If you master SEO content writing you’ve secured a money-printing machine.

Why?

Because 59% of shoppers both online and in-store start their shopping journey with a Google search. So if you gain SEO mastery and rank on the front page of Google (preferably top 3) for your most profitable keywords you will get a steady stream of customers on autopilot for months or even years to come.

In this article, I will give you everything you need to know to write SEO-optimized content that dominates search rankings.

But first, let’s get the essentials out of the way.

Content Writing For SEO FAQ

Let’s go over a few basic questions about content writing for SEO.

What Is Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Optimization aka SEO means optimizing a piece of content so it ranks higher in organic search results.

What Is SEO Content?

SEO content is simply content that’s designed to rank in search engines like Google, drive organic traffic, engage readers, and inspire them to convert to customers.

What Is A SEO Content Writer?

An SEO content writer aka SEO copywriter crafts web content that appeals to both search engines and people, while achieving business goals.

What are the benefits of SEO content?

• Increases brand visibility.
• Promotes your business 24/7.
• Cheaper than PPC ads.
• Results compound with time.
• Educates customers so they buy.
• Helps you dominate your market.
• Generate leads consistently.

How much do SEO writers make?

SEO writers earn anything from $40,000 to $60,000 per year—the very best earn north of $200,000. 

How Do You Write SEO Content? Or, Best Practices For SEO Content Writing

Here are the latest SEO copywriting best practices for writing SEO-friendly content that ranks.

1. Write for people, not search engines—the final goal of content is to help people, not attract search engine spiders.
2. Nail your keyword research so you pick a topic with decent traffic potential and business value.
3. Craft clear, keyword-rich, and power words-packed SEO-friendly headlines that drive clicks.
4. Make sure your content meets the user intent so visitors don’t bounce off the page but stay on signaling to search algorithms your content is valuable.
5. Structure headings appropriately (H1, H2, H3, etc.) so people and search spiders easily understand your content.
6. Include a powerful meta description to draw browsers to click through to your website and read your content. 
7. Make your content reader-friendly through headings, short sentences/paragraphs, visuals, and block quotes.
8. Write detailed long-form content so you naturally include related keyword phrases which boost your chances of ranking.

What Type Of Content Is Best For SEO?

Content that satisfies the user intent wins the ranking race, especially long-form content. 

• Ultimate Guides.
• Infographics.
• List Posts.
• Videos.
• How-to Posts.

Most of these content types are shareable so the posts spread fast and drive traffic. 

What is the difference between SEO content writing and SEO copywriting?

The goal of SEO content writing is to drive traffic while SEO copywriting is to convert website traffic into sales.

With the basics done and dusted, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. 

16 SEO Content Writing Tips For Creating High Ranking Content

Here are 16 no-frills tips for SEO content writing to help you craft top-ranking blog posts that woo robots, engage humans, and drive conversions. 

#1. Write For People Not Search Engines

Writing for SEO means focusing on attracting search engines, right?

Wrong.

Being obsessed with search engines when writing content:

1. Leads to keyword overuse.
2. Makes you sound ridiculous.
3. Produces unhelpful content.

If you write for search robots you will fall head first over the cliff of over-optimization and nonsensical keyword stuffing.

Like so.

Source: Big Oak

Think about it for a second.

Search engines don’t exist in and of themselves. Their purpose is to sift through billions of pages and serve readers with content that best addresses a search query. So write to help people, not to lure search machines.

Writing for robots puts the cart before the horse.

Several years back when I started my content writing journey I wrote many posts that ranked on the front page. Yet I knew absolutely nothing about the fancy on-page SEO optimization stuff. My secret was simply creating the most helpful resource on the topic for the target audience. I wrote for real people and addressed real problems in a real way.

Breadnbeyond SEO Founder Andre Oentero explains:

“My go-to SEO content writing tip is not to worry too much about low-value SEO tactics. Of course, keywords, metadata, and structure are necessary. 

But, all those keyword stuffing and awkward phrases– just to make it seen as good by search engines, can scare the readers or audiences away. And they are the ones who actually read and consume our content. 

So, while still making it friendly for search engines, it’s always better to also write for “real” humans. Old-fashion-writing, unique ideas, and focused on problem-solving, will help you create better content. 

The quality of the content is a reason whether your audiences want to link back to your piece. The higher quality you give, the higher chances you have to build a solid backlink profile that, at the end of the day, can boost your online presence as well as reputation in the long term.”

Ebnu Sudarso, Co-Founder of Milkwhale shares similar sentiments:

“Effective SEO writing isn’t easy. It’s not utilizing the most ranked keywords you can find and forming it into a coherent sentence. After all, when we write content, we write it for humans. If we focus too much on SEO itself, it can result in robotic sentences — which you can find on various pages online that use keyword stuffing (an SEO tactic we are totally against)

So, my tip for SEO content writing is to always focus on your audience. Find out what keywords they’re searching for, what they’re interested in. Once you have a clear understanding of what your audience reads, you can start researching content ideas and working on providing valuable content.

Once you have a solid piece of content, there’s a high probability that your content will perform and get backlinks, which helps boost SEO.”

The bottom line?

Serve your audience consistently with super helpful content that solves their problems. You will eventually soar in rankings.

Yes, you need to do a bit of content optimization but writing for people is the rock-solid foundation.

#2. Nail Your Keyword Research By Choosing Topics With Business Value

Content writing starts with choosing the right topic.

Traditionally, keyword research focused on high-volume keywords. That’s a big mistake because there is fierce competition for them. Also, high-volume keywords have a very low conversion rate because they attract top-of-the-funnel readers who aren’t ready to buy yet. Plus, they usually cover broad topics.

Instead, pick relevant keywords with business value.

These keywords are lucrative because they:

1. Focus on people at the bottom of the funnel who are ready to buy. This shortens your sales cycle.
2. Tie in seamlessly with the product or service you are selling so you can mention it naturally in the content.
3. Save you money because you don’t waste resources on irrelevant content that doesn’t grow your business.

Let’s say you run a content writing agency.

Targeting the keyword phrase ‘content marketing” sounds reasonable. 

But if you run the numbers and mull over your choice you’ll realize it’s not a smart choice.

It’s a super hard high-volume keyword. Most people who type in the query probably want to know what content marketing is and how it’s done.

Yes, you could mention your agency in a post about content marketing. But the traffic you will attract will be dominated by people who want to know the basics of digital marketing.

Targeting a keyword like ‘content strategy template’ would be a better option.

While the search volume is lower, the quality of the organic traffic is markedly better. The $12 cost per click shows it’s a profitable keyword. 

People and companies that want to learn about content strategy are serious brands. They want to create strategic pro-level content that gets results. You can easily mention your agency as part of the post and get clicks from people who are looking for a content writing service to execute their content strategy. 

But be warned: using keywords with business value doesn’t mean you should turn your content into a sales pitch. It’s about picking profit-making topics that make it easy for you to dovetail your product into the copy naturally.

#3. Analyze, Match, And Beat Content On Top-ranking Pages

Competitive analysis is a crucial part of creating winning SEO content.

To topple the leading posts off their perch, you must assess what the pacesetters are doing and produce better content than theirs.

As you analyze the top-ranking content on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Look for gaps you can leverage. Ask yourself what can I do to create a better resource than what’s ranking now?

• Go deeper on the topic?
• Give concrete examples?
• Add more or custom images?
• Include a FAQ section?
• Take a stronger stance on the topic?
• Add more or fresher data to validate points?
• Target beginners, intermediate, or advanced readers?

Nicola Roza, founder of SEO For The Poor and Determined details his process:

“My preferred tactic of writing SEO content is to replicate and expand. Take the first 3 ranking results and extract content outlines from them. Put your 3 competitors into Ahrefs and pull out keyword reports for their pages you’re trying to beat. 

Compare your existing outline with theirs and fill in the gaps. Write a new or rewrite of the existing article on your site and make sure you say everything your competitors touch, and then some as per your improved outline. The point is that you want to cover everything they do, and then some.

Find a way to differentiate your post. You can include tables, charts, custom graphics, infographics, or an extensive FAQ section at the bottom of the page (my preferred method as it also helps me rank for more keywords)

Of course, make it 100% unique content.

This is an elaborate process that takes some time and is best used on your most important pages.

For example, here’s the result I got after having gone through all the steps with my Grammarly student coupon page.

See that sharp 100% boost in impressions in just one day after Google recrawled that page?

And the page continues to climb in impressions as Google calculates and applies new relevance scores. Impressive! Pun intended:)”

The takeaway?

For Google to give your SEO article the nod, do more than what your competitors are doing.

#4. Use The Pillar Content SEO Strategy

SEO is a fiercely competitive landscape.

For your SEO content marketing strategy to produce decent results, you must rank your pages in the top three positions.  That’s getting harder than ever.

But by using the pillar content SEO strategy aka hub and spoke strategy you can challenge for the top spots.

Here’s how it works.

First, you write an exhaustive meaty long-form post called a pillar page. It discusses all the vital elements of a topic. Next, you write cluster pages, a series of posts that deeper into the sub-topics touched by the pillar page. You then link back to the pillar page from the cluster page as this graphic from Animalz shows.

Because you use a two-pronged approach with the pillar page targeting the main keyword and the cluster pages targeting long-tail variations, you can rank for multiple keywords at once. You attain topical authority. This strategy allows smaller brands with low DA sites to challenge the big high DA companies because Google regards them as experts on that particular topic.

Resource: How To Create Pillar Posts That Pop, Boost Traffic & Build Authority… Fast!

#5. Make Sure Your Content Matches The Searcher Intent

Writing content for SEO means giving readers exactly what they are looking for on a page.

Every time someone types a query into Google or another search engine, they are looking for something specific.

In other words, there is an intention or aim for each search. Search intent is the reason behind a search query-the why.

Search intent falls into four broad categories. 

Whenever people type into a search engine:

1. They want to buy something (transactional intent).
2. They want to find a specific website (navigational intent).
3. They want information. (informational intent).
4. They want to know which product is best. (commercial investigation)

If your content aligns with the search intent, you will reap the benefits as Roberto Torres, the founder, and CEO of The Local Marketer discovered:

“In content writing, write for the unique audience that the business is attempting to reach. This can mean writing to answer questions about the geographic location and how their unique products and services can appeal to those living in that area. For example, I have a customer who provides wildlife removal services to customers in Western Massachusetts.

The SEO strategy has been to address what property owners in Western Massachusetts deal with when it comes to wildlife that finds its way into homes and businesses. Specifically, animals that are native to New England like Bats, Flying Squirrels, Skunks, Beavers, and Opossums, which constitute the majority of his audience’s calls.

His website, Western Mass Wildlife Removal, has seen year-over-year growth in both organic impressions and clicks. With over 70% of organic traffic in 2021 coming from Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut, who are all within his service area.”

That’s the power of addressing the searcher intent.

#6. Include Long-form Content In Your SEO Content Strategy

Many studies like the one below from Backlinko show the SEO value of long-form content. 

When you think about it, long-form content wins in SEO because:

1. The more thorough the piece the more reader questions you address.
2. The more detailed the article the more long-tail keywords you include naturally.
3. The more exhaustive the post the longer readers stay on the page.

That said, focus on value, not volume. Resist the urge to pad up an article in the name of long-form content. Make your posts long enough to address the user intent and no more.

Suppose you want to rank for “how old is Barack Obama” (ridiculous I know 😀)

Answer:

That’s it.

You can’t write a 12,000-word ultimate guide about Obama’s age.

Duh.

Resource: 14+ Long-form Content Statistics For 2022 And Beyond

#7. Massage Your Keyword Into Key Elements Of Your Content

When it comes to keywords, don’t complicate things. 

Do the basics right. 

Mention your exact main keyword in:

• Headline.
• Title Tag.
• First 100 words.
• One or two subheads
• Conclusion.

That’s enough to tell search spiders what you are talking about i.e page relevance. Anything more is overkill, at least in the beginning. Just create helpful content without worrying about all the complex tactics. You can always come back and do thorough on-page optimization later when the blog post has gained traction.  Many content writers and content marketers obsess about the following:

• Mentioning a keyword x times aka keyword density.
• Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords.
• Relevance scores and how to boost them.
• The latest AI keyword generation or writing software.

The Google algorithm is now super smart. It can now pick topic relevance without depending solely on the number of times a keyword is mentioned on a page. 

So don’t force keywords into your content because it puts off readers. Google frowns upon the practice and comes down hard on offenders.

“Keyword stuffing” refers to the practice of loading a webpage with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate a site’s ranking in Google search results. Often these keywords appear in a list or group, or out of context (not as natural prose). Filling pages with keywords or numbers results in a negative user experience and can harm your site’s ranking. Focus on creating useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and in context.”

The point of all this?

Help readers with original compelling content that exudes true value. You will naturally mention the target keywords as you discuss the topic. 

#8. Link To Related Content On And Off Your Site

People want complete answers to their queries.

But no matter how exceptional your content is, it won’t answer all the questions in the readers’ minds. That’s why linking to related content is crucial. It gives readers a deeper understanding of the subject.

Link to related content:

1. On your site (internal linking).
2. Off your site (external linking).

Let’s dig deeper into each one.

Internal Linking

Refer to related resources on your site.

This makes readers stay on your site longer. Improved dwell times give your site an upvote from search engines.  Long dwell times tell search algorithms readers are staying longer on your site because they are getting value.

Other benefits of internal links:

• Spread link juice.
• Increase page views.
• Improves page rank.

Specifically link to the new post from your site’s most powerful pages to bump up the post faster.

External Linking

Sometimes you don’t have the right internal content to link to. So you must refer to external resources.

Make sure you cite relevant authoritative sites, not spammy ones.

#9. Improve Reader Experience To Boost Dwell Time

One of two things happens when a searcher clicks on a link in the organic SERPs and arrives on a website:

1. They don’t find what they are looking for and leave immediately.

This negatively affects the bounce rate.

2. They find exactly what they are looking for and stay on to enjoy it.

This boosts dwell time which is good for SEO.

To keep readers on the page give them a delightful user experience:

• Avoid blocking content with pop-ups.
• Use many subheadings to make content easy to digest.
• Improve readability with short sentences and paragraphs.
• Break up walls of text with images, videos, and visuals.
• Be generous with whitespace you won’t run out of paper after all.😀

In a recent Tweet, Sam Poyan brings up a valuable point on how to make readers stay on your page… hitting reader emotions.

Titillate the emotions for the clock to tick without readers noticing. 

Visual elements are a great way to give readers eye candy and relieve the eye strain that comes from reading a text, while still advancing the goal of the article. When visitors consume visuals, they stay longer on a page which makes content rank higher.

Hit all the right notes and you will enjoy high average times on your pages as I do on this site.

Natasha Rei, Digital Marketing Manager of Explainerd talks about the SEO benefits of adding stunning visuals to content.

“Adding visual elements can significantly help improve your SEO. For example, you can add images, explainer videos, and infographics as part of your post. Visual content helps readers visualize what they read on your page while also allowing the search engine to crawl the keywords better.

But, make sure to optimize your images/videos by adding alt text related to your primary keyword. This way, the search engine crawlers can identify such phrases, then direct users to visit your pages.”

Not only does image alt text help search robots understand what exactly a page is about, but it can also help you rank for images. 

And with the ranking race fierce as it is, your content needs every bit of help it can get.

#10. Craft A Magnetic Meta Description To Drive Clicks

Another vital piece of the SEO writing puzzle is the meta description.

In case you are wondering, the meta description is a summary of a post that appears together with the page URL in the SERPs.

Here is a screenshot of a meta description for one of my posts.

This case study is sitting on position #3 for its target keyword and drives a remarkable 78.5% of traffic to my site. 

The meta description has certainly done its part in improving clicks to the blog post.

Your meta description is your post’s advert.

It serves to:

• Summarize the content of the page.
• Entice browsers to stop scrolling.
• Prompt readers to click through to the page.

7 Meta Description Writing Best Practices

1. Lead with your primary keyword if it fits naturally.
2. Include secondary keywords if you can.
3. Ensure you don’t go beyond 155 characters.
4. Make sure it’s relevant to the essence of the page.
5. Use the active voice to connect better with readers.
6. Drive conversions with a verb-based call-to-action.
7. Write a unique description for each of your pages.

Google doesn’t always display the description you’ve written especially for that purpose.

The algorithm may pick another portion of the page. However, writing a meta description is still a superb opportunity. It helps you nail down the value proposition of your content piece and complements it perfectly if the crawl spiders pick it. 

While meta descriptions are not a ranking factor, they hike click-through rates to your pages.

#11. Target Featured Snippets To Capture Premium Space On the SERPs

A featured snippet is a short extract of copy from a post that appears on top of all search results listings as an answer to hyper-specific search queries. 

It includes the post’s URL so that readers can click through to the page for further info if they want to.

Because it’s above all search results it occupies position zero.

Here’s an example of a featured snippet I landed for Zero Bounce, an email verification company.

By specifically targeting a featured snippet as part of your SEO content strategy you can occupy the apex of Google and drive significant traffic to your site. You’d think since the featured snippet is the topmost result, it gets more clicks than the position #1 page.

Not quite.

A study by Ahrefs showed featured snippets get 8.6% of clicks. In most cases, the bulk of the clicks (~26%) go to the #1 result.

Still, the ~9% clicks featured snippet get is significant and can drive lots of traffic.

There are four types of featured snippets: 

• paragraphs.
• lists.
• tables.
• videos. 

To enhance your chances of landing the featured snippet position, ensure your copy type matches that of the leading snippet.

Mushfiq Sarker of The Web Site Flip has found great success by targeting featured snippets in his content strategy.

“The #1 strategy that we have found to work is targeting Google’s Featured Snippets.

By adding a small amount of content answering the intent of the keyword, we can secure the Featured Snippet spot in Google Search. This is effective because this snippet overtakes all other positions on the page (even the #1 spot). We obtain the majority of the traffic for the keywords. 

As an example, we have an article on our site about website valuations, specifically, titled “How Much Is My Website Worth?”. We were naturally ranking at the bottom to the middle of the first page. However, by adding specific text answering the intent of the keyword, we were able to obtain the Featured Snippet spot. 

We added the text: “As a quick calculation, the value of a website is between 35 to 45 times your monthly average profit. For example, if your site makes $1000 per month in average profit then you can sell for $35000 to $45000.”

We secured the spot since adding that text.”

Snagging the featured snippet drives over 1k visitors to their site. 

These aren’t mere visitors. They are potential customers who are already in the process of selling or buying websites. So they are more likely to convert into paying customers.

#12. Ride On An Industry Trend For Quick SEO Wins

Another smart SEO copywriting strategy is to create content that piggybacks on an industry trend.

The tactic is simple:

1. Identify a trending topic in your industry.
2. Write content that directly addresses the hot topic or ties nicely into it.

Sit back and watch the trend-driven SEO results come in.

That’s exactly what Amit Raj, Founder & CEO of The Links Guy did on his Search Engine Land post:

“My main method of writing SEO content is pretty simple. I write content that jumps on a current trend in the industry that I’m writing for. The aim is also to make it actionable and link-worthy. 

For example, for this article I wrote for Search Engine Land, I was focused on writing something that was extremely timely and I was commenting on something that was a hot topic in the SEO community at the time and it also had a fairly controversial stance.

After it was published, I found it was getting shared, was received well by many, and helped some direct traffic to my site, the article itself gained natural backlinks (It was linked to by Moz, Bright Local, and SEO Roundtable), and I even got direct inquiries as a result of this article.

Not to mention, having a link from Search Engine Land was a very relevant and authoritative link to have for my site.” 

This strategy only works if you: 

1. Understand your industry deeply.
2. Listen attentively in industry watering holes like forums, groups, and conferences.
3. Act promptly when the trend is still on an upward curve.

Speaking of being timely, back in April 2020, I wrote a COVID-19 related post. 

These were turbulent and uncertain times soon after the pandemic burst onto the scene in late 2019. Business owners weren’t sure how they were going to navigate the stormy waters. Everybody needed direction so the article came at an opportune time.

Guess what?

The post shot to page one within 24 hours. Plus, it gained nearly 100 organic links, many of them from medium to high DR sites.

That’s the power of latching onto a trend at the perfect moment.  

#13. Promote And Distribute Your Content Like Crazy So It Gains Traction

Hitting publish isn’t the end of the SEO content writing process. 

It’s just the beginning.

High-quality content doesn’t work without distribution. For your content to gain traction and reap SEO benefits, you should distribute it far and wide.

Distribution gets your best content in front of the right crowd. The right target audience:

• Drives traffic to your site.
• Stays longer on your site.
• Shares your content.
• Links to your articles.
• Talks about your content which boosts organic reach.

In short, distribution gives your content legs so it moves towards all your business goals.

Here are a few distribution methods:

• Email your list whenever you publish new content.
• Republish content on Medium.
• Share content on social media platforms your audience frequents.
• Spread content in Facebook groups and niche forums.
• Do extensive link building outreach.

Create once. Distribute perpetually.

Distribution is the missing link in most content marketing campaigns.

#14. Track, Analyze, And Tweak For Better Results

In SEO content writing, you don’t just write, publish, and forget great content once if you want to see the best results.

You must track its performance and tweak it accordingly so it keeps going up the rankings. But don’t rush to adjust it. Give it enough time to settle in its rightful position in the SERPs. 3 months is a good time to revisit your article.

Based on the results, you should rewrite the article if it’s showing up on pages 2-5 or position 4-1o on the front page.

That’s what we are going to talk about next.

Resource: Ahrefs SEO WordPress Plugin: Dynamic Content Audits That Boost Organic Traffic

#15. Refresh Content That’s Knocking On The Front Page But Is Not There Yet

Refreshing content is a good SEO practice because it allows you to build on what’s already working instead of starting from scratch. 

Why should you refresh content?

1. Because it’s stuck on lower pages or positions (position#4-20) for a long time.
2. Because content decays-data and examples become irrelevant or outdated.
3. Because the user intent for the content changes.
4. Because you want to consolidate or improve the position of your web page.
5. Because it can help you rank for more search terms.

Done right a content update breathes a new lease of life to a page. Often, the SEO boost pushes the content piece to page #1 or higher up the positions if it’s already on the first page.

Here are some quick tips on how to do a result-getting content refresh:

• Do a content audit to identify posts that need updating. 
• Make sure you match the user intent of the leading blog posts or pages. 
• Add fresh examples competitors aren’t using in their content.
• Republish on the same URL so as not to diminish the page’s authority.

I used these tactics to update one of my old posts in September 2021.

It climbed rapidly from position #7 to #2. Traffic increased 6x.

Talk about impact.

#16. Turn Readers Into Customers

Traffic is useless if you don’t turn it into dollars.

Content doesn’t exist for content’s sake. The final goal is getting paying customers. If content doesn’t drive measurable revenue growth, it has failed. So driving traffic is half the job. Most content writing guides and SEO content writers stop at getting rankings and driving traffic.

That’s a big mistake.

Smart content writing doesn’t stop when a reader reaches the page and consumes the content. As a savvy SEO copywriter, take readers all the way to the end—the sale.

Here’s how:

• Include contextual CTAs in the body of blog posts to drive more traffic to your money pages, i.e. product pages or service pages.
• End your blog posts with a clear direct call-to-action to take readers deeper into your funnel.
• Collect email addresses to grow your email list and get readers into your funnel for deeper conversations.
• Offer readers a content upgrade that complements the piece they’ve just read for higher conversions since they are captivated by the content.
• Link to click-through landing pages with specific offers to segment them and send custom-fit offers that convert better.

Ahrefs boost free trial sign-ups through in-line CTAs.

The link to their product works because it suits the content. It isn’t forced. On clicking the link, readers arrive on the free trial landing page where they sign up to give their product a spin.

After the free trial, the leads sign-up for the full paid subscription service. This marks the end of a journey that started when they clicked an organic search result. That’s complete SEO content writing that turns:

• A browser into a reader.
• A reader into a prospect.
• A prospect into a lead.
• A lead into a customer.

SEO content writing and SEO copywriting are a powerful tag team. SEO content writing attracts visitors to a site and keeps them there. Then SEO copywriting takes over and converts them into customers. 

SEO copywriting takes readers by hand so they follow the buyer’s journey you’ve mapped out for them beforehand. If you play your cards right, at the end of that journey they’ll take out their credit cards and buy from you.

Top SEO Content Writing Tools To Boost Your Workflow

To do all the work we’ve been discussing you need the right tools. Here’s a quick list of popular search engine optimized writing software you can use.

1. Ahrefs: keyword research, competitor analysis, keyword ranking tracking, content analysis, and site audits.

2. SEMrush: keyword research, on-page SEO, competitor analysis, rank tracking, and social media management.

3. SurferSEO: content optimization, content outlines, content audits, SERP analysis, content planner, and integrations (WordPress, Google Docs, and Jarvis AI)

4. Clearscope: content optimization, keyword discovery, content reports, competitor analysis, and integrations (WordPress and Google Docs)

5. Yoast SEO: on-page SEO analysis, technical SEO, internal linking, and social media SEO.

6. Frase: content optimization, content briefs, AI-driven writing, content analytics, and research outputs.

7. Ubersuggest: keyword ideas, keyword over data, average backlinks, site Domain Score, SERP overview, content ideas, and traffic analyzer.

8. Google Keyword Planner: keyword discovery, keyword suggestions, keyword bid estimates, and competition rating.

9. Keyword Density Checker: keyword frequency analysis, keyword percentage of usage, and keyword use in headings.

10. Grammarly: grammar, spelling, and punctuation checker, plus plagiarism checker.

11. Pro Writing Aid: grammar, spelling, and punctuation checker, content reports, and plagiarism checker.

12. Answer The Public: question-based content ideas and keywords fresh from the latest Google searches.
    
    Take your pick and improve your writing workflow today.

Resource: 14 Best SEO Writing Tools For An Avalanche Of Traffic (Expert Picks)

Writing For SEO? Pull Out All The Stops To Win

Modern SEO has become a zero-sum game.

The winner gets everything while losers get nothing.

Consider the chart from Advanced Web Ranking. It compares the click-through rates of search engine results pages by their position.

The #1 organic result on Google gets 27.53% of the clicks. Number 2 and 3 get 10.63% and 5.62% respectively. Then it’s downhill from there. There’s a running joke in SEO circles that if you want to hide something on the internet, put it on page #2. 🙂

I’m not telling you this to scare you. 

I want you to know what you are up against so you get fired up and give SEO writing all you’ve got. If you don’t have the expertise or the time, invest in freelance SEO copywriters with serious chops to help you climb to the top of SERPs. 

Unlike in the past when you could win with keyword-stuffed rubbish, the content bar is very high these days. SEO content writing has become sophisticated so you’ve got to bring your A-game to win both in B2B and B2C.

While the competition is stiff, the results are well worth it. You can reap the rewards of investing in SEO copywriting for years. Below are the performance numbers for a post I wrote for Smart Blogger back in 2019.

As you can see, it still gets over 2.6k visitors per month three years later. According to Ahrefs, this traffic is worth $2k per month. Even if I’d charged them $2k for writing the post it would have been a steal for them because they’ve multiplied the money many times over and then some.

That’s the beauty of excellent SEO content writing. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. 

Resource: How I Helped Smartblogger Rank First Page Of Google In 37 Days (Detailed Teardown)

SEO Content Writing: Your Ticket To An Ever Flowing Stream Traffic, Leads, And Sales

Writing website content for SEO is tough but doable.

It boils down to a few simple (yet powerful) SEO content writing guidelines:

• Choose the right keywords.
• Analyze the front page results.
• Generate ideas to create better content.
• Create a superior resource.
• Make it SEO-friendly and publish it.
• Promote and distribute your content continuously.
• Monitor results and tweak SEO blog articles to improve search performance.

Now that I’ve given you the SEO content template, use it wisely.

Write. Optimize. Rank. Convert. Profit.

Easy peasy, right? 😉

About The Author

Qhubekani Nyathi

Hi, I’m QT aka, the Click Guy.

I’m a pillar content specialist.

I get a kick out of creating authoritative data-heavy long-form pillar content that drives traffic, leads, sign-ups, and sales for B2B brands that get content marketing.

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