Writing SEO Content in 2018
SEO is constantly changing. What used to be the right thing to do for SEO content writing can now get you penalized. For example, keyword stuffing used to be the thing to do to get your page to rank in search engines, but since that writing generally doesn’t flow well, it can now get your website penalized. Since SEO strategies change so often, keeping up with the latest strategy is crucial to getting your website to rank in search engines. Follow these 6 steps for writing SEO content in 2018.
- Research your Keywords
- Solve the Searcher’s Problem
- Intent Matching Over Keyword Matching
- Keyword Tags
- Use Commonly Associated Words and Phrases
- User Experience
Keyword research is important so you’re not writing content that no one is searching for. You want to find out what people search for so you can use those keywords or keyword variations in your titles. Google trends is an easy and free way to compare keywords and see which one is searched for more often.
When writing content you want to get people to your page and make them stay there and see value in your content. You can do that by writing to solve the searcher’s problem. When you actually give the reader what they want, you’ll rank better and for longer.
You no longer need to create multiple pages about the same thing with tiny variations in plurality. For example, if you sell cell phone cases, you don’t need one page called “Cell Phone Case” and another page called “Cell Phone Cases”. Google gets it. These keywords share the same intent and search engines know that now.
There are two places where your keyword should still be. The 1st is in your title and the 2nd is in the body content. This doesn’t mean keyword stuffing, but it should have at least one occurrence your content. Other places that are helpful to have your keyword is in a headline, such as an h1 or h2 tag, the URL, your meta description, and image alt attribute.
Google looks for commonly associated words, phrases, and concepts in your content based on your keyword. For example, you are selling cell phone cases but if you don’t have iPhone cases, Samsung Galaxy cases, or Google Pixel cases in your content it wouldn’t do well. That’s because those popular phones are some of the most searched for cases, so if your content doesn’t mention them then it becomes unreliable.
Before user experience was important, the content didn’t make a lot of sense with keyword stuffing. Now user experience is what matters the most. If your content isn’t readable or doesn’t make sense, then it drops in ranking. When you write for people instead of robots, more people who click on your site will stay on your site to have their problem solved.
