What is SEO Content Writing?
SEO (Search Engine Optimized) content writing is the process of creating high-quality content for websites so that the people who search, find that content, AND find it useful. SEO also helps search engines determine which pieces of content to pull into the results for a search, and what order those results should be in.
What Is SEO, and Why Is It Important?
Search Engine Optimization ensures that your web page includes the necessary signals search engine algorithms need to match content on the internet to a person's search query.
Consider that every day, about 7 billion Google searches are performed by almost 5 billion internet users. Each search sends the search engine "bots" scurrying around the web, pulling content to build a list of results. In fact, most searches return literally millions, even billions of results! You have to get pretty specific with your query to narrow the list even to the thousands.
Let's see - seven billion searches times... let's say five hundred thousand results each... equals.... Holy cow!
How in the world do those bots pull all those results together?
They use SEO Signals!
Just imagine those poor little Google search bots crawling through billions of websites and trillions of pages of digital content - some of that content dating back to the beginning of the internet.
Savvy content writers know to bake these signals into the web pages they create which improves the chances for their content to be pulled higher up - closer to the top of the results list.
Why do we want to be at the top of the search results?
You want your website or page to be at the top of the results because it greatly increases the chance for that searcher to click onto your page. We know that when a person enters a search query in Google (the most widely used search engine worldwide), or another search engine, they are most likely to click through to a website that appears on the first search engine results page (or SERP).
“93% of online experiences begin with a search engine, and 47% of people click on one of the first three listings” (SEJ, 2016)
Anatomy of a SERP
Next time you do a search, take a few minutes and review the results page.
Typically, the very first (or first few) results will be from those companies who paid (a lot of) money to advertise on the search engine. But don't worry - you don't have to pay to be on page one.
Below those ads are the organic, unpaid results. The great news is, many, MANY searchers will scan past the paid ads in favor of clicking on a top unpaid listing.
These unpaid (or, organic) listings were selected because their SEO signals told the search bots that, in addition to the paid ad listings, this content would very likely answer that searcher's query.
Now, the search bots take into account many aspects of a piece of content to determine where in the list of responses it should be placed. But it all starts with having clear SEO signals identifying the content and guiding the bots to it. Download this checklist to see if your website is giving clear SEO signals.
How great would it be if YOUR brand’s content appeared in one of those top-10 positions!
Isn't SEO Just “Marketing?”
The concept of SEO isn’t new, it’s been around for over 20 years. Many people equate SEO with marketing, and yes, it is a part of marketing. So you might think, “Well – I’ll just have my marketing team look into this.”
But SEO content writing is not the same thing as marketing, and most small-medium sized businesses (particularly equine businesses) don’t have marketing teams!
Now, if you are lucky enough to have a marketing team, you may find these professionals prefer to focus their efforts on strategies, campaigns, and analytics. A lot of marketers find SEO boring. So, your team may not want to be involved in the SEO details, and they probably aren't going to want to write the content!
Why You Need Runaway Writing’s SEO Content
Because you want your business to be found on the internet! Not just by the customers who already know your address. Your ongoing growth depends on attracting more customers.
It's been estimated that smartphone users spend between four and six hours a day looking for information on the internet. Imagine a person who doesn't know the name of your product, company, hospital, or store. But that person is on a phone (or laptop), right now searching for exactly the product or service you deliver.
How will they ever arrive at YOUR website?
1. As the internet and our reliance on it grows, so does the importance of applying SEO principles to support your brand’s ongoing visibility. Many small to medium-sized equine businesses don’t have the staff or time to do this. That's where Runaway Writing can help.
2. You need to be visible online. I work with you, your team, and your marketing strategy to understand your business and ideal customers. Then I create engaging, compelling, and optimized content for your website, which will bring people to your business.
3. You have expertise to share that is being searched for right now. I will help you anticipate what your customers and potential customers are looking for and how they are searching. Then I'll publish original, informative, and optimized content that they will find, and find valuable. This helps you build trust and drives your visitors to become loyal customers.
But There's Something Runaway Writing Can't Do
I can't get your business to the top of the Google SERP overnight. Not in a week, or a month. I'm being totally honest with you. I cannot get you to the top Google search ranking quickly. If someone tells you they can do that, don't believe them. Unless you pay big money for ad space, it just doesn't work that way.
As I said earlier, there are a lot of moving parts to the search engine algorithms. Organically rising through the search ranking takes time and a lot of consistently high-quality optimized content.
Let's Work Together
You might be wondering how well optimized your website might be. Download my free basic SEO checklist to find out!
I would love to learn about you, your business, and how I can help. I will always be honest with you. If I can’t add value or meet your specific need, I will do my best to search my network for someone who can.
If you found this article helpful, please share it on social media with your friends. I'd really appreciate your feedback in the comments! Have I helped you understand SEO a bit? Or do you still have questions?
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