10 Things I've Learnt About SEO (for Writers, Bloggers, and Content Creators)

If you're a creative soul like me you'll know the struggle. How can we both create from the heart and get paid for our work?

Well, today I'm tackling the thing I've put off for the longest time and diving head-first into the world of SEO strategy for writers and creatives. I'll be watching and reading a bundle of different resources from multiple SEO experts and sharing my favourite thing from each piece here, but I'll also link the resource that I got the information from below each heading so that you can flesh out your knowledge by watching them for yourself.

Follow along as I sum up everything I learn and do the hard work for both of us. By the end, we'll both leave with a fleshed-out guide on the world of SEO for content creators, a newfound confidence in our technical ability, and hopefully, a way to make some money.

Sound good? Let's go!

1. Create Content Based on Proven Search Topics

"Ahrefs" YouTube channel says that a lot of content that's posted online will usually spike in views at first, giving initial hope to the creator before flatlining. One way to avoid this spike of hope followed by diminishing views is to create content based on proven search topics. By doing this creators can rank in search engines over time because they're creating content users are actively searching for. This generates a consistent, passive stream of traffic that stands the test of time. And as we know, passive traffic generates passive income, something everyone trying to build wealth with their content, is desperately trying to create.

To find the topics people are actively searching for Ahrefs recommends using a keyword research tool to identify search demand and understand the traffic potential for the topic. Ahrefs have even developed a tool for doing just this, and they explain exactly how to use it step-by-step in this video. If you're just figuring out the world of SEO and you're a beginner like me, being walked through like this by a professional is so helpful.

2. Create a Structure with Headings

Google bots will identify the main structure of your content from your headings, making them an integral part of SEO strategy for bloggers and writers. According to Vocal's advice on best SEO practices, captivating headings are a great way to integrate primary and secondary keywords and give your content structure making it more user-friendly.

Easy reading is going to keep readers on your page for longer, boosting your search engine ranking overall. It's a really simple way to boost your content, and I think for writers a little focus on structure can make writing easier to do and better overall. Check out their article for more tips on boosting your search ranking here on Vocal.

3. Write a Headline Using Proven Words and Phrases

According to Brian Dean from Backlinko, whilst 80% of people read your headline, only 20% click over to your post. This shows that to grab readers we need a headline that grabs people's attention and gets them clicking on your content.

BuzzSumo analyzed 100 million headlines and found the kind of headlines that get the most clicks. Brian shows us some of these on his YouTube video, and I've linked the full article below for you to have a good look yourself. Consider formatting your next headline using one of these examples, according to extensive research, it should boost your traffic and increase how many times your content is shared on social media (which is another important factor in your search engine ranking).

Brian also talks about how to find proven topics like we discussed earlier, but rather than using a search tool in his video, he shows some great free ways to find topics in your niche. Overall, this is a great video for a beginner learning about SEO practice, and I'd advise anyone writing content on the internet to give it a watch.

Here's the link to BuzzSumo'analyzationon of 100 million headlines:

4. The EAT Acronym for Google's Algorithm

EAT stands for expertise, authority and trust. I learned this from Austen Tosone's YouTube video on SEO basics, and it helped me get a broad picture of what Google search engines are highlighting and rewarding.

One thing I love about being a Vocal creator is that we can cheat a little bit on some of the points she makes in this video because we don't need to niche down to apply EAT principles. By just being part of Vocal the work on this SEO aspect is partly done for us, because we're already part of a trusted site that has really good domain authority. The site structure and page layouts are fixed and appeal aesthetically to search engines, taking away some of the more tech-based work.

For me, this allows me to relax and focus on what I do best, which is writing. I don't need to be hung up on site design, or worrying about fitting a restrictive niche because Vocal has already taken care of making sure the site grading is good. This means I can demonstrate the full range of my skill as a writer by writing different pieces in their multiple communities, which will help me land external freelancing opportunities in the future.

If you're an external blogger though, you'll need to figure out how to boost your site's grading and apply EAT principles to your specific blog, and prove to Google that you have the relevant knowledge in your field, so consider doing some specific research into these topics.

5. Use the AIDA Model for Introductions

In the world of SEO, they love an acronym. Even better it represents a tried and tested framework that's proven by experts to get results. The AIDA framework is so fantastically diverse, that it's used across the world for products, services, marketing campaigns and... articles! Now that I've mentioned it you'll see it everywhere, anywhere that a person or business needs to hook a customer - and keep them hooked. If you're not using it, you can guarantee your competitors are, consider implementing it in your next blog post or article and see if it works for you.

See what I did there? I used AIDA in the paragraph above, and I used it in the intro to this article. Introductions used to be a pain point for me, especially with blog posts, but AIDA gives me a structure to follow that gets my post off the ground. The thing about the digital era is that it's honestly never been easier to use tools from the business world to promote your work as an artist or creative.

I'm not tech-savvy or typically business minded, but I'm here to tell you that if you're put off by the acronyms - don't be. We can be creative, whimsical souls and write from the heart whilst leaning into business tips to get paid for all our hard work. In fact, we deserve to. No starving artists here! I can get on board with that.

6. The Relevance of Backlinks and How to Source Them

Backlinks are a huge topic in the world of SEO for content creators. So huge in fact that Backlinko published a complete list of link-building strategies that contained 170+ strategies, tips and tactics. Adam Enfroy states in his YouTube video, which I'll link below, that links are so important that they're the currency of the internet.

In this video, he goes through his entire link-building strategy for blogs in incredible detail, and the thing I love about his approach is that it's all based on fostering actual relationships with both competitors and clients. Although as a Vocal writer, we don't need tonnes of backlinks to drive site traffic, I still think there are a lot of interesting strategies here to build a reader base and increase views. As we know on Vocal, more views equal more money in your Vocal wallet.

I'm only just scratching the surface of this enormous topic. But I imagine as a Vocal creator, backlinks can help your articles score higher in Google search rankings. Reaching out to established blog sites like Adam does here and writing guest posts has great potential for increasing your readership, and in general is going to be amazing for your portfolio as a freelancer. I'm excited to dive into this topic further and see what kind of returns it can bring.

7. Word Count Matters - But Quality Matters More

SEO Chatter founder Stephen Hockman explains in this article that although word count does matter for your article's SEO performance, it needs to be balanced with other crucial SEO practices.

Stephen compares different types of content and how the ideal word count differs for each, but firmly states that adding 1000 words of extra "fluff" to your article that doesn't contribute meaningfully won't do your SEO practice any good at all.

The overall takeaway from Stephen's article is that to increase SEO visibility, any increase in word count should also contribute to the E-A-T factors we discussed above.

8. Find and Use Long-Tail Keywords

This video from the YouTube channel "Ashlyn Writes" goes into really great detail about how to find long-tail keywords for your article or blog posts. Long-tail keywords are keywords that are made up of a couple of words, so more like a small phrase.

They're generally more specific, which means ranking for them is going to be less competitive. By ranking for these less competitive, but still commonly searched phrases, you're more likely to land high up in the keywords search ranking. Meaning you'll likely get more views than if you were to perfect your SEO practice but for broader more competitive keywords.

Ashlyn demonstrates her favourite sites to use and best practice for incorporating long-tail keywords in your SEO practice. She does however stress that content is still king, and no matter how good your SEO practice is, Google is still trying its best to prioritise great, relevant content. So don't go sacrificing your content just to pack in as many keywords as you possibly can.

9. Use Visuals to Enhance Content

This article on ReliableSoft.Net from digital marketer Alex Chris gives a nice overall summary of a lot of the points we've covered so far. At the very end, he makes a good point about the importance of images that I wanted to bring your attention to.

Images and visuals are great for SEO and enhancing content quality. They make content more interesting and easier to read, which keeps readers on your page for longer. People are more likely to share articles and blog posts with images to their social media, and you can even use the alt-text in personal blogs to slip in some extra keywords. On top of all these amazing benefits, with images in your text, you have the opportunity for your post to rank in Google's image searcher, further increasing your potential reach.

Consider adding some visuals to your next post to enhance your content and give it that edge. You could play around with infographics, high-resolution images, graphs or charts. Work out what works for you and what's relevant to your content.

10. Featured Snippets, Meta Tags, & More!

From optimising your content to feature in Google's side snippets (reserved for only the very top content spots) to getting your meta tags in order, there are so many small tweaks you can make to level up your content SEO as a writer. HubSpot Marketing's Jamal Meneide touches on some of these deeper SEO practices in this great video on their YouTube channel.

He describes meta tags as basically back-end code for blog posts where you can customise certain features such as the blog post URL. Whilst this specific feature isn't possible for writers on an external site like Vocal, it's a brilliant cutting-edge tip for external bloggers to take their site's SEO optimisation to that next level.

My advice for fellow Vocal creators who are just posting on Vocal would be to think outside the box and do a little deep dive into these less well-known SEO practices. Think about how you could implement even just a small part of them in your Vocal articles and build that SEO muscle into your writing practice because on Vocal every single viewer is contributing to money in your Vocal wallet.

In summary, I've learnt that the world of SEO is huge, but a little bit of research can go a long way. There's so much we can do with SEO as writers that can get us paid for our work, whilst still keeping our writing fun and interesting.

If you're struggling to master it alone there are TONNES of free resources out there from tools to tutorials on every single facet of the SEO world. If you can afford the upfront investment, most of the content creators I've linked even offer their own in-depth paid courses or SEO dashboards to take the guesswork completely out of the equation.

I've been intimidated by the world of SEO for freelance writers since the first time I heard the acronym, but honestly after diving in head first, I feel so much better and more confident. Even dare I say excited to learn more about this world and how it can benefit me.

So fellow writers I've been over the mountain and looked and the monster isn't as terrifying as it first seems. Don't be scared, take a deep breath, dive in, and let's get that monneeyyy!

I hope this article helped make SEO less intimidating for you and gave you some ideas on how to implement it in your writing practice. A problem shared is a problem halved, so let's get a discussion going in the comments by telling me something you've learnt about SEO as a writer or even something that scares you about it. Thank you so much for reading, subscribe to me here or follow me on Twitter to keep in touch. Happy SEO'ing!!