How to Write Content that is Optimized for Search Engines

To me, I always feel like Search Engine Optimization (or SEO as it is known in the industry) is the big elephant standing in the middle of the room that nobody wants to talk about. It’s a whole lot of work. Right? Or so you’ve been told…

It’s true, Search Engines, mainly Google, like to make up complicated algorithms and schemes to try and make this very simple concept into the giant elephant that it is. When it boils down to it… write your copy so that it contains the keywords your potential clients are searching for. Having keywords throughout your copy increases the relevancy of your page for those keywords. Thus, when someone is searching for a particular product or service- you come up!
Here are 3 quick tips for placing keywords in your online copy:

1. Title Tags:

This is the most important place to include keywords. The title tag is the title of your web page- it runs along the very top of your browser and usually contains the name of your company and a brief description. That brief description is where you should include the keywords you are trying to maximize for each page of your web site. Be aware that computers (Search Engine spiders), like humans, read from left to right. They also give the most weight to the words on the far left versus those to the right. Also keep in mind that Google only displays 66 characters in the title tag, everything else will be cut off. So make sure to keep them short, simple and to the point… oh yeah and include those keywords!

2. Headings and Subheadings:

Another important place to put keywords is in heading (H1 tags) or subheadings (H2 tags). Search Engines give these tags more weight than they do keywords in the body of your site. So, it is a good idea if you can find a way to incorporate keywords in both the headings and subheadings of your pages- just don’t forget to make sure that they make sense to readers!

3. Synonyms

Here’s the thing… although you may think that you’ve got your keywords nailed down to a science… it’s a good idea to incorporate synonyms of these words into your copy. Using synonyms not only breaks up the monotony of just using a single word or phrase, but searchers may be using these synonyms or related words to find your products without you even knowing it. Overture is a great free source that will help you find synonyms and related keywords searchers may be using to find your products or services. To view this keyword tool visit http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/.

One last little tip. After you’ve got your keywords down and you know how and where you want to use them, don’t forget to make sure your copy is actually readable and it isn’t just loaded with keywords. Once you’ve got that down, the last thing to remember… make sure your copy is interesting!