How to write better SEO texts

SEO texts are written to rank high in the search results on Google. It may sound advanced and technical, but in the end, it is mainly about well-written body texts that answer visitors’ search questions. A body text is thus the running text on a page.

It is common that the first SEO texts are often bad, unfortunately. But they get better the more you write!

This is usually because the thoughts during the writing process ONLY revolve around optimization rules, as dozens of blogs have described this as “the secret recipe” to get your content ranked on Google.

The focus should instead be on creating good content that answers search queries. After that, you can search engine optimize the text with various tricks to give Google’s algorithms clues that your content is relevant.

Hang on, and we’ll take a closer look at these tricks!

In any case, it is clear that SEO texts undoubtedly have a place among my most important tips for search engine optimization.

SEO text that both ranks and meets visitors’ expectations

  • Think about the search intention
  • Create quality content
  • Use related search phrases.
  • Write clear headings
  • Add pictures and/or video that complement the text.
  • Write easy-to-read text
  • Avoid keyword stuffing
  • The length of the SEO text should be optimal.

Search intent

First and foremost, the text should focus on only one search query.  However, this does not mean that you optimize the text for just one keyword, as several specific keywords may be used to answer a question. Examples of this can be synonyms and related terms for your primary keyword.

So you should decide what the content should rank for, but also what the visitors are looking for when they type the keyword into Google. After that, your task is to satisfy the search intention, i.e., answer their questions and thoughts. Skip all other flum.

A large part of the optimization around your keyword will take place naturally when you answer the search question.

Qualitative content

Often, but not always, good SEO texts are written by experts in an area, as the texts become natural, qualitative, and comprehensive in terms of content.

It’s no wonder then that the goal of Google’s relatively new update, EAT, is to promote pages with expert knowledge.

As a by-product, they also become rich in terms related to the keyword, which experts often use naturally.

In your case, the starting position is probably one of the following:

  • You are an expert in your field.
  • … then you know what you are talking about, and my main tip is thus to naturally answer the search questions in the best possible way.
  • The topic you are writing about is new to you.
  • … are you a newly hired copywriter who is going to start writing about things you have no idea about? Then you should start the process of reading up on the subject, understand what you are talking about, and then start the writing process.

PS! Even if you are an expert in the field, there may be things you forgot to include in your content plan, which leads to my next trip.

Related search phrases

By researching what related searches people are doing on your keyword, you can get good ideas on what should be included in your SEO texts. By these, I mean phrases that Google suggests as related searches when you enter your keyword in the search field.

 

Psst. Remember your focus! Do not believe everything Google suggests. Irrelevant suggestions may also occur.

As you can see above, we can get several tips on related searches to the keyword already in the search engine. If, on the other hand, you can only offer used cars (which are also among the suggestions), you should instead focus on the specific search term’s related searches 

 

As you can see above, you have now received even better suggestions for your particular theme. However, there is a very large focus on geographical areas. We are therefore not completely satisfied but are also interested in what visitors want to do with used cars… We want to see verbs!

So we’re developing the keyword again:

 

So yes! By placing the question mark in front of the keyword, we received many good suggestions and now understand better what the visitors are asking for. Develop the keyword to get more suggestions and more inspiration. This is a very effective and rewarding way to do keyword analysis.

Tip! Include relevant suggestions in your content plan and use these long-tail keywords as sub-headings in your SEO text, if possible.

Headings

The headline H1 is extremely important in an SEO-adapted text. It is the element that describes what the landing page is about. It is therefore logical and a basic criterion that your keyword appears here. In addition to this, a good SEO text has a strong focus on the search query, and thus you should only have one H1 for each landing page.

The other headings should be either H2s or other subheadings so that there is a logical structure for the content. As already mentioned, you can include related search terms and long tails in your headlines when it makes sense.

Add pictures and/or videos that complement the text.

Texts on the web can utilize multimedia in a much more versatile way than physical documents, which can make the content extremely good. When writing SEO texts, you should therefore supplement the text with good images, videos, or some other type of multimedia.

A good example is this video by Studentum . It fits in well here as it summarizes several points discussed in this post.

Google wants to lead its visitors to the best search results, and sometimes this can mean that some form of multimedia is exactly what the visitor is looking for. Not everyone may be directly looking for a video, but many would still appreciate it if there was one to support the text.

In addition, various forms of multimedia can engage the user more effectively than just text, which can improve some of the website’s KPIs, such as:

  • The time the visitor spends on your post
  • Bounce rate
  • The improved conversion rate in some cases
  • Scroll depth

Read more about how image optimization improves your SEO texts.

Easy-to-read text

To make the text search engine friendly, it should also be easy to read. In fact, we read 25% slower from screens compared to physical documents, which means that readability is extremely important.

But what really makes a text easy to read?

First of all, the text must flow well and have a good flow, but there are some rules you can follow to make the content easy to read:

  • Use bulleted lists, tables, and other ways to break the body text. At the same time, these should function as effective methods for emphasizing important and essential content for the visitor.
  • Write short sentences and paragraphs. Ideally, you should not have more than five lines of text per paragraph.
  • Use simple words so that the reader does not have to spend time thinking about difficult words.

If you are good at creating pauses in the text using commas, you can do so instead. So it does not necessarily have to be short sentences that make the text easy to read.

Avoid keyword stuffing

Keyword stuffing, ie. unnatural repetition of keywords, triggers alarm signals at Google and makes the text unnatural and difficult to read. SEO texts are not about repeating the same terms over and over again, as they did many years ago.

To avoid keyword stuffing, my top tip is to start typing without thinking about keywords. Write a natural text, and it will be good. When you are done with the text, you can then double-check that you have included related terms and phrases that you found in your keyword analysis.

Another tip is to use synonyms to create variation in the text. If you notice that you are repeating certain words unnaturally much, you can instead use synonyms to improve the text.

The length of the SEO text should be optimal.

You should also avoid thin content in order for your content to be considered relevant by the search engine.

But how much do you have to write? I usually think like this:

You get a sensible indication by checking how much content the other pages, which are already in the top positions for your keyword, have. Google has already spent several years deciding which results are good for the keyword, so you can start by creating a little more content than average. But take this tip with a pinch of salt, and rather keep in mind that you are creating enough content to meet your visitors’ expectations.

Summary

In conclusion, we can state that you should not think too technically when you start producing SEO texts. Instead, divert your thinking to good things in life, such as finding the keywords you are looking for. You can then use the above tips to provide clues to search engines about the focus and relevance of the content.

I hope these tips help you get started with optimization. Good luck!

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