SEO Writing Strategies, Tips, and Techniques

Writing for SEO can be tricky business. Part of the challenge is to write for people, your ultimate goal. Then, write in such a way that it considers the search engines, too. Despite this post being about 'penning' SEO (search engine optimization) articles, let's also consider writing methods. This without getting into SEO techniques like setting up meta descriptions, ranking factors, click through rates, title tags, and other such details.

This is my approach to writing a blog post, article, or other piece of content. By articulating the tactical details, I hope it might help another content writer with their SEO copywriting. Alternatively, if you have other tips - please add them into the comments. They will help me, and others too.

Start at Topic Research

With your target audience in mind, and your topic of choice - think about target keywords ideal to help the article rank in Google (or Bing). For this article, I chose "writing for SEO." Notice that I used a long tail keyword combination. Don't feel restricted to single keywords.

Immediately, I turn to my favorite writing tool to help me write content, SEMRush (This is NOT a paid endorsement, NOR do I have any affiliation with SEMRush). In the tool, turn to the Content Marketing section, and to the Topic Research section specifically. After typing in my keyword research combination, the tool provides content ideas. Below is an example of the content ideas broken down by 'Top 10 Headlines by backlinks', and another section with '10 Interesting Questions' - to consider.

Interesting Questions provides a variety of directions for your discussion, should you choose to answer some of the questions. Headlines that garnered high backlinks, can be important to your SEO strategy. For example, if creating similar headlines provides you with solid backlinking, that means you hit on an important topic to which others might reference your work. This is good for building your brand's credibility, and trust with prospects.

From a digital marketing perspective, solid backlinking to your post also tells the search engines that this is high quality, authoritative content - which may boost your ranking on Google search.

You may get further ideas from the subtopics the SEMRush offers. A personal favorite is the section that identifies 'Top 10 Related searches'. Sometimes these sections (shown above), can spur additional ideas that can enhance the core content perspective.

Mind Map Ideas

Yet another tool I find useful (as I am an extremely visual person), is the 'Topic Research Mind Map'. Shown below, it generates a visual mind map from your keywords on associated topics, and ideas. It also provides good headlines that might work for your article. You can see that I took the headline concept for this article, and modified it to suit my direction and perspective.

You will notice that at the right of the mind map section, there are questions that SEMRush suggests. These too can be helpful in the ideation, creation, and writing phase.

On the topic of ideation, keep in mind that sometimes all writers encounter mental blocks periodically. There are the occasional dead-end days. In that regard, take heart with the following observation:

"Great ideas usually arrive after persisting through dead-end days."

Authenticity: Building a Brand in an Insincere Age, p.81.

SEO Recommendations

After entering your keywords, the tool reviews Google's top 10 listings for your topic. Shown on the chart below, it provides a very helpful list of semantically related words. This list provides observations taken from words and short phrases taken from the top 10 rival articles on Google.

For backlinking experts, SEMRush highlights backlinks that rivals have received from various domains. Finally, it also provides a readability score and text length suggestion. This gives you a perspective on the length and quality of the other articles within the top 10 ranking for your keyword combination.

In SEMRush, there is a 'Real-time Content Checker', shown below. It provides an area where the writer can directly work on their article. It provides a spell checker, and some grammar checking. It also observes your work in real-time, assessing the frequency of use of your main keywords, and whether the article includes the recommended keywords as described above. This is handy, to prevent inadvertent keyword stuffing, or simple overuse of a particular phrase. Additional feedback is provided, as well, in the form of feedback and alerts.

See below for another example of the tool's use while crafting this article. Recommended keywords is quite helpful, and should help promote the article on SERP (search engine ranking page) results. As an author, the recommended keywords section is a tremendous support. It can significantly improve your writing, providing real-time feedback on whether the word was used in your article. In the image below, you will see the recommended keywords used in the article as I was writing.

Beyond merely writing for SEO, I found that this list of recommended keywords helps with flavoring up your own articles. At times, it has provided associated words that are relevant, which has spurred additional aspects to consider in my writings.

Writing Score

Although not meant as a pitch for SEMRush's content writing tool - using such a tool is a great step forward for content writers. SEMRush, specifically is a complex tool with many many features. Once you find the tools you most use, the user experience is quite good, and the benefits you receive from such a writing helper, is significant.

A final point about the tool is that it also provides feedback on your readability, tone of voice, SEO, and writing originality. On the right is the example of the feedback scoring provided for this article. While the visuals are helpful, the underlying recommendations and details truly help move the needle.

Quality 360 Degree Content

Remember that your focus, and the greatest importance is for your content writing must be high-quality work which speaks to your audience. Your target audience are the humans who will read your article, and either be informed or take action based on it. This is your most important target.

If your prospects never see your article, it will not matter what exceptional content you may have created.

However, secondarily you must also write for SEO, such that your article ranks on SERP, and is findable by your target audience. If your prospects never see the article, it will not matter what exceptional content you may have created. So, your job is to create exceptional quality content that helps build trust in your brand with your prospects - but that also speaks to the machine. Writing for SEO is exactly that second piece of this puzzle.