The objective of writing an article is that it is interesting and attractive; If we add a positioning strategy, then we are creating publications with extra visibility.
Before knowing the 10 keys to writing an effective SEO article, you need to understand the purpose and why of the so-called SEO copywriting, why it is so important for brands to have copywriters who master this discipline.
Being a content writer, especially for web and blog, is a highly valued profession today, forged in the wide and fertile digital field. If you also specialize in SEO copywriting, even more so. Let’s go to its origin.
That same year, the first bot with the mission of indexing content, WebCrawler (web crawler), was launched.
When a user makes a query, the search engine links the words used (keywords) to the web content and displays (sorts) them according to relevance. To make it relevant, the search engine uses algorithms, so that the result depends above all on how it “found” the data (metadata) in all the “crawled” (inspected and classified) websites.
We can work with two types of SEO, depending on whether it is done ON the website (on site) or OUTSIDE it (off site).
Without wanting to delve further into SEO (as a technique, it is something really fascinating, technical and complex), we will summarize that this acronym corresponds to the series of optimization techniques and strategies that are carried out on the pages of a website or blog, with the aim of improving its position (order in which it is shown as a result) in search engines, after a user’s query.
The Internet currently has more than 1,132 million web pages, almost seven million more than in December 2022 (1). Let’s think for a moment what this means… Yes, it is a real battle. In other words, positioning makes a brand or company appear before others.
To give an example: pharmacies (pharmacies). The regulations do not allow direct advertising/promotion to attract customers, and this is something that any other retail business without health relevance does not have to deal with.
How to design an online marketing strategy for a pharmacy that does not contravene these legal limitations?
The answer is often to offer additional (dragging) services that can be promoted, and also the technical Inbound Marketing.
How to make texts effective, at the SEO level?
If the first question is to ask ourselves why content is crucial to provide SEO to a website, let’s think about the following example. Let’s take for example a static corporate website, without changes, always the same staff, same headquarters, same products and services… and hardly active on social networks. It will be difficult for it to appear in search engines organically, except perhaps if you have a hyper-specific product with hardly any competition or have worked very well on branding. If, on the other hand, they have competition and the user does not know their brand, it is most likely that there will be an infinite number of results before yours. That is being invisible.
If we want to be visible on the Internet, we have to invest time and money. Choosing to work on site SEO is beneficial and adding content (blog) provides a plus of optimization. The news or articles section provides movement, continuity. And it allows you to dump content that you can continue working on to achieve better positioning.
Publishing articles helps and is rewarding, sharing always is. A user is more attracted to a website with content of interest (non-commercial) and therefore SEO copywriting helps customers to arrive without having to go out and look for them.
Targeting content for SEO is always a good decision. If you agree, here are ten guidelines for creating articles with a plus:
1, Concrete and attractive title, with friendly URL:
Basic and fundamental. We’ll create a title that includes the main keyword and is appealing to our audience. Uncomplicated, direct and concise, which describes the content of the article well.
The final step is to customize the URL of the article, so that it is simple and contains the keyword. It is usually created automatically (when uploading content on the web or blog), although sometimes it requires our correction.
2, Keywords:
Even if we have identified them a priori, it is important to validate them. It is necessary to specify, select and analyze the relevant keywords for the article.
In SEO, a keyword can be made up of more than one word, and experts have agreed to divide them into four types, according to the type of intent that exists behind the user’s search:
- Informational: they are looking for generic information, answers to a question
- Navigational: they search for a specific place
- Commercial: they look for specific brands
- Transactional: they are looking for purchase intent or another type of action
*Extra tip: practical tools, such as Uber suggest or SEMrush, are easy-to-use allies that provide valuable information. We can also use Google, which offers us its Keyword Planner, thanks to its powerful search engine.
In the screenshot we show you the SEMrush panel. We have searched for the keyword “Bicycle cover”, which is generic, and the results it shows us give us valuable clues.
We highlight 3 data: the column marked with blue shows us result keywords, the green column indicates (with initials) the type of intention, and the orange column indicates the results by keyword (next to its temporal validity).
We must distinguish, first of all, what will be the main keyword of our publication.
3, Keyword Optimization:
We could have included it as a warning in the previous point, it is very important to be cautious in the use of keywords.
Let’s avoid keyword stuffing, which consists of overusing keywords.
The ideal is to be minimalist, the main keyword in the title, and if we see it necessary, we can use it again in the first paragraph. At most, repeat it again in the body of the article.
4, Headings (H1 H2 H3…):
We will use headings to divide the article into sections.
It comes from HTML, which in web “language” corresponds to the tagging of text.
These invisible tags help the item be optimized to improve rankings.
Without complicating things, it is about remembering that H1 is for focusing attention, it is the main keyword, and H2 are for dividing, they help to mark the different sections of content in the article. From these two tags, the rest (H3, H4, H5, H6) contribute to give it structure, so that search engines quickly and easily “understand” what the article is about.
In short, the correct tagging and structuring will make it easier for the user to read and indexed by search engines.
5, Quality content:
It may be obvious, but we will not stop adding it to this list.
Sometimes we go blank, “dry” of ideas, has it happened to you? Then it’s time to pause.
Better less and of quality.
The audience expects (and deserves) content that is valuable, informative, useful, well-written, and truthful.
6, Engaging Meta Description:
The meta description is the piece of text that is displayed in search results. It is important to take great care, because the rule is that it has to be attractive and contain the keyword.
We agree that sometimes it is more complicated than it seems, and we often do not do our homework at the level of web or blog editing. Expanding on a topic is usually relatively simpler than summarizing it in a few words.
7, Internal and external links:
This is about linking our publication to other relevant pages on the website (internal links) and, cautiously, to trusted external sources (external links). This improves the authority of your article.
Reflection: external links have disadvantages. The fact that you take your audience to another place means exactly that, that you take them from your website. So be careful where you place it.
Luckily, they gain their advantages. The practice of external links can get backlinks (backlinks, third-party links pointing to your website) and can provide extra value for your reader. Deep down, with this relationship – which must be justified by the context – you are also acknowledging other people’s work, and it provides authority (as long as you are linking your post to a quality place).
In any case, I use it in a measured way so that it does not affect us in the ranking.
8, Images and multimedia:
It is important to enrich the article with an audiovisual part, at least with a photograph, infographic or graphic that helps to communicate better. We avoid falling into gratuitous decoration, using images to add, not to distract the eye.
We must devote a minimum of attention to weight, it is advisable to optimize images for loading speed and use ALT tags with related keywords.
The ALT tag (Alt tag) comes from its function as alternative text to the image itself. It is placed in the image so that the text is displayed in the event of an loading error, in addition to providing accessibility to the website, necessary for people with visual disabilities.
9, Length of the article:
There is no fixed rule, depending on its location and subject matter it can range from 800 words. Longer articles (usually more than 1000 words) have been proven to tend to perform better in terms of SEO, as long as the content is relevant and of high quality.
10, Mobile Optimization:
Nowadays it is unthinkable (or counterproductive) that we do not have the web or blog optimized for mobile devices, since the user experience on mobile devices is highly valued, and Google is undoubtedly the one that “appreciates” it the most.
If our content is not displayed or is displayed incorrectly, the score will plummet.
Here are the 10 most relevant guidelines for writing articles with effective SEO.
Other aspects to take into account and that can help us to provide SEO to our articles are loading speed, technical maintenance, dissemination and analytics.
Having good web hosting, optimizing images and avoiding weight overloads increase loading speed. And that’s something that Google likes a lot. It’s also important to keep the website up to date, for example. Google will “penalize” the SEO of a slow or outdated blog. Everything adds or subtracts.
Publishing is good, and if we can dedicate some time to promoting it, especially on social networks, and encourage sharing, much better. The more visits and inbound links, the better SEO we will achieve.
Analyzing would be the end and starting point in SEO copywriting. In order to assess the results, it is in order to adjust and improve. Google Analytics gives us a helping hand with the metrics, and we can automate the sending of performance reports; It’s really very practical.
SEO is an ongoing process; you have to be patient because the results can take time to arrive. The positive part is that we also have time to improve our skills.
For the most impatient, SEM!
