It doesn’t matter if you write content for your local dentist or do affiliate marketing as I do for these posts, SEO is a must-learn skill. The crazy part about SEO is that it is always changing, so there is no sitting back and thinking that you got it all handled. That’s when it will change again on you.
So, here are five SEO tricks that hopefully will help you stay on top of your game when it comes to content and copywriting:
Conduct Thorough Keyword Research:
The foundation of any successful SEO strategy is relevant and targeted keywords. Start by identifying the most important keywords in your niche using tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush. Analyze the search volume, competition, and keyword difficulty to find the perfect balance for your content. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your blog posts, titles, and Meta descriptions to improve your content’s search engine ranking.
It also helps to go back to old posts and check them for relevancy. I know this is a tedious thing – I am in the process now of going back a year and doing brush-ups and updating links and such. It’s a pain, but I hope to rank better in my blog posts this way. One of my regular clients has me do this every couple of years, so this is ongoing work.
Write Engaging and Valuable Content:
Quality content is the backbone of effective SEO. Focus on creating informative, engaging, and original content that answers your target audience’s questions and addresses their pain points. Search engines favor well-written, valuable content that provides a satisfying user experience. Additionally, useful content is more likely to be shared, increasing the chances of acquiring backlinks, which also helps boost your SEO.
There was a time when I was hired to write posts that were stuffed with keywords – this was back around 2010 – and even though I knew it was wrong, I needed the money. I am so glad that has gone by the wayside thanks to search engines driving those results to the basement where they belong.
Optimize Meta Tags and Headers:
Meta tags, including title tags and Meta descriptions, are essential for on-page SEO. They provide search engines with a summary of your content, helping them understand its relevance to a user’s search query. Ensure that your Meta tags contain your target keywords and are engaging enough to entice users to click through to your content. Similarly, use header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to break up your content and make it more accessible, while including relevant keywords.
Don’t forget to make sure that your ALT text image descriptions also include your keywords (or slugs as some marketers call them) because they are also crawled by the search engines.
Use Internal and External Links Wisely:
Strategic use of internal and external links can significantly enhance your content’s SEO. Internal linking connects your content to other relevant pages on your website, helping search engines understand the site’s structure and improving your site’s overall authority. External linking to authoritative and relevant sources adds credibility to your content and helps build trust with both users and search engines.
This is another thing that I am working to update, and it will continue to be something that I will always be doing since my category posts can always be referred back to another post somewhere.
Optimize Content for Mobile and Page Speed:
With the increasing use of mobile devices for online browsing, it’s essential to optimize your content for mobile users. Make sure your website is responsive, and the content is easily accessible on different devices. Additionally, page speed plays a significant role in user experience and search engine rankings. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify areas for improvement and ensure your content loads quickly.
This is something that you can implement for your site, but if you’re like me and selling your work to clients, they are the ones that need to make sure that the speed is up to user standards. You can help them with that by showing them results and giving them suggestions.
Incorporating these five SEO tricks into your freelance writing will help you create content that ranks higher on search engine results pages and attracts more readers. Just remember that SEO is always changing, so stay updated by signing up for newsletters by gurus in the industry.
Here are some of my favorite SEO newsletters:
Interesting article, Julie. Am constantly going back and changing things – a never ending process. Thanks for these tips!
It is a never-ending job, and when you think you have it right, then the search engines tweak something throwing all your hard work into the wind.