Writing seems like hard work. And it becomes even more difficult when you demand the integration of keywords in an intelligent way without interrupting the flow and ensuring that no spam is sent based on Google updates. Yes, we are talking about SEO content writing here.
SEO articles have different word limits. From 90 words to over 5,000 words, you can easily find descriptions, articles, blogs, white papers, case studies, web pages, etc. on the web. Of all the types of SEO content mentioned above, the most difficult to create is large content. Content that extends the 5,000 word threshold. But such detailed articles, when written smartly, can help dominate the SERPs.
In this article, we are going to talk about how to write these types of articles with absolute proficiency.
First, because?
You must be thinking that in this age where everything is short and fast, who goes long and boring? Good deal. People of this generation may be flash fans, but they are hungry for knowledge. So when the TG (Target Group) is ready to read the information, most of the business targets are sorted by default. Some more reasons are listed below:
· Best ranking: The longer the better. This has been proven times and often by multiple studies. A study by serpIQ conducted in the year 2012 showed that search engines displayed content that crossed 2000 words at the top. Another recent study from Backlinko and HubSpot showed that shorter pieces of content were outperformed by longer ones. If we put aside the studies and take into account your personal experiences, you will also have found that for any keyword that is in high competition, the search engines always return with a long and very informative article.
Advice: Do not limit. Simply provide complete information regardless of the number of words.
· Share better: Longer pieces of content tend to get more shares and this fact is shown by the data collected by BuzzSumo.
Advice: You also know the importance of sharing. So just don’t shy away from long articles.
· High relevance: When it comes to factors that Google considers when ranking a website, the list includes content quality, page engagement, backlinks, etc. But only a few people know that the relevance of a topic also plays an important role in impressing Google. After the Hummingbird update, Google has a better idea of whether a search is a question or a topic. For example, “real name of actor Thor” is a question and you don’t need to come back with detailed information about Chris Hemsworth. But on the other hand, a question like “advice on web content writing“demands a lengthy piece of information as it is a topic. Based on research conducted by MarketMuse, it was concluded that detailed content is considered relevant to the topic and therefore ranks higher compared to shorter content for multiple keywords.
Advice: Choose a topic and your keywords wisely.
· Easy conversion: Conversion in this case involves capturing leads. One of the best tricks to attract potential customers is content updates, which are video tutorials or downloadable PDF files. Such updates can only be offered with long posts, as short posts will not have enough information.
Advice: It’s pretty simple; GREAT CONTENT is the key to content marketing strategy.
Second, how?
Since you now know that bigger is better, let us show you how to create great content.
In addition to a lot of research, here are certain things that can help without fail.
· Step 1 – Choose the best keywords: Since great content takes time and money, you’ll want to target keywords only where their ROI is highest. Therefore, your focus should be on mid-tail and wide keywords or those that strike a balance between competition, traffic, and business goals. To do that, you will have to consider these 3 things:
oh Search volume: It’s important because it has a direct effect on how many real customers you can get. Additionally, it is also useful for establishing a standard traffic volume that will generate high ROI within a specific timeframe. AdWords Keyword Planner can be of great help when you want to find search volume.
oh Competitive Strength: The success of your great content also depends heavily on the quality of your competitors’ content. The reason some keywords are easy to rank for is simply because your competitors’ content isn’t up to scratch or the domain isn’t strong enough. In such a scenario, you should start by analyzing the top 10 results for your targeted keywords. You can take the help of any SEO tool to get the statistics. It’s pretty hard to beat the top 3 finishers, but it can be done if your content is correct. In addition to this objective analysis, you can collect some samples of the articles written by your competitors and compare them with yours. You need to make sure your content is well-formatted, detailed, image-oriented, strong-headed, and SEO-optimized.
oh Business goals: In the end, it becomes extremely essential to ensure that the content leads to the fulfillment of business objectives. This can happen if you discover the journey of your prospects and the keywords they enter. Consequently, you will be able to set the business objectives of the selected keywords. Below are the different types of keywords used by customers at different levels of their journey:
oh Decision level: If you’re looking to convert, try targeting keywords with buy, buy, buy, discount, coupon code, offer, etc. When a customer uses such keywords, it implies that they are at the decision level and are looking for discounts before buying. Another set of decision level keywords have review, compare, v/s, etc. These customers are knowledgeable about the solutions and just want to confirm that they are making the right choice. They can be easily converted if the ad copy is convincing. The problem with these types of keywords is that their search volume is quite low and it becomes difficult to create long content with them.
oh Consideration level: Keywords used at that level have the desired balance between search volume and business goals. These include words like affordable, cheap, best, superior, etc. These customers have a high chance of converting when these words are used with a specific product, service, or category.
oh Conscience level: Keywords in this tier have a high search volume but a low level of meeting business objectives. These will include words like what, how, why, etc. For businesses that have a strong sales funnel, these keywords are great targets for creating important content. If you plan to capture leads or are selling something big, you should target those keywords as they have lower completion and ranking for them becomes easier.
By following this step, you can get the keyword cream that will be best for creating long content. The second step is to select the correct format to facilitate content creation.
· Step 2 – Choose the best format: Once you have zeroed in on the keyword, you will need to choose the correct format in which you want the content. You can have it in the form of a list, infographic, guide, tips and tricks, or a thought piece. Lists are easier to write and are also recommended because they allow you to integrate multiple keywords and target them as well. In a list, you can use different keywords as a subheading. Another advantage of choosing the list form is that the flow and structure of the article is maintained.
· Step 3: Choose a scheme: After selecting the format, the next step is to create a quality assurance scheme. This is how you can do it.
o Define the general sections
o Divide into subsections
o Expand the subsection
o Hyperlink to data/research sources, if any
or add examples
The last two points are quite important as they raise the value of the content.
Step 4: Hire professional writers: The last step would be to hire professional SEO content writers. Let’s face it, no matter how much you surf the web to learn tips and tricks, you can’t match the experience that writers have. It is in your best interest to leave the job to the professionals for the best result.