Creating SEO-friendly content is crucial if you want your website to stand out among the 1.13 billion existing ones. Being SEO-friendly doesn’t mean robotically adding keywords everywhere in your article or aiming for a 3000-word count just because an SEO Coach said so. It’s all about creating relevant, helpful, and engaging content that aligns with your audience’s needs and search engine rules. So, how do you write this SEO-friendly content? Scroll down below to see our tips and best practices.

8 Tips To Write SEO-Friendly Content

Do A Comprehensive Keyword Research

Keyword research is the backbone of SEO-friendly content. Without it, you’re essentially just scrambling in the dark, wasting time writing random articles in the hopes of one of them becoming successful. 

To find the right keywords to boost your SEO game:

• Identify keywords that are relevant to your niche or industry. Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, Ubersuggest, or Google Keyword Planner. 
• Balance the difficulty and search volume of your target keyword. Keywords that have a high search volume might seem like a great idea (since people are interested in the topic), but it means you’ll have tons of competition. On the other hand, keywords that have a low search volume mean you have less competition, but then harder to get people to read them. Find one that balances both. 
• Look for long-tail keywords. Longer and more specific phrases are easier to rank than short and general ones. For example, go for “Instagram Tips for Small Businesses” instead of “Instagram Tips”. 
• Be updated on trends. Check news, blogs, social media, or Google Trends to see current happenings that may influence keyword searches. Even seasonal events can affect the popularity of keywords, such as “best turkey recipes for thanksgiving,” which gets peak searches during the holiday. 

Write A Compelling Title And Meta Description

Your title and meta description are the first things people will see on search engines. They should grab your target audience’s attention and compel them to click on your site. 

Use powerful and active words. Be descriptive and tell your readers what they can get from the article. For example, “10 Proven Tips To Get More TikTok Followers” is better compared to a vague “TikTok Tips” title.  

Keep your title short and snappy. Use under 60 characters to avoid truncation. 

The same goes for your meta description. Use action words like “learn,” “explore,” or “discover.” Keep it under 150 characters so that they won’t get cut off. 

Both your title and meta descriptions should contain your primary keyword. Not only does this give your readers some context, but it also makes it easier for search engines to understand and rank your content. 

Let’s say you want to write about how to create assets for a Facebook ad. To make them SEO-friendly, go for: 

Title: “How to Develop Creative Assets for High-Performing Facebook Ads”

Meta description: “Learn how to create eye-catching creative assets for your Facebook ads. Discover best practices and design tools to boost engagement and conversions.”

Avoid Keyword Stuffing

Keyword-stuffed articles are a bane to read because they tend to be poorly constructed and repetitive. Imagine seeing “sofa store in California” for ten consecutive sentences just because that is the site’s primary keyword. You’ll find it annoying, right? 

Don’t forget that you are writing for humans first and search algorithms second. Don’t add your keywords just for the sake of adding them. Consider the readability and flow of your content – Does it make sense to mention it here? Is it relevant to the context of the paragraph? Does it sound natural or too “forced?” 

While there is no specific rule on where to place your keywords, most SEO writers add them in the introduction, conclusion, and headings. This makes it easier for Google to parse your content while also making it more natural for the readers. 

Lastly, how many keywords should you add to your articles? It will depend on the length. Short articles around 500 words should ideally have a maximum of three keywords, while 2000-word articles can carry up to ten. 

Optimise Your Content Structure

Great content is easy to understand and has a good “flow.” Want to achieve all of that? The key is to optimize your structure. 

First, break up your content into easily digestible sections using headings (H1, H2, H3). If we compare them to a novel:

• H1 is your title or introduction – the most important section as it states what your content is all about
• H2 as your chapters – explores the primary themes of your content
• H3 (and H4, H5, H6) as your sub-chapters – further expand a specific theme in your content

This should give you something like this:

H1 – The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Banner Design

   H2 – Why Does a YouTube Banner Matter?

      H3 – To build your brand identity

      H3 – To communicate your channel’s purpose

   H2 – Best Practices For YouTube Banner Design

Not only does this improve readability, but it also helps search engines since their bots rely on your headings when indexing your site. It also promotes a great user experience (UX) because readers can glance at your article and know where the parts they are most interested in are. All of these lead to a higher search ranking. 

How you construct your headers also matters. Make sure to incorporate your long-tail keywords and write them in a descriptive and question-like way. Then, the content under the headers should answer the header’s question directly. 

This kind of structuring gives your content a great shot at getting chosen as a featured snippet, driving more traffic to your site.

Add Internal And External Links

Internal links direct your readers to other relevant content or articles on your site, which can improve dwell time and page views. Meanwhile, external links to authoritative sources, such as statistics, data, or case studies, can add credibility to your content.

Both of these can signal to search engines that your content is credible, well-researched, and relevant, which can positively influence your rankings.

Create High-Quality And Engaging Content

Quality is the core of any SEO-friendly content. Search engines prioritize content that provides real value to readers – beyond keywords, word count, or other SEO markers.

To create great content, try the following:

• Focus on user intent. Why is someone searching for your topic? Are they looking for a quick answer, an in-depth guide, or products to buy? Knowing their intent can help you tailor your content accordingly. 
• Provide actionable tips and solutions. Instead of just saying, “Optimize your keywords,” give them examples of how to research or choose the keywords. You can also include tools to use or examples of case studies. This makes your content more useful and practical.
• Make it digestible. Break down your content by using bullets, lists, or numbers. Use a maximum of three sentences per paragraph. This makes your content easier to follow. You can also include an FAQ section or a table of contents for readers who skim articles. 
• Master the writing itself. Use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Mix your short, medium, and long sentences to have a nice rhythm in your content. Avoid jargon or slang that your audience won’t understand. You can use tools like Grammarly, Hemingway, or ProWritingAid to help you. 
• Use visuals. High-quality images, videos, or infographics can significantly boost your reader’s engagement. They can also help break down long text walls of text to make your content more digestible. They also serve as a visual aid to reinforce your point or to help visualize your examples. 
• Optimize the visuals. Make sure to add your keywords to the file names and alt texts of your visuals. Upload them in the right file size, type, and dimension. Compress them to ensure they will load properly. All of these can make them more SEO-friendly. 

Consider Your Branding

Your brand voice and brand identity also play a role in your SEO success. If you are known for being a friendly and approachable brand, writing data-heavy topics and using formal language in your articles can put off your audience. If you are a formal educational institution, sprinkling your content with Gen-Z slang won’t resonate with your audience. But if your content aligns with your brand values, your readers will more likely be interested and engaged.

Your SEO strategy should also reflect your branding. For example, an ad agency that positions itself as modern and innovative can focus on topics such as new AI logo generators to try or dissect how an AI image generator works. Over time, this can build them up as an authority on AI design topics, which can positively impact their search rankings. 

Monitor And Update Your Content

SEO is not a one-and-done process. Regularly refresh your content by adding new insights, updating old statistics, changing outdated images, checking for broken links, or using new keywords. Even simple tweaks like changing “2024” to “2025” in your title can help.

How often should you update your content? Honestly, there’s no hard rule, as every answer will depend on your niche or industry. But as a rule of thumb, a yearly check should be fine for evergreen content as their topics won’t really undergo much changes. For others, you can check at around 9 months. 

You can also use an analytics tool to monitor your content. If you notice a sudden dip in page views or a high bounce rate on an article, it’s a sign that you should check or refresh the content. 

Conclusion

Creating SEO-friendly content requires balancing the search engine’s technical requirements and your human reader’s needs and interests. Following the tips outlined in this guide can help you improve your search rankings and provide genuine value to your audience. 

Remember that SEO is an ongoing process, not a one-time effort. Stay informed about industry changes, monitor your content’s performance, and be ready to adapt your strategy as search engine algorithms evolve and your audience’s needs change. 

With consistent effort and attention to these principles, you’ll build a strong foundation for long-term SEO success and establish yourself as a trusted authority in your field.