Writing effective SEO content can seem daunting because SEO rules change all the time. In case you don’t know, Google itself has said that it makes over 500 changes per year, yes, per year! – to its search algorithm.
To this end, below are four things to pay attention to when write SEO content that have changed in recent years. While it may seem like a lot to do to write “effective” SEO content, it’s not when you make it a habit and start seeing the results of those habits.
1. Keyword Stuffing: When I started writing SEO content in 2007, it was not uncommon for clients to request content with a keyword density of 5, 10, or even 15 percent. Today, Google (and other search engines) see this as keyword stuffing.
You know those types of articles you see that have the key phrase repeated over and over again, to the point where it detracts from what is being said? Do not do this.
To write effective SEO content in 2013, you should strive for a keyword density of 1 to 2 percent. To get this, just repeat your keyword phrase every 100 to 150 words. If you follow this rule, you never have to worry about your content being cluttered with keywords.
2. Use the “Alt” tag: Search engines like to return mixed media results, for example videos, infographics, photos, etc. So when they scan your article, they catalog the images, videos, and infographics that are there.
For photos, the “Alt” tag describes what the image is about. Therefore, it is important to include it so that your images display correctly in search results. The following is an example of an “Alt” tag:
If you sold women’s jewelry and had a shot at a gold heart necklace on your site, your alternate tag might look like this: [img src=”womens-heart-necklace.jpg” alt=”Photo of Women’s 14K Gold Heart Necklace”].
3. Write thematic content: You should use more than one keyword phrase in your text, that is, use secondary and tertiary keyword phrases to complete the content. This is what is known as writing thematic SEO content, and search engines love it.
For example, let’s say you’re writing an article about baking apple pie. When search engines come across the word “apple,” they have no idea whether it’s Apple computers or apple pie.
But if your article contained keyword phrases like “baking apple pie”; “apple pie recipe”; and “apple pie toppings”; then search engines can easily discern that you are talking about baking and recipes, not computers and electronics, for example.
See why secondary and tertiary keyword phrases are important? They provide more information to search engines, helping them to correctly categorize your content and return it in relevant search results.
Learn more about writing thematic SEO content.
4. The importance of shared content: Search engines reward content that gets shared a lot, because they assume (rightly so) that it must be good because so many people link to it, post to their social media accounts, and blog about it.
So make it easy for your content to be shared using plugins like Shareaholic and ping.
Effective SEO Content Writing: Conclusion
As you can probably see, writing effective SEO content is only part of the search battle; the other part is doing all those things behind the scenes that get search engines to notice your content so it can be returned in relevant web searches. But the rules are relatively simple, and if you follow them consistently, you’ll be rewarded with more organic traffic from search engines like Google.