SEO content writing is a weird balancing act between two audiences: Google, and real people. It’s a little strange at times. You want your pages to rank on Google. That’s a given. But you also want someone to read your content. More than that. You want them to sit down with a cup of coffee and read it and actually enjoy it.
In this article, I’ll explain the fundamentals of SEO content, how it works (more or less), and give you a few pointers on how to make your writing rank.
SEO Content Explained
SEO content is any writing online that’s optimized for search engines. A blog post, a product description, a landing page… it can be just about anything that you hope will show up when someone types a question or phrase into Google. But it’s not just about throwing as many keywords as possible into your writing.
Not anymore. Quality SEO content is meant to match what users are actually looking for. It should provide an answer, be of use, and feel like it was written for humans rather than algorithms. When you strike that balance, your site tends to rank well. And people usually stay on your page a little longer once they’re there.
How to Write SEO Content (Without Putting People to Sleep)
1. Know Who You’re Talking To (and Why They’re Searching)
What Is Search Intent?
It almost seems like you have to do a Sherlock bit before you start writing your first sentence. Don’t laugh: it really helps. Stand in the other guy’s shoes for a second. Think about why this person is actually typing these words into Google. Is he just trying to see how Johnny got that new girl? Or did he just get bitten by a mosquito and needs to know if he should take an anti-malaria pill right now? Sometimes the answer is pretty clear… and sometimes, not so much. In comes search intent.
Wait – What is search intent, anyway?
In a nutshell – it’s the real reason people search for things. They want to learn. Or buy. Or they’re just trying to go to a specific page they already know about. Your job, once you know that, is to write something that satisfies that intent without making them work too hard to find it.
Let’s take a quick look at the four main types of search intent, and some (mercifully) realistic examples of each:
SEO Buyer’s Guides – Content for each Search Intent type
Informational Intent:
For those “I just want to know this thing” searches. The simple ones. The no-agenda, no-pressure searches. Where someone’s got a question. They’re curious. They’re at the point where they just want to know the answer and they don’t want to sift through all the other stuff, they just want the facts.
Examples:
“How to bake a cake”
“What is SEO”
“Benefits of yoga”
Best content types Any piece of content that guides and instructs or informs but does not attempt to shoehorn in a sales pitch. In other words: how-to articles, tutorials, list posts, FAQs, guides. If your content can be helpful without the hard sell, it’s already ahead of the game.
Navigational Intent:
For the people who know exactly where they want to go, but have either bookmarked the heck out of their browser over the years or just can’t be bothered typing in the whole URL (I still don’t understand why we all do this, but we do).
Examples:
“Facebook login”
“Netflix homepage”
“Nike running shoes”
What to do: Make your brand pages as Google-recognisable as possible. Clean URLs, meaningful titles and meta descriptions that reinforce to both the searcher and Google that this is, in fact, the exact thing you were looking for.
Transactional Intent:
Money bags. People in this camp are in a position to act. They’re ready to buy, subscribe, order, whatever it is you do. They’ve probably already done a little legwork, so they’ve compared a few things and now they’re at the “Who’s got the best offer” point.
Examples:
“Buy wireless headphones”
“Best laptop deals”
“Subscribe to Spotify”
What to write: Products pages, service pages, pricing information pages, quick reviews, or comparison snippets. Don’t shy away from action words, either. “Buy”, “order”, “shop”, “deal”. This is where they’re meant to be.
Commercial Investigation Intent:
This is the “I like the idea of buying this thing but before I do I want to check out a few more things” crowd. Comparisons, pros and cons lists, quick reviews or unfiltered opinions from a non-shill. They’re your close-but-not-quite-quite-yet people.
Examples
“iPhone vs Samsung”
“Best coffee machines 2025”
“MacBook Air review”
What works best: In-depth buying guides, long-form comparison pieces, review-style content, anything that just breaks things down and doesn’t feel like it’s trying to pitch the reader left, right and centre. Which is tricky because, to some extent, all content is salesy. But people are good at identifying salesy language and these days authenticity goes a long way so be helpful before you try to be persuasive.
SEO Tools to Help You Understand Search Intent (Paraphrased)
- Keyword Research Tools – I typically begin with two old faithfuls: Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush. They’re not the flashiest options out there, but they’re reliable. These tools provide a ballpark estimate of a term’s popularity, potential competition level, and, my favourite part, that crazy little bundle of related searches that people hunt together as they try to solve a problem. The additional queries usually tell you what your users actually want. Are they just browsing for information? Weighing options? Or are they practically ready to pull out their credit card? You’ll find out just by looking at those keywords.
- SERP Analysis – When you find a keyword that you think you like, take it for a spin by typing it into Google. Literally, just do it. What shows up at the top can tell you a lot about user expectations. It may be blog posts from floor to ceiling. Other times, it’s product listings or videos, or a “People also ask” box that takes you down a Google hole. The stuff that’s ranking is Google’s way of saying, “Hey, these are things users want,” so it’s worth giving it a good look.
- User Behavior Tracking – Tools like Google Analytics can show you what happens after someone lands on your site. Do they bounce in three seconds flat? Do they dink around a little? Do they click something meaningful? They actions usually tell you whether your content met their needs, answered their question, or whether they felt duped. If you have little traffic, or if the traffic you do have is… odd, it’s a hint you might not be hitting the right intent for that keyword.
- Query Refinement Patterns – I’ve noticed over the years that people tend to start broad and narrow down. It’s almost like watching their thought processes play out on screen. You can see that search evolve from “best running shoes” to “best running shoes for flat feet” to “buy Nike Air Zoom for flat feet.” That little transition from curiosity to decision-making? That’s intent, evolving in real time, and it’s super helpful to notice.
The key to successful SEO performance lies in understanding search intent.
- Keyword Research – Understanding the user’s intent behind a keyword query is the first and foremost step in SEO but one which is often glossed over (and typically the most important step). The specific search intent of a user behind the query is the starting point of your research.
- Content Creation – The content created should match this intent. If the content aims to inform, it should deliver a comprehensive, and at times educational, response to the query. If the intent is commercial, however, the content must have clear, direct language nudging the user towards making a purchase.
- Purpose of the page – This is the one (and only) thing the page should deliver. On many occasions, pages have tried to be more and end up achieving little to nothing. Keywords, headings, and even the meta description of the page should be centered around this single purpose of the page.
- User Experience – This is often the phase of the process that is overlooked and where 90% of things go south. The design elements should speak of a subconscious path that the visitor should follow. Informational pages, for example, should have an organic progression towards a more commercial direction. Simple internal links towards a comparison page, a product page, or even a product listing are some ways to drive this transition.
- Content structure – Structured data (Schema) is basically SEO’s gift that keeps on giving. Implementing structured data on your page will give search engines a clear idea of the nature of your content. Review Markup will make your product reviews clearer to the engines, while FAQ schema can provide a small bump in the ranking of an informational page.
- Track the performance – Intent is not a set-and-forget function. It is fluid, as seasons, trends, and general social obsessions change with time. Tracking performance is essential to keep track of these shifts and identify gaps before the content begins to lose the alignment with searchers’ intent.
SEO = Search Engine Optimization; ROI = Return on Investment.
Implications:
- If your content matches a user’s search intent, things start to work a lot more in your favor. The content will feel more relevant to the user (seems like you’re reading their mind), and rankings and engagement generally improve as a result. It’s a simple concept, but one that packs a big punch.
- Then you have conversions. A user who is already thinking about buying a product or service will be more receptive to content that gently guides them to the next step. Matching search intent during those commercial or transactional queries is often the difference between a bounce and a sale.
- You also have user satisfaction and dwell time. A searcher who lands on the page they were expecting will generally stay longer, return, and share it with others. All of those little signals matter, and collectively send a soft signal to Google that your content is meeting user needs.
Understanding search intent really works on two levels. The primary one is of course SEO, but a focus on intent also makes you think about users’ needs and demands at every stage of the process. Need more information and details on a topic? Informational. Ready to compare a few different options? Navigational. Research complete, purchase decision made: transactional.
Google and other search engines rely heavily on intent as a ranking factor, with RankBrain and BERT and so on trying to interpret user intent as opposed to just specific keywords, and giving preference to pages that match that search intent.
It’s no surprise then that sites which truly built content to match the real intent behind a given keyword tend to perform better and climb the SERPs. They’re speaking the same language as users, but also as the search algorithm. A potent combination.
2. Research Your Keywords
Keyword research doesn’t sound half as glamorous as it actually is. People hear the words “keyword research” and they imagine some fancy pants tool giving them THE PERFECT PHRASE. Like that’s how it works.
It’s not. Keyword research is equal parts grunt work, mild madness, and sixth sense that you don’t even know you have until it’s 2am and the floodgates open.
Keyword research tools (Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, etc.) give you the spreadsheets, the pie charts, the graphs and the all important metrics: search volume, competition, et cetera. Helpful, yes, but that information on its own is worthless until you translate it into reality.
Real, genuine, non-stretchy primary and secondary keywords should slide into your headings, your subheadings, your meta descriptions, your copy — they should make it into your work in a natural way rather than plop down in front of you like that awkward friend you invited to the party just so you could “meet a quota.”
Step 1: Identify your niche and your goals
Stop. Don’t start this process until you stop. I mean it. Take a beat and look at who you’re writing for: your ideal customers, your audience. What are their pain points, their desires, their needs?
And just as importantly, what are your goals with this SEO? Are you looking to get more clicks, to increase sales, brand awareness? Trying to drive people into a form?
This goes back to that age-old “startup” cliche: “Build for everyone and you end up building something for no one.” Apply that principle to your SEO. You can’t keyword stuff if you have no idea who you’re stuffing for.
Step 2: Make a list of seed keywords
Seed keywords are very basic. Think big, broad, simple, slightly vague concepts. If someone dropped you in the middle of your industry and gave you a one-page summary, what words would you Google?
They can be broad and ambiguous. Doesn’t matter. You just need them as a starting point.
Step 3: Research
Your main tools will be the tried-and-true trifecta:
Google Keyword Planner
Google’s own tool. Enter in a seed keyword, and it’ll give you the search volume, the competition, the CPC (Cost per Click). Basic. But solid.
SEMrush
For SEMrush, two features do the most work.
First, the Keyword Magic Tool. A massive list of keywords with very simple filters: volume, difficulty, etc. Filters are also available for intent (more on that later), which is a must-use.
Second, the Keyword Gap tool. Simple. Sneak-peeking over the fence to see what your competitors are doing.
Ahrefs ( Keywords Explorer )
Volume, difficulty, and also (my favourite part) how likely a person is to click on anything after making a search. Hint: not all searches result in clicks. It’s important.
Step 4: Analyze Long-Tail Keywords
Here’s where things start getting a bit fun. Long-tail keywords are, in layman’s terms, that one weird (and specific) and slightly rambling query you type into Google when you are at that, well, final tail of the buying decision-making process.
AnswerThePublic (or any “People also ask” box — i.e. Google’s, which is how I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit) is your friend. Search and start building long lists of queries.
Long-tail keywords are a no-brainer when it comes to more conversions because, more often than not, a searcher using them is at the end of their journey (read: ready to buy).
Step 5: Consider User Intent
Think back to the seed keywords you came up with. If you were to pinpoint their “mood.” or use case, every single one of them would fall into a certain “category.”
Yes, people who type keywords are in various phases of a decision-making process. They’re either learning, comparing options, about to buy, or just trying to figure out how to get to a specific website.
Informational.
Navigational.
Transactional.
Commercial investigation.
It’s not the most exact method. But it’s better than landing in the situation most of us land in at one point or another: creating content for one type of user for a completely different purpose.
Step 6: Check Out the SERPs
It never hurts to actually pull up the Google results and take a look at what you’ll see when you target that particular keyword. It’s no big deal if the page ends up being dominated by videos.
But it could also be the case that there’s a massive featured snippet taking up half of the screen. We don’t like to think about it, but those small details really do count.
Step 7: Organize and Focus on What Truly Matters
Once you have all your keywords, categorize them into themes to get a clear understanding of what belongs together organically. From there, focus on the ones that feel most promising, and not just the search terms with the highest numbers.
Go with the keywords that align naturally with your goals, not the ones that are the top of the list, even if they are. It’s a delicate balance of volume, competition and, most importantly, common sense.
Step 8: Monitor and Adapt
Keywords are not a “set it and forget it” kind of game. Keep tabs on them, recognize patterns, and adjust your strategy based on incoming data. It’s common for things to change along the way.
For example, let’s take “Fitness”:
High Volume, High Competition: “fitness”
Moderate Volume, Moderate Competition: “home workout routines”
Long-Tail, Lower Competition: “best exercises for lower back pain”
By Search Intent:
Informational: “how to start exercising at home”
Transactional: “buy adjustable dumbbells online”
Following this process helps your content to naturally align with what people search on Google. And when that happens, more often than not, your content will find better visibility and provide a better overall experience for those who happen to land on your page.
3. Create high-quality content that engages readers
Want your content to have that lived-in, thumb-stopping feel? To not just skim past but be actually read and enjoyed? I think there are a few (not perfect, just necessary) things you need to do:
Understand your audience (correctly this time).
Spend some time learning who they are. I’ve found creating crude personas (nothing formal, just jotted notes on how they speak, what upsets them, what type of advice they go to for answers) to be really helpful in guiding my writing. Analytics can be used to collect quantitative data, and the qualitative elements are usually sourced from surveys or, quite often, personal experience. It becomes much easier to write for your audience when you have a good understanding of their priorities.
Select a topic that resonates.
You’ll generally know a good topic when you land on it — either a hot-button issue (Trends will help you spot these) or a topic that’s perennially on the minds of your audience (you’ll often see questions about these). A great topic will usually combine the two — relevant now and still important next year. I like to consider topics that impart useful information and then leave the audience with a bit of something to chew on.
Craft a headline that will actually stick.
Your headline is your one opportunity to cut through the noise. It has to be compelling to both the algorithm and human readers (something of an art). It should, of course, contain the right keywords, but you should also make sure it’s got personality. Numbers and questions are strong, along with a promise of value. So “7 ways to…” or “How to fix…” type headlines are very much the done thing. They get clicks by playing into curiosity.
Research shows that headlines with numbers like “5 Tips for Success” get ~20% more clicks than non-numerical, more ambiguous headlines. I think it’s no surprise that so much digital media opts for list headlines. Predictable? Yes. Comforting in their predictability? Also yes.
Write with Purpose
Be simple. Use short, simple words whenever possible. Write short paragraphs and even shorter sentences. Don’t make your readers swim through a sea of text. A good article has an introduction that manages expectations, a body that provides value, and a conclusion that leaves the reader with a takeaway — or even a call to action.
Make it Scannable
The internet has made most of us worse at reading. We scan, looking for keywords and quickly skim, rather than read in a linear fashion. This means that subheadings, bullet points, and numbered lists are more important than ever. They also serve as excellent SEO tools to help you build up relevant anchor text. Bold and italics are great to help guide attention, but avoid getting too fancy.
Keep it Simple and Easy to Digest
Simplicity also has to do with the way you structure content. As we’ve said, it’s important to present your ideas in a way that’s easy to read and easy to navigate. The simpler your content is to browse, the more time your visitors will spend on your site, the more they will return, and the higher search engines will rate it.
Storytelling
Information content doesn’t have to read like a Wikipedia entry. In fact, readers engage more with examples than with abstract information or statements. A brief story — anecdotal or case-study style, a simple but realistic example, or a relevant scenario can do the trick. A story gets your readers to engage and keeps them long enough to give them the important stuff.
Offer Value
The final piece of the puzzle is value. Your visitors need to be better off for having landed on your site. That means your content needs to deliver value, teach a skill, solve a problem, or even inspire.
Be sure that your visitors are left with a takeaway — be it a set of instructions, insights they can apply to their own situation, or a relevant example that they can relate to and put to use. If they can implement your advice straight away, you’ve done your job.
Do Some Keyword SEO (Yes, We Do That)
Sprinkle your researched keywords throughout the content. Don’t force it. Readability is the priority here. Internal links and external links shouldn’t look like an afterthought either. They should make sense to the reader and give them more resources to consume while adding some extra juice to your meta descriptions.
Add Some Eye-Catching Visuals
Pictures (or infographics, videos, etc.) are not an afterthought either. Visuals help break up blocks of text. They also make the reader “see” your content in their mind’s eye. Don’t neglect SEO here, though: optimize alt text and image descriptions so they are readable to a computer as well.
Visuals should feel natural, just like the writing should. One study found that social posts with images had 94% more views than text-only posts. For videos, 87% of people are more likely to trust a brand that posts content that looks professionally done.
Make Readers Think (and Respond)
Ask a question, include a comment prompt, or add social sharing buttons at the end of the article. Give readers an opportunity to share their thoughts. This can help build a sense of community and help you learn what’s resonating. Engagement is a two-way street.
Keep Your Brand in Mind
As always, write in the style and voice of you (or your brand). This is your opportunity to be authentic and transparent with your audience. Stay consistent with the style of your company.
That means being transparent about sources, citing limitations, and showing a little personality. The internet has a way of sniffing out inauthentic content really, really quickly. This is where integrity can take you further than SEO.
Update Often
Fresh content is an important reason to update blog posts or add new content regularly. But a content update also means touching up your older articles to make sure they’re still fresh and relevant. Fresh content is engagement gold for both humans and algorithms.
Think About Flow
Flow is an art form of its own. First, write an attention-grabbing intro. Tell a story about someone who made big changes in their life through small daily improvements. Next, transition into the meat of the article. Let your reader know that small daily habits are worth pursuing.
After a brief walkthrough of a few habits, bring them back to your anecdote to show that these changes in habits can lead to meaningful results. Flow keeps readers on your page. It also encourages them to return later to read more.
On-Page SEO Factors
Just a note in passing, on-page SEO is not about cramming a couple of keywords in all possible places. It’s about making your pages “readable” for search engines as well as real people. So there’s no need to “gamble” on your page text in order to get better rankings. Just follow our tips.
Title Tags
Title tags are, essentially, the way you introduce your page to search engines. And it’s a very important part of on-page SEO, because title tags also tell your users what kind of content they should expect on a page.
Tips for optimizing your title tags:
- Begin your title with your main keyword (search engines read from left to right).
- Keep it concise — long titles are cut off in search results, which looks unprofessional.
- Write something catchy that people would want to click on, but which accurately represents the content of the page.
Example: Best SEO Practices for Beginners – Improve Your Rankings
Meta Descriptions:
Meta descriptions are the short blurbs under your title tags in search results. Even though they don’t directly impact your ranking, meta descriptions are important for your click-through rate.
Tips for optimizing your meta descriptions:
- Add relevant keywords where it sounds natural and doesn’t look like keyword stuffing (keep in mind that your target audience are real humans, not crawlers).
- Make it about 155–160 characters in length, so that it’s not cut off in search results.
- Include a CTA wherever you can, to give people an additional incentive to click.
Meta description example: “Looking for the best SEO practices for beginners? This is the right place! This guide is filled with simple yet effective methods to improve the position of your website in search results. Read more now!”
Header Tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.)
Headers are the “milestones” of your pages that make it easy for your visitors to skim through your content. At the same time, header tags are one of the key on-page SEO factors, because they signal search engines the outline of your content.
Tips for optimizing header tags:
- Use a single H1 per page (essentially, the title of your content) and insert your main keyword there.
- H2s and H3s and below serve as chapter titles and subtitles of your content, guiding visitors through it.
- Use keywords in headers where it makes sense.
5. Content Quality and Keywords
First of all, remember the reason for your content’s existence. It is meant to both really help your audience at the end of the day and to tell Google that your page is actually relevant to the topic. It’s a fine line, but really makes the difference between mediocre content and the content your audience wants to consume.
Keywords – Use, Don’t Abuse
Keywords are important, but just littering them all over the place is helpful to no one. Strive for rhythm. Your primary and secondary keywords should be sprinkled in at all natural places in your text; feel free to use synonyms or long-tail variations of those words as well (people just say things differently).
Readability and User-Friendliness
SEO is nothing without user experience. Make sure your content doesn’t just look good but actually feels smooth and effortless to read. Here’s how you can do that:
Language
First of all, keep the text easy to read and understand. Write for an audience of one; someone who cares about the topic, and needs your answers. Unless you’re 100% sure that you’re writing for an audience who speaks fluent tech, keep the jargon to a minimum. Use tools such as Hemingway Editor to make sure your sentences are clean and free of fluff.
Paragraphs
Shorter is better. Split your content up into 2-3 sentence chunks; it’s easier to read, and especially on mobile, it’s less daunting for your reader.
Headings
Headings and subheadings are important; they tell the reader and the search engines how your content is structured. Use a simple hierarchy: one H1, H2s for main points and H3s for subpoints.
Lists and Bullet Points
Break your ideas into lists and bullet points whenever possible; they’re easier to skim and process, which will keep your audience reading.
Font, Size, and Contrast
Choose an easy-to-read font, that will look good across all devices and screen resolutions. Arial and Helvetica are two great options. Make sure the body font size is at least 16px on mobile; and for contrast, just make sure your text is visible against the background and not straining to read; WebAIM’s Contrast Checker is a great tool for this.
Whitespace
Finally, don’t be afraid to let your text have some space around it. White space around paragraphs and headings de-clutters your page and makes sure your readers focus on the right things.
Keep Content Fresh
If your site was a person, they’d be suffocating if they stopped breathing. Content is the breath of life. Without it, you’re no more than a stagnant title or two, a skeleton in the search engine graveyard. Updating content is critical in maintaining your site’s relevance and rank for as long as possible. This is how:
Conduct Content Audits
Content audits should be a regular part of your SEO process, whether quarterly, biannual, or annual. Choose a cadence, set a date, and never look back. Audit all pages, using tools like Screaming Frog or Google Search Console to get a full picture of your content ecosystem. Review analytics and performance: traffic, time on page, bounce rate, conversion rates. Identify top performing content as well as those in the basement. Content updates will make the biggest difference on the pages that need it most.
Update Outdated Information
Statistics, references, and trends don’t stand still. Review your content and reassess every fact, source, or claim. Google Trends is also a great tool for getting a sense of what’s trending in your industry at any given moment. Look for broken links on pages, both internal and external. Broken links destroy a site’s credibility quickly and make it hard for users to trust that any of the information is accurate.
Add More Information
Sometimes a page doesn’t need a full update, just some enhancement. Update your content with additional insights, examples, case studies. Or perhaps a page is on-topic but there just isn’t enough meat on the bone — supplement with additional information. Refresh keywords and key phrases, as user search behavior can and does change.
Update for Readability
Even the most up-to-date information can still read lifeless. Revisit paragraph structure, heading clarity, overall formatting. Update or swap out any dated images or infographics. If you use videos, review these for accuracy and style. Small changes to page structure can make a page feel brand new again, even when the bulk of the content is the same.
Refresh SEO Elements
Meta titles, meta descriptions, URL slugs, these are all key elements to be reviewed when updating a page. Adjust optimization for any new keywords or phrases you may be targeting with your content update. Schema markup can also be updated to better describe the updated content, or to help optimize for new SERP features. Internal links on the page are a must-review to direct users to the freshest and most relevant pages within the site as well as solidifying internal site structure.
Listen to Your Audience
Comments, social media, feedback in any form: all are gold mines of user data. What are they asking you? What do they feel is missing? Pair this with analytics data: where are people hanging out on a page and where are they bouncing? These are some of the most useful signals for what to update, add to, or supplement on your pages.
Plan Updates in Your Content Calendar
Content updates don’t need to be left to chance. In fact, updating should be as thoroughly calendared as the rest of your content. Consider a monthly or seasonal update theme — seasonal changes, industry news and updates, even anniversary updates.
Automate Monitoring for Updates
Google Alerts are old hat for this but be specific in your keywords. Set up RSS feeds for blogs or influencers in your industry or niche. You want to be on top of updates and changes in your industry, but also not lose days trying to discover updates and shifts.
Updating Content In Practice
Say you have a post on your site called “SEO Trends 2023.” In 2025, you look at it again. You see some trends have changed, some have fizzled, and some are still as strong as ever. But all of them require updating. Go through, page by page, and update those outdated statistics, adding in fresh case studies. Update your meta description, including any new key phrases or keywords that are popular now — perhaps “AI in SEO” has become more prevalent. Refresh old images or create a new infographic that shows how trends have changed over time.
The beauty of updating your content is it’s a win-win-win for search engines, current users, and future users. Accurate, helpful, and up-to-date content makes people want to stay and return to your site. It’s a direct line to growing that all-important trust users will have in your site and content. Trust is the bedrock that everything else is built on that leads to rankings, better engagement, sustained traffic, and long-term authority in your industry.
Wrapping It Up
SEO content writing is about more than just stuffing a few keywords in and crossing off a checklist of technicalities. It’s a compromise between catering to your readers’ needs, being concise and palatable, and keeping search engines in the back of your mind. Create content with real value, follow the SEO content writing best practices listed here and you’ll likely see a difference in your rankings and organic search traffic. It’s not rocket science, but it’s something worth taking the time to do.
FAQ: Writing SEO Content
What is SEO-friendly content?
SEO-friendly content is about more than just targeting keywords. It’s a combination of research and keyword selection, readability and presentation, as well as actual value to your users. If your readers like it, chances are Google will too.
How often should I refresh SEO content?
Refreshing content every 3–6 months is a good rule of thumb if you want to stay fresh and at the top of search rankings. Just like a garden, content needs tending every now and then.
Should I still focus on keywords for SEO?
Yes, but they need to read naturally. Google’s become good at understanding user intent, so if you try to stuff keywords in where they don’t fit, they won’t help.
What’s the best length for an SEO article?
There’s no set answer, but as a rule of thumb, try to go for 1,500 words or more. It’s not an exact science though, and quality is better than quantity. If your article is short but to the point and informative, it can still do well.
Is SEO only about content?
Not at all. SEO is a combination of many different things, from technical stuff like tags and redirects to link building and page performance, and of course content. Neglect any area, and you’ll likely see lower returns.
