We all know that Google is fond of tweaking their search algorithm (1). These seemingly never-ending improvements are favorable to everyday users, however, it might give copywriters and SEOs some anxiety – and with good reason. Formulating a winning SEO strategy will prove to be challenging if the rules of the game are constantly changing.
Here’s good news for SEO copywriters: the fundamental rules for writing with SEO in mind are here to stay! While learning to be flexible proves to be a valuable skill, it is comforting to know that there are elements in SEO copywriting that will remain constant.
Without further ado, D6 Interactive, your Dallas SEO company, shares some SEO writing tips that will help you thrive this year:
1. Understand keyword intent
Coined by Andrei Broder (2), keyword intent is crucial for SEO campaign success. Keyword intent refers to the goal a user has when they search for a keyword.
There are three kinds of keyword intent (3):
- Informational – this refers to generic searches. It might be any topic, industry, or product. Ex. “How do you start training a puppy?”
- Navigational – when users want to visit a specific web page or website. This require very little in terms of optimization. Ex. “D6 Interactive”
- Commercial/ Transactional – users want to avail of a product or service. Ex. “Buy infant diapers”
In the interest of delivering the best search results, Google rewards marketers who closely matches and satisfies the search intent. For example, if you want to target the keyword “dog training basics” with the pricing page of your business web page, chances are, you won’t perform well in the organic search results. All because you didn’t match the keyword intent.
2. Avoid keyword stuffing
Keyword stuffing is the practice of targeting your keyword excessively in order to rank high for that term in the search engines (4). We recommend that you avoid keyword stuffing; it’s an absolute waste of your time. No user will stay on your site for very long.
Remember that your content should aim to serve, educate and engage your readers, and keyword stuffing to appease an algorithm creates a poor experience for your site’s visitors.
3. Optimize your meta tags
Meta tags are HTML tags that says something about your web content to website visitors and search engines (5). In crafting your meta tags, it is not enough to be creative, it’s also a best practice to be concise. Focus on user satisfaction and high-quality content. Google will shorten your title tags if they are longer than 60 characters.
Be thoughtful about your meta description too! Meta descriptions are displayed directly below your site’s URL. Google shortens snippets to 155 to 160 characters. Keep in mind that users read and judge your description. Will they care about what you have to say? Take the time to write thoughtful descriptions. They should not only convince Google that your content is worth ranking, they should also encourage users to click.
Do you have questions about creating and optimizing your content for SEO? Feel free to get in touch with us at D6 Interactive, your Dallas SEO experts.
Sources:
(1) "How Often Does Google Update Its Algorithm?" MOZ, 14 May 2019, https://moz.com/blog/how-often-does-google-update-its-algorithm.
(2) Broder, A. “A Taxonomy of Web Search.” 2002, https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~nenkova/Courses/cis430/p3-broder.pdf.
(3) "A quick and easy guide to understanding search intent for SEO." Search Engine Land, 7 June 2019, https://searchengineland.com/a-quick-and-easy-guide-to-understanding-search-intent-for-seo-317841.
(4) "Don't Let Keyword Stuffing Kill Your SEO." Alexa Blog, https://blog.alexa.com/keyword-stuffing/.
(5) "Meta Description." Moz, https://moz.com/learn/seo/meta-description.
