Why Content Optimised for SEO is Important
We’ve all thought writing web copy or a blog for your website is an easy task. It’s just writing! However, while we can all sit down and write something, finding the time to write, while also making sure it is written in a way that pleases both the SEO gods and the user suddenly becomes a much larger, more complicated task. But why should you care? Why can’t you just write, post, and see results?
No matter how good your writing is, if you haven’t crafted it with SEO in mind, search engines won’t understand what you are trying to convey. The page will either rank for something that wasn’t intended, won’t rank very well for search terms you do want to rank for, or you won’t rank at all! Content that has been optimised for SEO with a good length, organic keyword integration, and good text-to-imagery ratio has a better chance of ranking than a page or blog that was written without a strategy behind it.
If a page or blog has valuable content that is presented in an attractive way, it is more likely that other people and sites will reference you as an authoritative source. This can lead to links back to your site, which is an incredibly important part of SEO that can greatly affect your rankings. In fact, Google has highlighted its importance many times (notice that link there? A backlink to an authoritative source in the wild!). This in turn affects the traffic to your site and awareness of your brand.
When a blog or webpage has been optimised to encourage conversions and engage with the user, it is more likely to see them take action and click through for more information or to contact you. Content written with SEO in mind is all about the journey a user takes, helping them find the answers they need. This goes hand in hand with the user experience, and our next point.
From a user perspective, a page that isn’t optimised is difficult to use and consume, and this will show in how they interact with the site. This results in things like bounce backs, less time on site, fewer pages viewed, and a reduced conversion rate. All of this contributes to your SEO performance. And, at the end of the day, how much someone enjoys your site also impacts how they feel about your brand as a whole.
It’s easy to get carried away with “optimising” copy for SEO. Keep these in mind when writing to ensure you get the most out of your work:
Keywords are important, but they need to appear natural within the content. Many years ago, using keywords a lot within copy was almost encouraged but now there is much more of a focus on the user’s experience and keyword stuffing can look spammy (and search engine’s see this too!).
The formatting of your headings can affect how Google reads and ranks your blog or copy but it can often be overlooked when uploading content to a site. Every page should have one H1, then H2s and H3s below as subheadings. This can seem a little complicated but makes a huge difference to how Google reads your site.
The title of your page or blog is important, not only when you are on the page, but also when people are choosing a site from a selection of search results. When writing a title, try to include a keyword (if natural) while also thinking about how you are helping the user.
Any SEO worth their salt will tell you that content is one of the most important things to spend your time on if you want to see your site perform. If you are about to write some copy for your site, make sure it counts by optimising it appropriately. If you need more ideas and advice, download our guide or get in touch to have a chat with our content specialists.
