Nowadays, SEO and content go hand-in-hand. After all, you can write the most engaging, interesting, and original article, but without SEO, barely anyone will read it. SEO is vital to ensure that your content is ranked highly on search engine result pages. If you are a content writer, it is likely that the bulk of your work will consist of clients who want to use your services to gain more traction with Google. If you don’t know basic SEO, you are going to struggle to get far. With that being said, read on for some top SEO tips for content writers.

Use keywords wisely – It is important to ensure that relevant, keyword-rich phrases are included throughout your content and in the headline. Nevertheless, these keywords need to be incorporated naturally and thoughtfully. Excessive use of keywords can actually have a negative impact on your Google ranking. Gone are the days whereby keyword stuffing was the way to get to the top. This is more likely to get you blacklisted. Instead, you need to incorporate long-tail keywords that read naturally and are specific to your target market and relevant to the content you are writing.

SEO differs from industry-to-industry – This is something that a lot of content writers cannot get to grips with. However, pharmaceutical marketing is very different from marketing for retail stores. You cannot have the same approach when your customers are entirely different, they are based in different locations, and they have different online behaviours. Therefore, you need to do your research and tailor your approach accordingly. Knowing your audience is of paramount importance if you are to be a successful content writer.

Construct your Meta descriptions and titles effectively – The Meta title and description is what people will see when they search for something online. You need to write a Meta title and description that packs a powerful punch. Moreover, make sure you don’t include too many characters, otherwise, your title or description will be cut short. Don’t go for anything more than 60 characters for the title, or 160 characters for the description.

Write for your audience – This may sound obvious, and it does link on from the earlier post regarding being industry-specific, but you wouldn’t believe how many companies fail to produce content that is relevant to the audience. You need to put together a post that answers their questions and appeals to their interests. All content needs to be industry-related, but it should not all be related to your products and services. Don’t be too promotion-heavy.

Incorporate imagery – Any professional will tell you that content is better with images. Not only does an image add visual interest and make a big impression, but they can be great for SEO purposes too. However, try to avoid the obvious stock photos that are placed everywhere on the web. Originality is best. Plus, you need to optimise your images for SEO as well.

Make sure your own web presence is effective – You should have a website that displays the work you have done so far and explains about the expertise you have. You may also want to include your prices. The success of your website has an impact on how your potential clients view you. It is important to recognise that your website design will have an impact on your ranking. You don’t need to spend a fortune on a professional web designer, though. There are website builders you can use to create a site quickly and easily. You won’t need to spend a lot either!

Structure your content well – Last but not least, the structure of your content is important for SEO purposes as well. Make sure your content is organised and easy to read. All paragraphs should be of a similar length and you should implement a proper tag hierarchy when tagging headlines, i.e. titles should be H1, and subtitles should be H2.

So there you have it: some useful SEO tips for content writers specifically. If you follow the steps that have been mentioned above, you can make sure you expertly optimise your content and all of your online efforts so that you achieve greater success as a content writer. Good luck!