When it comes to SEO-friendly content, many of you think it is about integrating keywords in content, but it is a way to convey the right message to your users so that they could trust you and visit your website on and on. You need SEO-friendly content for two reasons;

• First, you need it to make your website rank on the top page of search results if a user finds you through a relevant keyword you target
• Secondly, it helps you connect with your target audience at a higher level.

Content does not become SEO friendly by just integrating keywords. You need to serve quality to your users. Apart from the self-promotion of products and services, you need to understand the pain points of your users and provide them with the solution. If you want to connect with your audience, you will have to serve them what they need. To create SEO-friendly content, you need to make a strategy. You will have to identify the needs of your target audience, do research about keywords and create a plan for optimizing the content. Here are the basic rules you must follow to create SEO-friendly content.

Stand out from the crowd

If you are copying others, you will never be able to grow your business. SEO strategy cannot be the same for two businesses. When you try to be authentic without focusing much on your competitors’ strategy, you are more likely to stand out. Remember that Google prefers new and original ideas. There is no use of creating content that more or less surround your competitors’ approach. Of course, creating content on old topics is a waste of time. People have already got to know about them as they are flooding the internet. If you keep recycling the same text like every Tom, Dick or Harry, Try to brainstorm new ideas because neither readers nor search engines would like repetitive content. Identify the current problems of your users and generate content around them.

Make your keyword research extensive

Selecting the right keyword is the most crucial step you will have to take to create SEO-friendly content. It seems a daunting task, although it does not need to be. Keywords are intrinsic because they help your website show up when a user makes a query using the relevant keyword you have targeted. You can use Keyword Planner tools to pick keywords or keyphrases, but that will not be enough if you want to show up on every targeted keyword. Search volume and the level of competition also matter a lot while picking keywords. Long-tail keywords perform better than short-tail keywords as they are more specific and hence bring in quick results. However, make sure that the search volume is high and the level of competition is either low or moderate. It is hard to rank on keywords with high competition, but it does not allow for the interpretation that you should not use them. There should be a combination of keywords with low and high competition. Since there is no hard and fast rule in SEO strategy, it is likely to have no results even if you target long-tail keywords with high search volume. In this scenario, you may have to target keywords with low searches. It is worth ranking top keywords for fewer searches than not raking at all.

Focus on readability

Content readability factor indicates how easy it is to understand the text. SEO-friendly content must have a high readability factor. If readability is poor or people are not able to decipher the message you want to convey, you will lose even if you target the right keyword. Google generally focuses on the quality of content to decide the ranking, but readability contributes to it indirectly. There are various online factors to help you know the readability score of your content. Use simple vocabulary, write short to medium-length sentences, and write as you talk, format your content correctly, and add relevant images, infographics and videos.

Write catchy titles

No matter how good content you have generated, users will not find it worth reading if the title is not catchy. A user intends to click those results that are compelling. The title should be descriptive and appealing so that users can understand what it is about. Make sure that you write the description accurately. Use keywords in the title and do not keep it over 65 characters. Use keywords naturally. They should go with the flow. You can use some online tools to check the score of the title. These tools will decide the rating after the analysis of grammar, length and readability. SEO-friendly content is essential if you want to generate more leads. However, it requires enough deliberation over creating a strategy. You should try to hire a content marketing expert who can help you create a plan for writing SEO-friendly content. If you do not have enough money to utilise such services, you can take out long-term loans with no credit check.