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The great secret to proper SEO is to write for people, then optimize for Google. Yet, with many confusing technical requirements in mind, most people struggle to balance these two tasks.

But between these two crucial aspects of SEO writing, which is more effective for business purposes?

Our advice is to always prioritize customers. Your business can only thrive if your audience can relate to your writing. But they can only see the content in organic searches, and that can be achieved if you apply the right SEO techniques. 

Whew. What a rollercoaster ride!

But you don’t have to struggle with this dilemma anymore. Let us take you through these trusted tips to write SEO content that appeals to your audience.

1. Find Out What Your Audience Wants

Before you start writing for your audience, spend some time getting to know them better. Find out the demographics of your users based on age, location, gender and education. 

Why do you need to find out their demographics? 

With a better understanding of the target audience, you can choose a content approach that caters to them. 

You don’t want to write articles about college life for working-class people and suburban parents. At the same time, you can’t write about pensions when most of your users are Millennials.

Therefore, use tools like SurveyMonkey to gather information about your users’ interests. Ask direct questions about topics that appeal to them. And use the report to tailor your content creation strategy.

Also, you can gather detailed info on location and top searches by using Google Analytics. The inclusion of this data is considered best for SEO and helps you create content that satisfies both users and search engines. 

2. Create a User Profile

A user profile is an imaginary persona generated from the information gathered during audience research. When you have an age range and location, you can create a persona for the typical customer.

Once you nail down the persona, you can tailor your ideas to that fantasy individual. Instead of using the shotgun approach, you can pinpoint the key focus areas for your content marketing strategy.

For instance, if the generated persona is a teenage sports-lover, the content should focus on sporting activities. 

And since your average audience members are young people, they will probably enjoy multimedia content delivered in a fun, conversational tone.

3. Start With Catchy Headlines

No matter how mind-blowing and informative your content is, a terrible headline will drive people away from the post. 

Think of it as a book’s title: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer sounds more catchy than Tom Sawyer. 

The first title narrows down the book’s scope to a specific theme – Tom’s adventures. But the second title is vague and offers nothing to the reader. 

This same logic applies to post headlines. Make them as entertaining and informative as possible to attract more eyes. 

Besides, you can also include keywords in the title to improve your SEO content. Moreover, Conversion XL affirms that headlines with numbers are good for SEO indexing.

And most importantly, use headline analyzers to check the score and emotional impact of headline variations.

4. Create Informative Posts

Content marketers have different specifications for the perfect minimum word count for posts. However, Google’s latest content ranking protocols prioritize quality over quantity.

Of course, an informative long-form post has a greater chance of reaching the top spots. But if the article lacks quality, Google bots will downgrade it automatically. 

But how can you make your SEO content informative and rank higher in searches?

First of all, focus on niche-specific keywords. Conduct keyword research for every topic and insert the keywords organically. 

And whatever you do, avoid keyword stuffing because it makes your content unreadable. Finally, focus on “How To” posts because they draw more traffic to your page. 

If you have the time, go through Google’s guidelines containing rules for writing high-ranking content. And if you need help, consider working with an SEO agency that has a team of SEO content experts to ensure you publish effective, optimized copy that helps you rank.

Besides, don’t forget about link building. Inbound and outbound links affect your site’s authority and bounce rate. 

Aptly-placed internal links reduce the bounce rate when users visit your page. In the same manner, high-authority websites with stats and verified data increase your site’s reputation and SEO ranking.

5. Tell a Relatable Story

Unlike the non-specific shotgun approach, the sniper approach focuses on the user persona developed for your content.

Always narrow down the topics to address the audience’s interests. You should also focus on a specific tone and writing style.

If you don’t have a clear-cut audience, follow the conversational writing style across the board. Mention experiences and expressions specific to the target demographics. Above all, ensure that the story is consistent with your brand message.

6. Optimize the User Experience

Google rankings favor websites that offer an excellent user experience (UX). So, you need to simplify the interface and get rid of annoying pop-ups.

When working with a content management system (CMS) like WordPress, choose optimized themes and limit plugins to essentials. 

Also, confirm that the theme is optimized for all devices, especially mobile. Since most users consume your content on smartphones, you should prioritize the mobile browsing experience.

And most importantly, ensure that the site does not take a long time to load.

7. Add Multimedia

Modern tips for writing specify the use of multimedia alongside written content. This hybrid strategy combines visual elements and makes your content more digestible. 

Some useful multimedia content for your website include:

• Infographics
• GIFs
• Images
• Videos

Moreover, media content is good for SEO because you can optimize the metadata – alt texts and image descriptions. 

8. Focus on Analytics

Numbers don’t lie. The figures you see on the screen reflect your content’s online relevance and engagement. 

With tools like Google Analytics, you can gather useful information about single posts and your overall website.

You can improve your website’s SEO by identifying the top queries driving traffic to your site. Also, you can localize your content to users in a specific location or focus on a global audience.

Most importantly, analytics provide you with content performance metrics to optimize your content creation strategy.

Final Words

Creating customer-oriented SEO content requires an understanding of SEO techniques and your target audience. By gathering information about consumer interests, you can create a detailed user persona to guide your content creation. 

Don’t focus on keyword SEO alone. Use catchy headlines and conversational writing styles to connect with your readers. And focus on providing optimum quality at all times. Improve the user experience and optimize the content for mobile.

And most importantly, use analytics to improve your content creation and marketing strategies.