Phases for Writing SEO Content that Ranks

Okay, so how do you write content to try to reach the top positions in Google's ranking?

We have divided it into phases because we believe it is easier to understand:

Phases for writing SEO content

The first thing you need to do before you start writing an article is to analyze what you are going to write about, how you are going to do it, and for whom.

Research phase for SEO writing

Good SEO writing starts with good analysis.

Choose the right keywords

The first thing you should do before you start writing is to identify which words the audience uses to perform that specific search.

It is better to target a keyword that has less search volume because having less competition will also allow you to rank faster. Include them naturally in the text, avoiding overloading the writing because Google bots can penalize you.

From there, it is essential to pause for a moment and try to answer a series of questions:

• What questions about the topic are being answered on the best-ranked pages?
• Is the information incomplete?, is there something important missing that you can add to your text?
• What format do they use? Is it a visual content? Are there videos or added multimedia content?
• Is it easy to find the answer?
• Are there sources of information? Are official studies mentioned? Are they reliable?
• Is the writing of quality?
• Is there over-optimization of the main keyword?
• Is there any recognized expert in the topic? Have their interviews been published?

With this analysis, you will get answers to questions like:

• Why does the user perform that search and what information do they really want to find.
• What are their doubts and what are the possible solutions.
• For this initial analysis, you can use some of the AI tools for SEO that exist.

Competitor analysis

You should analyze the competition to see how they are writing. The length of the text, the keywords they are using, whether they include videos and images.

You can, for example, conduct a competitor analysis that consists of analyzing the top 5 of the SERPs. To see what is written about the topic that interests you, what keywords have been used by those who will be your competitors, and what characteristics the website that is ranked in the top 1 on Google has.

Writing and optimization phase of an SEO text

Once we have the keyword study and know the competition we are facing, we already know how to start the SEO writing.

We must structure those keywords into what will be the content index of the article we are going to write. It is important that the structure is well defined and clear so that both the reader and Google can quickly understand what content they will find in it.

Even if the content is of high quality, if it is not understandable, the user will leave the page.

Make short paragraphs that are easy to read, highlight important ideas with bold text, make visual emphasis with icons or quotes from the text on what you want them to focus on, include visual content… all of this will be seen in the formatting phase in more detail.

Optimized meta title and meta description

We must optimize titles and meta descriptions, including the main keyword in the h1 and related keywords in the subtitles.

With the appropriate length of 130 – 160 characters for the meta-description and for the titles between 35 and 60 characters.

Thanks to this, you achieve an organized and coherent structure that is easier for the user to understand and for the Google bots to know what the hierarchy in the content is.

To choose the subtitles h2 and h3 well, you can base them on the questions and related searches that Google shows you.

Pay attention to semantics

Semantic SEO writing is the process of optimizing content for a topic rather than a keyword.

That is, writing SEO content using related keywords and synonyms that enrich the text and add value to the words we want to rank.

And, of course, that resolves the user's search intent.

For example, if your main keyword is "writing SEO content," a synonym could be "SEO writing" and related searches: "How to write SEO text?", "What does an SEO content writer do?" or "What type of content is most effective for SEO?".

By using approachable and explanatory language, you will have a better chance of appearing in featured snippets. And yes, I know you are going to say that Google has already removed that…

But well, it doesn't hurt to do it because it is part of writing correctly so that the user understands you, which is the goal.

Consider EEAT factors

EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Which translates to Experience, Knowledge, Authority, and Trust.

You must keep in mind that the text must reflect the experience of the website on the subject in question. And the knowledge of the person writing the text to gain the reader's trust.

The authority of the website can be defined as the reputation it has and whether it is an informative reference based on the sector.

Authority can be demonstrated in three main ways:

• Establishing a solid content architecture.
• Building a digital profile or personal brand as an expert in a particular topic.
• Building links or backlinks from other authoritative sites.