4 Steps to Create SEO Optimized Articles That Rank
INSANE SEO strategy that costs you $0 but bring lot of organic traffic
Here, you are going to learn how to write SEO content that will rank higher on Google and attract a lot of organic traffic without spending a single dollar ($0).
You might be struggling with SEO and wondering if it’s too complicated. But the answer is no, SEO is easy, and you don’t have to struggle after reading this complete guide.
Here are 4 actionable steps you can take to write SEO content:
- Master the keyword research.
- Understand on page SEO.
- Explore off page SEO.
- Get to know technical SEO.
- Conclusion.
- Resources (list of all SEO guide articles).
Before we dive in, don’t forget to save this article for future reference. Also, hit subscribe because you might not see me again.
What is SEO Optimized Articles?
SEO optimized articles are content designed to rank on search engines like Google, Bing and more. The article writing process is created to match human search intent and optimize it for search engines.
Below are steps you can take to make your articles well optimized for humans and search engines.
Step 1: Master the Keyword Research
Whether your article will be successful or not is determined by how you conduct keyword research. This is the first thing you should do before you start writing an article.
1. 1 Understand Your Audience’s Journey
Different keywords have different business value. When people use search engines, they typically go through three phases: awareness, consideration, and decision.
- Awareness phase is where people seek information about the problems they are experiencing. Therefore, keywords like “how to” are more suitable than “buy” for article titles.
- Consideration phase is when people compare one item with other items to avoid regret after purchase. Examples of keywords include “Adidas vs Nike” or “best running shoes”.
- Decision phase is keywords that may not receive high traffic but have high conversion rates. Keywords like “Order pizza near me” are typically used by people ready to make a purchase rather than those seeking to learn how to make pizza.
1. 2 Generate Keyword Ideas
The best way to find good keywords is by using premium tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush. But these tools are costly. Ahrefs, for example, costs about $99 each month.
So, let’s just focus on free tools even though these tools have many weaknesses.
When choosing the keywords you want to target in your article, the ideal approach is to focus on long tail keywords with high search volume and low competition.
It’s important to remember that search demand and low competition keywords are not the only factors that can rank you on the first page of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
There are so many variables that I need to write about in different articles so you can understand them better.
1. 3 Assess The Search Intent
Search intent is a broad and complex topic, but I’ll provide 1 example to help you quickly grasp the search intent behind keywords. Here’s search intent for “blog writing tips”.
In order to rank for this keyword, it’s a good idea to use a “how to” format that includes a list, and be sure to include the words “blog” and “tips” in the article title.
However, understanding search intent goes beyond just the title. You also need to create articles that satisfy the searchers’ needs.
You can start by reading articles from the top 3 SERPs to gain a better understanding of search intent.
After seeing the picture above, You might be wondering. Why an article with lower domain ratings (DR) and backlinks than those in positions 3 and 4 appear in the featured snippet?
That’s because the relevance provided by the article in the featured snippet is better than other articles on this keyword.
Now, you might be wondering once again why the HubSpot article is in position 4, even though its DR, UR, backlinks, referring domains, and traffic are better than position 3?
The answer remains the same. According to Google, article in position 3 are considered more relevant than that in position 4. Because, it’s better at answering searcher intent.
1. 4 Look for Keyword Difficulty
Keyword difficulty will give you insight into the competition for keywords you want to target. You can use free SEO tools to see it. Now let’s see keyword difficulty for “shoes for running”.
Next, you should check the keywords with the least competition using Ahrefs SERP Checker. Since this is a free tool, it will only display domain ratings and backlink metrics for the top 3 keywords.
For the others, you’ll need to check them individually using Ahrefs’ free backlink checker and website traffic checker.
Then, after putting in extra effort because of using too many free tools, this is what you will get:
If you happen to sell shoes that are suitable for running on a treadmill, you can approach your boss and say,
“Boss, I found advice from a stranger on the internet, and I think I can boost our shoe sales”.
Because this keyword is very easy to rank for. Achieving a position in the top 5 articles for this keyword is almost guaranteed with a 99% certainty, only if you can create well optimized articles.
Step 2: Understand On Page SEO
The goal of On Page SEO is the optimization of content that occurs within the content itself. This can include the URL, title, meta tags, internal and external linking, and the quality of the article itself.
2. 1 Conduct On Page Research
The first thing you need to do is to examine the top 3 articles for the keywords you want to target. Then, read the articles one by one to conduct a comprehensive content gap analysis.
Let’s see an example for “What is SEO” keyword:
- Look the opportunities.
- Look the gaps in the articles.
- Look for similarities.
- Look for the keywords in which these articles have ranked.
This is just an example of content gap analysis. Achieving a top 10 ranking in the SERPs for this keyword is very hard because nearly all the articles have answered the search intent.
On top of that, the articles related to this keyword are from authoritative domains and are well known in the SEO industry.
2. 2 Implement Copywriting Techniques
People on the internet tend to scan articles rather than read them in depth. Instead of complaining, it’s a good idea to adapt to this behavior.
You should write in language that is easy to understand, use short paragraphs, avoid jargon and big words. I talked about this topic in my previous article.
If you don’t know, the most famous technique in the world of copywriting is AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action).
- Attention: Grab your audience’s attention with bombastic information.
- Interest: Understand your audience’s pain points so they continue reading your articles.
- Desire: Promise and offer them the benefits of your article.
- Action: Invite your audience to take real action.
This is just one of many examples that you can follow:
2. 3 How to Use Chat GPT Content That Ranks
Chat GPT is useful for creating first drafts of articles. It’s also effective for imitating other people’s writing or speaking styles.
Would you like to create an article title similar to Mr. Beast’s? Just ask Chat GPT.
However, for in depth articles that demand expertise, Chat GPT really really bad.
So, start with creating an outline of the article you intend to write and input insights from your keyword research such as: keyword you want to target and sub topic you want to highlight.
The quality of Chat GPT output depends on the quality of the input. Below is just one example. I will discuss more deeper into this topic in the upcoming article.
Step 3: Explore Off Page SEO
Off page SEO is activities happened outside of your website to boost authority and branding. If you aim to rank for competitive keywords, you’ll need to acquire lot of backlinks to establish authority.
Keywords such as “What is SEO” can be difficult to rank for. But the article in the top position for this keyword receive hundreds of thousands of monthly visitors.
3. 1 Various Ways to Build Backlinks
There are numerous ways to acquire backlinks, but I will list them one by one and provide in depth discussions in the next article.
- Create ultimate guide.
- Create visual content.
- Publish original research.
- Create template or free tools.
- Find broken links.
- Create reporter keywords.
- Ask for guest post.
There are still other ways. But the most famous thing on this list is the guest post.
3. 2 Email Outreach Guidance
Don’t be an NPC and ask Chat GPT to write your outreach email without revising it using your own thoughts.
When writing outreach emails for guest blogs, you have to be more personal.
Mention the name of the person you are addressing, appreciate their work, give reasons why you are worthy of guest blogging and state the benefits that both parties will get.
3. 3 Backlink Competitor Analysis
Backlink competitor analysis is an effort to see all the websites that point to your competitor’s website. This data can be used to determine your link building strategy.
This cannot be achieved with free tools. The only way is to use premium tools to access comprehensive data.
These tools can provide insightful information, such as:
- The sources of quality backlinks that contribute to your competitors’ high rankings.
- Which websites have the most backlinks pointing to your competitors.
Actually, you can still use free tools but with limited features. I think this is enough if you are not very competitive and simply enjoy writing online articles as a hobby.
Now let’s see an example from “best cheap protein powder” keyword in US. Articles in this keyword have weak authority. The list offered is only small and even the third article has no backlinks at all.
Now look at the backlinks that the second position article has. Even though this article has more than 200 backlinks, it seems that these backlinks were bought. The quality of the backlinks is also bad.
So what would you do?
In my opinion, you can create articles with longer lists, such as 15 or 20 items. Then search for quality backlinks using search operators like “allinurl: Best protein powder” or “allintitle: Cheap protein powder”.
Step 4: Get to Know Technical SEO
Technical SEO is optimization that occurs behind the scenes to facilitate search engine to indexing and crawling. This helps more people find your site and improve user experience.
I understand that the term “technical SEO” might sound complex because of the word “technical”. However, it’s not as complicated as it may seem. You’re not just familiar about this topic.
So, this is the final step in the complete SEO guide, and I’ll provide a brief overview here. Detailed discussions on this topic will be covered in a separate article.
4.1 Technical SEO Tools
You can use tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, SEMrush and Ahrefs to optimize your website’s technical aspects.
These tools help identify issues like broken links, slow loading pages, mobile friendliness, etc.
4.2 Technical SEO Best Practices
Below, you’ll find the basics of technical SEO, including elements like robots.txt, schema markup, canonical tags, and HTTPS.
In the next article, we’ll dive deeper into each of these topics.
4.3 Web Audit Explained
You should conduct regular site audits. Some recommend doing them twice a year, while others suggest as often as possible.
It’s up to you to decide how often to perform a site audit, because errors on your website can impact your SEO performance.
Conclusion
Keep in mind that SEO is constantly evolving and algorithms are constantly changing. This complete guide that I’ve created is just an introduction.
Some people doubt that SEO will not survive because of AI. Many say that SEO will die. But it’s not true at all. SEO is only dead because you don’t understand SEO.
If you’re interested to learn more about SEO, please consider subscribing to my articles. Below is the content plan for my upcoming SEO articles over the next few weeks.
Resources
I will update the list of SEO guide articles when the latest ones are released, so make sure to check this article regularly.
A. General SEO
- The Shocking Truth from Google Content Help Update
- What is SEO and What is Not?
- Is SEO Dead? I Asked Chat GPT for the Answer
B. Keyword Research
- I Ranked 5 Free Keyword Research Tools: Worst to Best
- Why Most People Are Wrong About Search Intent? (SEO Tips)
Bonus
Want to get more traffic, improve content quality, and boost your business? Learn all about content marketing with this easy to follow guide. Click now to get started!
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