A basic introduction to SEO for writers
It took a year for me to understand what SEO is for blogging.
I’m not joking. I thought it was like a hashtag for Instagram. “Keywords? What does that even mean?” That’s how clueless I was until I read articles after articles to finally understand it. I even watched YouTube videos.
If you are a new writer just hearing about the concept of SEO, here is a brief introduction to SEO. I’m not going into full details or technicalities — just basic information about this, so you get the concept before heading into in-depth information about SEO.
I am going to give you a basic lesson, step by step guide on how SEO works and how to actually use it for your writing/blogging, this can also be used in WordPress as well.
What’s SEO and why should you care?
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a technique of matching whatever you put on the internet so that your stuff gets to the first page.
SEO is a technique, not an action. This was my first mistake because I thought it was an action.
I define SEO as the technique where you use all the keywords necessary for your articles to get to the front page of Google. All of those words and their synonyms are important to get to the top.
In addition, SEO increases your chances of getting more readers even after you posted your articles a long time ago. It gets more traffic to your article.
Your mission is to be on the number one page of Google. No matter the competitors, you want to make sure you get to the first page of Google. That’s why you are going to have to make sure you got the right amount of keywords in it.
What are keywords?
This was where I became stuck at first because I wasn’t entirely certain what keywords were.
Keywords are not hashtags like Instagram or Twitter — they are similar but not really, keywords are the SEO texts. They are the main words you are going to often use in your blog/sites in order for Google to know that your website means serious business. Basically, they are the closest words that match the topics you search for.
Here’s an example. You are talking to two people, A & B, about stocks, and you asked them: How do you invest in stocks?
A: Oh, all you have to do is buy a particular stock. Sell it when it reaches your target price.
B: Oh, you are going to need an investing account. Find a particular stock that you are interested in and why you want to invest in it, some will even give out nice dividends. Most people go for the blue-chip stocks because from the fundamental analysis, they are the ones giving you the most value. But do be careful because some stocks can crash.
Look at the words in bold. Now, which of these would you listen to for more information?
Obviously, we’d pick B — not just because they had more things to say about it, but they hit every word that is related to stocks.
Just like us, the first Google page ensures that you get the best source, that’s why the keywords must match the topic of discussion.
Now, let’s apply this to your writing.
Applying keywords to your articles
Believe me when I say that you are going to have to apply keywords everywhere in your content.
You are going to put a lot of them in each paragraph. I’d say you need about five or six keywords in each paragraph so that you have enough matched words necessary to attract the search engine to pick up your article.
Your title, subtitle, and body structure are going to want to be filled with those. Here is an example:
Title: How To Invest in Stocks
Subheading/subtitles: A beginner's guide to investing in the stock market
In the body paragraph, I’d write whatever I want to write down first. When I finished writing my articles, I’d re-read and slip in the keywords. I’d put about five or six in the paragraphs.
This includes your website URLs
You are going to want to optimise them as well. To make it more accurate, I’d recommend having your keywords in your titles so that your website can create them for you.
If your site cannot optimise it for you and you need to customise it manually, this is what you need to know because links are also important. I’ll take an example from one of my articles:
Not optimised: https://medium.com/better-marketing/stephen-king-f8653886eff2
Optimised: https://medium.com/better-marketing/stephen-kings-guide-to-consistent-writing
This way, you are doubling your chances to make it to the first page. Why? Well, that's the magic of the internet.
Tools To Find Keywords
Which keywords are the best? How do I know which keywords to use?
There are many tools to find great keywords. For me, I relied on two and sometimes three.
1. “People also searched for….” (manual Google search)
I’m sure you recognise this on your Google page every time you search for something:
Image: from author
Usually, I use this for keyword guidance. I’d take the bold words and even the non-bold ones.
2. KeywordsEverywhere (browser plug-in)
This one is usually my shortcut and guide to find out what people are mostly searching on Google. Keywords Everywhere is a great extension that is implemented to google once you search for something. It basically extended the list of ‘People searched for’ on your Google searches.
It’s free, don’t worry. If you want higher advanced settings and services from them such as their search volumes, you may want to pay up.
3. AnswerThePublic (website)
I usually use this to go into greater detail on keywords. The great thing about this is that it has a list of keywords on what people are mostly searching for.
If you type stocks, it has a huge list of what people search for. That’s where you can take the words and sprinkle them into your paragraphs.
It’s free as well, and this website goes into full detail on the list of keywords. Plus, their graphs don’t make it look boring — that’s very helpful when you are looking for a list of them.
Conclusion
I’ve asked several people about keywords. Most would tell me not to worry about how many keywords I’ve put in. They recommended focusing on the number one keyword to keep getting my article picked up by the engine.
That’s the end — I hope this helps fellow writers, especially people who are new to this and are beginners to SEO.
=====
