Writing SEO texts – basics & tips

You probably already know that content plays a central role in search engine optimization. But how do you write optimized texts that also rank well? That’s exactly what we’re taking a closer look at today!

What are SEO texts?

SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. Accordingly, a so-called SEO text is a search engine optimized text. This is designed for a good understanding (and the best possible rating) by search engines such as Google.

The 4 steps to optimized content

The creation of search engine optimized content consists of several steps. There are basically 4 phases when writing SEO texts:

• Research
• Writing
• Conversion
• Optimization

The main focus of this article should primarily be on the research and writing process, although all other phases should not be neglected, as the interaction of all factors is crucial for your SEO success.

Phase 1: Research

In the first phase of creating an SEO text, the main thing is to find out which keywords are relevant for you and what the search intention behind them is.

What is the search intention?

Search intent is about finding out why users are searching for something and what their expectations are for the search results. These user goals can be divided into four categories:

• Information: Research and the search for information play a key role here.
• Navigation: Here there is a direct destination, for example YouTube, to which you want to go.
• Transaction: Users search for a product they want to buy.
• Commerce: Users want to buy something, but still need inspiration.

Knowing the search intention is crucial for writing good SEO texts. If you don’t know why people are searching for something, you can’t make your content relevant to them.

This may seem trivial at first, but in practice this is exactly what makes SEO copywriting a challenge.

The search intent can also help you to assess your chances of ranking for a keyword. If you cannot fulfill the intention behind a search query, your chances look poor.

So be clear about what results the user expects and look for ways to fulfill these expectations in the best possible way!

The keyword research

The keyword research process works according to the principle of evaluating, prioritizing and grouping.

It is primarily about recognizing and analyzing words and word groups that are relevant for you or your offer and are often searched for by your target group.

Evaluate

The aim of the evaluation is to recognize whether a keyword is relevant for your target group or not.

When evaluating the keywords, you should definitely look at the keyword difficulty (= how difficult it is to get to page 1 for a keyword).

Keywords with a high search volume are usually highly competitive and not a good starting point, because a smaller domain can hardly compete with companies like Amazon or Canva for “big” keywords.

When searching for desirable keywords that you can use for your SEO texts, it is important to strike a balance between keyword difficulty and search volume.

In addition, a distinction between head keywords and long tail keywords should not be forgotten: Head keywords are the main keywords with the highest search volume.

Although these keywords are popular, they are highly competitive.

Longtail keywords instead have less competition but are more specific. You can therefore achieve a good Google ranking more easily here, and the leads often convert very well!

Useful tools to find out the keyword difficulty: KWFinder, Ahrefs, Ubersuggest

Prioritize

Always keep in mind how relevant individual keywords really are for you (and vice versa). Keywords often appear to be very target-oriented at first glance, but at second glance the search intention turns out to be different.

Grouping

Try to sort your keywords into topic clusters. Such clusters are parts of content that are grouped together with the help of an overarching theme.

Keyword or topic clusters can massively increase your website’s organic traffic. It also supports the development of your authority within your subject area. More on this later…

As soon as you write several SEO texts on one topic, you give others the impression that you are an expert.

A helpful tool for online texts that makes your SEO work easier is SurferSEO. This is because you can automatically create clusters that make it easier for you to keep track of and handle keywords.

The feature is still relatively new (as of February 2021), but still quite useful. Apart from Surfer, you can of course also simply do your own research and structure your subject areas (you should also do this anyway!).

Your aim now is to cover all topic clusters as comprehensively as possible.

Tip: Surfer also offers a useful feature to improve your content with semantic SEO. As you write, it suggests further keywords and phrases that you can/should use in your text.

Phase 2: Writing

Google’s algorithms value quality. If search engine optimization is important to you, the quality of the SEO texts must also be important to you.

You should pay attention to the following points in your content:

• Clarity
• E-A-T
• Title Tags
• Meta Descriptions
• Images and alt texts
• Internal links
• Quality (fulfill the search intention, deliver added value)

Clarity of the SEO texts

The average attention span of a user is around 8 seconds. This makes it your task to attract the attention of your readers during this period.

Google attaches great importance to the longest possible periods of time in which users remain on your site. Interesting and unique content enables you to persuade readers to stay.

Note: A long session does not always have to be good. If a question can be answered briefly and concisely, then it’s perfectly okay if users only spend 30 seconds on your site, for example.

Another important point is a clear text structure and a logical structure of your texts. This increases Google’s understanding and at the same time improves the user experience on your site.

So make your SEO texts very clear & easy to understand. Use short paragraphs and concise headings. Break up the text from time to time with different media (e.g. infographics).

To give a nice example: The following graphic shows an excerpt from the website sägentest.de, a buying guide for saws of all kinds. In their reviews, for example, a short version of the evaluation is always included as a “scoreboard”. Simple but effective, and allows the user to recognize the most important information within a few seconds.

A good text contains:

• Table of contents
• Information about the author
• Pictures, graphics or videos
• Short heels
• Clear headlines
• (If possible at the beginning) Cliffhanger to keep the user on the ball

E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)

Another factor that influences the quality and ranking of your page in a search engine such as Google is the so-called EAT value.

This acronym stands for Expertise, Authoritativenessand Trustworthiness, i.e. competence, authority and trustworthiness.

Competence

Your site should be a valuable source of content and information on specific topics. The SEO text should convey the knowledge that readers are looking for and not lead to even more ambiguity and questions on the part of visitors.

Authority

Authority is another level of competence. Your company’s texts should be consistent in terms of content and not randomly thrown together. SEO texts with consistent content, which are also cited, give you authority in your subject area and support the trustworthiness of you and your SEO texts.

Trustworthiness

You will gain trust if your SEO texts are correct, of high quality and clearly structured and are characterized by good visibility.

Always remember that some pages or topics may affect your readers’ future, life situation, health, financial situation or security. You care about your visitors, which is why the EAT value should also be important to you.

Title Tag

The title is the first thing the user makes contact with and thus forms the first point of contact with your website and your content.

As a result, they have a major influence on the click-through rate and also determine how successful your search engine optimization is.

As a guide, your title could be structured as follows:

Note that the title tag is not the same as the H1 heading and there should be minimal differences. But always use your main keyword.

These tips will help you create the perfect title:

• Your keyword should be included
• Adapt your title tag to the search intention of your visitors
• Try to address the needs of your target group directly
• The title should not contain more than 60 characters
• A good title is short, but as descriptive as possible
• Uniqueness is always good!

Meta Description

The meta description or meta description of your page should be an addition to your title. This will boost your SEO success even further.

The meta description can theoretically be as long as you like, but search engines such as Google usually limit it to 155-160 characters in the desktop view and a maximum of 120 characters in the mobile view.

What makes a good meta description?

• It complements the title
• It briefly summarizes what users can expect on your site
• It is geared to the visitor’s search intention
• CTA or action-oriented, direct language is used
• Relevant keywords are used
• Matching emojis or symbols can make you stand out
• Uniqueness!

Of course, when using keywords, linguistic means or even symbols and emojis, you should make sure that they suit you and your content and are by no means exaggerated. This scares visitors away more than it attracts their attention.

Images and alternative texts

In addition to your text posts, images and alt texts are also important factors for the success of your optimization.

Images not only attract the reader’s attention. The alternative texts of the images improve your SEO progress and increase your chances of a good Google ranking.

The images and graphics should primarily be selected according to the needs of your target group.

Don’t make the mistake of only using stock photos, as this doesn’t support the clarity of your SEO text. What’s more, many of them seem like “I’ve seen them before”.

Infographics can help to make complicated topics clearer and break up long descriptions.

Note: Alt texts are the text that is displayed if an image cannot be loaded. They help search engines to better understand the text and are helpful for barrier-free access via the dictation function. With a long loading time, alternative texts can also provide information on your topics ahead of time and make the use of your site more efficient for users.

A good alt text:

• is precise and accurate
• contains important keywords
• provides a descriptive image description

Illustrations are suitable in almost all places to increase the aesthetics of your SEO texts.

If you are writing texts about topics such as websites, programs, etc., screenshots are a good way to make explanations easier to understand.

If you are trying to reconcile a lot of data within your article, you may benefit from using a graph or chart.

Images and graphics liven up your SEO texts, are remembered longer and make your search engine optimization more successful.

Internal links

Internal linking is important. This applies both to the usability of your website and to your search engine optimization.

Internal links allow you to take your visitors by the hand, guide them through your site and help Google to navigate and understand your content.

You can also distribute the power of backlinks (aka “linkjuice”) via internal links. You can find out more in the article“Improve Google ranking“.

After writing: It goes even further

If you have now created your SEO content, you have not yet reached your goal. It is now important to test whether your content is well received and to make improvements if necessary.

Phase 3: Measure conversions

After writing your SEO text, the next step is to use your content for content marketing! Yes, SEO and content marketing is a wonderful combination.

You want to encourage your readers to interact with your website. For example, with the help of CTAs.

With call-to-actions, you would ask your readers directly to take an action (for example, to sign up for your newsletter or to get advice from you).

Another option would be “gated content”, where you offer your readers a taste of your content for free, and offer the full content in exchange for an e-mail address or a purchase price.

Whatever a conversion is for you, whether it’s a newsletter subscription or a direct sale: use your SEO content for it and ensure measurable success!

Phase 4: Optimization & reworking

If you can measure your conversions and thus the performance of your SEO texts, you can also carry out corresponding tests.

Perhaps your conversion rate will improve if you add a new button, change the wording, or generally add more additions?

You should also keep an eye on the ranking of your content. Check your Google rankings regularly and see how your content is developing.

If it is not yet working as desired, you need to consider where you can make improvements. If it goes well, you should make a note of what worked and apply this knowledge to your next texts!

Note: Especially with newly published content, it can take a while before you get into the Google index. Always plan several weeks in advance and be patient when making changes.

Writing SEO texts: Key takeaways in short form

• Write a table of contents to ensure the most effective use for the user
• Choose your keywords carefully and pay attention to relevance and competition
• Gain the trust of your readers by providing information about yourself as an author and demonstrating your expertise. (E-A-T)
• Use images to liven up your texts, but also to make them more vivid
• If you have integrated images, don’t forget to add ALT texts to ensure accessibility
• Make your posts attractive and use paragraphs, lists or bullet points
• If appropriate, you can also insert a video to break up the text.
• Ensure measurable success via conversion tracking and optimize continuously