How to write successful SEO content
Our last post explained why SEO texts are in fact so useful and what exact purpose they serve. But the How is just as important as the Why – how are SEO texts written, and what do you need to watch out for?
Back in the day, quantity over quality was the rule of the road toward good high rankings on Google. This has changed radically since then, with the saying today being quality over quantity, since the main goal of a marketing text is to satisfy the customer. If you have happy visitors to your website who also get to know your products, you can kill two birds with one stone. On one hand, you have people who value and buy what you offer, and on the other hand, you become more interesting to Google because of this and rise in the rankings. Thus, the most intriguing questions to answer are these: which criteria do the algorithms use for their decisions? And how can you compose content more efficiently and more optimized for search engines?
1. Identify target group
First off, the target group needs to be identified since if you don’t know who you are writing for, then you don’t need any texts. The following questions need to be asked:
- Who is your target group?
- What is your target group interested in, and how can you help them regarding these interests?
- What else is of interest to your target group on the internet?
- Do you have competition, and if so, what do they do to reach their target group?
The answers to this research will provide the basis for an excellent internet presence. Along with this, research needs to be done to find out how long visitors spend on average on other sites and how long the corresponding texts need to be.
2. Write unique content
No one wants to encounter plagiarism! This has been proven time and time again, and is also true for SEO content. Of course, you don’t need to rediscover the wheel every time, but content is more interesting for users when it’s presented differently than on other sites. Products you offer come across more authentically, and your own brand is strengthened long-term. In addition, this content needs to answer any basic questions that a customer might ask. This will make the customer’s decision to make a purchase much easier. Regarding the tone of the content, be sure to mirror your target group, but also attempt to formulate the text openly enough so that you can still attract the interest of potential new customers.
3. Utilize backlinks
Backlinks are references that lead from one website to a specific page on another site. These are often particularly interesting to customers, since they may learn about your products or brand on another site. They are also a factor for algorithms in determining site popularity. The more often backlinks to your site are clicked, the higher your own website’s ranking rises, and the higher it will be in search results. However, it is important to note that not all links are helpful – the “quality over quantity” rule also applies here.
Thus, the following three criteria need to be kept in mind in choosing links:
- How high is the page authority of the site where the link to your site should be placed?
- Are there enough topics of interest in common between your website and theirs (brand, products, target group)?
- Where will the link be placed (header, main section, footer)?
The main content section is most relevant for readers, so a link placed here should be more highly valued than one in the footer, for example.
4. The be-all and end-all: keyword research
In the beginning, rankings were determined by keyword density. However, this went to the wayside, since the true purpose of the content, to awaken interest in customers, is veiled when it’s densely packed with keywords. As part of this, the transition to a new evaluation method occurred: WDF*IDF analysis. WDF stands for “within document frequency”, where the frequency of a keyword on a site compared to other words is determined. IDF stands for “inverse document frequency”, where the keyword frequency on one site is compared to other similar sites. Through WDF*IDF analysis, the highest-ranking websites for a particular keyword can be determined.
In choosing keywords, you need to pay attention to which keywords are categorized as focus keywords and which are general keywords. The focus keywords should be the terms most relevant to what your site has to offer. The general keywords are chosen to support and describe the focus keywords. It is recommended to search for and analyze focus keywords ahead of time, as well as which additional terms are used to describe the focus keywords.
5. Clarity
A website should fulfill certain criteria to make it clearly structured to enable visitors to find what they are looking for more easily. One of these is the use of different levels of headings. The main heading is the first level (H1). This occurs only once on any given page and generally has the largest font size. After this, different levels of headings are used to order subtopics and structure the text so readers can easily orient themselves. Images can also be used to break up groups and add form and structure.
Of course, it’s a given to not forget to maintain your own site. For this, remember to check if your metadata is up-to-date and still relevant. How is this done?
To be continued…
