How to write SEO-optimized content: Seven steps

SEO is more than writing. You can't get SEO without writing. This is a key aspect to help you appear in search results.

What is SEO? What is SEO writing? Can anyone become a more effective SEO writer by following a set process?

This guide will answer these questions, and show you how to create search engine-optimized content that your readers (and Google!) will enjoy.

What is "writing for SEO?"

The process of SEO writing involves writing with the intention of ranking high on a search engine.
In order to do this, you need to focus on the following three factors:

1. Understand what the searchers are looking for when they use your keyword as a search term (i.e. search intent).
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2. Find the most accurate answer for a search query.
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3. Write the answer clearly and in an easy-to-understand way (i.e. have excellent writing skills).
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You also need to know the basic elements of SEO on-page, including meta tags, alt text for images, internal links and so forth. Later, I will get to them.

Let's start by asking the question, "Why do you care?"

What is the importance of SEO writing?

Google receives an estimated 3.5 million searches each day. Your customers will most likely use Google to search for information.

Once you are on page one of Google, your site will receive free traffic that is highly relevant and recurring Social Media Strategy.

SEO is money for the bank.

Organic traffic is one of the best marketing channels for modern businesses. As social media engagement and paid advertising become more expensive, it's important to invest in organic traffic.

How do you achieve those organic first page rankings?

How to optimize your content for search

The process that I follow is easy and straightforward. After I have completed my keyword research, I know which keywords I want to target. Each article that I post on my blog
will go through seven steps of SEO writing:

1. Search the SERPs of your keyword or keywords
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Do you remember when I told you that writing SEO content involves understanding the search intent?
The search intent refers to the purpose of a user when typing in a query. If someone types in "best restaurants nearby", their intent is to locate a restaurant close to their location.

It may sound simple but can be very easy to do wrong. If you do it incorrectly, no matter how good your content may be, you will not rank on the first page of Google.

What could possibly go wrong?

For example, if you search for "RV Storage Ideas," you might expect to find ideas about how you can store your RV while you are not using it.

If that is what you believe, then you are wrong. Google, at least. These are the real results.

You can clearly see that the first results are guides to increasing storage space in your RV and not locations for RV storage.

You should always check your search engine result page (SERP), before writing any content. This can be done quickly with Ahrefs Keywords Explorer or simply by searching for the keyword.

You'll also want to search for highlighted snippets during the research phase. The featured snippets are snippets of information that Google pulls from the ranking page and shows in search results.

By optimizing your content to include featured snippets, you can bypass some of the competition of a particular keyword. This will help you rank for that term faster.

Keywords Explorer is the best tool to find snippets quickly. Enter the keywords that you want to target, select Featured Snippet from the "SERP Features" dropdown, then click "Apply".

You'll now only see keywords with a featured excerpt! Learn more by reading our guide on how to optimize for featured snippets.

After you've understood search intent, you need to do one last thing before you begin writing.

1. Create an article outline
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A content outline is an important step when writing SEO. A content outline can make the writing process easier and faster while maintaining a high standard of quality Social Media services.

Filling out important SEO details such as the questions that people commonly ask when they search for a keyword is part of the outline.

The next step is to determine the title, subheadings and goals of your article. What sets your article apart from others?

This is an outline of one of my articles.

For more information on this step, please refer to the article I wrote about creating content outline.