Creating optimized Web content for search engine and reader results.

      In order for your Web site to get a high ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs) when someone does a search for your relevant search terms, you need to post an abundance of optimized Web content on your site.

     A site with unique, content-rich pages containing original, optimized articles will accomplish the two most important things for a Web site. These sites will score high search engine rankings over the long haul, thereby attracting more traffic. And they will engage visitors with compelling articles, thereby driving the desired reader response.

What qualifies as Web content?

     Web content—also called Web copy, optimized content, optimized copy, search engine optimized copy, or SEO copy—refers to all the writing on your site.

     Web copy is written in a specific way in order to please Google and other search engines. A Web site’s content tells the search engines what that site is about. Optimized content does this strategically, using specific keywords and keyword phrases. Proper optimization enables search engines to match your site to search terms, and match you up with the people who will find your site to be relevant. Your online content must use relevant keywords and keyword phrases—but it’s important that you don’t over-use them, as this will cause you to be penalized by search engines.

     Online content must also include expert lingo. Expert lingo means articles contain related terms that professionals will naturally use when discussing that topic. Google knows that certain expert lingo should appear alongside certain keywords if your site is legitimate.

     In many ways, the recent changes to search engine algorithms have made quality SEO copywriting easier, as it can—and should—be natural and readable. However, before creating any content, you must identify your Web site’s theme and sub-themes as well as your keywords and keyword phrases (the search terms for which you want your site to rank high on SERPs).

Identifying your theme and sub-themes.

     The main theme of your site should be obvious. What is your site about? What is its purpose? What subject will all of your site’s content relate back to? Once you have your theme, identify your sub-themes. For example, if your main theme is ‘Autism,’ sub-themes might be ‘autism symptoms,’ ‘autism diagnosis,’ ‘autism treatment,’ and etc.

Identifying your keywords and keyword phrases.

      Once you have your theme and sub-themes, you’ll need to identify your keywords. Some keywords and phrases are extremely competitive, like ‘cars,’ ‘healthcare,’ or ‘shoes.’ Others are less so, like ‘1972 black Eldorado,’ ‘bacterial meningitis symptoms,’ or ‘Converse Chuck Taylor All Star.’ It’s easier to get a high SE ranking for less competitive search terms. So even if your site’s main theme is healthcare, instead of optimizing for that highly-competitive keyword, optimize for other, less competitive phrases that still fall under the healthcare theme.

      Several commercial tools are available, like WordTracker, to help you identify the relevant terms people are searching for, how competitive certain keywords and phrases are, and which ones you might want to focus on.

Creating your Web content.

      After you have your sub-themes and your list of keywords and keyword phrases, you can start the online copywriting process. To start out, you’ll want at least one (but the more the better) original article on each of your sub-themes and sub-sub-themes. Don’t worry about your main theme, because if you do your Web copywriting correctly, it’ll be optimized in the process.

     Each article should be at least 450 words. Articles are typically between 450 and 650 words, but they can be longer. Each article will have a main phrase, like ‘autism symptoms,’ plus a number of keywords. Use the main phrase in your article’s title and in the first paragraph. Then use as many of the keywords and keyword phrases as you can throughout your article. Try to use them at least once—but don’t cram them in so that your copywriting sounds unnatural.

     There’s no hard and fast rule as to how many articles you should have for each sub-theme. It depends on how competitive your search terms are. But the more keyword phrases you optimize for, the more expert lingo you can use in your Web copywriting, and the more niches you can cover, the better your ranking on SERPs will be. Count on spending about two hours on each article, after doing your theme and keyword research.

     You must also update articles and add fresh Web site content regularly. It’s also important to keep your sub-themes from bleeding into one another. In other words, don’t discuss autism diagnosis in your articles on autism symptoms. This confuses search engines and will hurt your ranking.

     If you lack the time, resources or know-how to write readable, optimized Web copy you may consider hiring an experienced online copywriter to create your content. We discuss this more in our next article.

The Hired Gun team includes SEO experts and professional Web writers. Contact us for more information on our Web copywriting services, and request a free estimate for your content needs.

           Read the next article: Hiring a Web copywriter to create your online content.

[Back to Online Content main page.]