Search engine optimization (SEO) has taught me a thing or two about writing. And that’s saying a lot. Whether you’re marketing your products or business online, emailing customers, blogging, or posting on social media to demonstrate your expertise, there are SEO lessons you can apply to help people engage with your content.
In the movie, Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s character hears a mysterious voice say, “If you build it, he will come.” While the movie is about baseball and relationships and not about SEO or writing, here’s the connection. Many people assume that if they write something people will read it—whether it’s an email, a post on social media, or a piece of website content.
In reality, people don’t read anymore. They skim. They’re super selective in what slows their scroll. That is even if they see your content at all. That’s where SEO comes in.
Don’t be fooled by the technical term. Essentially, SEO is the science behind getting people to engage with your content. And there are lessons to be learned whether you’re writing an email to a project team to get updates or web copy to sell a product or a service.
Write short sentences.
The first thing I’ve learned is that shorter sentences boost your SEO and readability scores.
People no longer have the time to read long sentences—even great ones. Just because you know (or think you know) the rules of grammar doesn’t mean every sentence you write should be a compound sentence. I once wrote content for a sales audience. I passed the near-final draft along to the sales leader I’d written it for, expecting minimal feedback. He told me there was a run-on sentence that I needed to address. I scoured the text looking for it. I realized that he was simply referring to a long compound sentence. I broke the sentence into two shorter sentences, and suddenly he was happy
SEO is not unlike that sales guy. Break any long sentences up into shorter sentences, and watch your readability scores go up. And if your readability scores go up, so will the time people spend reading your content. Shorter sentences lead to longer engagement with your content. This is a lesson that can apply to your emails, executive summaries, and text messages too. An added benefit is you’ll be far less likely to make a typo if you keep it concise.
Adjust Your Content to Your Audience.
The second thing I learned from writing SEO content is that the lingo you use within your business may not give you the best search engine rankings for external content. For instance, I worked for a law firm where we referred to our employers as attorneys. However, we had better SEO results when we referred to them as lawyers. Why? Because people outside the legal industry are more likely to search for a “Corporate lawyer” than a “Corporate attorney.” Consider your audience when writing. Answer questions they would ask. Use words they would use.
Throw Your Pride of Authorship Out the Window.
It takes a humble person to write good SEO content. Whether you’re writing directly into an application like WordPress with Yoast for instant SEO feedback or writing in Word and transferring content over to the web, don’t get too attached to your original wording. You may need to reorder paragraphs to introduce keywords earlier. As mentioned previously, you may need to shorten sentences. You’ll need to write in the active voice. (That’s subject before verb for those of you looking to impress friends at dinner.) In short, be prepared to make changes to your precious final draft.
And don’t forget to proofread again after you’ve made any changes! I’ve been using Grammarly lately, and it’s been incredibly useful in catching errors and helping me identify problem sentences before anyone else sees my work. It’s free and convenient, and, it’ll help you avoid embarrassing errors. I highly recommend it especially to anyone who is prone to errors or lacks confidence in his writing.
Don’t Rush SEO.
It’s hard to get noticed out there in the web world. That is unless you have a precocious child, cute dog or a cat with attitude. You may have written a great piece of content, but if you cut corners with SEO, it’ll take longer to get the attention you’re looking for with your post. Give SEO the time and attention it deserves. Or if you have people who handle SEO for you, give them the time they need to take a thoughtful approach to SEO. They’ll need to research relevant keywords on search engines and social media. They made need to add headlines and subheadings to your content. They’ll add and test external links to additional content. This all takes time. But it’ll pay off in the end.
SEO has taught me a lot about writing. The most important lesson is if no one reads your great content, you’re no further along in your efforts than you were before all that writing. Use every tool you can to get the engagement you need to propel yourself and your business forward. If you SEO it, they will read it.