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The 10 Commandments of SEO Content Writing

Posted on May 5, 2014

You don’t exactly need to have Ernest Hemmingway-like writing chops to be good at SEO content writing. As a matter of fact, anyone can choose to do their own blog or article writing, if they want their personality and message to shine through their web content.

But here’s the thing: the lack of understanding of how search engines work combined with a poor grasp of the English grammar can render any content marketing effort useless.

So unless you’re planning on hiring a web content writer to do the job for you, you need to adhere to the 10 commandments of content writing for SEO.

The 10 Commandments of SEO Content Writing

Thou shall make plenty of research, even when you’re writing general content for the website or your blog. You may know your product or industry like the back of your hand. But times change, and there could be recent trends in your industry you may not be aware of. That’s why it pays to research more about your product or service’s industry, whether you’re writing or not.

Thou shall target the right keywords. In order for your SEO strategy to work for you, you need to target the right keywords: Keywords that are both optimized and relevant to your product or service’s industry.

Thou shall not write for search engines. It is important to make sure that your website can easily be found by search engines. But that doesn’t mean that you must compromise the quality of your content for this purpose.

With that said;

Thou shall write naturally. One way to rank high in search engines is to write content that’s not only optimized, but also offers real value for readers. So write naturally. Write as if you’re talking to a friend.

In other words, write content that’s readable, informative, and interesting enough to keep readers hooked, down to the last sentence.

Also, avoid keyword stuffing.

Thou shall not ramble. Imagine asking a friend where she got her scarf, and then she starts telling you about her escapade in Paris.

Your readers feel the same way too. If your content starts digressing, it might bore your readers away from your website.

Thou shall use headers properly. SEO experts couldn’t stress enough the importance of PROPERLY using headers. It not only makes content easier to digest for readers, but also helps spiders index your web page properly.

Thou shall keep it simple… sunshine. Your aim is to educate or update your readers and not to impress them with your ability to jam 7 adjectives in one sentence, or your extensive vocabulary. Use plain and simple English when writing web content.

Thou shall not underestimate the power of internal linking. Internal linking, or cross referencing other pages in your website entices users to go deeper into your website.

Thou shall not use excessive hype. People hate hype. While the words FREE and Get 50% off may work for sales copies, it has no place in SEO web content.

Thou shall not anger the grammar gods. Grammar and spelling blunders can be very costly. In fact, a run-on sentence can stick out like a sore thumb, make your content substandard, and render your SEO content writing efforts useless.

Avoid earning the ire of the grammar gods. Proofread before you publish.