In the minds of many, SEO is an untamable beast that can never be fully understood. It may as well stand for: ‘Stumps Every…One’. You probably think to make any progress, you need to shell out some serious cash to those in the know, right?
What if we promised you that by the end of this post, you would have learnt actionable tips to master SEO writing and start seeing real change. Would you keep reading?
Well, we ain’t lying. If you’re a newbie; we cover the planning, writing and post-optimizing stages of SEO content. If you have a good grasp already, you can pick from the sections you’d like to improve on.
Ready to get started?
Source: GIPHY
Do you know what copywriting is?
About SEO copywriting and why it is important
Optimize your SEO content according to your goals
Before SEO writing – the planning stage
- Optimize for crawling by indexing
- Keyword research
- Search intent
- Content writer topics
- Type of content
Strong SEO content – the writing stage
- SEO article headlines
- Structure and format for SEO content writing
- Visually-appealing
- Link-building and backlinks
- Repurpose old content
- Meta descriptions and other checks
- Upgrade User Experience (UX)
- Making it mobile-friendly
- Promotion for SEO writers
SEO 101 – What is SEO?
To simplify for any beginners, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of increasing your site’s visibility in search engines for relevant keyword searches. Whether you have a WordPress blog or a YouTube channel, the ultimate goal for marketers is to have your piece of content displayed on the first SERP (Search Engine Ranking Page).
Source: Google
Why is that beneficial? Think about it, ranking on the first page means more visibility in search results, which means more eyes on your content – all of whom could be potential customers. While page one was the old goalpost, in a new 2020 study, Sistrix revealed that the average click-rate for the first position in Google is around 28.5%. Beyond position one, the percentage quickly falls with the average click-rate for position 2 at 15.7% and 11% for position 3. Wow.
The lesson for your next content strategy? You’ve got to go for the gold.
Source: GIPHY
So how do you attract the attention to make this happen? While it’s not an exact science, the one thing every SEO-enthusiast can agree on is that quality content is at the heart.
Do you know what copywriting is?
Copywriting is everywhere, whether or not you realise it. It is the art of writing persuasive textual content, specifically for marketing or advertising purposes. The role of a copywriter can range from creating a direct ‘Buy now!’ button on a site to a long, informative blog post. Blog post? “Surely writing content isn’t the same as copy?” we hear you ask. At the end of the day, although they may go about it in different ways, the goal is the same.
Great content isn’t obviously sales-focused but those subtle CTAs (Calls To Action) can come in the form of internal links and additional resources. Even if you’re not being promoted to buy anything, if you’re engaged by the copy, the action you take may be simply staying on the site to read another blog post.
Source: Keep It Usable
Top tip: For a comprehensive introduction to crafting compelling copy, check out Copyblogger’s free ebook.
About SEO copywriting and why it is important
Copywriting for SEO takes far more into account. However, great copy is where it all must start if you hope to master the art.
Source: GIPHY
We mentioned earlier the importance of ranking on page one of Google but there are various factors associated with getting there.
SEO ranking factors
An SEO ranking factor determines the position a URL holds on a SERP for a particular search term/keyword. The more ranking factors involved, the higher a site will appear. When this happens consistently, the search engine sees that a site is providing high-quality, trustworthy content. This will determine your domain or page authority level; which can decrease, as well as increase.
Here a recent screenshot from the Quuu blog:
Source: Ahrefs
Google notoriously never reveals the exact formula (and it’s always changing) but for the most up-to-date and educated guesses on optimizing for SEO, we can always rely on Moz. We also found this handy pie chart (who doesn’t love pie?) which breaks down the algorithm weight of each ranking factor for 2021.
| Factor | Algorithm Weight |
| Consistent Publication of Engaging Content | 26% |
| Keywords in Meta Title Tags | 22% |
| Backlinks | 16% |
| Niche Expertise | 12% |
| Internal Links | 5% |
| Visitor Time on Site | 5% |
| Mobile-Friendly / Mobile-First Website | 4% |
| Page Speed | 3% |
| Site Security / SSL Certificate | 2% |
| Offsite Mentions | 1% |
| Schema Markup / Structured Data | 1% |
| Keywords in URL | 1% |
| Keywords in Header Tags | 1% |
| Keywords in Meta DescriptionTags + 18 Other Factors | 1% |
Source: FirstPageSage
While these factors are agreed on by most of the digital marketing community, there are plenty of other areas that are thought to be important, yet, remain unconfirmed. One of the most widely debated is that of social signals. Google has been back and forth on this subject and although they claim social signals are not a direct ranking factor, they do have a huge effect on the ranking factors they do consider. This is a whole other subject in itself so if you’d like to learn more, click here.
Optimize your SEO content according to your goals
Some of you might be here because you want as many tips as humanly possible to master SEO writing, whereas others may have specific goals in mind. It can help to focus on one at a time to ensure you nail it. It also makes it easier to track whether or not a specific tactic is working. Are you looking to:
- Increase organic traffic or click-through rate?
- Create brand awareness?
- Work on reputation management?
- Build quality backlinks?
- Strengthen SERP position and domain authority?
- Decrease bounce-rate?
- Work on Conversion Rate Optimisation?
These are just a few of the strategies you can work to improve.
Before SEO writing – the planning stage
If you’re still in the process of thinking of ideas for your next blog post, you’re in the most promising place for success. Don’t get us wrong, there’s a chance you might get lucky with a ‘one-hit wonder’ that answers search intent for a buzz-topic with no keyword research. However, if you’re looking to increase your domain authority and keep it there, you want to be knocking it out of the park each time you post.
Source: GIPHY
Search intent? Keyword research? Don’t worry, we’re getting to it.
Optimize for crawling by indexing
One of the most important things to check when looking to improve your SEO writing is that search engines can even find your content in the first place!
To find new and updated content, Google will continuously send out bots called ‘crawlers’ to browse the web. The URLs they find are then stored in a massive database, to retrieve in future when ‘a searcher is seeking information that the content on that URL is a good match for.’
One way to check your indexed pages is by typing “site:yourdomain.com” into the Google search bar. This will show you all the results that Google has in its index for that site.
Source: Google
If your site isn’t showing up, there are a few reasons why this could be:
- The site is brand new and Google hasn’t had a chance to crawl it yet
- Your site isn’t backlinked from any external websites
- The site’s design needs to be updated to allow the crawlers to work effectively
- Your site contains ‘crawler directives’ – basic code that is blocking them
- Your site has been penalized by Google for spamming
If your site is correctly indexed, you can move on to the next step.
Keyword research
‘Keywords’ are the words/phrases that people type into search engines when they have a query. In all forms of content marketing, keyword research is crucial. Why? As Ahrefs perfectly summed up: ‘If nobody is searching for what you’re writing about, you won’t get traffic from Google—no matter how hard you try.’
Don’t let your web page be part of the 90% of content averted by search traffic.
Source: Ahrefs
Get your new strategy started now with these simple stages:
- Create a comprehensive list of words and keyword phrases you wish to rank for (including your products, services, niche etc.)
- Use keyword research tools to expand your list (such as Semrush or Moz’s Keyword Explorer) to discover related keywords, topics and questions you may have missed
- Narrow down a top ‘wish list’ according to your goals (the number will differ depending on the size of your business/team)
- Put these 25 terms into a spreadsheet and assess the metrics of value and cost (including search volume, impressions, clicks)
- Pick your top-rated and move on to the next step
Top tip: Don’t forget about long-tail keywords. These are more specific than commonly used keywords and will get less search traffic but will usually stand out with a higher conversion value.
Search intent
Once you’ve done the above, it’s time to check the search intent for each target keyword(s). This differs from ‘search volume’, which can be a highly misleading metric on which to base your content marketing strategy.
Discovering search intent for your listed keywords simply involves Googling and analysing. It’s that easy.
Check out the top few results for each term and note down everything from the headline, format of the piece and the general gist.
- What type of content are they? Guides, lists, landing pages?
- What is the user intent behind them? Informational, navigational, commercial or transactional?
Source: Backlinko
- Are there any comments offering feedback? Is there a positive or negative feel to them?
- What is the monetisation strategy? eCommerce, gated content, ads, affiliate marketing?
As the majority of content looks to result in a sale, this is where the ‘sales marketing funnel’ comes into play. There are many variations of this on the web but in the simplest terms, there are 3 main stages: awareness, consideration then purchase.
Satisfying ‘search intent’ is well-documented as Google’s number one goal. Thanks to digital marketing and its ever-changing landscape, if you’re looking to rank highly to increase sales, you need to ensure your content is satisfying users. You heard it here first.
On that note, have you noticed these appearing before the top search result?
These are called featured snippets and may or may not appear, depending on Google’s assumed search intent. ‘How to’ queries usually display a featured snippet, whereas transactional searches mostly open with a shopping carousel.
These snippets can be helpful to determine what Google views as the intent of specific keywords, as they’ve chosen to highlight a certain piece.
Content writer topics
When it comes to choosing the topic around which to centre your new content, we have a few suggestions for optimizing for SEO.
- Evergreen content
Much like the tree from which it hails its name, ‘evergreen content’ is sustainable with a long lifespan. This means choosing a topic that will remain relevant; regardless of time passing and popular culture changing.
Depending on your industry, this can be more easily said than done. However, if you can create a guide that people will still be clicking on 5 or even 10 years from now – you’ve struck SEO gold.
Source: Copyblogger
This checklist from copywriting experts, Copyblogger, is a perfect example of content created several years ago that reads as though it was written yesterday.
- Take a look at your competition
Though there are times when keeping an eye on your competition isn’t the best idea…
Source: Thrive Global
… SEO writing doesn’t fall under this bracket. Whatever your niche, it pays to do a little bit of research to see what your competitor bloggers are writing about.
Check out some of their top-performing articles and analyse the feedback. Think you can write about the same topic in a more detailed way? Go for it! Take the topic to the next level with more detail, infographics and updated facts and stats.
- Unsaturated niches with traffic potential
While trending content is all well and good, it can pay to put the key in the ignition of the bandwagon before it sets off. There are multiple ways you can find untapped topics but all revolve around your target audience and customers.
You can start by putting yourself in their shoes and trying to think of the questions you, as a consumer, would want answers to. Better yet, why not ask them directly?
You’ve all heard the phrase, ‘don’t ask, don’t get’ – customer feedback is invaluable. Community forums and social media are brilliant due to the lack of ‘editing’ when people post. Without even realising it, people use important keywords when asking questions by typing their thought-process.
A great SEO strategy for ranking highly (pretty much instantly) is doing some digging into ‘guaranteed future searches’. So, what do we mean by that?
Take consumer technology, for example. Industries like this have products that are constantly moving forward and upgrading. Do your research and find something that’s in the works.
Although those keywords will have virtually zero searches now, writing your content before it gains popularity means that you’re likely to rank on the first page, if not the first result. Once it’s released, watch that web traffic flow in.
Type of content
We’ve brushed over this earlier but the type of SEO content you choose to write will have a big impact depending on the search intent of your audience. In saying that, there is no single type of content that will appeal to every visitor of your site. This is why you need a variety.
Some of the most popular types of content are:
- Blogs
- Video
- Lists
- Podcasts/Webinars
- Case Studies
- How-tos
- Ebooks
- Infographics
If you’re new to blogging/writing, it can be beneficial to start with one of the more straightforward types of content, such as a listicle or how-to guide. If you’re a design whizz or confident public speaker, however, an infographic or video may be more up your street.
You may think that podcasts and graphic content don’t fall under ‘SEO writing’ but as you’ll soon learn, this isn’t the case.
Strong SEO content – the writing stage
A solid plan will make life a whole lot easier, so once you’ve done that, it’s time to get down to it.
According to Knowledge Enthusiast, “While the average blog post takes only three hours and 57 minutes to complete, the mounting demand for quality content increases the time you need to write one.”
If you use a tool such as Clearscope or Semrush for keyword research, using the average word count section can be a handy minimum to aim for.
Source: Clearscope
Let’s get after it!
SEO article headlines
The first (and potentially, last) thing users will experience of your content is the headline.
Although there are many great guides out there on how to improve yours (including this free guide on how to write magnetic headlines from Copyblogger), there is no set formula for success.
This Medium user conducted a study and found a variety of headline elements that appeared to draw readers in.
- Simplicity, keeping straight to the point
- An average of 7 words in length
- An introduction that will be answered in the main body
- Numbers frequently appear in the most successful headlines
- Structured in one of 7 popular formats
- Begins with “What”, “Why”, “How”, “Who”, a number, or “The” or “This”
- Aesthetically-pleasing (explained below)
Source: Medium
As shown in the examples above, the ‘association of words, length, shape, title case, length, and punctuation form a very appealing visual harmony’. It’s pretty minute but we can see what he means.
If you’re still struggling, there are plenty of tools that can help. One of the most popular is CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer but if you’d prefer not to have to sign-up with your details, you could try Sharethrough’s version.
Source: CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer
Structure and format for SEO content writing
Though this is technically a ‘planning’ element, it involves the way you write your piece once you get started. As Yoast put it: ‘The structure of the text on your site is vital for SEO copywriting. If your content has a clear structure, you have a better chance of ranking well in Google.’
Before you start the main body of the piece, it’s always a good idea to create an outline. Write down the key points you want to cover and turn them into your sub-headings/table of contents. When writing blogs at Quuu, we use Clearscope’s integrated tool which ranks keywords in order or importance or heading presence.
Source: Clearscope
Using the correct headings (H1, H2 etc) will ensure your key points are highlighted whilst also alerting Google that those particular phrases are important.
After seeing the above screenshot, you might be wondering – is word count important? While there is much conflicting research out there about the ‘magic number’…it turns out there isn’t one.
Despite that, longer content consistently exceeds shorter content.
Why could this be? Does ‘dwell time’ or ‘time on page’ have any effect? You’d think, the longer people spend on a site, the more valuable they must deem it to be. Perhaps that counts towards satisfying search intent, as mentioned earlier.
Much like social signals, the role of ‘dwell time’ has neither been confirmed nor denied to be a ranking factor. The last we heard was from Nick Frost, head of Google Brain, in late-2017 who said:
“Google is now integrating machine learning into [the process of figuring out what the relationship between a search and the best page for that search is]. So then training models on, you know, when somebody clicks on a page and stays on that page, when they go back and when…and trying to figure out exactly that relationship.”
…they sure don’t like to make it easy for us.
Despite this positive correlation, if your next piece of content isn’t about a detailed subject; don’t force it. You may not be doing it intentionally but repeating the same keyword for SEO purposes is called “keyword stuffing” and it’s seriously penalised. It refers to the practice of loading a webpage with specific keywords in an attempt to manipulate how content ranks in search results.
One last tip is to avoid ‘chunking’ text.
No one wants to be hit with a wall of text as soon as they open a page and this could be increasing your ‘bounce rate’. Keep the structure of the main body to a few lines at a time, with line breaks in between. This makes for a much easier reading experience.
Visually-appealing
Although ‘visuals’ may not be what comes to mind when discussing ‘writing’, when it comes to digital content and SEO, the two go hand-in-hand. While content can be purely visual (as in video or webinars) it can also simply include images or clips, alongside text, to make a greater impact.
Source: GIPHY
If you’re looking to increase the ‘dwell time’ and ‘time on page’ of your content, your writing needs to be supplemented with plenty of visual stimuli. Design tools like Canva and Visme make designing your own easy, whilst Unsplash provides quality stock photography from others.
Use plenty of screenshots to demonstrate your points throughout but remember to source via external links if you’re using another site’s work. Neil Patel breaks up each of his blog posts with regular images to demonstrate his points.
Source: Neil Patel
As you may or may not know, YouTube is owned by Google and is now the world’s second-largest search engine. “YouTube processes more than 3 billion searches a month. 100 hours of video are uploaded every minute. It’s bigger than Bing, Yahoo!, Ask and AOL combined,” according to Mushroom Networks.
This merge has clearly had a knock-on effect from its parent company. For many ‘how to’ page one SERP results on Google, you’ll see YouTube thumbnails somewhere near the top.
Source: Google
The benefits are clear; posting content to YouTube, or embedding it on your blog post, automatically increases overall search rankings. According to Cisco, by 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic — 15 times higher than it was in 2017.
‘As a visual species, humans find videos more engaging, more memorable, and more popular than any other type of content out there.’ Check out these stats if you need more convincing.
So how does YouTube rank videos on the site?
Source: Visme
But how does this all relate to SEO writing?
While the quality of the video is still the most important element, keywords and meta descriptions work on this platform exactly as they do on Google. Bear in mind everything you’ve learned so far and apply this to highly-ranking visual content too.
Link-building and backlinks
They top the list of most SEO tips and for good reason. It’s widely agreed that aside from the obvious quality of content, one of the most important factors are backlinks – the link-building basis of PageRank.
You’ll have seen them throughout this piece in the form of anchor text; the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink.
In an ideal world, Google would provide searchers with content that fulfils their needs entirely. You may be an expert on a particular subject but external resources can take your piece to the next level to accomplish Google’s goal.
So how do link-building and backlinks coincide? Well, ‘link-building’ is the process of acquiring ‘backlinks’ from other websites to your own. You are providing other sites with ‘backlinks’ by referencing them throughout your content.
Source: Backlinko
According to Moz, there are two fundamental ways that the search engines use links:
- To discover new web pages
- To help determine how well a page should rank in its results
Internal link-building involves hyperlinks that connect to different pages within your website. By connecting your content, you can guide Google and readers to your most important pages.
If content is linked multiple times (be it internal or external), this signals to Google that it’s a valuable piece.
However, where there’s good, there’s also bad. The opening paragraph of the “link schemes” section of Google’s Quality Guidelines reads:
“Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site’s ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.”
Source: Ahrefs
Don’t want this to happen to you?
It’s not always easy to rack up backlinks, especially if you’re a new business, and so many people resort to simply asking for them. However, there are certain ways in which you must do this to avoid being penalised by Google. Take your time reading into this because since 2012, when Google introduced ‘Penguin’ – low-quality links have become one of their primary targets.
On the other end of the scale, adding backlinks to sites of high authority instantly makes your content more SEO-friendly. It’s basically an ‘up-vote’ from one site to another. Linking from a site that multiple people have also ‘up-voted’ shows Google that you know what you’re talking about.
Source: GIPHY
In saying that, that’s not the only reason we’ve been consistently linking to sites like ‘Moz’ and ‘Ahrefs’ throughout this blog.
At the end of the day, they are experts in their field and know far more about SEO than we do. We can provide an easy-to-digest guide and let the external links explain each section in more detail – that’s how to link-build successfully.
Repurpose old content
Despite how long it may take to create it, all content has a lifespan. Sometimes, this may be a lot shorter than you’d like.
What is clear, however, is that it can take a fair amount of time for your content to move up the SERPs. According to Single Grain, ‘The short answer is six months to one year. The long answer is: it depends.’
It wasn’t always this difficult.
Source: Single Grain
Nowadays, your content may run out of steam before you’ve had a chance to hit the first 10 pages, let alone the top 10 results! You may not have the time right now to create something from scratch, so if you find yourself in this position, it may be time to repurpose some of your content.
CoSchedule has a great guide on creating content with repurposing in mind from the start but if you’re looking to update an older piece, check out our 28 ways to repurpose a blog post.
Source: GIPHY
Post-SEO writing tips
You’ve planned and written your wonderful content and now it’s out there for the world to see. However, just because you’ve hit ‘publish’, doesn’t mean the work is over. Make sure to stand out for the search engines with these optimizing tips.
Meta descriptions and other checks
Any content you create after reading this guide should be spot on but what about the rest of your work? When was the last time you had an audit of some of your older blog posts to make sure everything was still working as it should? We’re guessing for most of you…not recently.
There are many elements of SEO writing you should check to ensure you’re not spreading misinformation with out-dated facts, spelling mistakes or bad grammar. These can both hinder your link-building efforts and decrease users’ ‘time on page’ when they realise your blog may be no longer relevant.
Some important on-page factors to check include:
- Broken links – are any external links now leading to 404 error pages?
- Typos/bad grammar – this leads to poor User Experience (UX) which will dampen engagement.
- Broken images/videos – make sure all visual content is displaying as is should.
- Image alt tags – as Google can’t visualise images like human eyes can, you need to help out the search engines with text descriptions.
- Chunks of text – as stated above, breaking up text makes for a much more pleasant User Interface (UI).
Source: Delante
Once you’ve covered these, it’s time to check out the more technical aspects:
- Bounce rates – if these are high, your users aren’t finding what they need as soon as your page loads. Investigate with the highest priority!
- Time on page – if this is low, things are starting ok for readers but you’re losing engagement. Use the first two sections of this guide to find out why.
- Crawl errors – this means Google has had trouble viewing a page on your site (which means it won’t rank). To diagnose, check out Google Search Console’s ‘Coverage Report’.
- HTTPS – Having a secure site offers plenty of benefits for SEO. Search Engine Journal covers some of the top reasons why you should switch from HTTP to HTTPS.
- URL length – Backlinko recently analysed 11.8 million Google search results and discovered that short URLs perform the best in rankings.
Source: Google Search Central
Articulate Marketing has a great blog post covering some of these things to check on your website in more detail.
Upgrade User Experience (UX)
You’re trying to get eyes on your content to increase your ranking but what are visitors met with when they click through? Is your content accessible or is it masked by annoying pop-ups or a poor layout?
If it’s the latter, it’s time to update your UX.
Top tip: If you’re a WordPress user, you’ll likely have heard of Yoast – the most popular SEO plugin by a long-shot. If you’re looking to optimize your site for search engines, it’s a no-brainer.
This is a whole blog post in itself, so let’s get back to the writing side of things.
UX copywriting tends to focus on the elements of copy that no-one notices, a.k.a ‘microcopy’. What used to be a niche profession is now a ‘must’ in many digital marketing budgets.
It’s the ‘art of using language to make branded experiences easier and more enjoyable for users’. Unlike regular copywriting which is meant to spur you to take action, UX copy is there to get you where you need to be.
Source: Usability Geek
This includes:
- Buttons copy
- Pop-ups
- Instructions
- Page/menu headers
- 404 notices
UX Collective thinks the word ‘copywriting’ shouldn’t even be used in regards to UX. They wrote, ‘Copywriting means writing for advertising materials. Copywriting is about getting attention and attracting customers. It’s not user experience, it’s marketing.’
Here’s how they justify it:
Source: UX Collective
In any case, The Unit thinks this form of writing will become ‘increasingly important’ in the next few years.
If that’s the case, it’s time to get practicing:
- Calls to Action
For CRO and increased time on site, calls-to-action are a must. From an internal link to an enticing “find out more” button, the goal is to satisfy search intent whilst prompting the user to take a particular route on your site.
- Simplify your site’s navigation
Keep things simple and straightforward. The copy used should be clear and concise and flow with the site’s design.
- SEO-friendly site layout
Ensure the correct headings and keywords and being used in the right places. You may have an arty, visually-appealing site but SEO optimizations should remain the priority.
We’re no experts in this field, so we’d recommend learning more from those who are.
Making it mobile-friendly
While this certainly falls under the above subheading, its popularity warrants a heading of its own. As of around 2017, mobile accounts for approximately half of all web traffic worldwide and this is only set to increase.
Despite these crazy statistics, many websites still aren’t adapted to cater for this!
Source: Google Search Central
Since July 2019, mobile-first indexing is enabled by default for all new websites. What does this mean? We’ll let Google explain:
“Historically, the index primarily used the desktop version of a page’s content when evaluating the relevance of a page to a user’s query. Since the majority of users now access Google Search with a mobile device, Googlebot primarily crawls and indexes pages with the smartphone agent going forward.”
Though this doesn’t apply to SEO writing directly, it’s too important to overlook, so here are some of the things you should update on your site.
| What to do | What not to do |
| Prioritise page speed | Don’t block CSS, JavaScript or images |
| Design your site for mobile | Don’t use Flash |
| Choose mobile site configuration wisely | Don’t use pop-ups |
| Consider a separate mobile URL | Avoid lengthy titles/meta descriptions etc. |
If you want to check out your site’s mobile responsiveness at any time, try the Google Mobile-Friendly Testing tool.
But back to our topic, how can you make your SEO writing mobile-friendly?
Here are some top tips:
- Keep paragraphs short and sweet for small screens
- Use shorter words (and keep the readability grade low in the process)
- Cater to all types of readers by using the ‘bite, snack and meal’ technique
- Shorter titles aren’t truncated on mobile screens (aim for 5-6 words)
- Use images to demonstrate points where you can
Update your strategy for mobile and you’re giving yourself an instant advantage over many others.
Promotion for SEO writers
The last stage of mastering SEO writing involves getting your content in front of the right people – and plenty of them!
Backlinko thinks it’s no longer enough to just produce ‘great’ content and expect to be backlinked; it needs to be something special. Enter a technique ‘that almost guarantees that you get high-quality links from every piece of content that you publish’.
Source: Backlinko
The Skyscraper Technique involves 3 steps:
- Identify a piece of popular content within your niche/industry
- Create something even better
- Promote it
It’s so-called because the content you create has to be the best, the most awe-inspiring. Find the top-rated content for your keywords and then ‘Burj Khalifa’ that thing.
By using the first two sections of this blog, you should already have steps 1 and 2 covered. Step 3 then revolves around promoting the heck out of your towering creation.
Here are some methods to try:
- Personal circle – From your company blog to your social profiles, post your new masterpiece and let all your friends and contacts bask in its glory. All it takes is a few shares to rack up some incredible reach. It’s wise to repost multiple times but be smart about when you do it and don’t spam. You want to rack up views on your content, not clicks of the ‘unfriend’ button.
Source: Buffer
- Guest blogging – If you’re an expert in your niche, why not offer your services to sites with a high domain authority as a guest blogger? You can backlink your site while increasing your reach and building relationships in the process.
- Email marketing – If you have a solid email list, people have signed up because they’re interested in what you have to say. As Campaign Monitor revealed, you’re six times more likely to get a click from an email campaign than a tweet. It’s a no-brainer! More people check their emails just after waking up before any other platform combined.
Source: OptinMonster
- Social media – Join groups of like-minded people in your industry and ask them to take a look. You could also gain some constructive feedback and insight into what your target audience wants to see in future.
- Paid platforms – If you’ve got a budget, why not consider pay-per-click (PPC) marketing channels such as Facebook Ads? Or, if you’re looking for guaranteed social shares from accounts in your niche, our very own Quuu Promote is king. A Better Lemonade Stand compared the two – see what they found out.
Source: Quuu Promote
- Online community – Community sites like Quora and Reddit regularly top SERP results. Aside from being an excellent place to see the exact keyword language that searchers use (people tend to ‘edit’ their wording/tonality less), your content could help answer a popular question.
- Syndication – Why not consider pitching your top-performing pieces of content to other sites and ask if they’d be interested in republishing? You can help a new audience, build relationships with sites you love and save a ton of time by having the same post published on multiple platforms.
- Contact influencers – Influencers are so-called because they have a great deal of sway with their followers. They can range from mega (followers in the millions) to micro-influencers (with a much smaller, yet more dedicated following). You can ask for their input in the planning stages or simply reference and then contact them to say you’ve done so. Social shares are powerful and the right people sharing can skyrocket your SEO.
Conclusion
While each section we’ve covered takes some time to explain, to implement them doesn’t take much time at all. We weren’t lying in the headline, promise!
Once you’ve got the hang of it, it’ll take even less, quickly becoming second nature.
To summarise, as Benjamin Franklin once said (according to Google), “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”
You now have all the tools to ensure you succeed:
- Optimize for search engine crawlers by indexing
- Choose your content topic wisely
- Do your keyword research, thoroughly
- Ensure you satisfy search intent for those keywords
- Vary the types of content you create
To level-up the writing itself, we covered the following:
- Give your headline the attention it deserves, so others do the same
- A clear structure and format will go a long way
- Ensure all written content is visually-appealing
- Craft a solid link-building strategy both internally and externally
- Transform older content by repurposing
If your content is peachy, these final tips were a bit more technical:
- Include meta descriptions and other on-page factors
- Upgrade your site/content UX
- Ensure it’s always mobile-friendly
- Utilise the Skyscraper Technique and promote
Are there any elements to SEO writing you think we missed? Any strategies that particularly worked for you? Sharing is caring – we’d love to hear about it!
