If you’re relatively new to the world of digital marketing, you might have heard the term ‘SEO content,’ and wondered what exactly it means.

To fully understand what SEO content is, it’s best to analyze the individual words.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization; the process of building your website in a way that people can easily find it on SERPs. Content, on the other hand, is any information on the Internet. It can be in the form of blogs, infographics, videos, etc.

Combine them, and you get the perfect content for your website, so it can successfully generate organic traffic from search engines.

Types Of SEO Content

Before learning how to create effective SEO content, let’s first explore the various types of content commonly found on the web.

• Blog posts – perhaps the oldest SEO strategy; blogs are one of the easiest ways of putting up new content on to your website. In fact, 53% of marketers rate blogging at their top content priority.
• Guides – these are longer pieces of content that take you through the entire process of how to do something. Generally, guides are divided into parts; the first being offered for free, and the second is typically gated. This allows businesses to gather customer data (like emails) and is extremely useful for newsletters.
• Videos – since the amount of text on the web can be rather overwhelming, videos based on competitive keywords help you rank higher on the SERPs. Marketers who use video content observe a 49% growth in revenue, compared to those who don’t.
• Infographics – also called large-format images; are forms of content that generally contain a lot of data on a particular subject. Since 65% of people are visual learners, infographics do a great job of reeling in page views and links. They can potentially increase your web traffic by up to 12%.

Three Steps For Writing Effective Content

Now that you understand what SEO content is, here are the 3 main steps for creating effective content.

Keyword Optimization

For your website to rank higher, it needs to have content that your target audience is looking for. The best way to do so, is by optimizing it with targeted keywords. These are phrases and terms that your audience is actively looking up online.

You will need to conduct in depth research to be able to find the rights keywords to use. Compile all of these in a spreadsheet, and keep a record of how often they appear on your site – you can use tools like SEMrush for this step.

Just be sure not to overcrowd or ‘stuff’ your content with keywords; they should flow naturally with the rest of the information. Remember, using too many keywords can decrease your readability, and drive visitors away.

Choose A Relevant Topic

Too often, writers come up with brilliant content that goes unnoticed. The main reason behind this is a lack of strategy based on your target market.

You need to remember that the main goal of your content is to attract visitors, and retain their attention –not just be detected by Google’s algorithms.

All your content should offer something of value to the readers. Provide them with the knowledge that they don’t have yet, highlight unique products and services that you’re offering, and talk about new developments related to your business.

Put Up Meatier Content

For your blog to be noticed, it needs to provide actionable tips and insights into the problems that your target audience face. The best way to do this is to create long-form content, rather than short articles.

Source: Wordstream

Typically, blogs that are 800 words or longer are considered to be more authoritative and relevant. This is because these are more likely to provide adequate details of the topic, and therefore, are more appealing to your readers.

Writing SEO focused content could be just the step that your website needs. After all, organic SEO is considered to be 5.66 times more effective than paid search ads.

SEO writing is a professional skill that can take years to master; however, by testing out these tactics and measuring your progress, you can determine what works and integrate that into your overall marketing efforts.