In the history of Treefrog, and indeed of the Internet, there was a time when you might have asked: “Should you hire a website pro or do it yourself?” For there was a time when building your own website was a real option. But in 2022 this vocation has become very professionalized, including SEO writing. DIY websites have gone the way of log cabins. Quaint, yes – and historically significant. But there are reasons that people stopped building that way!
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The History of Writing
More about SEO writing after we chase a little deeper down this rabbit hole. There were times when writing was on tablets! The ancient Sumerians etched onto wet clay with sharp sticks, then burned the clay tablet in a fire so that the content would never be lost. Then writing changed again, as Codex came into common use. Hey, the Nile was the first “papyrus valley” – long before Silicon Valley was opened up.
In 2022, websites are an integral part of the rapidly growing ecology of IT. Have you ever marvelled at how fast search engines like Google can answer your questions? Do you use other social media platforms like Facebook or Gettr? Do you tweet, or post your photos on Instagram? We all watch videos on Youtube. We upload our songs to Spotify. This virtual universe is spreading out fast from the initial Big Bang of email.
How to Write For SEO
Believe it or not, these social media dots are all being connected. No more is each website a stand-alone “silo”. For example, the way that your website is built will determine how fast it advances to the head of the queue on Google. This goal is becoming a paramount concern as businesses move towards the “new normal” of trading on the Internet. That move to trading on-line is Treefrog’s core business. Treefrog is no longer just a website builder, it has moved far beyond that. Clients who want to migrate to trading on-line need heavy doses of SEO writing, embedded in their websites.
The Fundamentals of SEO
Businesses want to be at the top of the list that Google presents when you ask it a question. The determinant of who floats to the head of that line-up is built into an optimal website, in terms of Google’s internal scoring system. DIY website builders probably do not understand this critical link as well as Treefrog does. This is not about “trade secrets” as much as about expertise and integration. In 2022, a website must connect very well with the other dots in the IT universe. Treefrog deploys skilled SEO writers in its overall team of technicians. There is more to creating content for websites that just good writing. This now involves a working knowledge of how search engines work. SEO means “search engine optimization”. Writing website content involves both copywriting and some critical technical calculations as well. Check out our article on the basics of SEO to help you get started.
Building Your Story
It’s sort of like building a really fine restaurant out in the middle of nowhere. You may serve the very best cuisine and wines, but nobody knows it’s out there. They say that the three most important criteria when starting a restaurant are 1. Location 2. Location and 3. Location. Likewise, a website will be most visited when it is easy-to-read and interesting, while certain keywords and “tags” are also embedded in the text. Search engines are robots, after all. They count. If those hidden signals are not there in the content, you have a restaurant serving great food in a terrible location.
Getting to the front of the Google line-up can make a huge difference to your business volumes. And search engines are very predictable – if you know how to get to the front of the queue. There are many tricks, different devices and tips to make this happen. Their importance should not be underestimated.
SEO Formatting and Headings
Reading an article online is similar to reading a newspaper article. Remember newspapers? They are specifically formatted to guide your eyes and make it efficient for the reader to understand without effort. Digital articles, such as the one you’re reading if you had made it this far, are designed to be read on a scrolling screen. Do not write long running paragraphs and use descriptive headings to guide the reader. Keep it simple.
Create a table of contents. Use one H1 tag for your title and multiple H2 tags for your headings. You will also notice this article links various keywords to other articles we have written on SEO. This is known as passing SEO equity to other pages on our website, but more importantly, it keeps the reader engaged so they stay on your website longer.
Natural Writing Makes Great SEO Articles. Do Not Force Keywords (Stuffing).
A good website is but one cell in a broad honeycomb – it is not a stand-alone. What defines “good” in IT terms is that Google will direct customers to that URL first. So there is more to writing great articles for websites than meets the eye. It also involves embedding signals that help search engines to award the URL priority over competitors. You can dive deeper into this topic with our top 4 SEO tips.
For example, did you know that the “keyword” in this article is “SEO writing”. And that the three other tags are “SEO, writing”, and “content”? Guess what? The keyword is repeated four times. The three tags are repeated twelve times. That’s what the search engines count amongst other signals. Hopefully you found this article interesting and informative as well?