Search Engine Optimization

Most of us don’t go past the first page of a web search when we search for something online. Which means as content writers it is crucial for your content to show up on the first pages of a web search. How can you make your content appear on those first search results? SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the answer to that question. Website like Google use algorithms to search for keywords related to your search to provide you with the content you want. SEO aims at improving the quality of your content in order to make your content rank higher on a website and invite more traffic to your website. To do so search engines scan for keywords in content to make sure the most relevant articles come up first. In simple words SEO can be considered as a subtle form of advertising for your content online. But don’t misunderstand subtle as ineffective either. Nowadays with the use of softwares like Google Adwords, you can look up keywords that are most relevant to a specific topic. Using these keywords in your content will make the search engine promote your content more to users. Although pretty simple, SEO has more interesting fields to learn. SEO has become an important aspect in content writing.

With the usage and importance of SEO increasing over time, it is no surprise that there is more than one type of SEO. There are mainly three types of SEO. On page SEO, Technical SEO, Off-Page SEO.

On-page SEO

On-page SEO like the name suggests is directly related to your content, website and other factors that show up directly on your content. On-page SEO is a determining factor for search engines to rank your content. On-page SEO ensures better optimization of the content and more traffic to the website or content. On-page SEO further consists of elements like:

a. Keyword Research

Keyword research is arguably the most important aspect of online content writing. Using relevant primary keywords will make the site rank your content higher. Higher content ranking means the site will suggest your content to more people. This is turn results in higher traffic to your content. Accurate keywords should be used, that are related to the topic. A good content usually makes use of this criteria and frames the content around important keywords. For example if you are writing on a topic related to food, then keywords that are relevant to the topic will help gain more traffic to your content.

b. Content Creation

As much as important it is to use the right keywords, it is equally important to write quality content. Unique contents with original ideas tend to fare better online. This is because websites like Google promote these articles to readers more. Writing plagiarized content will make the search engine value your content lower. This means it won’t suggest your article to users. With everybody using keywords to rank their content higher, content is something writers don’t give the importance it deserves. When there are multiple contents with the same or similar keywords, the search engine prefers the content that is more unique and better written. Better content also makes users spend more time reading your full content which in turn helps with the traffic to your site.

c. Optimization

Optimization is more like a finishing touch to your content. A good content ensures there is atleast 2-3% keyword density in the content. Usage of images, HTML tags, meta description all come under optimization. These all might seem like small details, but they sure help with the performance of the content nevertheless.

Technical SEO

Everything that affects the performance of your website outside of the content comes under technical SEO. Technical SEO aims at improving user experience, site utilities and making content easier to find for users. Providing links to pages and making the site more responsive improves the ratings of the site. Search engines usually prefer sites that are more reliable and user friendly. Similarly a site with poor user interface or broken links will fare worse online and will not come up first during search results. Technical SEO isn’t always taken care by the person writing content. Some websites have dedicated members to take care of technical SEO. Technical SEO like the name suggests, deals more with the technical aspects of content writing and web related issues.

Off-page S.E.O

If on-page S.E.O refers to the activities you do on your website to increase traffic, then off-page SEO is the opposite of that. Off-page SEO are tasks you do outside the website to increase the exposure of your website online. It more or less depends on the relation your content or website share with it’s ecosystem online. Providing back links is one way to boost site traffic through off-page SEO system. Writing guest posts or comments on other sites and providing links that redirect traffic to your site are all part of off-page SEO. When more people click these links and get redirected to your site, search engines automatically value your content higher than others. This is something many start up writers fail to do when beginning in content writing. There are other factors that contribute to this as well. Like social media exposure. Good exposure on social media platforms is also an essential part of off-page S.E.O as it can contribute to the site traffic for your website.

Today you can look up most things you want online and find an answer to your question. Search engines have become very user friendly over the years. But this wasn’t always the case. There was a time when even Google used to provide simple links to any search. Over time search engines have improved their algorithm. Search engines have now been optimized to provide with better search results and find answers that are relevant to the user. SEO has been a pioneer in paving way for this improvement. The answer to “How SEO works?” can be found by asking another question. How search engines work? Search engines are truly amazing. They scan the vast ocean of knowledge on the internet to provide you with the answers that you searched for. When we search something online, the search engine finds articles that are most likely to solve your query. This also means the more descriptive your query is, the better chances of finding articles more related. To do so, search engines scan their database with the keywords provided in the question. This keyword searching is the basis of how search engines work. The method in which SEO work is by making use of this mechanism. SEO content writing aims at writing quality content on specific articles with addition of keywords. Both quality content and usage of keywords are necessary in order for a site to take full advantage of SEO content writing. To get a further in depth idea of this, lets look at some fundamentals of SEO writing.

1. High quality content along with suitable backlinks are essential for the growth of a website from an SEO point of view. High quality content helps you in the long run with better reviews which makes search engines rank your content higher quality wise. Providing maximum backlinks ensure there is more traffic to your website. This manually build traffic further functions with the search engine algorithm to increase the traffic further.
2. A good content is wrapped perfectly with proper usage of keywords and optimized content of superior quality that readers find more relevant and interesting. Your content should no more please just the readers, but the search engine as well. The rank a search engine gives your content is going to determine the site traffic for your article.
3. Not everybody has a PC or laptop. More like not everybody needs a PC or laptop. Modern smartphones are well built to browse throught the internet with ease. A website that is user friendly attracts more users. On the other hand, imagine reading content on a site that is poorly oriented and not showing what is what. People tend to click away from those type of content. A good user interface for web and mobile users is important if you want users to actually read your content.
4. Another minor detail not everyone will tell you is related to updating content. Content that is edited or updated frequently also tend to get ranked higher by search engines.

We would say these are the meta tactics currently content writers follow to maintain high site traffic. The SEO interface is evolving with technology and one must keep up with new updates to stay ahead in the game.

As of now it must be clear to content writers why SEO is an important aspect of content writing. Writing content online without taking into consideration of SEO is near useless. That being said these are some benefits and reasons as to why SEO is becoming more and more relevant for websites.

1. Low investment
   Think of SEO as a form of online advertising, only that the cost is significantly low. Compared to other forms of advertisement that are relatively expensive, SEO requires only a skilled content writer or SEO agency. People nowadays don’t tend to click on raw ads but rather prefer organic content. This has been one of the reasons for the growth of SEO writing. The market for SEO writing is ever increasing and is an affordable alternative to cliche advertisements.
   
   
2. Long term and gives better return on investment
   Unlike ads that you need to keep paying over time, SEO is more of a one time investment that keeps on giving you results. As long as there is site traffic to the content you can reap the benefits of SEO marketing. Also new studies show people that prefer to buy a product over organic content is higher than people who click on ads. This means organic results give rise to higher sales from potential customers. Overall the idea of SEO has better returns for almost a one time investment.
   
   
3. Attracting visitors with high intent to buy
   Rather than ads that pop on your screen randomly, SEO is naturally the option people choose if they are genuinely interested in a product or service. This means more potential customers turn to SEO to look for better options. As a reason SEO has better turn over rates as compared to generic ads that pop up randomly without a target audience. Instead of forcing products on people, SEO gives people what they want. This is a more effective marketing strategy.
   
   
4. Increase in quantity of relevant traffic
   A website usually won’t see a surge in users overnight. But with correct SEO practices, more and more users can be channeled into your website or content. In time this number will increase with the usage of proper SEO practices. More people will be exposed to your content and products leading to a steady growth in site traffic.
   
   
5. Building trust and credibility
   Trust and credibility is important when starting out on any venture. It is no different for websites either. But keep in mind it takes time to build both these aspects. Once your website has a considerate amount of site traffic, people will trust your site better. Websites like Vox and Buzzfeed were consistent in their work which in turn made them more relevant among viewers. SEO helps in this task by ensuring quality content comes up in your website.
   
   
6. Improve user experience
   For SEO to function to it’s best, it is mandatory you have a website that has good user interface. A good user interface includes well written content with sub-headings and highlighted points, meta description etc. People tend to click away from websites that appear as a cluster of information. Your website may contain the best content online, but if it isn’t appealing to the reader then it is equal to a website with no content at all.
   
   
7. Stay ahead of the competition
   Multinational companies to startup businesses all are investing in different growth strategy. SEO just happens to be the current trend. Creating a more significant online presence is important if you want the most out of your growth strategy. Improving your SEO can contribute to this strategy and increase your market share. Infact SEO is a more effective investment for small startups to compete with existing large firms. Grow your SEO and see your market grow.
   
   
8. Avenue for growth
   SEO is a big part in your investment for a company or website. It outshines other investments with its high returns on investment. SEO doesn’t provide immediate results, but rather it attracts more and more customers over time which will eventually lead to a larger audience that trusts in your products. It works more like wildfire, the more people know about it the faster the audience grows.
   
   
9. Access to valuable information
   Information regarding customers, competitors and general crowd choices can be available by SEO. Having access to these valuable information will help you with choices regarding marketing strategy that will pave way for further growth. Catering to the needs of the consumer and understanding their requirements will help you stay ahead of competitors. These factors can be measured by source of conversion through your website or your website rankings and general pattern in which consumers lean towards.
   
   

10. Permanent results
Even though results of SEO take longer to see full potential, these benefits tend to be permanent as well. Audiences gained through organic inputs tend to be more loyal customers as compared to people who simply click on ads. Even though getting ranked higher on web searches are difficult, unlike other methods it difficult to get demoted to lower ranks as well. Consistency is the key to ensure that your SEO methods provide you with the best results. This makes SEO a more effective strategy as the success of a company or website depends on how it fares in the long run.