I have written a post on how to write good articles for SEO however staying on the subject of writing I thought it would be good idea to talk about writing for the web. It’s become a bit of cliché in the SEO world but content is king so if you are serious about getting your site recognised for a keyword then you must get some content on your site.
Of course link building has a massive effect on a sites rankings and so you may not see the importance in having keyword rich content on your site, however consider the fact Google ranks through assessing relevancy then what makes your site more relevant then having content on your site? It’s like putting your money where your mouth is, having links out there pointing to your site is all well and good but do you have the substance to back it up?
How I personally look to write onsite content for a sites page is by writing a few natural paragraphs. Empty you mind of keyword density and richness otherwise you fall into the trap of writing for the search engines which is not what you want to be doing. A paragraph on what your site does and what it offers is always a good start. Once you have a few paragraphs you can then begin to mould the text to better suit the search engines.
A rule of thumb when writing for the web is to include the keyword at least once in every other paragraph, ideally in each paragraph if you can. Also ensure that you use the keyword as a header and any subtitles you may have (be sure to contain these in h1 and h2 tags).It can be difficult to squeeze a keyword into every paragraph nonetheless try not to repeat what has already been said. Also try not to over use a keyword in a paragraph otherwise it looks spammy and reads horribly.
One aspect that a lot of people get hung up on is keyword density. This can hold some importance and can be an indication of whether you have spammed your copy too much. There are a number of tools which can check your keyword density like SEO Chat’s keyword density tool or the keyword density analyser.
Remember what you learnt in school! The fundamentals of good grammar and punctuation are still paramount. Make sure that your copy is readable and well written. The writing on your site reflects your organisation and so if it reads terribly then straight away your site can lose credibility- not the best way of starting your SEO campaign!
Lastly it is worth mentioning the design and layout of your text. You have mastered the art of writing good keyword rich copy and you more likely than not you are proud of what you have written. It would be a shame then that the layout turns people away. So avoid putting all your text into chunky blocks and space out your sentences so that is better on the eye. Where possible include lists and bullet points as they are way easier to read (and hey the search engines perceive these to be highly relevant if you place a keyword in them!). Play around with colour but try not to go over the top. The best sites are still the ones that use only a few colours (I would say max 4).
And finally remember to update your text now and again. Search Engines and us humans alike want to read new things so give it to them. The same old stagnant page will turn people off so keep it fresh and exciting.
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