How to Develop Good Content for Search Engine Optimization

Good content does a lot for both SEO and user engagement. The only challenge is that writing about anything worth reading is usually above most people’s comfort level. The fact is excellent content is something most people won’t write unless they know how to do it properly. The trick for writing quality content without stress or a background in blogging and copywriting is to follow a few simple rules. Here are some tips to help create good content that will help you improve your ranking with Google & other search engines.

Write Long-Form Content

This is the golden rule of SEO. The longer your content, the more chances it has to be found on search engine results pages (SERPs). Google’s algorithm loves length. It also loves freshness and originality. So no duplicate content.

The longer your content is, the more keyword-rich it will be. This means that it’s easier for Google to find your website and rank it higher in the search results. Long-form content also attracts more visitors than shorter content because they offer more information and value and as a result tend to stay on our site longer generating an added value towards Google’s algorithm.  The more words you use, the better your chances of being ranked highly in Google or any other search engine.

No Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing is when you use a word or phrase repeatedly in hopes that it will help your page rank higher for that word or phrase. It doesn’t work like that, though — Google’s algorithm looks at context too, so if a keyword appears multiple times within one paragraph but doesn’t add anything to the sentence, Google might not even count it as relevant. A better approach would be to use related keywords and synonyms to enhance your reach through search.

Keyword stuffing reduces the value of your content and makes it less likely that you will get the results you’re looking for.  There are many tools that help to analyze your content and warn you if there are too many instances of over-optimization on one page. Although not as severe as when we all feared the dreaded Panda update, this practice can still cause you to get penalized by Google if you’re found doing it.

Include a Keywords In the Proper Format

Now that you should be a little leery of keyword stuffing, let’s discuss where those valuable keywords should be placed. When writing content for your primary pages or blog posts, always think of your primary Technical SEO 101 targets.  It’s amazing how many websites do not incorporate the fundamentals of SEO but are looking to achieve good rankings.

The title of your page or blog post should include the keyword phrases that you want to rank for. This makes it easier for search engines to find you when someone searches for this keyword phrase. So, while it’s important to include keywords in your title, don’t make it sound like an advertisement or a list of keywords just thrown together.

Create Relevant and Quality Content

This seems obvious, but it’s important to remember that just because people search for something doesn’t mean they’ll be interested in what you have to say about it. Ensure you’re writing about topics relevant to your business and customers.

Put yourself in your readers’ shoes and try understanding what they want from your site or blog. Doing this will ensure that when people find your site through searches, they’ll want to stay and read more of what you have to say.

If you want your website’s SEO ranking to improve over time and stay high, then make sure your content is original and unique so that Google doesn’t see it as a duplicate version of something else already on the web.

Write for Humans First, Search Engines Second

The best way to write good SEO-friendly content is to write like you were writing for humans, not search engines. This means avoiding clunky sentences and unnatural language just because they might be more likely to appear in Google’s index since they’re shorter and contain fewer characters.

You need to ensure that your content is relevant and interesting for humans searching for information on the web – not just those searching via Google. The most important thing is that the content is easily readable and understandable by the user. This means writing about topics that matter to people and which are likely to encourage them to click through from your page and read more about your brand or product.  In addition, quality content leads to the linking & sharing of your content.  This is another important reason to develop quality content, people share it and Google loves that.

Bottom Line

Good content is a vital component of digital marketing strategy. It is the link that connects you to your audience and provides them with the information they need to make the right decision & buy your products or services. So, it is imperative that you provide high-quality content for your website visitors. In this article we’ve presented a few tips for you to use when writing content for SEO, just remember your writing the content for people so make sure it’s something they can actually gain value from. With that, you’ll be rewarded by both increased business and improved Google search results.