The secret to successful SEO blog writing

Explore the importance of SEO-optimized content to increase your conversion rate

In a strong digital marketing strategy, your website’s blogs will clearly benefit both your clients and your business.
Effective blogging will increase the numbers of visitors to your website, reinforce your expertise and value, generate new leads for your sales team, and deepen your knowledge of your target audience.  
To successfully create effective blogs, there’s one key factor you can’t forget: SEO. In today’s digital age, writing SEO-optimized content is essential to your business’s digital marketing strategy with a comprehensive report finding that over a quarter of SEO professionals are predominantly focusing their efforts on content production. [1]
Continue reading to learn the secret to successful SEO blog writing which answers the question: Should you write for people or SEO? 

What is SEO blog writing?

In digital marketing, SEO blog writing follows all the same writing principles as traditional content creation, but with the additional intent to rank on the first page of search engines like Google.

With a comprehensive study finding that the average clickthrough rate for position one on Google is 28.5% before drastically dropping to 15.7% for position two and 11% for position three, it’s clear that SEO blog writing can be extremely effective in driving organic traffic to pages on your website and generating leads when you’re ranking at the top of page one. [2] 

SEO-optimized blogs should be a key component of your overall SEO efforts, which likely include competition analysis, keyword research, backlink monitoring, and more.   

Learn more:
SEO Glossary: A Beginner’s Guide

How do I make my blog content SEO-friendly?

If you or a member of your team are accustomed to writing your business’s own blogs based on your industry knowledge, the SEO blog writing process followed by most digital marketing professionals will seem extensive at first. 

However, spending time to understand and investing in SEO-optimized blogs is much more worthwhile in the end to both your business and target audience who will be able to easily find your content. 

When writing a blog, most SEO writers will generally follow this process:

1. Conduct keyword analytics and choose a topic.
2. Research and develop the topic.
3. Create an outline.
4. Write a blog post with an introduction, conclusion, call to action, and headings. 
5. Add a focus keyword, meta description, and properly named featured image with alt text.
6. Reread, share with a fellow content writer for external feedback, and make final edits to the blog.
7. Publish the blog. 

Should I write for people or SEO?

The answer to the question posed here reveals the secret to successful SEO blog writing, and that’s to write for both people and SEO. A common misconception in the digital marketing industry is that you have to either create content for Google or for your audience—there’s no blending of the two.

However, successful SEO content writers understand that you can create content with both intentions. Even though Google will continuously update best practices, it’s always towards helping the consumer. The two intentions are not mutually exclusive, but instead, inextricably linked. 

It’s essential that your content writers optimize your blogs for search engines, but no prospects will read your content or take action to contact your business if it’s not a compelling and informative narrative.

If you publish content that people really want to read, more visitors will click on the link to your blog which will then help you rank higher on Google. Successful SEO blog writing allows you to break through your sea of competition to show Google that your content is most relevant, but thinking of people first should be the ultimate goal. 

Learn more:
The importance of SEO in digital marketing

What are some SEO blog writing best practices?

There are extensive strategies available to rank your website’s blog content higher on Google, but it’s best to start with some basic tactics when first publishing SEO-optimized blogs. 

Follow these tips to get started that are proven effective when writing for both people and SEO: 

• Use visuals throughout your content to provide imagery, give context, and supply readers with a break from one paragraph after another. For example, if you’ve published an article with multiple statistics, consider creating corresponding infographics to emphasize the numbers. 
• Define and explain terminology, so that both your readers and search engines can identify your intent quickly. It’s great to deep dive into a specific topic, but be sure the blog always begins by defining the topic early—it could even help you get a featured snippet! 
• Incorporate bullet points or steps throughout the blog, so that there’s a clear organization to your piece for both Google and your target audience to follow. It’s also a great way to entice people who skim content first to be intrigued by individual points and read more. 
• Keep in mind the search intent of your target keyword. Make sure your content team has conducted research on the blog’s primary keyword and ensure that the other articles that pop up on Google for that search term are related to your content. If people are searching for an answer and your content appears, but only answers a related question, they’ll be frustrated and ignore your blog. 

To conclude

If you want to take your business’s content marketing strategy to the next level, invest in SEO-optimized blogs. The near endless benefits will help provide your business with the credibility and leads it needs to achieve success.

If your existing team is not equipped to handle SEO blog writing, consider partnering with a digital marketing agency who can lend their expertise, save you time, and help you level up your business’s online presence.

The secret’s out, now partner with the best in the business!

Our team at Different Perspective loves helping awesome and unique businesses reach target audiences, gain online visibility, attract new leads, and track results with comprehensive SEO services as part of a coordinated digital marketing plan.

With our blog writing services both audience- and SEO-focused, we’re passionate about creating high-quality content that both you and your clients find resourceful while following all the best practices to help you rank highly on Google and other search engines. 

Is your business ready to reach its full potential?
Contact us today to get started.

Sources:
1: Search Engine Journal | The State of SEO 2021
2: SISTRIX | Why (almost) everything you knew about Google CTR is no longer valid