Being able to write compelling copy that drives traffic to your website is an increasingly important business skill. More and more companies need to create high-quality content that will engage their readers, raise awareness about their brand and help them establish a connection with both customers and potential customers.
Whether you hire a professional SEO content writer or produce this content yourself, the writer needs a clear understanding of your industry and the ability to connect to your audience. There are a number of ways to outsource content - for example, students often use experts from professional essay writing services however you may well want to create your own SEO-friendly content. If you do, here are some useful hints and tips:
The top 7 SEO content writing mistakes
Not doing enough research
To be an SEO content writer, you need to understand the essentials of SEO - how it works and what search engines are looking for. This will take time to research but it's time well spent.
Poor content construction
You should also research the content on your competitors' websites - what is their SEO content like? What techniques are they using to make their content SEO friendly? It's important not to copy what other people are doing. Google will recognise any plagiarism. Your content should be unique to you.
Avoid grammatical mistakes
When you read through online content, you are likely to find a surprising number of simple grammatical mistakes. This is an easy win
for you. If your grammar and spelling are on point, Google will reward you with a higher ranking.
Simple mistakes to avoid are:
- Missing prepositions, such as 'his, her, or it.'
- Using passive verbs when active verbs are more appropriate
- Using too many numbers or statistics
- Using complicated terms when simple words would be better
If you want to be 100% sure that none of these mistakes missed your attention, then you can use a free grammar checker. Such a tool scans your text to detect mistakes and provides suggestions to fix them efficiently.
Keyword stuffing
A really common and basic mistake is to write posts with keyword-rich, repetitive phrases. Google will spot this a mile off. Make sure your content conforms to SEO best practice. Repeating keywords and key phrases over and over again is not the best practice.
Content that's full of typos.
Bad spelling will harm your credibility and have a negative effect on your SEO ranking. Always proof your work at least once. Or get someone else to do it - it's often easier to spot mistakes in someone else's work than in your own work.
Headings and subheadings
Headings and subheads are important building blocks in SEO copywriting. Many writers don't give them the attention they deserve but they are signposts to content and important for SEO.
Vague or misleading content
Perhaps the most common mistake SEO content writers make is a lack of clarity. Content should be clear, concise, and to the point. A lack of focus in your writing will be punished by your readers (they will just stop reading) and by search engines (who won't know how to rank or classify your content).
So what should you do instead?
We've had a look at the most common mistakes people make. Let's take a quick look at the positive things you can do to improve your SEO content. The first thing is to understand your target audience and demographics. This will tell you what to write about and the style of writing to adopt. The second thing is to pay attention to SEO basics. Give Google and other search engines the information they need to properly index your content. Thirdly, it's also essential to be an active member of the online community. Link your content to others and get them to link to you. The more active you are online, the more chances your blog will have of being seen by others, the more traffic you will attract and the more credible you will appear. We hope this quick breakdown of the most common mistakes made by SEO content writers is useful. If you take these guidelines into account, you won't go far wrong!
by Sergey