A Few Quick and Easy SEO Writing Tips

Let’s get this out of the way first.

Generally speaking, I hate everything SEO stands for (which is Search Engine Optimisation, in case you didn’t know.)

The idea behind SEO is that you configure your website, or anything you’ve decided to share online, to rank highly in search engines when people type in keywords that relate to it.

Amongst other things, this means writing copy, news updates, and blog posts that include those keywords.

But the thing is, I’m a human writer, not a keyword-spouting robot.

More than that, I’m a writer who was brought up with plain old paper, pens, and publications printed with ink that came off on your hands.

A reluctant journey

When I started charging people for my writing services in 2016, I decided I’d better start learning more about SEO.  It seemed only polite, really plus my competitors kept banging on about it, and I didn’t want them knowing too many things I didn’t.

The first course I took told me this:

 

(Which is great… though why did they charge me so much, just to tell me to write “as though search engines didn’t exist”?  I was already doing that!)

So I took more courses here and there, learning more useful scraps of information as I went.  Then I had my website re-designed and moved onto a new hosting platform, which assesses every blog post I write from an SEO perspective (which is fun.)

I still don’t offer pure SEO-focused writing.  If clients ask for it – one recently sent me a brief and then a long list of keywords, all of which had to be included in the article a certain number of times – I politely turn down the work.

I do this because SEO-focused writing makes my heart heavy; it feels more like maths than English, and in my book, life’s too short for maths.

But that doesn’t mean I avoid SEO entirely.  I use it for myself and in my client work, in subtle ways that I know are effective because people tell me so.

These subtle ways are:

Stay regular

From an SEO perspective, regularly updating your website with brand-new words is one of the most helpful things you can do.

These could be formal news updates, in-depth articles, or chatty blog posts… whichever you feel most comfortable writing.

The most important thing is to keep at it.  Writing relevant, readable words is like healthy food for your website – it helps it grow.

Keep a few popular keywords in mind

You really don’t have to shoehorn long, complicated lists of keywords into your writing.

OK… if you do, you might zoom up the search-engine rankings.  But you’ll do it in a way that sounds forced and unnatural.

I can’t be the only person who’s rejected a top-ranking website for a lower one that comes across as more human and likeable.  A click doesn’t necessarily result in a contact.

But you can write with a few key keywords in mind.  You can get an idea of what these might be by typing what you do into Google (other search engines are available!) and observing what comes up in the drop-down list underneath.

As an example, I’ve done just that with the word “blogging”, below:

Use common questions in blog post titles and subheadings

Titling a blog post with a common question people ask about your business – along with sprinkling a few key keywords here and there – will help people find said post more easily.

(Just make sure the rest of your post actually answers the question, and you’re golden.)

Sprinkle in some relevant links

Link your blog posts to other areas of your website.  These could include your contact page, or more information about the services you’re describing.

You can also link to external pages where relevant.

I’ve done this here, so you can learn more about external links from people who know far more about it than I do.

Write ‘guest posts’ for other websites

If your services complement those of another business, offering to write a blog post for them – with a link to your website – will help you get noticed online.

Choose your guests carefully, though.  If they’re not relevant to your business, then what’s the point?

Over the years I’ve had “can I write you a guest post?” emails from all kinds of businesses, including house-moving services, chiropodists, and candle-makers.

Reader, I sent them all packing.

Especially the house-moving man.

If you want to talk technical, in-depth SEO techniques…

…then I’m afraid you’ll have go elsewhere.

But in the meantime, you might be surprised at just how far a few tweaks like these could take you.

Good luck.

 

P.S. If you read last week’s blog post, the picture makes perfect sense.