How to Create the Perfect SEO Optimized Blog Content

How to Create the Perfect SEO Optimized Blog Content

In my last post on how to write the perfect blog title for your blog, I mentioned in one of the points that you shouldn't write for Search Engines but instead, write for people. Since it's people that matte the most. It's important to write SEO optimized content of course. And ever since Google opened a zoo (Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird), SEO has become much more complex and sophisticated to understand and abide by. Fortunately for you, I'm going to tell you how to navigate through this complex SEO jungle and tell you how to create - the perfect SEO optimized blog content!

Think in terms of topics not in terms of keywords.
You should always write for the reader of your content based on the topic of that content and keywords you have researched for it. Try to remain focused on writing for that topic and use different variations of words, related words, synonym etc throughout it. If you just write naturally, you have most of this covered already, but it still pays dividends to do proper keyword research first to find those keywords that people are actually using and searching for.

Always optimize your main keyword as much as possible.
Use the main keywords you are targeting in your URL but not more than twice. Make sure to place those keywords in your title near the start of it but again, not any more than twice. Make sure that your main targeted keyword or keywords are placed in the first 100 words of text that appears in the content. Place those keywords in the images alt text of the first image used in that content. And always try to bold or underline those keywords in that content at least once to emphasise them.

Optimize your content for LSI keywords.
Don't force in LSI keywords to just add them in and make it look unnatural. Instead, try to structure your content around these keywords so that when they are used, they are used naturally. Google has a way of knowing what your writing about by looking at how words are combined. So research synonyms of these keywords that are related to the topic you're writing about. Place these LSI keywords throughout your content in headings, sub-headings and the actual content itself.

Format your content properly.
Make good use of heading and sub-headings in your content like h2, h3 etc. And add in bulleted points for list like content. Try to break up large content blocks into smaller paragraphs if possible. And add in an image for every 3-500 words on the page. You can also include quotes and tweetables as well and any supporting content like videos, slides and social embeds etc.

Create Captivating Headlines.
I've posted some great stuff on creating potent headlines to the FAQ recently. And for good reason too as they are the first thing that people see. And a good headline can improve your CTR. But a great headline is optimized to around 50 characters and uses a proven formula. For more impact, try to make use of power words and emotional words to encite action on them.

Use Links Sparingly.
Too many links in your content can inundate your readers and make your content appear very spammy. So only link out to related sources where necessary. You can link to other external high authority sites too but only where absolutely needed. Try to link to your old content from your new content as much as possible without overdoing it. That boosts that old content with a link from your new content.

Go for long form content.
It's a fact that longer form content outranks short form content today. So try to write longer content pieces of 1000+ words. Don't write longer content just for the sake of trying to rank it higher. It wont rank like that. Only write well researched content that actually helps people and not just filler content or "fluff" as I like to call it.

Write for people and not just for Search Engines.
Always write your content with people in mind first. Sure it's good to apply these things to your content to help it rank higher. But remember that your content needs to be optimized in such a way that people can relate to it and not so they can see that you're only writing it for the Search Engines only. A good way to think about it is to write for people, who also use Search Engines.

Conclusion

Writing SEO optimized content doesn't have to be a hard thing to do! It just requires a little thinking outside the box and thinking in terms of writing for people and not just for the Search Engines. As Rand Fishkin puts it "Write for people who also use Search Engines".

Do you make use of these tips when writing SEO optimized content?

What other content writing tips do you know of for writing the perfect SEO optimized content?