8 Fast & Easy Tips for SEO Writing in 2019

In this article, we share with you 8 of the best up-to-date fast and easy tips for SEO writing for the web in 2019.

At North Shore Digital, we create and optimize content for both form and function. This is because even the most engaging and educational piece of content is no good to your business if the right customers aren’t reading it.

Being data driven and understanding search intent and visitor site behavior should be at the core of your content strategy. Because what is the point of a great content strategy? It’s to drive well qualified traffic to your site and convert these prospects into long term customers for your business. 

Content has to be well written, engaging and valuable to attract and retain interest but it also has to rank well in search engines for anyone to see it. Below are some of our recommended steps to making sure your content has the right eyes on it and is optimized to be found!

“Just as wheels without an engine leaves you pedaling, content without an SEO strategy can’t keep up in a digital marketplace. And just like an engine with no wheels, SEO without content is a shiny machine that goes nowhere.”

Nate Dame – Search Engine Land

Let’s dive into our 8 fast and easy tips for SEO writing in 2019…

1. Start with User Intent & Keyword Research

Be Data-Driven! Understanding what language your potential customers are using in search engines is paramount to your success (hint: it isn’t always directly linked to your product specifications – if you want a high quality laptop you might be searching for an Apple!). For example: as part of our Content Marketing Plan, we sit down with you, one-on-one, once a month to report and review your content and keyword tracking. Your content is written for a purpose – to attract customers that are looking for a solution to a specific problem and to convert these prospects into customers for your business. We use tools like SEMRush, Moz Pro, Keyworddit & Google Keyword Planner to better understand what search terms these customers use and best opportunities for your content to attract them. We feel strongly about user intent research – we want the right people coming to your website!

2. Don’t be Afraid to be in-Depth & Add Context

It’s a fact: comprehensive, long-form content ranks better. Search engines rely on context to help sort and rank pages and websites and the longer a blog post, the more chances Google’s algorithms have to recognize the correct context. There is also a greater opportunity to rank for lower volume but higher ROI long tail keywords. There has been a fair bit of controversy recently on whether or not it is useful to construct a blog with LSI (latent semantic indexing) keywords in mind to add context and enhance search rankings. LSI is a mathematical technique dating back to the 80s that uses a method called singular value decomposition to scan data and identify relationships primarily to correctly file information in databases. Now it’s resurfaced as an SEO technique. The jury is out on whether or not it’s useful for marketers but one thing is for sure – you should definitely ensure you write well enough and long enough to give your piece of content clear context! 

3. Learn Copy Writing that Converts

We hate boring, plain, generic and listless writing. Creativity is our jam and our copy writing is clear, coherent, trustworthy, entertaining, educational, relevant, practical and unique! You won’t always get it right but having intent with your writing and making sure it is of the highest quality will help your SEO efforts. For example: we use techniques like “bucket brigades” and APP (agree, promise, preview) to keep attention, interest, and intrigue but also to better educate, inform and entertain. 

4. Keyword Placement not Stuffing

We don’t ever let SEO techniques change our journalistic approach to writing great content. We never overuse keywords. Our strategy revolves around utilizing them where it counts for search engines but won’t affect your readers, brand or message. We are strategic about using keywords discovered through our research such as in the blog slug, SEO title & description, image descriptions and alt tags and naturally and carefully within the article.

5. Mobile Ready

Take Google’s mobile friendly test to see if your website is up to snuff. Chances are there are more people viewing your site on mobile than desktop. To boot, Google knows this! They recently introduced their “Mobile First Indexing“.

6. Use Links!

Depending on the intent of each piece of content, you should internally link properly to ensure best fit with your website’s hierarchy. Also double check that external links open in a new browser tab so as not to lose customers to another website. External links are also a good way to add context and authority to your article and website. 

7. Add Compelling CTAs Where Applicable

Google’s new Rank Brain machine learning algorithm relies on Click Through Rates and website “dwell time”. The more scintillating your CTA’s the better chance for prospects to convert to customers and search engines to rank your pages. 

8. Page Load Speed!

Ensure images and other media is compressed properly so it looks great and loads fast! Having a slow loading website, page or piece of content is a sure way to lose the interest of potential customers. (we also offer a  technical optimization plan that caters solely to getting the back end of your website up to snuff if speed is an issue!) 40% of users will leave a page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.

This article was last updated on Monday 23rd September, 2019.

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