SEO has been an integral part of marketing for years now. With the sea of online content that’s out there, you need to help the right people find what you’re offering. And that is precisely what SEO is designed to do. But what exactly is it that makes a text search-engine friendly? How can you publish effective SEO content that doesn’t just pop up in search results but interests and helps readers? What role do meta descriptions, internal links and focus keywords play in the process? And how do you optimize translated content for search engines?
Our guide gives you the lowdown on optimizing content for search engines everywhere.
SEO: What is it?
Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, is a process that helps move your content up in the results of queries on search engines like Google, Bing and others. When potential customers are looking for information you are writing about, SEO helps them find you.
There are various techniques for optimizing your website for search engines. In this article, we’re focusing on on-page optimization (aka on-site optimization) that helps move your website or blog up in the rankings.
SEO vs. SEA: What’s the difference?
You can think of search engine advertising (SEA) as the opposite of organic search engine results. With SEA, you pay for an advertisement containing keywords that are among the top search results. And each time someone clicks on your ad, there is an extra charge.
SEA is a great way to rank higher in searches faster. But you get the greatest long-term benefits with SEO, which means optimizing the content on your website so that search engines show it among the top results. So a combination of SEA and SEO is your best bet.
Writing effective SEO content
“Good text” is in the eye of the beholder. Good SEO text not only reads well but also follows the rules that the search-engine providers set up. Check out these tips for optimizing your content for search engines.
Keyword research
Search-engine optimization always starts with keyword research. Keywords are the terms that people type in on Google and other search engines in order to find information. When you understand the search behavior of your target group, you can offer content that is precisely tailored to their needs.
Tools like Ubersuggest and Google’s Keyword Planner give you an overview of relevant and appropriate keywords for your target group and target market. It makes sense to choose a combination of high- and low-volume search terms. Why low-volume? Well, with high-frequency keywords, there’s a lot of competition, so you can use low-volume keywords to tap into a niche.
One focus keyword, known as your primary keyword, plus two to three secondary keywords will be plenty. The keyword research lays the groundwork for your content. So how do you build the keywords into your text in an SEO-friendly way?
Decide what to write about
Keywords: check. Now you need to find out what your future readers are interested in. Believe it or not, the Google search predictions are a good source of inspiration. Simply type in the keyword, and Google shows you common autocomplete options for your keyword and similar searches. Not only that—if your keyword is very popular, you will also see the most frequently asked questions about your topic. That gives you a good idea of what information people are searching for on the internet.
SEO tools like Searchmetrics Content Experience and SEMrush’s SEO Content Template offer helpful suggestions on semantically related terms you can use to enhance your content.
Building in the keywords: dos and don’ts
Create a framework for your text so you know where and how you can fit your keywords in. Your text consists of a main heading or title (H1) and several subheadings (H2, H3, etc.). Your focus keyword should always be in your H1 and your secondaries in H2 and H3 if possible. That tells both Google and your readers what each section is about.
Try to put the keywords close to the beginning of the line—that is, as long as it doesn’t interrupt the natural flow. How often each keyword is included in the body of the text, i.e. keyword density, depends to an increasing extent on your competitors. A process known as WDF*IDF is used to compare the frequency of your keywords to the texts on other websites.
It’s important to distribute the keywords throughout the text in a natural way while avoiding keyword stuffing. Readers can always tell when something was written specifically for search engines. And then you’ve lost them.
By the way, if you’re using long-tail keywords, which are terms that consist of more than one word, you can make them more readable by adding stop words. These are “fillers” like “in,” “for” and “of” that the search engines skip over. A text about a “salon in Chicago” sounds much more natural than “salon Chicago,” and even Google can appreciate that.
Write unique content
A smooth flow rather than keyword stuffing is not the only factor that makes for effective SEO. Creating unique content is also vitally important to your search engine rankings. Google punishes plagiarism with a low ranking or even kicks your content out altogether. If you want to use other authors’ writing for inspiration, make absolutely sure that you never copy word for word, and that you add plenty of your own ideas. When in doubt, credit your source.
The right length
Not every text needs to be padded to reach a 2,000-word target—especially if you have nothing to say. There is no such thing as an ideal length. However, studies have shown that longer texts correlate with higher rankings. That’s not because Google prefers longer texts, but because longer texts are better at meeting other SEO criteria. You can fit more information that is relevant for readers into a long article. That increases the dwell time as well as the likelihood of backlinks and shares on social media.
External and internal links
Internal links to other pages on your website make a lot of sense SEO-wise and really generate value for you. They help you market different pages and blog articles while also improving your website’s stickiness. Enhanced dwell time shows Google that your content is relevant, which Google rewards with a good rating.
External links and backlinks are worth their weight in gold. When other websites include a link to your content or article, it’s a vote of confidence. Link-building is an off-page SEO technique and demands that you produce shareworthy, relevant content.
Write metadata
The title and brief description that appear in search results are called metadata. They give users a preview of what they can expect on your website. The title tag should contain your focus keyword and be no longer than 55 characters. The meta description should contain more keywords plus a clear call to action so the reader knows what to do, such as “Read more here.” Tools like Storybase show you whether your metadata is too long and what it will look like in the search results.
Why does metadata matter? Search results with convincing meta descriptions spark readers’ interest and increase the chances that they will click on your website. The click-through rate (CTR) is crucial to Google. If your website pops up in 2,000 searches but only 10 readers click on it, Google doesn’t consider your site relevant and may penalize you with a worse ranking.
What to look for in SEO translations
Once you have unique, optimized content in your language, you probably want people in other countries to find it. Enter local SEO, a strategy that accounts for the fact that each market uses different keywords. In this process, professional SEO translators analyze your existing SEO content, and translate and localize it for the target market.
ACT Translations delivers professional SEO translations and writes localized SEO content. So your content is seen and read in all your markets.
