How to create SEO-friendly website content really easily!
Table of contents
This article is going to show you the approach I’ve been using recently that has allowed me to create website content much faster, more easily, whilst still maintaining a very simple methodology for good SEO, one that doesn’t get in the way of good content writing.
How important is website content?
Creating good website content is really at the heart of good SEO. If you can create content that is really valuable for people, and you can do it quickly, you’re well on your way to receiving some decent traffic to your website.
Website content ideas – creating a seed list.
Your output is only as good as your input. Keyword tools are only as good as the data that goes into them. This is why seed words are so important.
Seed words can come from a variety of sources including your own ideas. I had this idea to write this article because I know a few people who struggle with originating content, or just don’t have the time.
I had also been seeing a few results and recommendations showing up on Google and Youtube around content marketing, so I wanted to explore this topic as well.
This was the perfect place for me to start. So I opened a text file to put some ideas down. This is was my initial list…
What if I don’t have any ideas?
If you don’t have any ideas or don’t know where to start, no worries. There are a few ways you can build a list very quickly.
If you are working with a client, ask them for a list of words that they feel are important to their business. You can also pick them right off your client’s website. Have a look at their main sections and service and product categories for more ideas. Visit their competitor’s websites – what do they think are important keywords?
Another avenue is forums and review sites for the category you are writing about. You can get some great ideas here.
You can also start by looking at data in Google Trends. It is such a wonderful tool to help you get going.
There are a view ways you can view the data here, but my favourite way to look at it is to compare trends across different topics and search terms. Looking at trend data gives me direction during my keyword research process.
Here I compared 4 ideas from my seed list so I could see if they were worth pursuing.
From this trend data, I can see that the search term ‘content marketing’ has the most interest, and the term ‘website content’ is worth looking into, so I’m on the right track.
There were no related terms or rising trends which you often find under these charts. If you happen to see any, and they are relevant to you, add them to your seed list.
My seed list normally contains 5 words that I think accurately represent the category I want to write about.
Don’t spend too much time building your seed list. Finish it quickly.
Find your main keyword for your website.
Head over to your favourite keyword research tool. There are a lot of good ones. Some are free, some you need to pay for.
The keyword tool I normally use didn’t have enough local data for my seed list. For this post, I used KWFinder by Mangools and it produced a far better set of results. That’s why it’s a good idea to have a variety of tools at your disposal. I’ll put a list of my favourites at the end of this article.
Paste your seed list into your keyword tool. Find one to two main keywords – that’s it! Don’t spend hours doing keyword research for just one article.
Your main keywords must have these two components: a decent monthly search volume and; very little competition. Competition is often indicated by the abbreviation KD or KC in your keyword tool, and the value will probably be highlighted in green, meaning you should go for it!
If you’re using the Google Keyword Planner, you’ll find the data your need under Avg. monthly searches and competition. Nothing cryptic here.
Keep in mind that your main keyword must be relevant to your audience, and your page must be designed to match the intent behind the phrase. This is important. You don’t want to spend time writing an article that isn’t relevant. If people don’t spend time reading it, they will leave your site and your position in the search results will move down.
Once you have your main keywords (I chose “website content”’ because of the low competition and keyword difficulty), head back over to Google.
Website content writing tips – Use Google to find your support phrases and subheadings.
The idea here is to use the search engine to build out your topics and subheadings so that you end up with a structure, as well as some ideas for your article.
Open an incognito window. Searching for ideas in incognito mode means that your personal search data is not factored into the search results. You want a set of unbiased results so you get the best ideas for building your post.
Input your main keyword into Google.
I start by looking at the autofill suggestions.
Then, I look at the bold words in the search results and the questions under ‘People also ask’.
And lastly, I looked for further suggestions under ‘Searches related to website content’, which you can find located at the bottom of the page.
Then, I begin building out my topics in order of importance. So, my main keyword is first, then my most relevant keyword to my main keyword is second and so on.
Multiple H2 and H3 sections
My main topics get h2 tags, and anything related to them become subheadings with h3 tags.
It’s important to break your article up like this because it reads better, especially on mobile.
Writing in short, punchy sentences holds people’s attention for longer and you can target more keywords.
The framework for my article is now looking something like this…
Next, I choose topics where I think I can write something of value, and I leave the rest out.
I add more text to these keywords to create my topics and subheadings (h2 & h3).
I now have a structure and some ideas for my blog post.
Website content best practices and guidelines for SEO.
Now that you have an outline for your article, it’s time to fill it in.
The ideal content length for your blog post.
Content length is definitely one of the most important SEO ranking factors for Google in deciding where to place your article in their database.
The general rule-of-thumb for content length is between 1500-2000 words and more. As always, your content must be good. Quality over quantity any day!
I always look at the top 5 posts for my target keywords, then I paste the article into a word counter to see the length of the article. I try and write 10% more content on average, by adding more value and showing more intent. I find this to be a very useful way to benchmark the quality of my content.
Some helpful website content writing tips and tricks for you.
Under each subheading, write 2-3 points. Research your topic and write 2-3 sentences elaborating on each point.
Write so people will easily understand what you are saying.
I always check my content readability here. Copy and paste your article into the reader and submit. This article will be understood by a 12.5-year-old.
Below your readability score, you will also see a ratio showing you how many times you talk about yourself compared with your reader. It’s important that you talk to people more than you talk about yourself.
Always make it about the reader. What is the benefit for them? In this article, I’ve been talking to you 2.3 times more than I’ve been talking about myself.
In conclusion, give a teaser for your next article. You can even add more value still, by giving something away.
Website content and On-page SEO
Is your main keyword or variation in the title, the description and the URL?
Are your title and description compelling? Why would I click it?
Website content and image SEO
Compress your images. Large files will slow your site down.
Make sure your main keywords are in the filename, title and description.
Both the image and the keywords used to describe the image must relate to the text in your post.
Conclusion
I hope this makes it easier for you to create and write content. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to help you.
If this article has benefited you, please leave a review. It will only take a minute of your time. Thank you!
PS: Here are the keyword research tools I promised you:
Free keyword research tools…
Alternative to Google’s Keyword Planner:
These two give you 3 free searches per day – they are both excellent! Later, you can think about moving to the paid service.
Keyword mixer tool. Simply brilliant!
Keyword research tools you will need to pay for…
