Whether you work as a freelancer, or you’re a designated SEO writer in your company’s content department, crafting SEO content is a learned skill that requires constant refinement. Not only are you working to a highly specific criteria, the goalposts are constantly changing, requiring you to stay flexible and adaptive.

That said, there are a few technical skills you should possess in order to make sure your quality SEO content is uploaded and optimised in accordance with SEO best practices. In this article, we’re breaking down what these 6 skills are, so read on for our top technical SEO tips all SEO content writers should know. 

1. Use Unique Images with Bespoke Captions & Alt Text

You might be a writer, but you’ll still need to ensure your content is accompanied by relevant images. This is because having images boosts the user experience of your published content and signals to Google that you’ve provided strong context behind your content as well. 

If you don’t have original images, however, then your content runs the risk of being viewed as spam. Thankfully, you can edit or add text to images to immediately make those image files unique to your blog. That’s why you see so many blog and vlog thumbnails with text overlays!

You also shouldn’t forget about adding image captions and alt text. When you add captions and alt text to your images, you’re not only making the content more accessible to visually impaired users, you’re also displaying to web crawlers the context surrounding that photo, which strengthens your chances of ranking first for your content’s focus keywords and keyword entities. The same goes for using descriptive captions that explain the subject matter of your pictures for the reader. The more context you can provide, the better chance your website has of ranking highly on search engine results pages.

2. Use Keywords To Optimise Titles & URL Slugs

Speaking of your focus keywords and keyword entities (or LSI keywords), all seasoned SEO writers know that these inclusions are your ticket to front page rankings. As such, you should use them liberally – but not excessively. How can you find out what the keywords should be for your web page or article? One method is to use SEO tools such as Semrush and AHREFS to identify your domain’s organic keywords (i.e. what you currently rank for, and what search phrases that users can type into Google in order to find you on results pages). 

Inserting focus keywords into H1, H2 and H3 headings can help format and structure your content, not only for user readability, but also for site crawlers who are looking to gauge if your content delivers the value it advertises in its title and URL slug. Simply put, these headings should contain keywords where relevant. If you can make a common query the title of a blog, you’re onto a winner.

Once you’ve got your keywords, scatter them throughout the content, and try to insert them as organically as possible. Context is important, so ensure your keyword is relevant to the sentence it’s placed in, meaning it should provide more information on the keyword itself. 

And don’t forget to add your valuable focus keyword directly into your URL slugs either. Rather than having codes or automated descriptions, categorise and sub-categorise your headings so the URL is structured with the primary keyword you’re trying to rank for (for example: shoppingbrand.com/womens/jackets/womens-denim-jackets).

3. Add Meta Titles & Meta Descriptions for SEO content writers

As an SEO content writer, you’re competing with thousands of similar websites and blogs, trying to get that all important first-place ranking for your business or client. Understanding technical SEO best practices can help you make sure your well-crafted content isn’t falling short of the mark purely because of oversights when it comes to technical optimisation.

One of the most common oversights when it comes to uploading page content is forgetting to add well-written meta titles and meta descriptions. These are short snippets that will appear on search engine results pages and appear first to site crawlers, identifying your webpage and what users can expect when they click onto it. So create concise, compelling lines of content that are relevant to your actual on-page content and copy.

Rules, suggestions and criteria are always changing in the SEO world, as search engines launch updates and reform ethical guidelines. But just as an article heading is generally considered too short if it’s under 50 characters and too long past 75, meta titles are also best kept under 60 characters, and meta descriptions under 160.

4. SEO content writers utilise Schema Markup To Enhance Trust

Much like meta titles and meta descriptions, schema content are info-rich snippets that you’ll find on some search engine result listings that identify certain details for topics and categories related to your product or page. But unlike meta titles and descriptions, schema is more short and quippy, breaking your content down into clean categories and adding an extra layer of context for site crawlers and search engines. The specifics of your ideal schema will depend on the page’s content, but the more detail you can provide, the more likely users are to click on your page, and for SERPs to rank it higher.

For products, you might want to highlight availability and special offers, positive customer reviews at a glance, an overview of colour and sizing options, FAQs, or embedded video tutorials. For a blog, an author, a publish date, or titles of closely related article topics are great schema categories that people might want to know more information about.

All this information provides added context to back up your meta description, and can also boost the credibility of your HTML tags, which is another trust factor that web crawlers and users will take into account.

5. Monitor Your Internal Linking Profile

Internal linking is one of the most common methods of SEO content writing. On eCommerce and service websites, it’s used to navigate users around the site, with the aim that they’ll be able to find everything they need without leaving it, or more importantly, without clicking on a competitor site. On informational blogs, internal linking can point to further details on a topic, and helps search engines identify that the site is a reputable source of information.

In-between creating fresh content, you should also monitor your existing internal linking efforts. Keep a spreadsheet that tracks all your link insertions, guest posts and article submissions for your company or clients, including whether or not it’s live, and when it was published. That way, if something is delayed or rejected, you can quickly get in contact with the bloggers and deal with these issues proactively.

You should also monitor your backlink profile on sites like AHREFS and Semrush. They can provide lists of all the backlinks to your site, and highlight any which are broken or expired. Organic backlinks from non-reputable sites won’t harm your SEO efforts, but you want to ensure they’re not overwhelming the quality ones.

6. Consider Mobile Layouts When Structuring Content

Almost 60% of global internet traffic comes from mobile devices. Since that’s over half of digital consumption, it’s essential to ensure that your SEO content is written and structured with the mobile user in mind. In fact, Google practises mobile-first indexing, meaning you should give it as much (if not more) attention.

It’s not about copy and pasting your exact desktop content and layout onto a mobile screen, but rather providing a mobile-friendly browsing experience. Due to smaller screen space, avoid large blocks of text or pop-ups that cover the page. Instead, use slide-ins, write smaller paragraphs, and add easy-to-digest lists or bullet points where relevant.

Avoid having multiple columns that can become incorrectly formatted when shifted to a different page dimension, and keep photographs in compact file sizes. Doing so will also help load your page faster, which is another important feature that’s considered by web crawlers.

Improve Your SEO Content Writing With These Tips – SEO content writers

So, let’s recap. What technical skills should all SEO content writers know about?

• Adding alt text and descriptions for images
• Optimising titles, headings and subheadings with keywords
• Adding relevant meta titles and meta descriptions
• Utilising schema markup
• Incorporating and monitoring internal linking
• Considering mobile layouts for page structure

Once you’re confident in implementing these skills in every piece of SEO content you write, you can guarantee that you’ll become a better SEO writer achieving the results you and your clients are after.