Prioritize Value: Write SEO Texts That Benefit Readers

There are many measures you can take to optimize texts according to SEO-relevant criteria. However, there’s not much point optimizing your content if you don’t think about your readers while doing so. A search engine aims to deliver the best results relating to the user’s search query, putting the reader at the center of the search experience. To do this, Google, Bing, and other search engines rely on algorithms that attempt to assess a website’s relevance for a user. This relevance is largely related to the kind of content a website offers.

SEO-optimized articles should thematically match the search term to which they were optimized, but also be easily readable and offer value to the target group. The best-case scenario would be for the text to contain the answer to the search query. If you want to write SEO articles, you should focus on a certain topic and provide useful information for questions that could be asked about it.

Unique Content Only: Avoid Duplicate SEO Mistakes

Not only does your target group love new content, but so do search engines. This content should not appear anywhere else and is known as unique content. It’s not unusual to find pre-fabricated product descriptions or pre-formulated press releases and use them on your own website, but at the same time, it usually won’t help you rise to the top of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Duplicate or plagiarized content isn’t just bad taste, it also gets noticed by the search engines and can harm your ranking.

Tailor the Scope of Your SEO Texts to the Topic

Since Google released its Panda update, a new creed has been adopted among SEO circles: content is king. Texts comprising 200–300 words used to be sufficient for ranking well, but longer SEO articles are now required to achieve good results. Google evaluates the information content of a text and its value to the reader using semantic analyses and user metrics such as average visit duration.

The scope of your SEO text should be proportional to the complexity of the topic. More content doesn’t automatically mean a better ranking—well-researched content with reliable sources is what search engines reward.

Balance Your Keyword Density

Search engines rely on keywords to determine a website’s relevance. When writing SEO articles, you should define relevant topic areas for your website and research significant keywords. It’s recommended to cluster keywords into synonymous keyword sets and aim for a keyword density of 1-3%. Avoid keyword stuffing and instead, use variations, synonyms, and related terms to cover the whole semantic field of a topic.

Structure SEO Articles with Design Elements

Dividing content into sections can improve readability and SEO rankings. Headers and sub-headers (h1 to h6) help structure the content. The main heading (h1) should contain the main keyword, while additional keywords should be placed in sub-headings like h2 and h3. Bolding important phrases (using the or tags) also helps search engines identify relevant information.