Writing for SEO is about the science of numbers and the art of writing. You might think that those two things are oil and water. Not in today’s digital world.

Science and art. 

Good digital writers understand and master both.

SEO is a Science

SEO is all about numbers — algorithms drive numerical page scoring that results in higher page ranking. Keywords used in the proper places achieves a better score. High-quality inbound links, especially those using your target keywords dramatically increase scores. Outbound links, especially blogs which reference other blogs also score higher. And so on, and so on. That’s the science part.

Writing for SEO is an Art

But the art comes in telling your story well while weaving particular keyword phrases into the title, heads, subheads and body copy. Forcing certain phrases into these critical locations can make your article sound forced, stilted, or downright weird.

You cannot inundate your copy with repeated keyword phrases, Google doesn’t like that. Make sure your keywords are present in your title and heads, then sprinkle them about 3-5 times in a 300-word article. Bold them where you want to emphasize and nudge your SEO score a little higher.

Seasoned digital writers don’t see this as a burden, but a fun challenge — tell a good story, use keywords consistently (perfectly), follow them seamlessly into your copy and Shazam, writing for SEO.

Writing for SEO doesn’t always come naturally. It requires practice, thinking and multiple editing passes. The more you do it the easier and more natural it becomes. Soon you just write that way without thinking.

The What and How of What You Say

Begin with some planning. Decide 1) what you want to say in your story, and 2) keep in mind what search phrases your audience would most likely use to find your article/page. Now write, edit, and edit again. Sounds easy, it’s not.

Next time we’ll talk about title and article length and use of graphics.

Happy digital writing.

Cheers,
steve