How to Write Content for People and Google

There is some truth in the common perception that writing content that is engaging, entertaining and informative for your readership and at the same time ticks all of the SEO boxes that Google’s algorithm necessitates is a tricky balancing act. However, it has become decidedly less so as the gap between what the right people want and what Google deems important has massively narrowed and continues to do so.

As Lojix, a digital marketing agency based in Barnsley rightly says "there was a time when robotic articles that meticulously fulfilled the rather rigid SEO protocol dictated by Google’s early algorithms drove traffic, but the emphasis has rightly shifted to user experience, which actually makes content writing a far more gratifying experience and the internet a better place."

Of course, there remain many important factors to consider when coming up with SEO content and not all of them (although many do) simply involve writing engaging content that fills a void and answers real world issues that your demographic want addressing. Quite possibly the biggest challenge is to create engaging, readable content that is also informative and educational. In essence biggest challenge may not be writing content for people and Google at all, it may be writing content that is clickable, digestible and educational all at once. If it is all of these things then the chances are it actually is content for people and Google. So, how do you go about this?

Firstly you must consider the type of content in which to present your article. By this we mean how you present your information. Research shows that people love the following types of content.

• How to articles (you are reading one right now)
• Top 10 (or another number) lists
• Videos
• Infographics
• Blogs
• Case Studies
• Checklists

Of course there are many other extremely popular types of content, but working with the above should give a budding SEO or content writer more than enough to work with in order to be able to provide informative, fun and inspiring content. You should aim to fill a gap in the market or improving on what already exists, packaged in such a way as to prove popular with their demographic and eminently acceptable to the search engines. In a way, the type of content is content’s book or album cover. A way to present the media in such a way as to make it consumable, memorable and enhance it. Imagine Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon with a different cover. Or A Clockwork Orange without that infamous poster.

To augment this approach, there are of course some technical details to appeasing the algorithms. In order to determine whether the presented content is deserving of a high ranking, Google looks through a range of parameters including your presentation of keywords, meta tags and anchor text. In addition the bounce rate of visitors is monitored, along with retention rate and social shares. All of these are factors that you have a modicum of control over and most of them still relate to making content that satisfies your readership, so even looking at the finer details leads us to the conclusion that the idea content for Google and content for people being separate beasts is outdated.

How to choose the right keywords

Choosing the right keywords for content is an art, of this there is no doubt. But it is an art made a whole lot easier thanks to the likes of Google Keyword Planner, which is accessed via your Google Ads account. If you type in a given topic you will be presented with a whole host of keyword chains that are presented in order of their average monthly searches, giving you a great initial indication of some of the most popular search terms. Of course, to tailor this to your own clientele will require a bit of digging on your own website. Use Google Search Console, where you are able to see what keywords led people to your website.

Headlines sell newspapers (and content!)

Lastly, make sure your content has the right title or headline. Make sure to present your article with confidence and precision, including as much detail and intrigue without overdoing the word count.

I am a professional writer providing content for various customers.