HOW TO BE FOUND ON THE INTERNET – III-B Structuring & Writing Optimized Content

How To Create Compelling SEO/Optimized Content That Will Rank You Well In Search Engines – 

Structuring & Writing Optimized Content for Humans & Bots Alike

With your keyword research done, and some understanding of what these keywords mean to the people (‘tribes,’ communities, ‘market target’) who are searching for your product or service you’re ready to start creating some great-optimized CONTENT. Structuring that content needs to appeal to both humans and robots. Read more about:

• The "Inverted Pyramid" – Structuring Compelling Content;
• The 3-Major Components that power search Engines for Search;
• 11-Tips for Writing Compelling, Optimized Content that Ranks Well in Search Engines-for Lead Generation;
• Why Optimized Content Ranks You Well in Search.

To find out more about structuring & writing optimized content continue reading:

 

The Inverted Pyramid – Structuring Compelling Content

 

The inverted (upside-down) pyramid writing style puts most newsworthy information at the top, quickly and concisely. This enables readers to stop reading at any point and still come away with the story’s essence:

• Lead Paragraph/ Summary contains most Important info;
• Remaining info follows in order of importance;
• Least important information at the bottom.

Search Engines read first 170-characters of a lead paragraph and only the first 70-characters of headline information. Optimize keywords/phrases within a specific context with an appealing delivery–engaging content gives meaning to Searchers-Humans[1] as well as speaks to BOTS (Robots/ Spiders etc.) is going to get your brand top of the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages) and people to opt-in and follow you over time, a ‘long-tail [2].’ All this embellishes LEAD GENERATION

Major Components that Power Search Engines For Search

 How Search Engines Work

 Crawling – search engine spiders crawl around the web looking for content–if spiders can’t read/see your content, or doesn’t understand what its about, your page can’t be indexed or ranked;

 Indexing – The spider stores (your) content in a giant database = indexing for future benefit of other searches, gauging content relevance and the words Searchers use when looking for something;

Ranking– Specialized ‘Algorithm’ determines final and most relevant results that are seen by Searchers–they change frequently over time so stay on top of SEO news.

11-Tips For Writing Compelling, Optimized Content That Ranks Well In Search Engines for Lead Generation:

1.  List most important keywords/phrases– identify 3-key words/phrases and use in all communications, and create a 12-word secondary list;
2. Utilize the identified top 3-keywords in optimized title, opening paragraph and specific paragraphs throughout the communication;
3. Important info First: summarizes your key points utilizing specific list of keywords/phrases in opening paragraph;
4.  Summarize opening paragraph content in a 170-character blurb for 2.0 sharing on Social Networks, 140-characters for Tweets (TwitterNow Reducing Some Tweets To 117 Characters). Do not use the same copy used in headline for summaries;
5. Brand name always goes first in headline and or opening paragraph sentence–headline’s first 70-characters are important to convey core message;
6. Sub-head embellishes your header–keep core messaging in first 170 characters;
7.  Appropriate keyword density: in the right places, amounts, get top rankings- don’t over do it;
8.  Locations and frequency of keywords is still critical… work by keying in on word patterns people are looking for that return relevant content;
9. Outside Links still effect ranking position, sharing on Social Media will create organic links– this covers both bases and gives broader viral coverage;
10. Create compelling content (read-benefits) that adds value to your target audience…ask: “What creates value for my readers;”
11. Keep it readable don’t be repetitive, keyword or link stuffed–strike a balance between robots and humans.  And remember Search Engines and Robots have no sense of humor – NO puns, NO innuendo and NO double meanings.

Optimized Content For Search Is Still The Most Important Game In Town

Search is the great triumph of computer science and mathematics, is the most common online activity after email, and that fact cuts across generations. People make billions of unique web searches monthly –with significant increases to broadband Internet access with the proliferation of the wireless mobile industry projections – $10.5 Trillion contribution to the Global GDP. And, mobile search trends show that when mobile sites are optimized they have an 11.5% higher click-through rate than desktop searchers– (insert infographic) with 25% of paid search clicks now come from mobile devices [3].

Unlike Facebook 870, both mobile and desktop ‘Searchers’ are in a focus mode and the most motivated people who hit the Internet–they are looking for your brand if you’ve identified yourself/ company product correctly. Focused–targeted search traffic is an important element of “Building Your Brand [4]”, but now we also need to be mindful of Social Data influence along with SEO. Search Engines will only treat you as relevant if others do first – people need to like your content so search engines find you, index your info and rank you high in the SERPS.

Some Additional Recent News on Search

• Google isn’t the only search engine, although it currently has the largest market share – some SEO tips from Google: Google Shows Startups How to Master SEO in 10 Minutes [VIDEO] [5]
• Bing is quickly disrupting Google market share read the latest here: Microsoft Bing Social vs. Google Search Plus Your World: Showdown [6]. 
• Yahoo, ASK and AOL search engines rank behind Google and Bing [7].

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Editor's Note: This post is part of an ongoing series.  Here are the links to Part 1., Part 2., Part 3-A. 

Our next blog Part 4 “On How to be Found on The Internet” will discuss Amplifing Your Brand Image Across Media Channels–PR communications, social branding & ID programs that help repairing to live in a 3.0 semantic web world.

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[1] The Seven Myths of Hyper Social Organizations- Why human 1.0 is Key

[2] Wired Magazine, Chris Anderson

[3] Search Engine Land: The Search Agency 4Q2012 Report

[4] Business Wire: Build Your Brand for Better SEO

[5] Mashable: Google SEO Tips

[6] PC World.com: Bing Social vs. Google Search

[7] SearchEngineWatch.com: Yahoo Sinks, Google & Bing Rise