How to Write SEO Optimized Content For Google?

Before you begin to write content there are certain fundamentals that you needs to understand. Content is no longer just stuffing keywords and instead there are a lot of intricacies one needs to take care of.

Without wasting much time on a fancy introduction, lets jump right in and see what actionable changes can help you write SEO optimized content for Google.

Identify Your Audience

Obviously one doesn’t write content on web pages or blogs for self reference. Therefore, it is important to understand the point of view of the reader. Only when the writer has a clear picture of who would be reading the content, he can write specifically according to what the reader wants to read.

For example, if I write about SEO using some technical terms, a layman wouldn’t understand the whole piece of content properly. He would need some references to understand the concept fully which wastes time of the reader.

Identify and Fulfil User-Intent

As a content writer, it becomes tough to understand about the intent when you are given nothing more than a topic and or a keyword. In this case, the writer needs to fulfil all kinds of intent. Let’s first have a look at what are the kinds of intent that a writer needs to fulfil unless specified.

Navigational

When a user already knows where exactly he wants to reach, like, a particular website or a brand, then his intent is considered as navigational.

Informational

When a user is searching for some sort of information through a search term that is mostly a question, the user’s intent is specified as informational.

Transactional

When a user is looking to buy a particular service or a product, the user intent is said to be transactional. Usually the transactional search queries include terms such as “buy” or “get”.

How to Fulfil User-Intent Once Identified?

• It is quite simple to fulfil user-intent through the content. In case of navigational intent, one need not to do anything specific. Navigational intent is fulfilled simply by adding brand name in the content which does not need any special attention as it comes naturally while writing.
• To serve informational queries, the content needs to have various attributes which are: Good content length, optimum depth of content etc. We will go through them one by one shortly.
• Transactional intent can be fulfilled by serving content in transactional messages that include words such as “get”, “buy”, “online”, etc.

Technical Aspects of Content

Length of Content

There is no specific length defined by Google to rank on the number one spot. We have to analyze competitors and then judge how many words of content we must keep on our webpage. The best way to decide word length is to search for your targeted keyword on Google and check top 3 results that appear. Check the content length of top 3 results that are visible. In my opinion, the content length of a page should be kept 1.5 times that of the lengthiest content out of the top 3 web pages that are ranking. Although there is nothing as such specified by Google, this is what I have managed to conclude with some experiments.

Depth of Topic

As I mentioned above, length of the content should be good enough to rank on number 1 spot, doesn’t mean that we can simply keep adding any content. Depth of the topic also needs to be kept in mind. Lengthy written content along with maximum depth of topic covered is considered as a researched piece of content and that is why Google tends to rank it better in search.

Appropriate Heading Levels

There are a lot of articles circulated over the internet about headings. Some of them say that one must include keywords in all heading levels, some say it isn’t important to add keywords in headings level. So whom should you really trust? Well, here are my findings. H1 is the most important tag on any page and must contain at least one of your focused keywords. This is not just a case for ranking, it is also obvious to tell the users what the page is about. H2 is also an important tag though not as important as the H1. But there is no mandate to add keywords in H2 as we need to focus on depth of the content and not keyword stuffing. Using the keyword in H1 very clearly states the topic of content and need not be repeated in every single heading tag. By saying this what I mean is, one can use keywords wherever required but not merely to serve the purpose of keyword stuffing.

Referencing Through Links

Even after writing a great piece of content, Google won’t consider it the best content to rank. One needs to prove that all the content that is written is true. It can be done by referencing other reliable websites from where content has been sourced. It is most appropriate to use references of governmental or educational websites. It is always a good habit to give credits whenever and wherever we pick some information from some other website. But always make sure to keep the link “nofollow” so that you don’t lose link equity.

Reader-Friendly Content

Keeping the content simple is always a good idea. One must always bear in mind that the reader of the content would be a human and not just the bots. Keeping the language simple makes the content easy to understand for any kind of reader. One must also keep the reader’s point of view and the level of proficiency of the reader. All the users cannot be as proficient as the writer is in the language in which content is written. Let the content be universally readable.

Answer User Queries Precisely

As we know that content is for readers and not just the bots, it is also important that the content answers to what the user has to ask. One option is to keep an FAQ section wherever required. This doesn’t mean that it is important to add questions and answers. One can answer the user query in any way he wants such as by adding a list or table etc.

Formatting the Content

Format the content as much as you can. By formatting here, I mean use of lists, tables, Q&A etc. What formats to use in content can be determined by identifying the user query that needs to be addressed. For example if you are trying to rank on a particular question, obviously you need to write in the Q&A format. In case you want to rank for keywords such as “best restaurant near me”, “highest paying jobs” etc., these queries shall trigger results in the form of either lists or tables.

Conclusion

1. Keep the content lengthy and topic oriented
2. Avoid Story-telling
3. Write content for humans and not bots
4. Cover maximum depth of the topic