How to write SEO-optimized texts that Google will love? [basic]

If you want to attract users to your website, you need to learn how to use the content you create wisely. Writing texts that will be optimized for the Google search engine is not an easy task. One of the biggest challenges facing bloggers and marketers is editing texts that are optimized for SEO and at the same time attractive to recipients. The key to success is to understand that readers, not Google bots, should come first. 

To thrive in the online environment, you need to go beyond standard content writing. Texts posted online should meet three goals:

• first of all — attract the user's attention
• secondly — solve a specific problem
• thirdly — build position in Google and company recognition.

But how to create texts that will meet Google's guidelines and at the same time convince readers with their content? You can achieve this in three simple steps.

STEP 1 — schedule text

People who start writing a text usually ask themselves two basic questions:

• What is the message of the text, what do I really want to write about?
• Who is my text addressed to?

However, it is worth adding one more, very important one to this list of questions:

What words and keyword phrases should be included in the text?

It is worth starting text planning with keyword analysis. It is good to find time to search for phrases that are popular among users and are related to the topic. It is best to choose 2 or 3 keywords that will appear several times in the text. There are many online tools that help you plan your keywords. It is worth using, among others:

Google Suggestions

After entering a given phrase into the search engine, Google suggests under which other phrases you can find interesting information on a given topic. You will find directions under the list of search results or when entering a term in the search field. Suggestions are a helpful tool not only for users looking for information, but also for people who need to choose keywords. These are terms that have already been searched for by Internet users.

Ubersuggest 

This is a tool that works similar to Google search suggestions. Based on the phrase you entered, you will receive suggestions for other keywords. After entering the keyword, selecting the country we are interested in and clicking “Search” You will see a very impressive list of suggestions.

KeywordTool 

Its operation is very similar to Ubersuggest and is just as intuitive, but in this case you will receive even more keywords.

When planning keywords, you cannot forget about the so-called long tail phrases. These are much longer keywords that users search for. These types of expressions will work perfectly as middle titles. Examples of long tail phrases might be:

• Sports shoes for the gym.
• What are the best shoes for city running?
• Should you exercise in sports shoes?

When planning long-tail words, it is a good idea to use the Answerthepublic tool, which constructs example, other keywords and possible queries in the Google search engine for a given phrase.

Plan the placement of keywords in the text

Keywords should be placed in different places in the text. Both in headings and in individual paragraphs. It is especially important to plan the wording of headings, because the words contained in them should attract readers' attention. It is good if the main keyword is used at the very beginning of the headline. The headings themselves should not be long so that they can potentially serve as a URL if the keyword used on its own would not make sense.

The next step is to think about the first sentences of the text. Recipients should be encouraged to continue reading through questions that they can find answers to if they read the text. I'm goingIt would be ideal if the initial sentences referred to the meta-description, i.e. to the section that would first redirect the user to a given search result.

All these activities related to text planning will enable its effective optimization for the Google search engine.

Limit the number of key phrases in the text

Texts should be written with users in mind, not Google bots. Therefore, for the text to be properly optimized for the search engine, it must be interesting and valuable. If keywords appear in most sentences, the entire text will be very difficult to read and few people will feel encouraged to read the whole thing. It is indicated that keywords should occupy 0.5-3% of the text in natural variations. The number of phrases should be limited and keywords should be placed in different places in the text. It is also a very good practice to use synonyms of keywords in the text. Google's algorithm is getting better at recognizing similar words. Thanks to this, the text will be pleasant for the user and he will not feel overwhelmed by information prepared schematically for the search engine.

STEP 2: Edit the text for search

At this stage, we reach for one of the questions we were looking for answers to when planning the text, i.e. who is our content addressed to? This is extremely important in terms of matching the vocabulary used in the text. We will write an article for IT specialists differently than when we address its content to beginner IT specialists who are on the threshold of choosing a university. The text should, above all, be interesting and understandable to the recipients. What should you pay attention to?

Unique content

You can often come across the slogan "get inspired, don't steal!". This is the most important rule that should be followed by people editing content for websites. In 2011, Google implemented the Panda algorithm, which was intended to reduce the visibility in search results of websites that contain low-value content.

Text structure

Attractive title and lead

These two elements determine whether the user will click on the link to read the content. It is important that the title is short, contains a keyword and indicates the topic covered by the entire text. You should be careful with the automatic generation of leads (teasers), which are the opening paragraph of the entire text. It happens that content management systems themselves generate a teaser based on the first sentences of the text. This is not good for positioning because it causes internal text duplication.

Middle titles and paragraphs

The text that is to be maximally optimized for the Google search engine should also be properly formatted. What does this mean?

• Avoid long blocks of text
• Divide the text into short paragraphs
• Don't be afraid to use bold, italics or underlining
• Use bullet points
• Add subtitles for smaller blocks of text and assign them H1-H4 attributes. more on that in a moment.

This is also extremely important from the perspective of users, who can thus find interesting information much faster.

Hierarchy of headings

Headers are graded according to their importance. The most important thing is the H1 heading, which is also the title. Each subsequent one loses its strength, but it is still of much higher value than an ordinary paragraph. There are 6 headers available on the website. When constructing a hierarchy of headings, it is worth following the basic principle that "subordinates should describe the superior ones".

H1 — informs what the entire text (title) is about

H2 — indicates key issues related to the topic

H3 — specify and develop the content from H2 headings

H4 — specify and develop the content from H3 headings, etc.

 

Text length

Thematic text allows you to extend the duration of the session, thereby reducing the conversion of bounces among users. Thus, it has a positive impact on the website's positioning. What is the text length issue? Depending on its type, certain assumptions can be made about the number of characters with text spaces (zzs):

• Text for home page – over 2,500 zzs;
• Text for category subpage — abovej 2,500 zzs;
• Product description — over 1,500 zzs.

However, try to write to cover the topic and not to reach any minimum threshold of the number of words or characters.

Linguistic correctness

The last, but not least, point regarding text structure is related to linguistic correctness. Texts optimized for the Google search engine should contain rich vocabulary and be extensive. Generally speaking, the more text the better. However, you should also pay attention to the stylistic and spelling correctness of the sentences you formulate. Linguistic errors detected by the Google mechanism are a clue for the search engine not to offer these pages to users. Therefore, after finishing writing the text, it is worth taking a closer look at it and correcting any mistakes. A helpful tool in this regard is the Language Tool, which will check the grammar and stylistic correctness of the texts you create.

STEP 3: practice, write according to the rules and don't forget about the readers

When creating text, you cannot forget about the recipients of the content. In the past, SEO specialists argued about whether a text interesting to users or one written in accordance with Google's guidelines would be more valuable. Nowadays, you can no longer write "only under username". or “only for SEO”. Search-optimized text is a properly balanced text that will, on the one hand, captivate the user, and, on the other hand, will be well-thought-out for Google and rich in key phrases. Writing texts for positioning in Google is often a huge challenge for marketers and copywriters. This is very detailed and focused work that must be done precisely. A good text cannot defend itself, it needs to be updated and sometimes re-optimized. However, with practice, knowledge of SEO principles and writing with readers in mind, you will create texts that will be the key to a high position in Google rankings. And if you need help with positioning your website, online store or blog, I invite you to cooperate, I will be happy to help you build your visibility in Google and thus guarantee effective business development!