For those of you out there who are straight-up rock stars when it comes to blog writing and website content, just churning out idea after idea and beautifully written copy — we salute you! It’s not easy for everyone and it can be time-consuming (if you’re thinking “ugh, SO true!”, hit us up — we’ve got you 👊). The phrase “content is king” was coined by Bill Gates for a very good reason — so, the question is, are you optimising all that amazing content you’re producing? What is content optimisation anyway and why is it important for SEO? Let’s get into it!
Website content optimisation helps you virtually stand out from the crowd. (Image by Jeffrey Czum on Pexels)
Why Is Content Optimisation Important?
Website content optimisation essentially means making sure the content you’re writing is written and set up in a way that enables it to reach the biggest audience possible.
After all, your website and blog content is going to be fighting for attention across the whole internet (sounds daunting, but don’t panic!) — so you’ll want to set yourself up to reach as many potential customers as possible in your industry. Google also loves this — they want to send people to websites that come as close as possible to matching the phrase that they searched for. That’s where content optimisation comes in!
When you set out writing a blog or a new page on your website, first think about how to optimise content in a way that fits with your brand and tone of voice – what keywords or phrases are your potential customers searching for? Are there other brands that you admire and want to shout about? How can you make your topic engaging and digestible?
Learn how to write SEO optimised content and set yourself up to reach the biggest audience possible. (Image by Pixabay on Pexels).
How Do I Optimise Content For SEO?
Ok, the suspense is killing me — show me how to write SEO optimised content already! We thought you’d never ask. Here’s a handy content optimisation checklist we’ve put together to get you started (you’re welcome 😉). And, have a look at Eloping Is Fun‘s content as an example of how to naturally weave in relevant keywords for your brand, headings, easy-to-digest content and blogs.
1. Hold Your Horses — Do Your Research First
Whether you’re writing your own content or having a third party do it for you, do a Google search for a keyword or phrase that relates to the topic you’re writing about and see what comes up. Is there a trending phrase? What keywords are your competitors using?
2. Use Headings: H1, H2, H3
No matter what content management system you’re working with, they’ll all most likely have tools to insert different headings and subheadings — these are usually called H1, H2, H3 and so on.
They’re super handy for breaking up a lot of text too! Use them for every 300 words or so.
SEO best practice hot tip: Try including one of your keywords in the actual heading — that’s a big brownie point in Google’s eyes!
3. Don’t Get Too Carried Away, Hemingway
If you’re super ambitious, we get it — we love writing more than anything and we can do it all day long! (Heck, we DO do it all day long). However, it’s important not to go over 2,000 words in a single blog post or a webpage because, let’s be honest, no human being has the attention span to read that much without nodding off into their cup of coffee.
SEO best practice hot tip: Try to limit sentences to 20 words maximum. Go crazy and use semicolons and em dashes (— this little guy) to break it up!
The goal here is not to bore people or overwhelm them with too much information. You want to tickle their fancy with just enough content to keep them coming back for more and, at the same time, allow space to include those lovely keywords to get you seen on Google searches!
4. Spread The Love. Link Out!
Make sure to use at least one outbound link (a hyperlink to another website that opens in a new window) to an authoritative source that isn’t a direct competitor. See Eloping Is Fun’s blog for a great example of content with relevant outbound links. For wedding photographers, this can include a vendor you love working with, e.g., florists, bands/musicians, venues, and so on.
On a similar note, don’t forget to toot your own horn and insert internal links to other pages or blogs on your website!
There we have it! Our intro to the hella fun* world of content optimisation. If you’re looking for help with all of this, that’s what we’re here for. SEO optimisation, copywriting, blog packages…let us handle it for you! Drop us a line today.
* This descriptor assumes that, like us, you’re also an SEO geek.
