20 Best Ways to Create Content that Boosts SEO

As you’re planning, researching and developing your content, you should always have SEO in mind. But do those three little letters overwhelm you?

Follow these 20 tips from some of the best minds in content marketing and search engine optimization, and you’ll be on your way to creating content that both Google and your audience will love.

Focus on content strategy. “Content for the sake of ‘words on a page’ doesn’t have the base value it once had. Now, your content really has to answer something. This should move content strategy higher on the list of business marketing objectives; it’s now even more important for desktop and mobile SEO.” – Bill Sebald via Mashable
Consider the “shareability” of your content. “Simply put, modern SEO is all about crafting content so compelling that other people want to promote it by linking to it or sharing it, which increases your trust and authority and helps the pages you want to rank well for certain keywords.” – Sonia Simone via Copyblogger
Spend time working on the words you use behind-the-scenes. “Many blog themes from WordPress and other CMS platforms are SEO-friendly right out of the box—but how you set them up, modify them and maintain them makes a big difference in Google’s ability to find and rank your blog’s content.” – JeffBullas.com
Set up Google Authorship. “Google wants its search results to provide the best content for its users, which means that it values content produced by credible leaders and subject-matter authorities.” – Emily Cretella via Cursive Content Marketing
Make it meaningful to your audience. “Content & media that gets shared, linked & acted on most, has a bigger impact. People are savvier about what’s “good” vs. what’s mechanical. That’s the problem with how many companies are approaching their social participation. They’re focused on scale with the least amount of resources. That often results in a more “mechanical” approach when it’s a “meaningful” approach that matters more in terms of building community, growing a network and engagement.” – Lee Odden via Top Rank Blog
Change perspective: think “content” optimization not “search engine” optimization. “In my opinion, SEO, or search engine optimization, is a misnomer anyway. It seems to suggest you optimize the search engine. Clearly, you cannot and do not. You optimize online content. “Content” optimization — now there’s a term I could live with. Seems like a happy and harmonious marriage of the two marketing disciplines.” – Barry Feldman via Content Marketing Institute
Start building authority on a topic. “…We need to shift our focus from getting traffic from keywords to getting traffic to pages. The recent hot trend in SEO around quality content is one aspect of that transition—it’s much easier to drive traffic to a great piece of content, regardless of how keyword-targeted it is. A more content-oriented mindset will also help us build topical authority, which is clearly something Google is interested in; they’ve spent a lot of time and a lot of money trying to figure out who knows the most about what.” – Ruth Burr via Moz
Remember that content is about more than SEO, and SEO is about more than content. “Don’t approach content marketing as purely an SEO tactic. Account for its broad effect on your marketing strategy, and you’ll get better business – and SEO – results.” – Ian Lurie via Entrepreneur
Spread your gospel by guest blogging. “Most websites allow writers to submit a bio and/or their social media profile URLs to be published at the end of the post. These links drive referral traffic and boost organic search rankings, resulting in better search visibility for the author’s website.” – Jayson DeMers via Search Engine Journal
Spread your gospel by guest blogging. “Most websites allow writers to submit a bio and/or their social media profile URLs to be published at the end of the post. These links drive referral traffic and boost organic search rankings, resulting in better search visibility for the author’s website.” – Jayson DeMers via Search Engine Journal

Focus on quality. “On the flip side, quality not quantity is the biggest measure of SEO these days, so your strategy might be to get a link on a big domain site like Mashable or the BBC. Why not spend your time researching their current content and what they publish and tailor your content specifically to them (oh, and don’t forget to double-check that your target link does have a good ROI). So, yes, this strategy is more risky than the “lets get loads of good links” strategy, but it can also pay off really well.” – Suzanne Ritter via MarketingProfs
Provide opportunities to connect in multiple ways. “When your posts are relevant to reader interests and compelling – readers will want to connect and share, which boosts SEO by sending out social proof signals. Write your guest post thinking about the purpose of the blog you are writing for and reader interests, but close the post with an invitation to connect. Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn – match how you are asking them to connect with the post and readership.” – Carrie Morgan via Social Media Today
Promote to the audience you want to reach. “Despite what you’ve read, your “epic content” isn’t going to magically go viral seconds after you click the publish button. There is no content marketing fairy. Like it or not, you’re going to have to work hard to promote your content. I mean really hard…If you look at what the best SEOs and outreach professionals are doing now, it’s pretty simple to summarize…they’re focusing outreach and promotion efforts on the needs of real people.” – Paul May via BuzzStream
Write about what’s trending in your industry. “If there’s a search that is suddenly very popular versus its normal activity, Google will apply QDF [query deserved freshness] to that term and look to see if there’s any fresh content on that topic. If there is, that new or fresh content is given a boost in search results. If you’ve got the right content, on the right topic when QDF hits, you may enjoy being in the top results for days or weeks.” – Search Engine Land
Revisit the past. “Search engine algorithms change every day, and you’re probably finding new, better ways to improve content. Producing fresh content is a must to keep up with the algorithms, and so is going back to visit old content to apply what you have learned to make it more visible to search engines.” – Aaron Agius via Business2Community
Vary your approach. “Don’t focus on just text – create videos, webinars, eBooks, images, memes and more if it’s what resonates with your audience.” – Jasmine Henry via Writtent
Write for your audience—not Google. “…Search engines are only programs that are built using mathematic algorithms and probability calculations — not real people visiting your site. First and foremost, your website content should always be written to provide value for your audience.” – Arnie Kuenn via Content Marketing Institute
Write about topics that have no expiration date. “When we talk about a piece of content being “evergreen,” we mean that evergreen content is content that continues to be relevant long past its publication…An evergreen’s value is that it has the potential to continue to bring traffic to your site for many months, or even years into the future.” – Megan Marrs via Business2Community
Provide opportunities for user generated content (UGC). “UGC leads to a site that constantly generates new forms of content that you can submit to search engines. Doing so is an excellent way to increase one’s search visibility and associated metrics.” – Jason Corrigan via Social Media Explorer
Understand the big picture. “SEO is peanut butter, Social Media is the jelly and content is the bread that holds it all together.” – Lee Odden via Top Rank Blog
Don’t just write content—consume it. “You don’t need to become a full-fledged SEO expert, but you should develop an overall understanding of the process. Too many small business owners know just enough to be dangerous.” – Bill Treloar via Business2Community
Still not confident about what your next (or first) step should be? Our Script Your Story power hour can get you started. Find out more today!