If you’re looking for some great examples of SEO writing, look no further. This blog post provides several stellar SEO writing examples to help you understand what’s possible. Plus, we’ll give you a few tips on how to improve your SEO writing skills. So let’s get started!
What is SEO content writing?
SEO writing is the process of creating content that is both informative and keyword-rich to rank higher on the SERPs. SEO writing focuses on using specific keywords throughout the content to improve its visibility and ranking within SERPs.
This is often achieved in the form of blog posts. Blog posts that are well-optimized for SEO can rank higher in SERPs, leading to increased traffic and engagement. Organic traffic is any traffic that comes to your site from Google.
Achieving higher rankings in SERPs can be challenging, but it’s worth it. SEO writing is one way to improve your site’s ranking and visibility.
SEO (search engine optimized) content writing is different from traditional writing because it must be focused on both the audience and the engines. SEO copywriters must understand how to research, use keywords effectively, and write in a way that appeals to readers.
While SEO writing has become more complex over the years, the goal remains to create informative and keyword-rich content to rank higher on SERPs.
SEO Writing Examples
Here are a few examples of SEO writing at its best:
1. How to Start a Blog in 2022
If you type in the search term ‘how to blog’, you’ll find The Blog Starter. Scott Chow chose to publish this article as his home page since this is entirely what his website is about.
The focus keyword is ‘How to Start a Blog,’ which Scott uses in the first paragraph’s title tag in a subheading. Those are the only three places where he used the primary keyword phrase, although the blog comments added a few more.
His secondary keywords ranking are ‘blog’, and ‘start a blog’. The content is comprehensive, and he has achieved a featured snippet for this page, which is the goal of any SEO strategist.
Surprisingly, only 72 pages on this domain earn traffic from the search engines. This proves that a focused niche can generate amazing results.
Topical authority is essential if you want to rank for competitive keywords. This domain has more than 3000 unique domains linking to it. Backlinks have been earned from high authority websites like Forbes, Entrepreneur.com, and Medium.
This is another great example of writing blog posts with valuable content that the search algorithms live. High-quality content wins with search rankings. A ranking page generally ranks for many keyword phrases: hundreds usually.
2. How to Rank on Youtube
This post from Backinko is a great SEO content writing example. Not only does it rank #1 on Google, but it is also the best article to satisfy user intent for the keyword.
Using SEMrush, I could enter the web address for this web page and discover the top keyword earning the most traffic organically. The term ‘Youtube SEO’ brings in about 22% of the traffic to this page from Google, followed by ‘how to rank Youtube videos’ .
Youtube SEO, as a keyword, is used in the title tag and a few other natural places throughout the content. How to rank Youtube videos is also mentioned in the title and the first paragraph.
The article is comprehensive, includes rich media, and is over 2,000 words long. This content goes above and beyond what a user would need to know to answer their query, making it the perfect top result for this keyword.
3. 11 Best Work From Home Jobs for 2022
Adam Enfroy earns a large percentage of his Google traffic from this SEO article. The page has 13,000 + backlinks and is formatted in the popular list post style. He includes numbers in the front, along with the date, which tells Google this is a fresh piece of content.
This article ranks for many work from home-related keywords and phrases, but according to SEMrush, the top 3 are ‘Work at home’, ‘online work from home jobs, and ‘online jobs work from home’.
The page ranks for more than 3000 words, and Adam did not have to mention them on the page. Once Google learns the blog content, it will rank it for related keywords.
Adam is a GURU with link building and has topical authority in the digital marketing space. His content strikes a nice balance of inbound, high authority backlinks, and quality outbound links. These internal and external links help increase this blog post’s ranking.
The keyword optimization is focused on ‘work from home jobs’, but satisfies hundreds of search queries. The search volume for the keyword ‘Work at home jobs’ is over 33,000 monthly searches, according to SEMrush.
While this SEO article is high-quality content, the domain’s topical authority and backlink profile help it rank number 1.
The title tag includes the target keyword and addresses its target audience, which is why it ranks on the first page of Google.
How To Do SEO Writing (With Examples)
Start with keyword research.
Keyword research is essential for SEO writing. Understanding what keywords your audience is searching for helps you use them throughout your article. But don’t just stuff your target keywords into your content.
That will not only turn off your readers but also get you penalized by Google. Instead, use your keywords thoughtfully and sparingly to make your content more readable and keyword-rich.
For example, let’s say you’re a travel writer and want to write an article about the best places to travel in Europe. You’ll need to do keyword research to determine what keyword ideas people are searching for when looking for travel information.
Some potential keywords could be “travel,” “vacation,” “destinations,” or “Europe.” Using an SEO writing tool like Surfer SEO, you can create a content planner to help determine which keywords to target.
The Surfer content planner shows a set of 83 keyword clusters after entering the keyword “Travel Europe.” A keyword cluster is a group of related keywords with the same intent. After looking at the keyword clusters, you can determine which ones would be most relevant to your article.
Travel Europe cluster examples:
- 2 week trip to Europe (720 monthly searches)
- Europe travel guide (640 monthly searches)
- Best way to travel Europe (4,750 monthly searches)
Sorting the clusters by keyword difficulty helps determine which cluster might be easiest to rank for. You can take on medium to hard competition keywords if you have a mature website with a strong backlink profile.
However, if your website is new and doesn’t have authority just yet, stick with the easy clusters first.
With Surfer SEO, you can select a cluster from the content planner and add it to the content editor. From there, you can pull data from the other top ranking pages, which helps determine the word count, subheadings, and NLP features your content should include.
SEO TIPS:
Keyword density still comes into play when considering which keywords to include in your content. But don’t worry about cramming in as many keywords as possible. Instead, focus on using various related keywords throughout your content to make it more semantically rich.
Sometimes, landing pages will target multiple keywords. In that case, use those keywords throughout the page, including in the title, headings, subheadings, and body content.
Tite tags might be the most important place to put your target keyword. Title tags appear on the SERP’s first page as the clickable title of your article.
The right keyword + relevant content + topical authority = Organic traffic.
Link to other posts on your site
As you write your SEO-friendly content, be sure to link to other articles on your site. Not only is this great for SEO, but it also helps keep readers on your site longer.
For example, if you have a travel blog and you’re writing an article about the best places to travel in Europe, you could link to another article on your blog about the best time of year to travel to Europe.
Linking to other articles on your site helps improve your SEO by showing search engines that your site is a valuable resource for information. It also helps improve the user experience, which search engines consider more when ranking sites.
Use a tool like Surfer SEO’s Grow Flow to find opportunities to link to other articles on your site. Grow Flow is a backlink analysis tool that shows you where you can add links to your site.
Just enter the URL of your website, and Surfer will provide you with weekly tasks that include internal linking opportunities.
Write for humans and not for search engines.
Remember that you’re writing for humans and not for search engines. You want your content to be keyword-rich so it ranks well on SERPs. But if your content is full of keywords and is difficult to read, people will click away quickly.
Instead, focus on writing informative and engaging content that includes your focus keywords. Write naturally, and don’t stuff your keywords into your content. The goal is to make your content as readable and enjoyable as possible while including keywords that will help you rank.
By creating an outline of subheadings first, you can ensure that your content flows well and includes the necessary keywords. For example, if you’re writing an article about the best places to travel in Europe, your subheadings could be:
1. Introduction
2. The Best Places to Travel in Europe
3. When to Visit Europe
4. How to Travel Around Europe
5. Conclusion
Each subheading could target a different keyword, and including them will help your content rank for those keywords.
However, don’t sacrifice the quality of your content by cramming in too many keywords. A couple of strategically placed keywords will do the trick. Surfer SEO will guide you on how many times a particular keyword is used on the other pages ranking on page one of Google.
Use images, videos, and infographics
Images, videos, and infographics are a great way to break up your content and make it more visually appealing. People are more likely to share and link to content that includes images, so including them can help improve your SEO.
When adding images to your content, include keyword-rich alt text. Alt text helps search engines understand the image and how it relates to your content. It also helps people with visual impairments understand what the image is.
You can also add videos and infographics to your content to make it more engaging. Many people are likelier to watch a video or look at an infographic than to read a long article.
Be sure that the videos and infographics you include are relevant to your content and add value to your readers.
Check out Canva for free templates of infographics and other visuals.
Optimize your content for featured snippets
Featured snippets are the boxes that appear at the top of SERPs when you search for something. They provide quick answers to common questions. They are also frequently recipes, maps, or lists.
These positions are a great way to get more traffic to your website. Optimizing your content to appear in the zero position makes you more likely to get clicks and traffic from SERPs.
A featured snippet usually appears for questions about who, what, when, where, why, and how. Optimizing content includes writing clear and concise answers to common questions in your industry.
Here are some tips for optimizing your content for the top placements:
1. Find out what questions people are asking
Before writing blog posts, you need to know what questions people are asking in your industry.
You can use tools like Surfer SEO and SEMrush to find out what questions people are searching for. Just enter a keyword into the tool, and it will show you a list of questions related to that keyword.
Using Google’s People Ask section (PPA), you can also find keyword ideas for questions. Your keyword focus would be the entire question.
2. Write clear and concise answers
Quick answers are designed to provide quick answers to common questions. So, when writing your content, ensure your answers are clear and concise.
Get straight to the point and use simple language that everyone can understand.
3. Include a list or table if possible
If you can format your content as a list or table, it’s more likely to appear in these coveted positions.
To do this, just include a list or table in your article and label it with the h2 tag. Google will automatically detect it and may feature it as a featured snippet.
4. Optimize your title and meta description
The title and meta descriptions appear in SERPs when your article appears. So, optimizing them to improve your chances of appearing in the desired positions on the first page of Google is important.
Your title should be clear and concise and include the keyword you’re targeting.
Your meta descriptions should also be clear and concise. It should include the keyword you’re targeting and persuade people to click on your article.
Lately, Google has been altering the meta descriptions. Sometimes, that’s in your favor, as Google knows what to put there to get you more clicks. Other times, it’s not so great, as your carefully crafted meta description is nowhere to be seen.
5. Use Schema markup
Schema markup is code you can add to your website to help search engines understand your content. It’s one of the most important on-page SEO factors.
When you add schema markup to your website, you have a better chance of appearing in featured snippets. Google will be able to understand your content better and may feature your article as a result.
If you are using WordPress, RankMath is an excellent plugin allowing you to add schema markup to your website easily.
Aim for scannable, longer posts
Long-form content is usually more comprehensive and in-depth than shorter articles. As a result, it’s more likely to rank higher in SERPs.
Long-form content also has more opportunities to include relevant keywords and phrases. So, if you want your content to rank higher in SERPs, aim for longer articles.
That said, don’t make your content artificially long just to include more keywords. Write comprehensive and in-depth articles that are interesting and add value for your readers.
Using an SEO tool like Surfer can help. Surfer SEO lets you see the average word count for articles ranking in the top 10 for your focus keyword. This can give you an idea of how long your content should rank higher in SERPs.
Use headings and subheadings.
Headings and subheadings help to break up your blog post and make it easier for people to read. They also allow you to include relevant keywords and phrases in your content.
When using headings and subheadings, make sure they are clear and concise. And include keywords and phrases that are relevant to your article.
These subheadings, especially when numbered, can be used to trigger a featured snippet.
Compress images for fast page loading speed
Page loading speed is an important ranking factor. So, if you want your content to rank higher in SERPs, make sure your page loads quickly.
One way to do this is by compressing your images before uploading them to your website. By compressing your images, you can reduce the file size without reducing the quality of the image.
There are many image compression tools available online. I recommend using Smush Pro, which is a WordPress plugin that automatically compresses your images for you.
Link to high-authority websites
Linking to high-authority websites can help to improve your website’s authority. And the more authoritative your website is, the higher it will rank in SERPs.
When linking to other websites, ensure they are relevant to your article and add value to your readers. Don’t link to a website just because you think it will help your SEO.
Also, avoid using “nofollow” links. These are links that tell search engines not to follow them.
Write Quality Content
This may seem obvious, but it’s worth repeating. The most important thing you can do to improve your SEO is to write quality content.
Your content should be well-researched, informative, and interesting. It should also be free of grammar and spelling errors.
When writing your content, always keep your target audience in mind. Write content that is relevant to them and provides value.
Earn Backlinks
Backlinks are links from other websites to your website. They are an important ranking factor. The more backlinks you have, the higher your website will rank in SERPs.
To earn backlinks, create quality content that other people will want to link to. You can also reach out to other website owners and ask them to link to your website.
When creating content to earn backlinks, ensure it is relevant and adds value to the reader. Don’t create content solely to get a backlink.
Create Content Topic Clusters
Topic clusters are a group of articles that are all related to the same topic. They typically have a main article (also called a pillar article) with several supporting articles.
Creating content topic clusters can help improve your SEO in two ways. First, it allows you to target multiple keywords with your content. Second, it helps to build internal links between your articles.
Both of these things can help to improve your website’s ranking in SERPs.
To create a content topic cluster, start by identifying the main topic for your article. Then, create several supporting articles that are related to that topic. Finally, link to all of the articles from each other using internal links.
Creating content topic clusters can be time-consuming. But it’s worth it to improve your website’s SEO.
Use LSI or NLP Keywords
LSI keywords are related keywords that search engines use to understand the context of your content. Using LSI keywords in your content can help it rank higher in SERPs.
NLP keywords are similar to LSI keywords, but they are more specific. They help search engines understand the meaning of your content.
Using LSI or NLP keywords in your content can help it rank higher in SERPs for long-tail and related keywords.
To find LSI or NLP keywords, you can use a tool like Surfer SEO or SEMrush.
Analyzing Google Search Results
The best way to gauge if your SEO writing can rank is to do a quick search on google using your target keyword. Looking at the search results on the first page of Googe will help you understand what Google deems valuable for that query.
If Google returns videos for that query, a web page will not likely rank well on the search engine results page. Instead, make a video or expand your keyword research to find a longtail keyword before you write SEO content.
A longtail keyword is a keyword (usually a phrase with four or more words) that is very specific and has lower competition.
Another thing to look at in the search results is the “People Also Ask” section. This can give you a good idea of what Google thinks are related keywords for your target keyword.
Use Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool that lets you see how your website performs in SERPs. It also provides data on your website’s clicks, impressions, and click-through rate.
This data can be useful in understanding how your SEO writing is performing. If you see a decrease in clicks or impressions, it may indicate that your SEO content is not ranking as well as it used to.
Writing for Search Intent
When writing SEO content, it’s important to understand search intent. Search intent is the purpose behind a user’s search. It can be divided into four categories:
– Navigational: The user is looking for a specific website.
– Informational: The user is looking for information on a topic.
– Transactional: The user is looking to buy something.
– Commercial: The user is looking for a product or service to buy.
Understanding search intent can help you write content that ranks higher in SERPs. It can also help you understand what type of content to write.
For example, if someone is searching for “how to fix a leaky faucet,” they are likely looking for informational content. But if someone is searching for “buy faucet online,” they are likely looking to buy something.
Writing content that matches the user’s search intent can help you rank higher in SERPs. It can also help to improve the user experience.
Include a FAQ Section
A FAQ section can be a great way to improve the SEO of your website. It can help you rank for long-tail keywords and answer common user questions.
To create a FAQ section, start by brainstorming a list of questions that users might have about your topic. Then, write out clear and concise answers to each question.
Make sure to include keyword-rich titles and descriptions for each question and answer. You can also include internal links in your FAQ section to other pages on your website.
A well-designed FAQ section can help improve your website’s SEO and provide users value.
FAQ
What are Search Queries?
Search queries are the words or phrases users enter into a search engine to find what they’re looking for.
What is SEO Writing?
SEO writing is the process of creating content that ranks high in SERPs. It involves using keywords and other optimization techniques to make your content visible to search engines.
How Can I Earn Organic Traffic?
Organic traffic is the traffic that you earn from ranking high in SERPs. The best way to earn organic traffic is to create useful content optimized for search engines.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is creating and promoting content to attract and retain customers. It can be used to promote a brand, product, or service.
How Often Should I Publish Content?
There is no set answer to this question. However, it’s generally recommended that you publish a blog post regularly. This can help to improve your website’s SEO and attract more organic traffic. Use search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure that your content is visible and easily accessible to search engines.
What is SEO Copywriting?
SEO copywriting is the process of creating content for the web that is optimized to rank on a search result page on Google. It involves using keywords and other optimization techniques to make your content more visible in SERPs.