SEO Writing Guide: 5 steps to optimize your content

To become an Agatha Christie of SEO writing and solve all the mysteries of SEO writing, you need to know a couple of things about online writing. Well, 4 in fact:

• About what you should write: a web copywriter should know the keywords to use, the SEO themes related to your business, etc...
• Where to write SEO content: a web writer must constantly ask the question: what format, for what purpose? On-site text, meta-description, blog, off-site guest-blogging, etc.
• How to write SEO content: what are the steps of web writing and SEO optimization?
• With what to write SEO content: a web writer must know which web writing and SEO tools are the most adapted to his activity

Why bet on SEO writing? SEO writing has many advantages: visibility, a showcase of your business, information about your activity, and especially... optimization of your organic referencing! The more SEO content you have on your site or linked to your site, the more chances you have to rank on certain keywords.

Web copywriting is therefore inseparable from SEO writing.

So, who better than professional web copywriters to advise you on how to write effectively on the web?

1. Choose your target words wisely

Take the time to find your words 💖

If you find the right keywords to address user queries, you can be sure that the search engines will be touched by this beautiful attention. Before starting any web writing work, you must choose in advance the keywords to use in your text(s) the ones you are willing to get ranked on.

This step of keyword audit is exclusively Marketing and SEO focused, but it is absolutely necessary to do it before you write your SEO content, in order to determine how to address your target and raise their interest.

Tips: choose the keywords you want to target according to your area of expertise, the subject of your site, the ranked keywords of your competitors, and the search volume associated with certain keywords. You can test the quality of your keywords with Cocolyze's "Opportunities" tool or find ideas of keywords and expressions with our "Keyword Tool".

REMEMBER

As a web copywriter, you must choose your keywords according to :

• your area of expertise or your activity field
• what your site is about, its subject, its themes
• the keywords used by the competition to get ranked
• the search volume of the keywords you are interested in

2. Write relevant content

Normally, the content you publish on the Internet is not read by bots or at least not meant to be read by bots, but by humans. A web copywriter must therefore always keep in mind that his content must above all be readable and understandable. It is important for you to satisfy your audience first, and then to satisfy the search engines' algorithms.

The role of a search engine is to propose to Internet users the most relevant sites. If the algorithms realize that the session time is very low on your site, and the bounce rate considerable, then they will not suggest it and your positions will drop.

Tips:

• Be sure to know the language of expression.
• Take care of your syntax and the overall quality of your SEO writing. Always be relevant in what you say.
• Avoid writing to increase your number of keywords. A good web writer should not always repeat the same keywords to try to achieve a better ranking. This type of approach will only lead to the opposite effect. The algorithms can interpret this practice as abusive use of key terms. Besides, it will probably harm your page’s user experience. Search engines, therefore, punish "stuffing" or any other suspicious SEO techniques.
• Vary your semantic field when writing web content. This will prevent stuffing and bring a real semantic richness to your content.
• Use a Writing Assistant Tool to help you identify your content score. Cocolyze's SEO Writing Assistant tool provides you with the necessary advice to write quality optimized SEO content.

REMEMBER

• Write first to attract your audience, not the algorithms
• Algorithms can calculate whether or not users are satisfied with your content thanks to, among other things, the bounce rate and average session time
• Express yourself correctly, both in terms of language and syntax
• Avoid the phenomena of "stuffing" which strongly degrades the SEO

3. Value unique content

There are 1.4 billion sites on the internet!

So there is a good chance that the content you write on your site has already been written on another one before. We are not trying to call you a thief! However, be careful with copied content that can be highly penalized by the algorithms. As for stuffing, search engines do not usually appreciate that we copy on other websites, even if it is not intended.

Remember that Google's duty is to propose the most pleasant AND relevant content for Internet users. If your site offers them something they have already read 10 times elsewhere, they may not enjoy their experience.

Every web writer must be careful with plagiarism and value unique content. It may seem difficult when you also have to make sure that your keywords are regularly used, but you still have to try to be as unique as possible. That's why a tool like the thematic cocoon, provided by Cocolyze's keyword research tool, can be a precious ally to give new ideas during web writing.

Tips:

A web writer must bring new information, but on searched subjects. This way you will be able to get high rankings on keywords that are in high demand without copying from someone else. You can use an "anti-plagiarism" software, like Compilatio, to know the percentage of duplicated content in your texts.

REMEMBER

• For the sake of your SEO health, just like stuffing, avoid writing content that is similar to what has already been published
• Don't hesitate to bring new information or your unique and singular opinion on a particular subject
• Use an "anti-plagiarism" verification software before publishing your content
   

4. Check the SEO of your content

The last step before publishing your content online is to check that everything is optimized for your SEO. This step is not part of web copywriting, but it is essential.

It's about making sure that everything is in place for publication and that nothing spoils your SEO. It would be a shame to publish editorial content to improve your SEO and have your efforts ruined because of a lack of optimization.

Tips:

After checking the level of stuffing and the quality of your content, it's important to make sure that it's optimized for your SEO. This means checking that everything is in place for publication and that nothing is messing with your SEO.

For example, for a blog post, try to keep your content to about 1000 words. Also, be careful to check that your content is not stuffed with unwanted code.

REMEMBER

Before publishing your content online:

• Check your level of stuffing and prefer unique content
• Make sure your text is long enough compared to other pages already ranked on the keyword you've chosen
• Beware of unwanted code that can be added to your web writing if you use a word processing program

5. Work on the meta description and the title tag of your SEO writing!

Once your content is written and properly formatted for web publication, there is only one thing left to do: complete your meta description and title tag properly.

How to create and optimize the title tag?

The title tag allows you to indicate to Internet users and search engines what your website contains. It is the title appearing in blue in the SERP of search engines. Its optimization is essential to seduce potential visitors and bots of Google and others.

The title tag helps Internet users to know if the content you offer meets their expectations. It must be a precise and concise description of the content of your web page.

Therefore, the title tag must :

• have a unique title. Each page must contain a single title tag with its own title
• contain the targeted keywords, ideally at the beginning of the title
• not exceed 512 pixels, so that the title is not truncated in the SERP of the search engine

How to create a title tag?

This is the technical part - which many SEO-writers hate - of web writing. To create your title tag you must :

• go into the source code of your web page
• go to the <title> tag located in the <head>.
• write the content of your title in the tag (no more than 512 pixels)

How to create and optimize the meta description?

Optimizing meta descriptions is essential if you want to boost the organic referencing of content. Of course, this description is not used by Google, nor by other search engines, but its marketing role is essential.

As for the title tag, the meta description is a real showcase to highlight the content you offer to your visitors. This description must be " appealing " and catch the interest of Internet users

How to write a meta description?

As for the title tag, writing a meta description requires you to go into the source code of your web page:

• go into the source code of your web page
• go to the meta description tag located in the <head>
• write the content of your description in the tag (no more than 1840 pixels)

Tips:

• Check that your URLs are properly accompanied by the title of your pages.
• Also, check that your page is correctly titled on the SERP and that there is a presentation text or an extract in the description.

REMEMBER

• Complete your URLs with the title of your pages
• Check that the title displayed in the SERP is the one you want
• Add a presentation or an extract of the page in the SERP description

Conclusion

SEO Writing can significantly improve your SEO. You should consider it if you want to develop your SEO through a content strategy. Our 5 tips to respect chronologically for web writing are :

• choose the right keywords to position yourself on before writing
• write relevant and grammatically correct content
• opt for unique content with real added value
• check that your content is technically adapted to SEO before publishing
• think to optimize the meta-description and the title tag of your content