Content Writing for SEO: How to Rank on Google

What is content writing that can’t rank high on search engine results? It’s not content writing for SEO, that’s for sure.

To put it better, if you’re are writing and want to write online content for a living and don’t have the keyword research and SEO skills to make it perform so that it brings in clicks, traffic, subscribers, leads, and sales –– you’re gonna have trouble keeping a client or a job.

In fact, check out this compilation of stats from SmallBizGenius.com:

68% of ALL online activity starts on search engines. Yes, even over social media.
It’s estimated that 75%-90% of search users never make it past page one of Google
Organizations and websites that blog regularly have 434% more indexed pages than those that don’t.
SEO leads generated by organic search results are 8x more likely to become paying customers vs. those generated by ad campaigns.

If you can get yourself and your clients’ content writing solidified on page one, you’ll always have a job. You’ll always be able to charge great rates and make money.

As you can see, ranking as high as possible in SERPs is mission critical for any business with an online presence. With these simple tips, you can start writing content that will help your clients and your freelance writing company thrive and flourish.

What is Content Writing for SEO?

Content writing for SEO is the process of creating content that is not only high quality and informative for your target audience but also leverages the right keywords and key SEO anchoring points to rank higher on search engine results pages.

This means that when someone searches for a particular term or phrase, your content has a better chance of appearing higher up on the list of results, as opposed to content that doesn’t take SEO into consideration.

Content writing for SEO can be a bit of a balancing act –– you want to make sure that you’re using keywords throughout your content in a way that sounds natural, while also making sure that it is interesting, relevant, conversational, engaging, visually stimulating, and actionable for your target audience.

There are a lot of different factors that weigh into perfecting the content writing for SEO process. However, the skills and tools in this article will give you everything you need to get your clients’ content ranking.

1. Define Your Audience, Ideal Customers, and Target Clients

When you know who you’re writing for, it’s much easier to target your content so that it appeals to them. Above all, content writing for SEO should be interesting and useful to your target audience.

Here’s the essence of creating quality content writing for SEO: Think about what kind of questions they would be searching for online. Then answer those questions in your content.

If you’re not sure who your target audience is, take some time to consider who your ideal customers or clients would be. Write out a detailed description of that person:

Age range
Goals
Hobbies
Geographic location
Income range
Problems and challenges their facing
Solutions they’re looking for
Brands they like

Throw a mood board together of your ideal client or client’s client. You can’t really go too overboard when it comes to defining your audience.

2. Start with Keyword Research

What exact search terms and phrases is your target audience searching on Google?

That’s the question you need to answer before even making your first keystroke.

After I’ve learned as much as I can about the client I’m working with, I like to brain dump all of the keywords and questions that I would have for them in a Google doc –– keeping in mind what their target clients and customers would be asking and punching into that good ole Google search bar.

After that, I run those keywords and any other core keywords about their products, services, etc. through tools like

Google Keyword Planner
SEMrush Keyword Explorer
Ahrefs Keyword Generator
UberSuggest
WriterZen’s Keyword Research Tool

Depending on how niched-down or general the client is, this process should be able to get you anywhere from a few dozen keywords to hundreds of keywords you can target with your content writing for SEO.

3. Write Catchy Titles and Headlines

Only 20% of people who read your headline will actually click through to read the rest of your content.

Isn’t that wild?

As a writer, if you don’t captivate your reader with your content title or headline –– your content may never get clicks, traffic, leads, sales, or revenue.

Be sure to read my post on How to Write Eye Catching Headlines for how to create highly-clickable headlines and blog titles.

4. Use SEO Software and SEO Tools to Guide Your Content Writing

The best way to get a feel for what content is ranking on Google is by using SEO software or tools.

I like Ahrefs Content Explorer because it gives you information on the most popular, shared, and linked-to pieces of content across the internet. You can sort articles by social shares, backlinks, and organic traffic.

I also like SEMrush because it’s an all-in-one SEO software that allows you to do keyword research, track your website’s SEO progress, and investigate your competition –– even down to the search traffic and level of competition for specific keywords.

When it comes to writing for WordPress websites, I tend to work with All-In-One SEO, Yoast Premium, and RankMath. These pieces of software give you detailed feedback on exactly what you need to add or change in your content to bump your SEO score.

5. Make Your Writing Conversational: Speak Your Audience’s Language

Audiences appreciate conversational tones and writing styles. Search users want to feel like they know who they’re reading about.

Content that’s too formal or stilted can be a major turnoff for readers, and it won’t do you any favors in the SEO department either.

When in doubt, speak your audience’s language. Write as you would talk to a friend or someone who is a loyal customer to you or your client.

6. Make Your Content Writing Scannable

If you’re content consists of giant, boring blocks of text with zero breaks or variance in the textual landscape, your readers will do one thing –– leave.

They’ll go find another website with the same information that’s easier to scan and digest.

Keep this in mind: Most people reading on the web are doing it from their smartphones

Most of these search users aren’t sitting, casually browsing on their couch with all the time in the world to spare.

They’re trying to get the information they need as quickly as possible and get out.

The more scannable you make your content, the better the chances that you’ll keep your readers and target audience on your page. If you can do that, you’ll be able to turn one-time visitors into returning visitors and future customers.

Make your content scannable and break up your text by using:

Short paragraphs
Bold headers and sub-headers
Bold, italic, and underlined text
Numbered or bulleted lists

Make your writing as scannable and easy to follow as possible. You’ll win your site visitors and audience over, get them to stick to the end of your content, and generate way more leads, faster.

7. Make your Content Writing Visually Engaging

You also need to keep your visitors visually engaged and interested in your writing. Another major part of content writing for SEO is making sure that you incorporate

Images and stock photos
Infographics
Embedded videos
Box quotes

Anything that can give your content a visual. Plus, you can add tags and meta information to some of these assets (related to your keyword) to give you a nice SEO boost.

8. Use Headers Frequently

Headings and subheadings are critical to making it easier for readers to understand your writing and for search engines to crawl, index, and rank it.

They help you organize your thoughts, outline, ideas, concepts, and keywords while breaking up your text to make your content more scannable as well.

Headers also give you the opportunity to include your keywords and phrases in more prominent positions on your page, which are a major factor in helping your writing rank.

Use plenty of headings, subheadings, and headlines throughout your content to make it more scannable and engaging for readers.

How often should I be using headers in my blog posts and content writing?

Yoast’s best practices say that areas of text following headings or subheadings shouldn’t be longer than 250-350 words.

9. Use Related Keywords

Use related keywords throughout your content to help Google better understand what your post is about.

Google looks for these related keywords to determine the topic of your content and match it with searchers’ queries.

For example, if you’re writing a post about Content Writing for SEO, related keywords could be:

SEO Writing
Content Marketing
Content Strategy
Copywriting
Content management systems
Website SEO
Landing page SEO
Blog SEO

Use a variety of related keywords throughout your content to help Google match your post with the right searchers’ queries.

10. Content Writing for SEO is all about FAQs

If you want to really make your content writing for SEO pop, start using FAQs in your titles, headings, and subheadings.

Why are FAQs so great for SEO?

Because the FAQs in your content should be the exact queries that your target audience is punching into Google and other search engines.

FAQs are also a great way to target long-tail keywords that you might not be able to work into your text naturally. Not only that, but they serve as another way to break up your text and make your content more visually interesting and scannable.

Content Writing for SEO is all about FAQs

When using FAQs in your headings and subheadings, be sure to answer the questions completely and thoroughly to give your content the best shot at ranking, as possible.

If you need help mining FAQs for topics, reference:

Google PAA Data
Google Keyword Planner Data
Ahref’s Keyword Tool
SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool – Questions Section
WriterZen’s Keyword tool’
You can even use forum sites like Quora and Reddit

11. Make Your Content Long. Not Boring

In most cases, long-form content has been shown to outperform –– and outrank –– short blog posts and articles.

This is a little bit counterintuitive since we just talked about the scannability of a content piece, but the reality is that one longer content piece of 1,500-2,000 words is going to have a far better shot at ranking higher than 3-4, 500-word blogs.

One study showed that long-form content gets more social shares and backlinks than short content.

Long-form content also has a better chance of ranking in the SERPs because it gives you more space to incorporate your target keywords and phrases.

Make Your Content Writing Long. Not Boring

When writing long-form content, focus on making it as helpful, informative, comprehensive, and engaging as possible.

Personal Note: As a writer, some of my favorite bookmarked blog posts of all time are 3,000-5,000 word all-inclusive guides on a particular topic.

When it comes to content writing, go long.

12. Make Your Content Writing for SEO Actionable

One of the best ways to make your content more engaging and useful is to make it actionable. Readers want to leave reading your piece of content feeling like:

They know something they didn’t before.
They can do something they couldn’t before.
They can take their newfound knowledge and immediate action to make their life better in some capacity.

You also want to write your content in a way that guides your readers to take specific calls to action (CTAs). Whether you’re writing for yourself or a client, this means guiding a reader to call you, submit a contact form, initiate a chat feature on your site, or sign up for an email list.

Make it as easy as possible for your readers to take action by including links, buttons, or CTAs that tell them what to do if they’d like to get help, schedule an appointment, get a free consultation, ask questions on a product, get more information, etc.

13. Define the Goal of Your Content Writing for SEO

Content writing for SEO is all about having goal-oriented, performance-driven content. This means you need to know what the end goal is for any particular piece of content before you start writing it.

A few examples of common goals are building or generating:

Content to educate or inform your audience
Brand awareness
Local market visibility
Trust, confidence, and familiarity with your target audience
Clicks and traffic
Conversions/Leads
Email subscribers
Calls
Chats
Buy-now interactions

Before your start writing, ask yourself what’s my ultimate end goal with this content? What does my target audience want to gain from this?

14. One Keyword Per Content Page

Keyword cannibalization defines what happens when you use the same keyword on two or more pages of your or your client’s website. Now you might think “wouldn’t using the same exact keyword or phrase on more than one page increase my probability of raking?”

Unfortunately, content writing for SEO doesn’t work that way.

In fact, it can do the opposite. If you write two kick-ass pieces of content that use the exact same keyword or phrase –– Google might not know how to prioritize which piece to rank higher. The result can often be that neither will rank.

Stick to one keyword per page or one piece of content to avoid what we in the industry call keyword cannibalization.

15. Content Writing for SEO: Use Internal Linking

Internal linking is a crucial factor of content writing for SEO factors that is often overlooked by new writers.

When you include links to other related blog posts or articles on your website or in your written content, you give Google a better idea of what your website is all about. This helps Google to crawl and index your site more effectively.

Content Writing for SEO: Use Internal Linking

Internal linking also keeps people on your website for longer periods of time, which is yet another critical ranking factor for Google and other search engines.

If you use onboard SEO software like the ones I mentioned earlier for WordPress, these will tell you precisely how many internal links you need per page to maximally optimize your content writing for SEO.

16. External Linking: Link Out to Credible, Related Sources

When writing SEO Content, it’s also important to link out to credible external sources.

Referencing and linking to reputable and trustworthy sources online shows Google that your content is also trustworthy.

When linking to external sources, be sure that you are only linking out to credible and relevant sources. The last thing you want is for Google to think you’re linking to low-quality or irrelevant websites to support your blog posts or content.

17. Publish Content Writing Consistently

If you want to rank higher in Google, you need to be consistent when you publish content.

Content marketing and content writing for SEO is a long-term strategy, not a one-time thing.

The more content you publish, the more likely you are to rank higher in Google. This is because Google loves fresh, new content.

Publish Content Writing for SEO Consistently

The more you publish and the more consistently you publish, the faster you’ll know if your content has the legs to rank or not.

Depending on the industry, I recommend my clients post new content no less than 2 times per month, and one time at the bare minimum. The more the better. If you or your client’s schedule has room for 1-2 blogs per week in your editorial calendar –– even better.

18. Share to Social Media

Social media plays a big role in SEO Content Writing.

First, when you share your content on social media, it can help Google recognize, index, and rank your content faster.

But more importantly, social media helps increase the reach of your content and promote it to a wider audience. The more people that see your content, the more likely it is to get shared –– which helps increase its reach even further.

All of this can make for a nice visibility, credibility, and speed boost for SEO.

19. Content Writing for SEO Addresses the Buyer’s Journey

When you’re writing SEO Content, it’s important to write for all stages of the buyer’s journey.

The buyer’s journey is the process your ideal customer goes through when making a purchasing decision.

In most models, there are three stages to the buyer’s journey:

Awareness
Consideration
Decision

For each stage of the buyer’s journey, you need to create content that speaks to your ideal customer’s needs.

content writing for SEO - buyers awareness

Awareness Stage Content: Content that helps your ideal customer become aware of their problem or need for a product or service that can provide a solution.

Consideration Stage Content: Content that helps your ideal customer understand their problem or need and what options they have to solve it.

Decision Stage Content: Content that helps your ideal customer decide which product or service is the best fit for them.

We’ll often refer to the marketing funnel as another helpful diagram that helps us map out keywords and content writing for SEO, for each stage of the buyer’s journey.

Content Writing for SEO: The Marketing Funnel

The marketing funnel has a few stages, which are similar to the buyer’s journey, but for our purposes, we’ll focus on these four:

Awareness
Interest
Consideration
Decision

Top of the Funnel (Awareness & Interest): Content that helps your ideal customer become aware of their problem or need and shows them that your product or service is a possible solution to their problem. The keywords and phrases search users use in top-funnel searches are more research-oriented, not purchase-oriented.

Examples of top funnel searches would be:

How to know when you need a new computer?
How to know if you have termite damage?
Signs that a dog may have fleas

Middle of the Funnel (Consideration): Content that helps your ideal customer understand their problem or need and what options they have to solve it.

Dell vs. Mac laptops for remote work.
Top termite treatment techniques.
Frontline vs. NexGard flea treatment pricing

Bottom of the Funnel (Decision): Content that helps your ideal customer decide which product or service is the best fit for them.

MacBook Pro 13 inch 256 GB near me.
Termite exterminator in my area.
Frontline flea removal for sale.

20. Monitor Content Performance

Content Writing for SEO can be time-consuming and seem daunting, but if you follow these top 20 tips, you’ll be well on your way to writing content that will get you a ranking on Google in no time!

In Closing

Content Writing for SEO is an important skill for any marketer or business owner. By following the tips in this article, you can write content that will help your business rank higher in search engines and attract more organic traffic.

Ready to kickstart your content writing and SEO career?

Be sure to get access to my FREE ebook on the 20 Highest Paying Jobs for Freelance Writers.

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References