There was a time when SEO was all about helping the search engines to understand your content (you know, by including the right keywords in the right places etc…) and nudging them to rank you top by showing them loads of juicy, if not always high quality links.
But times have changed.
You can certainly still put those keywords in your pages, but Google is pretty good at knowing what your page is about anyway – so, often the right keywords isn’t as important as creating content with the right context.
And you certainly shouldn’t bother with those questionable quality links anymore.
What SEO is about now, is building a better website, and as part of that aim, we all need to be able to write/develop better content.
Here’s how.
Keyword Driven Content
Using keyword research to come up with content ideas is ok, in fact, it’s often a good idea.
By selecting keyword phrases that you know people are searching for, you can come up with relevant content ideas.
Don’t make the mistake of writing something barely relevant that just happens to mention the keywords you are targeting, instead think about what the user is actually looking for when they search for that phrase – think of your hypothetical search engine user and write the content for them.
TIP : need a tool to give you ideas on keywords? Use Google Trends to discover the hot topics of the moment or what is the trend in relation to certain search queries. You can even filter per top Regions or Cities.
Scoping The Competition
If you want to rank for a given phrase, look at other pages ranking for the same phrase.
In particular, check out the top 5 results – these are the pages that Google thinks are best at answering the user’s question.
Try to spot the commonest themes in the content, key points that you may not have thought off.
Also try to think of information that they are missing or anything that could be improved upon.
Take notes on everything, this will form the basis of your content.
Here’s a post on Moz blog you want to read: How To Write Great Content That Deserves To Rank – In 4 Simple Steps
Adding Features
Content is important, but also look for popular features and functionality.
For instance, if you want to rank for something link “Comparing used cars”, you might well have an advice article about exactly that, but you could also add a tool that helps the user to compare cars.
The point is that you want your page to be much better than all of the competition.
It needs to be more complete, more up to date, easier to use etc.
A Well Formatted Post
Remember to put your readers first, when creating new content.
From a recent roundup made by Andrew Warner, it comes out that after a catchy headline, what makes visitors stay on your blog is having a well formatted post, with proper sub headings (H2, H3, etc), relevant featured image and easy to read paragraphs.
What If You Can’t Compete?
In a word: Don’t.
Another great thing about following this process is that you will discover how strong the competition is.
If you can’t think of at least a couple of ways to improve upon what’s already out there, you probably shouldn’t target that keyword.
By doing thorough keyword research, you will undoubtedly find a few phrases which are not being served very well.
Any time you Google a phrase and find a tenuously related Wikipedia article in the top position; that could be a sign that you can easily rank for that phrase.
Putting It All Together
Once you have done your research you should have a pretty good list of key points to mention, things you want talk about etc.
Use this list as a structure for your content, rearrange it and add anything else you think of along the way.
Try to form logical headers and break up your content to make it easy to read.
Above all else : make sure that the end piece is thorough and comprehensive.
Summary
Writing great content takes a little practice, but by following the steps above, you should come out with a webpage that solves the users query very succinctly.
In time your website will be better as a result and your rankings should naturally improve.
What do you think?
Do you have any other tips to add?
Please share your views in the comments below, thanks!
Hi Erik Sir,
Yet another awesome post, this time from smartmarketerz.
Thank you so much sir.
I am learning SEO and keyword research. Really I am complete newbie to this field.
I have read that post written by Andrew sir.
A well formatted post is like a welcome message to readers.
Thank you so much for the post sir.
Regards,
Rahul
Hi Erik,
Informative post indeed 🙂
Yes, SEO surely has changed, and one can never really know what really works any longer, as it’s forever changing! Lol…
Keywords help, but just a little, and I think we should use them in variation, just so that our posts rank a little in the search engines. Yet again, one really wonders what keyword will really rank, as many a times those keywords rank that aren’t really targeted! Sometimes, posts you don’t use any SEO or keywords, those too come on the first page of Google – how does that happen? Google and it’s mysterious ways 🙂
Long tail and phrases are what work best, and yes, that was a wonderful post about a well formatted post by Andrew, with so many bloggers sharing their views in it.
I think being natural in your posts, with a little tweak of SEO is the key nowadays. Any content that is FOR people and helps them, will rank, if done the right way.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hey Erik,
Great post here. I was one of those people, early on last year, that would just choose any keyword to write about. And it didn’t go well for me. Now, I’m not that focused on keywords and write about things the readers want to know about.
I have scoped the competition though when it comes to writing great content. Over the months I’ve done it, I’ve been able to come up with some great ideas and angles to take on certain posts.
I’m a person that truly believes in formatting now. As you can tell from from that post, many people agree that formatting is a major thing they look to besides the headline. Anyway, thanks for linking to my post and for writing this great post.
– Andrew
Hi Erik
You are right that SEO isn’t the same. Now Google is smarter and knows what users think about when searching for content that will solve problems. I like the fact that you reveal better ways of developing content that will be beneficial to both readers and the search engine.
Keywords do matter but as you have mentioned, they reveal the mind of the user so that we can solve their problems. We should never right for Google but people and it is all about providing great value just like in your examples. Thanks for sharing.
Emmanuel,
You hit this one spot on. Bloggers need to focus more on delivering quality and anything else.
I like the part about using features. Adding video is certainly one way to spice up your content and make sure
you readers get an awesome experience.
This is an all around great post. I found your post on Kingged.com.
Hi Erik,
I remember when I first started blogging and I wasn’t focusing on key words but my blog stayed on Goggles’ first two pages. What I found out was that I was writing about things people was searching for and I didn’t know it. Then I started focusing on key words and my ranking fell. So I started approaching blogging the same way I approach football.
In high school one of my teammates asked me how I make so many tackles each game and he wanted to know how I did it. I told him to stop focusing on making a lot of tackles then they will come.
And that’s how I approach blogging. I take all you guy suggestions and try to apply them. But I keep my focus of writing what’s on my spirit and not on my blog ranking.
Thanks for another great post.
Hi Erik,
You have given superb points to aim for better ranking with great content.
However, to talk about one more aspect- I have been reading quiet a lot on length of the post these days. People are advising to write epic posts, right length to suit your blog, short to the point posts, blah blah. Different bloggers have different views on the length of the posts.
What are your views on writing lengthier and in-depth posts to rank higher?
Your blog should have quality contents…Your blog should satisfy the readers so that he will visit your blog again and again…You should use keywords which are searched on large scale all over the world and also prepare your blogs according to meet the demand of the readers…
Hi Erik,
Actually I have recently started to use Google trends and I am happy with the results.
There are two ways in which I work,
I write a brilliant article and hit the live button. In Google analytic’s, see for the keyword I rank for and then improve the article even more.
Secondly, I target a keyphrase and outdo the articles out there.
In my experimentation till now, I am finding first method easier. I will put up a post later. Till then, that’s my approach.
Thanks for the insights man. Stay awesome.
Hello,
very good post…Really very helpful for new bloggers like me…Keywords help, but just a little, and I think we should use them in variation, just so that our posts rank a little in the search engines. Yet again, one really wonders what keyword will really rank, as many a times those keywords rank that aren’t really targeted! Sometimes, posts you don’t use any SEO or keywords, those too come on the first page of Google – how does that happen? Google and it’s mysterious ways of testing a blog…
Finally our dedication and complete following of mentioned tips in this blog help you to achieve higher rank…
Thank you…
I just follow my passion on writing. Blog is just online diary for me…
Hi Erik,
This post was awesome!
My golden nugget is having a greater chance of ranking a post if Wikipedia shows up!
It’s true, because I noticing that is there are blogs ranking then that means there is more competition, but I have noticed sometimes that there are no blogs for certain key words, but never really caught my attention!
Thanks,
– Nestor