Though I suppose you already know that. You did arrive here after searching for “SEO content writing service,” after all. And you’re reading a blog post about writing blog posts for SEO results. Written by an SEO content writer at a digital marketing agency that offers an SEO content service. If we went any deeper, you’d need a spinning token to know which layer of reality you’re in.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. This is going to be like one of those online recipe write-ups crammed with SEO keywords. You’ll have to scroll through pages of irrelevant backstory before you get to the actual instructions. We wouldn’t do that to you. Because SEO content doesn’t have to make your eyes roll out of the back of your head. It can serve your search purposes and be engaging, great content. What does that sort of SEO copywriting service look like? Let’s get into it.
SEO-Friendly Content Writing Starts With Site Audits
The first thing to know related to SEO content services is that ranking for keywords isn’t as simple as cramming your company’s web pages full of SEO word salad. Showing up on the first page of Google’s search engine results requires thoughtful planning and a firm grasp of how web content works with site organization and linking strategies.
Take it from the great overseer of all things search itself, Google:
“If your site’s pages are properly linked, Google can usually discover most of your site. Proper linking means that all pages that you deem important can be reached through some form of navigation, be that your site’s menu or links that you placed on pages.”
Let’s say your company, Wacky Widget Co., makes five different widgets and offers professional services to help customers set up and monitor their widgets. You just released your hottest new item, Widget Six. Now, you want to raise awareness of the new product and drive traffic to the Widget Six page with all your high-quality content.
If it isn’t easy for potential customers to navigate to the Widget Six product page from your home page, it doesn’t matter how much SEO friendly content you pumped into it. When customers have a hard time finding something, that probably means Google has a hard time finding it. And if Google has a hard time locating the Widget Six page, good luck getting all that quality content to rank for Widget Six SEO terms.
With me still? Do you see how optimizing for search engine results is about more than just filling the page with search terms? Good. Great. Let’s keep going.
As part of our SEO services, we conduct multiple audits before we do any keyword research or SEO copywriting.
- The technical site audit tells us how easily Google can find and read your pages and if there are any other concerns with how your site is organized, such as broken links and sitemap inconsistencies.
- During an on-page SEO audit, our team of SEO experts and content writers takes a look at various components of your webpages, like titles, headings, meta descriptions, image alt tags and page-load times, among others. The on-page audit helps us determine if you’re optimizing every nook and cranny of your site for search results.
- Our off-page audit checks for authoritative backlinks, like an article on Business Insider that links back to the Wacky Widget Co. home page. The audit also roots out toxic and harmful backlinks from spam sites and sites Google doesn’t trust. To earn more authoritative backlinks, you’ll need to ensure your PR and SEO strategies work hand in hand.
Once we’ve ironed out the more technical details involving content writing services, we can start with the fun stuff: keyword research.
Keyword Research Informs Blog Content Strategy
It’s easy to say, “You know what? We’re experts in creating widgets. We can write high-quality SEO content about widgets all day long.”
That may be true, but chances are dozens of other companies also sell widgets. Many of their sites already rank for common SEO keywords like, say, “widgets.” Plus, established journalists who cover the widget industry also churn out professionally written, optimized content. This cluster of good content lives on domains, like TechCrunch.com or Bloomberg.com, that Google considers expert, authoritative and trustworthy (Keep these adjectives in mind. We’ll revisit them later). Even your highest-quality content won’t get too far if you’re trying to rank for a competitive keyword that these domains rank for.
This screenshot shows keywords related to “widget.” The third column shows the monthly average search volume for the word. The fourth column shows the keyword difficulty, on a scale of 1-100. Keywords that rank 100 are the hardest to rank for. You can see ranking on the first page of results for “widget” will be a steep mountain to climb.
Stop, breathe. Get up and stretch for a moment. And don’t worry if it feels like you’re SOL when it comes to ranking for Widget Six keywords. We’re experts and we’ve got you covered with ideal SEO content strategy.
The answer to this conundrum is to first pick some low-hanging fruit. That doesn’t sound too exciting, but trust us, when it comes to SEO writing that’s the best way to get started. Low-hanging fruit are search terms that are easier to rank for and have a decent monthly search volume.
“Widget” may have a high monthly search volume, but it’s also probably difficult to rank for due to the reasons we discussed earlier. Instead, we may focus on a keyword like, “widget for software test automation” (or whatever purpose Widget Six serves). That longer-tail keyword may not have as much search volume, but it’s easier to rank for. A content strategy that starts with low-hanging fruit may not seem as sexy but ranking for these keywords is a solid foundation for blog writing.
The longer, more descriptive keyword also illustrates another concept our SEO writers love: intent. In this case, you’d like people to arrive at your website because they intend to buy a unique widget or perform a specific action on the Wacky Widget Co. website. Someone searching for “widget” alone may be wondering what widgets are, or doing their own keyword research, or any number of things unrelated to actually purchasing a widget. Good luck getting Widget Six off the proverbial shelves if you can’t capture customers’ purchase intent.
By contrast, someone searching for “widget for software test automation” has a very specific goal in mind. They’re likely trying to download or buy a widget for that purpose. They’re more ready to purchase than someone searching for broader terms. How do you convince those searchers to buy your widget? Appear within the first 10 search results. That’s why an online content strategy is important.
The final part of keyword research is all about building off that initial keyword. Remember: Low-hanging fruit are your SEO foundation, mixed metaphors or not. And right now, we’re getting the Widget Six page to rank for “widgets for software test automation.” If Widget Six does software test automation, the page also probably talks about test automation tools, engineers, and best practices.
Now we have three more topics to write about. Instead of just optimizing the Widget Six page, what you end up with is four pages, each focused on a specific and related keyword. The Widget Six page, which ranks for “widgets for software test automation” will also link to the “software test automation tools,” “software test automation engineer” and “software test automation best practices” pages. That’s high-quality content.
In Google’s mind, you now provide authoritative, quality content about four different but related topics. That helps elevate your site’s domain authority and makes it easier to rank for more challenging keywords in the future.
In short, our SEO content-writing service uses keyword research to:
- Identify low-hanging topics for initial article writing
- Establish and leverage the intent of people searching for those terms
- Improve domain authority by linking related keywords together through multiple pages of copy
E-A-T Your Veggies and Your Content Creation
Domain authority this. Authoritative content that. What does “authority” mean in the context of SEO content creation? Remember when I told you to keep “expert,” “authoritative” and “trustworthy” in your head?
Google must believe your site reflects those adjectives, otherwise known as “E-A-T,” if it’s going to take your SEO work seriously. Think about a reputed newspaper. Google uses the Star Tribune as one example in its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. Minnesotans turn to the Star Tribune because they know the paper is written by experts on their subject with authoritative candor. Readers know they can trust the website content they read on the Star Tribune’s pages. In return, Google bestows upon the Star Tribune a high domain authority. Any links that go to the Wacky Widget Co. domain from the Star Tribune give your site a bit of transitive trustworthiness. The Widget Six page doesn’t have to read like a Star Tribune article, but it should fill a similar purpose.
That means no overt sales pitches about Widget Six, just facts about the widgets for software test automation. If you do direct readers to a purchase page or encourage them to sign up for a trial, that page should include user testimonials or reviews.
Your SEO content should reflect E-A-T, and your site design should, as well. Fewer “download this” and “buy this product now” buttons and more testimonials and informative graphics all play into Google’s E-A-T definition. Look at this example from Google’s Guidelines.
When it comes to web design, your website imagery, copy and sitemap, think about this: You want people to come to the Wacky Widget Co. website because they find you’re a trustworthy source of information about widgets and the widget industry. They’ll think, “hey, these widget folks know what they’re talking about, and I need a widget. Whom better to purchase from than the Wacky Widget Company?” Except nobody uses “whom” anymore, especially when they’re talking to themselves. The point stands.
Along with auditing your pages and performing ongoing keyword research our expert writers and SEO mavens also recommend how to make your site more appetizing, more appealing. More … E-A-T-able, if you will.
Good Measurement Finds Value Out Of SEO Writing
No digital marketing service offering is complete without measurement. When we kick things off, we’ll ask for access to your Google Analytics account, as well as other tools you use to measure website performance. We’ll log keywords and monitor their climb up the search-rankings ladder. We’ll keep track of how many words your company ranks for in the first page of Google’s search results. And we’ll tweak and hone our recommendations based on what that data tells us.
Because we’re more than just content stuffers, we’ll also ask you what your broader marketing and company goals are. And we’ll weave SEO article writing into your bigger-picture strategy, measuring progress all the while.
Our Content Writing Service Is At Your Service
And that’s it. That’s everything you need to know about optimizing your content and website for SEO. This is the entire compendium of what our SEO content writing services provides you. Truthfully, what you just read is the tip of the iceberg, our version of low-hanging fruit, the simple stuff. I can mix metaphors all day.
What you learned today are the basics. We’ll use these building blocks to develop an immersive SEO content plan tailored to your goals and budget. We’ll work with you every step of the way to ensure you get what it is you need, whether it’s more Widget Six downloads or sign-ups for a new webinar about the compounded annual growth rate of the widget industry (12.7% by 2025, by the way).
Interested in meeting with our team of SEO content writers? Or getting back out of this meta-post to reality? Maybe you just want to better understand the current trends to inform your SEO strategy. Drop our content marketing team a line and let’s start optimizing.
