The key to more online reach and sales? Writing good SEO texts. Here I explain what you should pay attention to in the process
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When you think of SEO, do you first think of texts? Then you’re not completely wrong, because search engine optimization works mainly through text. But not only. If you start with a good SEO text, further steps for the technical side of optimization can be derived from it. But one after the other.
If we now look only at the text, two parameters are decisive:
Keywords and goal of the search intention.
One does not work without the other. These two ranking factors are like Black & White or Ebony and Ivory. The only problem is that many people only pay attention to keywords and neglect search intent – a typical SEO mistake.
Writing good SEO texts through keywords
First the obvious: the keywords. These keywords belong in your text so that it ranks on Google and is found by your target group.
Example:
You are a yoga teacher for children and want your offer to be found on page 1 of Google. Research with keyword tools such as KWFinder or Ubersuggest has shown you that “exercises for children’s yoga” is a search term with which you have good chances of ranking. It fits your topic and is not yet “used” by many other websites. You now want to optimize a sub-page of the website for this main keyword.
What is the best way to include the main keyword in the text? For example:
(Headline)
Children’s yoga – 5 exercises with fun and fitness effect
(Teaser)
Children’s yoga exercises do more for the little ones than some people think. Here are a few examples from my courses that you can easily practice at home.
The main keyword belongs in the h1 (the top headline), in the teaser, the subheadings and a few times in the body text.
In my example text, I included the keyword once in the headline and then again in the teaser text. It wouldn’t be nice to put it in more than once – a good SEO text should still be pleasant to read.
However, many website owners don’t care how their text reads. Instead, they stuff it full of keywords. Here is an example of a text from the web that I have altered. I replaced the original keyword with “coach for specialist area” to keep it general.
This is the text:
Coach for your field of expertise: Effective coaching for your field of expertise.
As a freelance coach for your field of expertise, I accompany you on your way. Have you made it your goal to motivate and promote people as a subject expert? Then you’ve come to the right place!
Four times the keyword within 4 sentences. Big SEO mistake. Not only does the text sound stupid this way. It also ignores what the target group might think when reading it.
Namely that:
“…coach for subject area, ah very good. Effective…yes, exactly. As a freelance – yes, I know, you’re a coach for your field, that’s clear. You’ve made it your goal to…, hm-m, yep, people as a subject matter expert, then you’re with me as a… tell me, is he kidding me? That’s the fourth time he’s repeated that, does he think I’m stupid?”
You can compare this with spoken language. Imagine you want to tell someone about your new blog post.
Would you say:
I’m writing a blog article about SEO mistakes. I explain SEO mistakes and how to avoid SEO mistakes.
…or rather:
I’m writing a blog article about SEO mistakes. I explain what is meant by this and how you can avoid them.
At the beginning, we mention the word we are concerned with and then instinctively replace it with pronouns (he, she, it, etc.).
The same rule applies to texting. If the noun is repeated unnaturally often, the text does not sounds right.
And that brings us to the second SEO factor:
Writing good SEO texts through the right search intention
It is not only the keyword density that counts, but also the fact that the text fulfills what the reader hopes to get out of it. And that is: an easy-to-read text that takes the target group seriously and provides them with the answers they are looking for. Without verbal stumbling blocks.
So if you feed your text with keywords that make no sense after the second repetition, you are not writing for your readers, but only for Google. And that is only half the battle.
A page does not rank if it contains no keywords. Or at most at a snail’s pace, because although the content is right, Google can’t dock with anything. Therefore, the keyword has to be repeated by necessity.
But it also doesn’t rank if the text is so badly written that it scares the target group away and they go back to Google.
Instead of overdoing it with the keyword density, rather delete the main keyword from the text a few times and move it to the backend – because this also counts to a well-written SEO text.
Your main keyword belongs in
- the meta data,
- the image alt tag,
- the title tag,
- the image captions
- and in the designation of internal links.
On top of that, it also has a positive effect on the ranking if other websites link to your page – the so-called backlinks.
These are all measures that are not visible to the reader, but have an influence on the ranking. Ignoring them is one of the most common SEO mistakes.
If I had to give a manual for writing SEO texts, it would probably be this one:
Think about who you want to reach with your text and what your target group might type into Google. Then research useful keywords with keyword tools and concentrate on one main keyword and a few secondary keywords. But don’t include them in such a way that the readability and logic of the sentences suffer. Web texts have the task of attracting the target group and radiating sympathy. Readers want to be convinced by what is written there and have the feeling that it was written just for them. And they notice when someone is writing with dollar signs in their eyes, just thinking about ranking.
So it’s better to support your text in the backend by including the main keyword.