Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the main focuses of content writing. When writing content, strategically using your SEO understanding will help your content rank higher in Google searches.

SEO is a strategy to ensure your content has the best chance of reaching your target audience. Although SEO can be an effective strategy to help you drive traffic to your websites, not many beginners understand where to start. 

I want to help demystify the assumptions around SEO and provide novice writers with tips to enhance the efficacy of their SEO content writing. As a content marketer, you should appreciate the significance and see the value of SEO in content writing. Now, it’s important to take action to incorporate the strategy into your work for more visibility and better results.

On-Page SEO Content Writing Tips

Content marketers’ first challenge is settling on a suitable keyword for their content. A keyword is the fastest way to reach an audience. However, it is not enough to think of a popular keyword but to incorporate it naturally into your content. The proper integration of a good keyword will promote traffic to your content far into the future. The following are ways to create smart and effective SEO content:

1. Include your main keyword in the Title Tag and Header Tags (H1, H2, etc.) when possible

Search engines like Google usually focus on the main points highlighted in online content. Title Tags and Header tags are specifically helpful in giving search engines an idea of what your content is discussing. The best way to ensure that search engines recognize your primary topic is by incorporating keywords in those places. Moreover, header tags are a great way to separate your content into sections, making scanning easier for readers.

2. Content should include tertiary keywords and LSI terms

Your keywords should not only appear in your headings. SEO content marketers appreciate the efficiency of seeding keywords and LSI terms into the body of their writing. However, you should never overuse a keyword but only incorporate it where it fits organically and makes sense. Overusing or ‘stuffing’ a keyword into places it does not naturally fit is the fastest way to ruin your ranking chances.

3. Include important keywords in Alt Tags

Images need text for their alt tags and alternative attributes to help readers know what a specific media is about whenever there is a delay in loading. SEO content writers do not underestimate the power of including keywords in the Alt tags on their images, Adding keywords to your alt tags can provide you with a leg up in rank since many people tend to bypass this opportunity altogether

4. A meta description is essential

Readers usually type in the keywords of specific information they want and receive different articles on the search engine results page (SERP). A meta description is critical to SEO because it appears on the SERP page, just below your website’s URL. A meta description and the title of the article are the tools you have to sell your article to the reader before they click.   Not only do you want to hook their interest with your meta description, but your keywords will shine a light on what the readers should expect to read in your article.

Be smart and strategic about when and how you use your main keywords and slight variations in your article.  When you only use main keywords when it is needed as well as find ways to organically place them in all the right spots in your article, then you ought to have created a smart and thoughtful piece of SEO content writing that Google and readers cannot ignore