It is no secret that search engines love fresh quality content, and thus are more inclined to index and rank your page well if the quality of your content is worth it.
Today, I’m going to try to explain you how content that is search engine friendly should be written.
Write for your Readers, not the Search Engine
This is the very first point and by far the most important.
No matter what you do on your site, always do it with your visitors in mind first.
Although it is the search engines that will index your content, ultimately it is real people who will read and judge it.
Beyond this consideration, search engines like Google recommend you themselves to write content with your visitors in mind, so by doing so not only you’ll be pleasing your visitors, but also the search engines.
Do not focus on Keyword Density
This used to work very well, but nowadays it’s much less effective than it used to be.
Again, Google doesn’t like so much to be played and thus keep improving its algorithms to filter unnatural content patterns.
Instead, Google is much more interested in the associated terms you are using in your nearby content, as well are your linking network too.
In fact, we could say that related search terms carry even more value than a mere repetition of a single search term throughout your copy.
Also, beside the fact that search engine like Google doesn’t value keyword density much, such ways of optimizing your content all too often results in having your readers wondering why you keep repeating the same words over and over; which does affect your visitors experience on your site.
Do use Related and Suggested Search Terms
Almost each time that you are making a search on Google, you’ll be offered additional suggestion, just like when you do some researches using the Wonder Wheel.
These terms are very valuable to you, not only because they are related in nature, but because Google not only think that they are related and relevant, but so do your visitors too. And to make it even better, since those terms are suggested, it demonstrates that they also carry sufficient search volume to be worth mentioning.
Use Heading Tags
Heading tags are used to structure your content and make it easy for the search engine to skim through your content.
Although it is possible to use up to 6 different levels of heading tags, it is very unlikely that you’ll be using more than 3.
The common practice would be to have your content title enclosed in a <h1> tag while containing your main search term or keyword within it.
Then, each sub-section of your content should titled with a <h2> tag, and possibly containing a suggested keyword by Google.
Lastly, you would eventually have to add a sub-category title within your sections. For this one I would recommend to use a <h3> tag.
Not only doing this will facilitate the crawling and understanding for the search engines as to what your site is all about, it will also help you have more structured content, which in turn tends to increase your visitors experience on site.
In Conclusion
Writing a good optimized content for the search engine is no longer a difficult task by itself.
More importantly, your ability to write a content that will draw and motivate your visitors to become readers and come back over and over to your site, or even possibly recommend your content to someone else is one thing that search engines love and value a lot.
In the past, writing optimized content was sufficient to rank well in the search engines; unfortunately it is no longer the case. Today your ranking will be obtained by your offsite optimization work, which honestly is much more easily done when you have written a nice quality content.
Since the search engines give less importance to the optimization of the content itself, it is important to use this one to further enhance your visitor’s appreciation of your site and work.
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September 8, 2009 at 5:50 am
I am much concern with your point of view on search engine friendly content. I think we should switch the traditional thinking about that and adopt some unique ways like some one you have suggested. I like your one thing that first we should keep in mind that what is expectation of readers.
September 8, 2009 at 9:32 am
Thanks Nicolas.
Let me make some questions:
1. what do you say about bolded, italic and underlined keywords. Do we need them?
2. You said the keyword density is not so important anymore, so shall we put the keyword and each of the accociated ones only once into the text?
3. Many article directories accept lots of search terms on the keyword box. How should we use this to be effective?
Thanks,
Juhani
September 8, 2009 at 10:42 am
Great info and worthwhile guidance, have you ever thought about an ebook on this stuff?
September 8, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Good tips, learning to write for the web can be tricky.
September 8, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Great article, content is main to promote for a website. Because content is king.
September 9, 2009 at 4:35 am
Great stuff! It obviously needs a natural flair for writing but that's not it, writing good SEO content also requires the understanding of web concepts and detailed research.
September 9, 2009 at 5:12 am
Content is the soul of the seo work. Its very much needed to promote a site. You have written a great article on this topic. thanks for it. Its a great info.
September 10, 2009 at 3:41 am
Yes, things kept changing everywhere, and SEO is no different. The way we used to optimized in the past is not the same as we do now.
Before things like keyword stuffing would get you a top ranking, today it will get you banned.
Before people where really clueless, and getting clicks was easy, it's no longer the case especially with the growing competition level.
September 10, 2009 at 3:46 am
Hi Juhani,
Regarding your questions:
1) having bolded, italic or underlined keyword, do help a bit but really at a minimal level when it comes to SEO. It's best to use those styling to make your content more friendly for your readers than trying to get few more points with the search engines. Anyway, if your content is properly written, it is very likely that the points you want to bold will include your keyword in it.
2) Yes, it is possible to do so, anyway, the easiest way is just to write your content naturally. Surprisingly enough, you'll see that this way you actually use a decent density for your keyword, without excess neither for the search engines or your human readers; also when writing this way you'll use related expression without having to put extra research work in it. Just keep it natural!
3) Use your main keyword, and the ones suggested in google search and wonder wheel.
I hope this will answer your questions.
September 10, 2009 at 3:47 am
Hi,
I do have an ebook available for free download here:
http://www.nicolasprudhon.com/advanced-seo-mast...
September 10, 2009 at 3:49 am
Actually it's not tricky, people make it tricky.
To me the primary objective I have when writing content is to get people to read it, not search engines to rank it.
I have noticed that when you get approval from your readers, you also get approval from the search engines, however the opposite is not always true.
September 10, 2009 at 3:50 am
If people like your content, they are definitely more likely to promote it and share it than if they think it's a bad one.
The logic is simple but too many people overlook it sadly.
September 10, 2009 at 3:52 am
Well, I have found that when it comes to writing on blogs, we don't need skills or flair actually.
Instead what we need is some genuineness and personality in our writing.
Considering Google is trying more and more to emulate and incorporate people behaviors and choices, we'll notice google trying to adapt to this style rather than us trying to adapt ourselves to Google.
September 10, 2009 at 3:53 am
Thank you for your feedback, always appreciated.
I always has valued the quality of content when it comes to do any kind of site promotion, and I feel that this is something too many people fail at.
September 10, 2009 at 4:06 am
Thanks for the helpful tips presented here for how to write a useful SEO content. Its really some helpful tips in writing commercially good and even unique content.
September 10, 2009 at 4:29 am
Thanks Nicolas!
So you will very warmly recommend the “Natural Style” in all marketing writings. Sounds good!
September 10, 2009 at 5:58 am
Thanks Nicolas, a very helpful article as usual. From my own recent experiements I've concluded that Google doesn't calculate keyword density and as you rightly point out, prefers keyword placement and proximity, in such tags as H tags, as ways of understanding content.
In your opinion, how many keywords should a page target?
Best,
Ed
September 10, 2009 at 8:34 am
I like the idea on this article. You should think about the readers and not for the search engines.
Thanks for this Nicolas, I also downloaded your book.
September 10, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Thank you so much for the tips in your article. I found it very informative and helpful!
September 11, 2009 at 2:18 am
Hi , Nicolas recently my friend have joined your 21 days SEO course and he was saying that your course is worthwhile for gaining the more knowledge about SEO's. I will check it out soon.
September 11, 2009 at 2:25 am
Well you can thanks your friend on my behalf!
I look forward to see you then on my site!
September 11, 2009 at 7:03 am
really interesting and well written article.thanks for the great tips
September 12, 2009 at 8:06 am
I like how you built the idea about your article. I realized something about the visitors and the search engines and yes I agree with that.
To write articles for the benefit of the visitors, blogging and thinking about the visitors and not aiming for the search engines is a very genius idea. Because when people like the content, they will surely link back to you and it works automatically on the search engines, am I right with this? because this is how I understand this article.
I am also blogging too and I think I will apply this idea. Thank you very much.
September 12, 2009 at 6:09 pm
There were good tips in your post. Thanks for the article.
September 13, 2009 at 10:58 pm
SEO friendly content has long being misunderstood and practiced…. for the terms like keyword density and the HTML coding…. however the fact of “writing for the readers” is the only best concept that will make the readers stay not optimization. If you are gaining a 1st rank on the SERPs and don't have quality content than you won't hold the reader for more then few seconds.
September 14, 2009 at 1:50 am
You are right with your conclusion. The most important aspect is the quality of contents. No matter how much keyword tailored a blog is if it doesn't catch the readers attention it's useless.
September 14, 2009 at 2:31 am
Thanks for your response. I will try to be there on your site very soon rather it would be a great pleasure that i would get chance to accompany of a wise mentor.
September 14, 2009 at 8:01 pm
I'm glad to hear that you found this post useful. I like natural style because I believe that I have more to win from a happy and satisfied reader than 1-2 better ranking places in the search engines… That being said, usually my post do great in search ranking too, so I don't see any reason why I should do things differently.
September 14, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Hi Ed,
To answer your question, despite the fact that most of SEO will recommend (and they are not wrong) that you should only optimize 1 keyword per page, I have to disagree with this statement when you include your visitors in the equation.
I tend to have 1 article optimized for all the very closely related keywords. I had one post who was optimized for 7 different keywords and got a top ranking in almost each of them.
The reason why I say this is that my post in questions has keywords like “optimal keyword density” and “optimum keyword density”. Sure enough I could write 2 pages each one focusing on a specific keyword, but as a reader of my blog, I guess you'd feel rather insulted by that…
So instead I write a post with both of those keywords in it since they actually are nothing more than the same words just written differently.
September 14, 2009 at 8:06 pm
It's quite simple really, search engines bring people to your site, but ultimately it's human people and not search engines who read your content…
September 14, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Hi Cassie,
Always here to help, so I'm glad that you find this writing useful to you.
September 14, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Just like I said in this post, I write for readers more than search engines, here on Peter's blog most of my guest posts are in the most commented section…
So even if the SEO is not that great on the posts themselves, I'm sure as a business value it counts for something…
And considering that Google relies more and more on trying to find what people really like rather than what an algorithm determine, this won't get by unnoticed.
September 14, 2009 at 8:13 pm
I have to be honest, I'm not a big fan of building links, I find this boring.
Now backlinks are very important don't get me wrong, but indeed just by providing quality content you can generate sufficient buzz around to bring your site to a very good level.
My content was enough to have SEO people with sites PR6 ask me for advice while mine was only PR1. In fact I have many posts with higher PR than my homepage, and people with PR4 ask me to trade links with them and not the opposite.
Through natural linking, my site has thousands of backlinks for which I did nothing more that writing content with my readers in mind.
September 14, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Glad that you like it and thank you for your feedback!
September 14, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Hi Ravi,
This is so true indeed and what I teach to my readers. SEO doesn't end with a search ranking only.
What's the point of having traffic to your site that bounced off immediately?
September 14, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Quality content applies to all types of sites, but when it comes to blogging it's more important than ever!
A blog is about readership, if people read your blog it's successful, if they don't it's a failure.
If your content quality doesn't compel your readers to come back or refer others to it, then you are doing something wrong.
September 15, 2009 at 12:01 am
Great Article,the value of keyword content really doesn't mean as much as the value of keyword pharses to becoming successful in website marketing or blog marketing.
Anyways keep up the good work…love the site !!
C Ya – Jefferson Money the 3rd
September 15, 2009 at 1:25 am
Thanks for telling us about quality content. You are right that if people read your blog than its successful if they don't its a failure.
September 15, 2009 at 1:28 am
Thanks for reply. Yes content is very big issue in failure of many people.
September 15, 2009 at 7:28 am
is it free to submit articles?
September 15, 2009 at 8:18 pm
It depends of the directories, but generally speaking yes it's free to submit articles. In fact you even can find a lot of free article submitters tools too.
September 15, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Hi Jefferson,
Thank you for taking the time to comment. Google itself says it, “write for your readers not for the search engines” that said it all for me.
September 17, 2009 at 8:18 am
Very useful information here. SEO is so vital and it's constantly changing. The algorithms and criteria that used to be valid can change by the day so its important to keep up with all of the latest info and technique
September 17, 2009 at 8:31 am
Your suggestion about using suggested search terms from google is excellent. However It's important to use your target keyword at the begginning of each post.
September 17, 2009 at 10:16 am
nice post
September 19, 2009 at 7:14 am
Some excellent tips on writing content!
September 20, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I think you have made some good points, I believe a combination of writing for your visitors together with some use of LSI keywords is one of the best ways to combine the two. Obviously you don't want to stuff lots of related words that don't make sense but a few words that will help.
September 21, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Useful list of effective tips regarding the text content. I'll be sure to apply them.
September 23, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Nicolas, I am having some problem converting traffic into some revenue on one of my sites. It is in a diamond ring niche.
I have a simple information blog. Any suggestions? Adsense is producing around $2 per day. I tried some CPA offers but just wont convert. Is it the niche or the offers? Not sure…
September 27, 2009 at 10:44 am
Thanks! These are helpful tips!
September 28, 2009 at 8:04 am
I like your point at “write for your readers not for search engine” ! That is interesting..and i'm also waiting for your next great post !
Regard,
belajar seo blogspot
October 8, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Your article has outlined the basic steps to writing an article that is both optimized for the search engines as well as informative for the readers to read. But it is not always possible to always write according to the basic rules. Moreover as search engines are nolonger giving importance to keyword density so I think it is enough to include the keywords in the post title and a few times here and there. One more place to put keywords can be the alt tags of the pictures used – SEs give importance to these alt tags. Hope I'm right!
October 8, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Your article has outlined the basic steps to writing an article that is both optimized for the search engines as well as informative for the readers to read. But it is not always possible to always write according to the basic rules. Moreover as search engines are nolonger giving importance to keyword density so I think it is enough to include the keywords in the post title and a few times here and there. One more place to put keywords can be the alt tags of the pictures used – SEs give importance to these alt tags. Hope I'm right!
February 10, 2011 at 10:56 pm
The problem is though that people will write for SEO because writing quality content will take time and you could end up producing content that would be all for nothing if it cant be discovered and read by users.
September 16, 2011 at 11:17 am
I agree with lax transportation and nicolas prudhon. Google is changing al the time and as long as you keep in mind that the website should be user friendly there seems to be now problem. Especially after the last Google Panda update where visitors experiences are taken es well es the social network integration in the rankings.