuff.
Google does not like keyword stuffing, and will rank your content lower if you use this practice. Keyword stuffing = using a keyword too many times within in article so that it’s overkill (even when it makes sense to use a key term very often in an article, you still have to watch out because Google may see it as keyword stuffing)
Example:
If the main keyword is ‘Russian River Valley’ here is how to incorporate that into a paragraph naturally:
XYZ Winery (Heading)
XYZ Winery is relatively new to the region, having taken over the Davis Bynum winery and property in 2008, and is well worth a stop. Like most other Russian River Valley wineries, XYZ specializes in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay but they also make one of the only Syrahs in the region.
Vs.
XYZ Winery (Heading)
This Russian River Valley winery is new to the region and well worth a stop in the Russian River Valley. Like most Russian River Valley wineries XYZ winery specializes in Russian River Valley Chardonnay and Pinot Noir but they also make one of the only Russian River Valley Syrahs…
4. Make sure to optimize alt tags and descriptions for any images that you include in your article.
This is another place that key terms and key phrases can help search engines understand what a post is about. For example, if you were writing a post about Granny Smith apples where the key term you are trying to rank for is ‘granny smith apple’ and you include a picture of a bushel of granny smith apples you would want to make sure to include ‘granny smith apples’ in your alt tag and image description.
Writing for People
1) Focus on writing clearly and simply, rather than on utilizing overly complex jargon, technical terminology, or flowery language and vocabulary.
A general rule when it comes to writing blog posts for businesses is to write at a level that a 5th to 7th grader can easily understand. This does not = dumbing it down, it simply ensures that the post can be easily read and understood by a business’s entire audience.
When writing for wine businesses (versus a wine trade publication or a newsletter geared towards wine industry/experts), for example, it’s recommended to remove overly technical terminology, industry jargon, and to distill complicated or heavy topics into lighter, more easily digestible format that even complete novices (who may or may not know anything about wine, even if they drink it) will not have a hard time grasping.
The best blog posts distill down (what could be) complicated topics or information into easy to read content that is informative, helpful, and/or engaging.
It is easier for someone with an in depth understanding of an industry or specific subject matter to both write compelling content that makes sense (to an entire audience) as well as to distill down complicated topics into easier-to-read copy. It is even more important that the person developing a business’s SEO content strategy, has a high level of knowledge about the industry, product niche, and business they are developing that content strategy for.
2) Break Content Up with Sub-headers.
Breaking up a blog post with sub-headers helps make the post easier to read and scan as well as to organize mentally. It gives peoples’ eyes a break (versus making them scroll through large blocks of text with no white space in between) and makes the information easier to consume. People will retain much more of what they’ve read (and will read more of an article) when it is broken up into manageable chunks.
3) Refrain from using ‘filler’ or fluff content to reach a certain word count.
It’s obvious when people are stuffing more words into their articles to simply make them longer. If it doesn’t flow well, goes completely away from the topic of the original post, or doesn’t offer any value to the reader then it isn’t worth including.
If you are short on your preferred word count for a blog post, try thinking of related questions you can answer in the post to add some length while also adding content that will be of interest to your readers. For example if you are writing a post on Napa Valley Cabernet you might add a section about what foods pair with Napa Valley Cabernets or a list of some of the most popular wineries in the Napa Valley that produce Cabernet.