Writing SEO for the Non-Tech Savvy

What’s your SEO strategy? Where do you even begin? In this blog, we’re going to help you understand how to optimise your web content, copy and strategy to make better use of the elusive Google algorithm and raise your digital profile.

Key Words and How to Use Them

A lot of people would assume that keywords just means littering your article or blog with a bunch of buzzwords that are wildly popular but semi-relevant to your business. Following techniques like that can do more harm than good.

Firstly, you can’t just put words like ‘synergy’ and ‘vertical markets’ in your content all willy-nilly. This approach is far too general to really help you against the constant influx of web content from content farms (the sites that manipulate the algorithm to the nth degree) and sites like Buzzfeed.

To really use keywords to their maximum effect, choose specific words or phrases that most intricately describe your content and place them where it’s important, like the actual title. In a series of blogs written by writer, and self-proclaimed non-expert in SEO, Jeff Goins, simply creating a title with 8-12 words featuring specific keywords can really boost your web position.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand… Page Rank Positions?

We’d like to be able to tell you some really cool complex methods that are both revolutionary and scientific, but the fact is that sometimes the simplest solutions are the best: use pictures. We’re not saying make all your content as if it was for a child’s picture book, but an image on your page can really unlock some nifty features that you may not know about.

Every image comes with a title, alt tags and maybe a description too, which are sometimes listed below the image as a caption, but always hidden in the code – you know, that cool nonsensical writing you see in your favourite TV shows (we’re looking at you, Mr Robot). By using those old keywords again that you gathered from your hours of research, or maybe just a quick think, you can detail those images with valued text and tags that get picked up on by the Google algorithms than your average plain text. A picture really is worth a thousand words, although we haven’t done the exact maths so take that with a grain of salt.

Anchor Text, Sounds Fun Doesn’t It?

Anchor text is a term that essentially means embedding links into your text, rather than just copying and pasting the URL into the text (which never looks good). This allows the content to read better for one, as it’s not broken up by ‘www.’s and ‘http://’s, which is a win in itself. To your readers, it’s a lot less intrusive to their browsing, whilst also being a lot more informative about what the embedded anchor text is actually linking to.

Hey, Could I Borrow your Website for a Minute?

Anyone who’s ever tried to get basic tips on SEO in the past will have to have seen the term ‘backlinks’ being batted around like a good game of tennis but won’t see many explaining what that really means to your web page. Backlinks are like currency. The more backlinks you have, the richer you are. Google’s algorithm automatically takes all those backlinks and figures out your total worth as a web page.

Backlinks are essentially linking to your own website on other websites. So, if a blogpost shares a link to someone else’s blog, that other person is strengthening their backlinks, which makes Google value their website more as it becomes reputable across the web

A good way to get these backlinks can be through guest writing on other people’s websites and linking back to your own website as part of the ‘deal’ as it were, this can be far more effective for your web ranking than simply posting a blog on your own site. Teamwork really does make the dreamwork.

I Mean, You Could Just Write Better

Most web content is pretty formulaic, and only requires a small spark of identity to make it stand out. Following a structure can be really helpful to boosting your content outreach online, and that’s why companies like Buzzfeed have been so successful as inventors of the ‘listicle’ (I mean who would ever write a blog in a list format?).

Aside from the technical solutions, just allow yourself time to write, too many blogs, articles and case studies can go unnoticed because they were rushed and unchecked, and it shows. Allow yourself the appropriate time to write, and you may surprise yourself with the content you can produce when not under pressure or constraints.

Summarising SEO Scripts:

There’s plenty to look at and consider with SEO, and who knows how far the rabbit hole goes when you get into it, but with these simple tips that are relatively easy to implement into your current content strategy, you’ll definitely see a healthy rise in your search performance going forwards. Also, if you want to link this post itself in your online content on your websites, well that’d be a dandy way to say thank you for these basic tips.