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Manavta
27 November, 2024
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“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go. Writing is not just about putting words on a page; it’s about discovering what you think, what you believe, and how to express it in a way that resonates with others.” – E.L. Doctorow
Writing is like a superpower—imagine you are a Spiderman, shooting your ideas onto the page. But when you have Iron Man power, you have the tools to uncover keywords, understand your audience’s intent, and master the algorithm. SEO is the best guide for your writing battle in modern times, as Lord Krishna was the ‘saarthi’ to Arjun, leading him to success. With these secret strategies, you don’t just write—you become the favourite superhero of readers everywhere or, should we say, the favourite writer.
In the present times when digitalisation has taken over, if you believe that writing today is only about storytelling, you are wrong. If you write an informative piece about any topic, your article should also be engaging and relevant while possessing certain qualities to make an impact. But what formula can you use for successful writing in the digital era? The secret recipe to successful writing, especially on digital platforms, is SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation. SEO is what performs a transformative role in modern blog or article writing that makes your piece stand out from millions of articles that get published daily.
With this blog, we shall discuss what SEO is in detail, its key elements, and how today SEO primarily shapes the process of article writing in modern times.
SEO, also known as search engine optimisation, involves applying writing techniques that optimise websites and enhance the visibility of content on search engine result pages, or SERPs. SEO is primarily employed to increase organic traffic, which is the non-paid traffic, by making content more user-friendly, relevant, and authoritative for search engines such as Yahoo, Google, Bing, etc. In simple terms, when a reader types a specific topic into the search bar using SEO practices, the first article that any search engine displays is yours.
There are several key elements of SEO that you can use to make sure that your written content ranks higher. For example, using the right keywords, adding a meta description, and writing simple yet creative content along with relevant links can increase the visibility of your content to the next level. Here are the key elements of search engine optimisation to incorporate into your content.
Keyword research in SEO: It involves identifying specific terms that your target audience may use to enhance the visibility of your content.
On-page optimisation: It is used to enhance the quality of the content by using elements like meta descriptions, quirky headlines, titles, etc., that include the relevant keywords.
Interlinking or back-linking: Through interlinking, you can insert the link of any of your previously written relevant blogs, which takes users to another piece of content written by you and establishes your profile. Through backlinking, you can build high-quality links to other websites to boost authority over them.
User experience (UX): To increase engagement for written content, you have to first make sure that the site reader’s access is simple to navigate, responsive, and visually appealing.
Engaging content: Even with all these strategies in place, if your content lacks engagement, readers will not be drawn in. You have to ensure that you produce valuable and well-optimised content for readers and search engines that are simple, creative, and attention-seeking.
There are multiple benefits of employing SEO techniques in your writing if you are looking to build engagement with readers and establish your profile. Here are some benefits of using search engine optimisation techniques.
Higher ranking on SERPs (search engine results)
Increased organic traffic
Cost-effective marketing
Effective for long-term growth
Provide results that can help analyse performance
Enhance user experience
Establishes the writer’s and the brand’s credibility
Many believe that SEO content writing and content writing are almost similar, but in reality, there are key differences between the two. SEO and content writing serve different purposes based on a writer’s goals and needs. Here’s how the two writing styles differ.
Content writing functions broadly, including various forms of content like articles, social media posts, product descriptions, blogs, etc. The primary goal of content writing is to engage the audience, establish the authority of a brand, and drive convergence through it.
SEO content writing, on the other hand, is more about writing creatively, which is specifically optimised for the search engines. Its primary goal is to improve the visibility of a website and increase its rank by using relevant keywords, meta descriptions, or structured content.
SEO content writing and normal content writing do have similarities. But the former focuses on strategically optimising the content that improves the search engine visibility and therefore the rankings. Today, the best and the biggest businesses incorporate the best SEO practices that help enhance their presence online, establish their credibility, attract a wider range of audiences, and also drive organic traffic sustainably.
When you write an article, you always have a certain type of intent, tone, and audience reach that you wish to achieve. SEO comes as your best friend at that time and helps bridge the distance between the content and its visibility. Here are a few ways in which SEO is essential for modern article writing.
As already discussed, writing SEO techniques helps your article rank higher on SERPs or search engine results pages, making them more accessible to a wider range of audiences. At times, even the most well-written content can have almost zero to no reach if it has not been written using the best SEO practices.
SEO places special emphasis on conducting keyword research. You can understand your target audience as a writer well through SEO. Identifying the relevant terms or phrases can increase your potential reader base and generate insight for crafting more captivating content. You can also create content that resonates deeply with your readers’ interests.
Content structure is one of the most essential parts of writing SEO techniques. For example, using engaging titles that have keywords, quirky headlines that grab attention, and breaking the content into smaller sections with subheadings can improve your rank. Also, using bullet points, tables, or lists enhances your content’s retention and readability factor.
First, today’s audience prefers shorter, crisper, and more precise content over traditional, lengthy content. Also, modern SEO techniques prefer quality over quantity of content. This means that your article has to be well-researched, free of grammatical errors, should have value, and be engaging, which makes readers stay on your page longer.
Adding links to your content is essential for guiding readers to valuable resources, enhancing the user experience, and improving site navigation overall. External links also boost credibility by showing search engines your content is well-researched and supported by authoritative sources, which can improve your SEO.
Keep in mind that SEO techniques are constantly changing and evolving over time. There are frequent algorithm updates. You have to keep up with the trends and keep adapting to different strategies to help your content rank higher. However, you should always go by the principle of EAT, which stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Even though the trend is changing, your content should also always be well-researched, engaging, informative, and creative.
Also Read: Google Bard and SEO: Optimising Content with AI Insights
Below are 10 steps that you can use if you’re aiming to write an SEO article using the best of the SEO practices.
Define your document, create the structure of your article, outline the key details, and organise all the information that you will use for the article.
Google shall only rank your article at the top if it has the element of expertise in it. Write quality content, divide into smaller sections that have subheadings, and use either lists, bullet points, or tables.
Provide sources, add links and meta descriptions, use visual elements, and use catchy headlines and subheadings.
Make sure that your article is free of any grammatical mistakes or poorly written content.
Use the right SEO tools, like inserting the research keywords. Check if your article has enough primary and secondary keywords and phrases, and do not overdo it.
Identify and analyse the top-ranked pages that are your competition. Study what they are doing well in terms of SEO content writing. Do not copy and paste the same content; rather, work on bettering your own SEO content.
Improve the readability score of your content; look out for the length of the title tag on the matter description and the total word count that you need to aim for.
Do not forget to optimise the content in your SEO article. Don’t simply insert the keywords randomly. Distribute it thoroughly from top to bottom in the content.
Review your content before getting it published. Review that you meet different standards as per the need of the article. For example, guest posts have different requirements than a regular article.
Keep tracking your content performance using Google Analytics. This will help you analyse the number of page views or the average time spent on your articles, and what more you can use to improve the rank of your article.
Also Read: Want to Become a Content Writer? Here’s Your Complete Guide
When you are writing an article and putting it up on a website, it means that you have a goal that it reaches a certain type of audience and an estimated size of the target readers. On top of that, it also helps establish your profile as a writer and increases brand visibility. So, when you use SEO practices that directly or indirectly bring in more potential customers and attract users who are specifically interested in your topic. This then diverts the organic growth of your page, which helps generate revenue. So SEO can be used as a parameter that helps you analyse how you can keep increasing your growth, fulfil your writing goals and increase your reader base.
SEO, or search engine optimisation techniques, does way more than just make your content rank. Rather, it helps your content reach a wider audience, drive organic traffic at the same time, and keep your content aligned with the latest writing trends. So, in short, SEO in article writing basically returns your content into a treasure hunt that even search engines like Google or Yahoo cannot resist. So use the right SEO techniques and watch your content soar to rank 1 and get the attention of a wider audience. However, writing is a craft that keeps improving with time and practice. Keep learning from your experiences, practice SEO techniques, and improve the quality of the content.
