Visit just about any SEO or online marketing blog in the world, and you are likely to stumble across this phrase: “Content is king.” This familiar saying has been a sort of SEO mantra since the earliest days of the Internet, serving to remind marketers that, for all of their technical savvy, there is just no escaping or circumventing the need for quality, compelling content. The old saying has only grown truer over time—and we have Google to thank for it.
Indeed, the much-awaited Google Penguin update—an algorithmic refresh that shook up the way Google ranks content—was initially looked upon with disdain by many SEO professionals, who felt that Penguin was a lot more hassle than it was worth. As the dust has settled, though, the intent behind Penguin has become clear: Google is seeking to reward good, user-friendly content, and to punish spam. Google is seeking to ensure that, now and forever, content is king.
The Trouble with SEO
This puts the SEO marketer in a bit of a precarious position. On the one hand, writing content that appeals to search engines is still the name of the game. At the same time, it is increasingly important to write content which appeals to human readers and end users, because that is what Google seems to want. The difficult task that faces SEO copywriters, then, is to write content that is readable and interesting to the target audience, without totally losing sight of the best SEO practices.
What About SEO Keywords?
The advent of the new, reader-friendly Google has left a lot of SEO professionals a little confused, over such matters as keywords. There was a time when you could stuff a piece of content to bursting with all of the keywords of your choosing—but now, that kind of practice will get your content written off as outright spam. So, what is an SEO writer to do to work in the necessary, targeted keywords?
The short answer is that you follow this rule of thumb: Just write what sounds natural for a human reader. If your keyword is “designer sneakers,” then write an article about designer sneakers, and use the keyword only when it fits naturally. This will keep the article reader-friendly, and it will register with Google as such, while still helping you get those keywords in there.
Page Layout Matters, Too
Another important consideration for SEO writers: In Google’s mind, a good piece of content is one that readers will linger on for a little while. If a reader navigates to your content and immediately navigates away, without reading past the third word, Google will know it, and assume the content is no good.
You can encourage reader engagement, and keep potential users from getting scared away, simply by implementing an easy-to-scan layout. Use bullet points or numbered lists, when you can. If that does not work with your content, then break it up with sub-headings, each one offering a clear sense of what the content in that section is about. These are the kinds of aids that encourage readers to stick with it.
Writing for Google Means Writing for Humans
The bottom line: If you want to write content that the search engines will love, write content that a human being could love. Don’t approach the content from the standpoint of a marketer but come to it from the standpoint of a content consumer. So, don’t give too much attention to guest blogging campaign rather you need to spend more time creating compelling content for your website that search engines and users will like. That is the mindset that the search engines want from us, now—and playing ball with them is necessary if we want our content to do its job.
