SEO Writing Guide

Thierry Tanguay
Thierry Tanguay
Vice-président, services-conseils

Content drafting is a key element when creating or redesigning a Website. Before beginning, several elements must be considered: structure, technology, the speed and the security of the Website. It is also important to give some consideration to the choice of keywords and text volume that will be integrated in order to obtain the best natural page indexing, and ultimately, the best Website. We have prepared this article to assist you in creating your content.

Using an SEO Keyword Matrix

Matrixes are created to guide the writer in their choice of words, terms, and phrases to create text. You may use the terms and phrases in the « Keyword » column , in full or in part, in your text content, your titles and your subtitles. Try to make choices using the following criteria:

  1. Competitive rank: the lower the number, lower the competition. Try to use low-value words to create an advantageous position.
  2. Monthly average research: maximize the use of words and terms researched the most to generate more traffic.
  3. Search intent: transactional searches and commercial intent demonstrate a user’s interest in a product or a service on a short-term basis.
  4. Competitive AdWords and average cost per click (CPC): in order to avoid paying high CPC fees when it comes time to use paid indexing, choose lower CPC terms and competitive AdWords.

*Try to avoid repetition of the same sequence of words

If you do not have an SEO Matrix to guide you in writing your content, tools such as SEMrush or Google Trends may be useful in choosing keywords to help generate traffic on your Website.

Segment your content

Segmenting your content is essential for obtaining optimal organic search results. You should have only one main subject per page of content. If several subjects are discussed on the same page, try to regroup them into connected subjects. Best case scenario: only 1 subject (H1) should be addressed and subdivided in up to five sub-topics (H2). You’ll then have only one H1 and several H2s. For example, in this article, you would have:
H1: SEO Writing Guide
H2: Using an SEO Keyword Matrix
H2: Segmenting your content
H2: Writing your content
If the main content contains more than four or five sub-topics, you can separate them into multiple pages, thereby segmenting your main subject. This allows you to increase your notoriety about this subject as it will take up a large portion of your total content. Content strategies such as blogs or continual improvement can also fill in some voids if an essential subject is not sufficiently voluminous. You may also use sub-sub-topics (H3, H4, H5…) to split up your texts even further.

Writing your content

The ideal number of words per page is a controversial topic within the Web community. Google’s algorithm must be taken into consideration, but also the actual content that the visitor will read, Facebook’s algorithm for maximum visibility and much more. The ideal length of text can vary depending on the type of content (blog article, Homepage, Service page, product description page, etc.) and the media used.
See how the number of words can influence the volume of traffic (visits from search engines via organic indexing):

Source: HubSpot (https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/seo-social-media-study)

Social shares depending on word count:


Source: HubSpot (https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/seo-social-media-study)

Taking all of this information into consideration, we have simplified it with the following averages:

  • An article should contain 300 words minimum.
  • The pages and articles that perform the best contain, in general, 1750 to 2500 words.
  • The number of words used must be maximized for articles published on social media (ex.: blog posts).

Once your subject has been divided, you can finally start writing. When writing, keep in mind the three types of readers amongst Internet users:

  • Curious
  • Rapid
  • Demanding

Throughout all of your pages and your content, you should be able to satisfy each of these types of readers.

Curious

The curious type likes to read the content in continuous text. They may even re-read the entire page if the subject is of interest to them. This type of reader will appreciate structured texts, case studies, and customer testimonials.

Rapid

To captivate the rapid readers, you need to maintain a lighter style. This type of user will rarely read the entire page. They will prefer to rush through the sub-titles (H2) and read only the sections of interest to them. They will pay attention to summaries, lists, icons, videos, and illustrations.

Demanding

The demanding type of user has behaviors similar to the rapid reader, but they will certainly have higher standards with regards to the overall experience on the Website. You can satisfy this user with content which is current, exact and up to date.
You must, therefore, for each type of reader, use a combination of these elements in order to satisfy all of your potential clients, whether they are curious, rapid or demanding.
Happy writing!

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