5 Steps to Writing Killer Website Content Which Ranks High

Ever heard the phrase organic traffic? It’s the visitors to your website which come from search engines. They come to your website because you have website content which ranks high in search results. It is the goal of almost every business website to get a lot of traffic, which is why there is always a lot of chat about SEO or search engine optimisation. The question of the moment would be then, how do I write website content which ranks high in search engines?

5 Important Steps to Writing High Ranking Website Content

Of course, there are more than five ways to write content for your site which ranks on Page 1 of Google. But there are five important ones we think you should know.

1 - Understand what search engines want

Search engines like Google have one job. They want to provide the best search results to users so that they will continue to use their engine. That doesn’t mean that you should write for search engines though. Just understand that if you don’t have great content, they are not going to want to put your URL on their Page 1. The types of things within your content that search engines are looking for include keywords and phrases, headings, internal and external website links, relevant and original content.

2 - Write for your target audience

Who is it that you want to read your website pages? They are the type of people who you want to aim your content at on each page of your site. This means use the vocabulary, tone of voice and subject matter which they would be happy to read. A useful tool is to have a buyer persona whom you keep in mind when planning and writing all of your content. A buyer persona is the absolute ideal person who will be buying your products, and this means you need to know everything about them. Their age, gender, financial status, location, likes and dislikes, needs and problems are all incredibly vital to your content marketing.

3 - Create great headings and titles

Research has shown that 80% of people will read the headline on your website page or blog, but that only 20% will read any further. If you fail to capture the reader’s interest straight up, they presume the rest of your copy will be uninteresting. The type of heading you use is crucial too. A Heading 1 or H1 is the most important heading on a page and sends a clear signal to search engines to pay attention to this first. It should only be used once per page and make certain you include your page keyword phrase in here! The Heading 2 or H2 is the second most important page heading, and should be used as a sub heading. This can be used multiple times on a page.

4 - Provide amazing well researched content

Having 100% original copy on each of your website pages is important. We’re not talking about ideas as that would be impossible, but rather the text itself. Copy and pasting text from other websites or using the product descriptions you were given from your supplier is a big no-no. Instead, craft your own text using some of the points they have used, rephrasing and re-ordering it. Research as much as you can for each page too. It’s important not only to give your visitor content they find interesting – it needs to be accurate too! For tips on writing high ranking product descriptions, make sure you check out our article on how to do this. 

5 - Use longtail keywords

Small businesses often find it hard to rank their pages because they are using the same keywords as large companies which have money to burn. A great keyword strategy is to use longtail keywords, which are the phrases or sentences people type into search engines to find specific content. For example, for the keyword restaurant, a longtail keyword phrase would be ‘Mt Wellington affordable Chinese restaurant.’ Yes, it will not be searched for as often as the word restaurant is, nor even the words ‘Auckland restaurant.’ But you are more likely to rank on page one and be found some of the time, which is better than never ranking at all. Make sure you check our article What is Keyword Research to learn more about choosing your keywords. 

For more specific advice on search engine optimisation, head over and check out our SEO tips.