Did you know that a whopping 53% of web traffic comes from organic search? Or that Google has a global search engine market share of nearly 92%? These statistics both show us how important it is for our web pages to place high on search engine results. Quality writing and a good grasp of SEO principles are the best way to help your content achieve its maximum potential. Let’s look at some examples of SEO writing that stand out for quality.
What is SEO content writing?
Before we look at some great examples of SEO writing, it’s important to understand what we’re talking about. SEO content writing is the practice of writing website copy for maximum performance on Google and other search engines.
Great SEO writing is both an art and a science. It’s a science in that you need to use keywords and website management techniques to get ahead. For example, your website should always load as quickly as possible because readers may give up on your content if it takes too long to load. When people leave too soon, it hurts your position in Google’s algorithm.
On the other hand, quality examples of SEO writing also need keywords. In marketing, we talk about long-tail and short-tail keywords. These terms distinguish between whole phrases that serve as a keyword (long-tail) and just a word or two (short-tail). Choosing keywords is critical to your SEO efforts because they tell Google what your page is about. Give the wrong answer, and it’s game over for organic traffic before you’ve even started writing.
The best SEO writing incorporates keywords, and sound website management, with top-quality writing. Ideally, you should insert the keywords into your text naturally. Clumsy writing can get your text penalized by Google, especially with the latest algorithm changes. You also want to include them with appropriate frequency. Keyword stuffing, or using them too frequently, also gets you in trouble.
In other words, the best SEO content writing strikes a balance between the right keywords, the right frequency of use, and other factors. There’s no single technique that makes your content skyrocket to the top of Google.
What are some outstanding examples of SEO writing?
Now that you understand the basics let’s look at some great examples. For this exercise, we’ve chosen some relatively common topics: travel, cooking, and real estate.
Snowpak
Let’s look at the Snowpak page. Notice how they include the long-tail keyword in the article title? There’s no guessing what this page is about!
Now consider the first paragraph:
Do you see the bottom line? The author ends with the phrase, “best ski resorts Vermont has to offer.” You can see that there are two keywords: the one in the title and a subset of “best ski resorts Vermont.” There’s a nice variation in the text to include both keywords naturally.
Another thing to note is how the article introduction is short and sweet. Let’s discuss what the post is about, then get to the point.
Forbes
Here, you see that Forbes article has earned a coveted Featured Snippet. As a result, they have the first entry on the SERP, and you even get a preview of the contents. By many accounts, Featured Snippets are the holy grail of SEO content writing because they drive traffic like little else.
But how did they do it?
Besides keyword excellence (you’ll see this, too), the table of contents lets Google read the article especially well. In addition, you see a quick rundown of which towns Forbes considers to be the best in Florida. Don’t you want to see why Forbes chose those cities? Click on the link and read the entire article.
Tasting Table
We picked this one because cooking tips are competitive. In particular, just about every home cook wants to know what to do with leftover rice.
TastingTable.com is a lesser-known website from Allrecipes, which came in second place. This article prevailed because of the high-quality SEO content writing techniques. The author went far beyond keywords to make an especially engaging post. Read the article, and you get both mouth-watering ideas and a dose of humor. This encourages people to keep reading. In turn, the page rankings increase as Google senses people find the article valuable.
Final thoughts
As the saying goes, sometimes it isn’t what you say but how you say it. This is never more true than on the Internet, where many people say similar things and compete for web traffic. Fortunately, not everyone can compete with these examples of SEO writing. At SEOArmy, we know what makes content great. Our team of writers can produce top-quality content at scale and for an affordable price. Contact us today for details.