When you write website content, who do you write for first: readers or robots (search engines)? Writing for the Web is a delicate dance that requires a healthy mix of both, at least if you rely on Google and the like to drive traffic to your site or blog.
If you want to write website content that satisfies readers yet gives search engines enough clues as to what your article, page, or blog post is about, you’ll need to follow a few easy-to-implement strategies.
How to Write Website Content that Works:
Write for readers first, search engines second. As a web writer, you may appreciate this return to basics: It’s all about engaging the reader with words!
Write Website Content for Readers
It’s not just about words though. Naturally, your words must be grammatically correct, engaging, relevant, and informative. If you’ve ever cringed at a poorly spun article or one obviously written by someone whose first language definitely isn’t English, then you’ll love recent search engine algorithm tweaks that emphasize quality content. Keyword stuffing is out; bad grammar is out; “thin” rehashed rewrites full of fluff are out; fresh, original content is in.
In addition, modern website content writing must also be concise. Internet readers don’t have the time or attention spans for lengthy essays or unwieldy sentences that ramble on without saying anything. For example, take a look at the two examples below:
- There are, of course, many ways to make your writing as engaging and interesting and informative as possible.
- Engage your readers with concise, useful information.
Aside from the actual words, Web content needs to be visually pleasing and easy to scan. This means:
- Short paragraphs with double-spaced lines between
- Bold headings
- Bullet points
Finally, when writing website content for readers, speak to them – this means you! Yes, “you” as in second person voice. Your English professor won’t like it, but this isn’t English Comp 101, it’s the Web. While you’re at it, use language appropriate for your website audience. In most cases, you won’t need fancy words or flowery phrases.
Write Website Content for Robots
As sophisticated as they are, search engines are robots. They need data in order to figure out what your strings of beautifully written words mean and how those words relate to what users enter into the search box. Keyword phrases are still important. This doesn’t mean you need to go overboard; you just need to use them strategically.
Starting with a keyword phrase, brainstorm related words. For example, if your primary keyword phrase is “high performance cars,” related words might include “exotic cars,” “sports cars,” and “Italian supercars.” Yes, these are good old-fashioned synonyms and search engines are finally appreciating – and expecting – variety. As you write website content for readers, many of your keyword’s synonyms will flow naturally. Go with your instinct and don’t stress too hard over this process which is officially known as “latent semantic indexing.”
Next, add your keyword phrase to these important page elements:
- The title
- The first and last paragraph and in the middle section if possible
- Section headings, ideally using Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3 tags
- Bullet lists if possible (when you write website content with bullet lists, white space, and headers, you make it easy on both readers and search engines)
- Alt text tags for images, videos, and other media
More on How to Write Website Content
This list is by no means exhaustive, but it’s a good starting point. If you incorporate these steps into your writing, website content that impresses readers and robots alike is sure to follow.
Having published thousands of website writing projects, I wrote a book on how to write website content, The ABCs of Writing Articles for the Web.
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