SEO 101: How to Begin Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization (SEO) has been the bread and butter for thousands of digital marketers over the years. However, some are finding it more difficult to keep their content in the top search results.  This article will share insights on how to avoid these pitfalls and how to start writing helpful content.

Google has a very difficult job. It receives over 16 billion search queries every day, and it must provide the best, adequate response to each user.  However, the real challenge is the number of websites that it chooses from.

Way back in 2012, it was believed that there were over 30 trillion URLs on Google. That number has grown each year, and while there is no exact data available, it is a huge number. However, the job is not easy for Google.

So, in 2022, the search giant introduced a new policy known as the HCU, with the focus on people-first content. It was at first a series of updates, but in March 2024, it became a permanent part of the ranking alogoythm

So without delay, here are the key steps to prepare content that Google approves.

1: How to Identify Your Audience and Write for Them

Most people start creating content long before they know who they are writing for. They publish it and hope that someone will find it and adore it. Although this happens once in a while, there is a better way.

This section will guide you in finding your audience and writing for them. You will also discover that this is an important step in SEO. Here are the three key elements that you must find in your journey.

• Your authority: Search engine optimization changed in March 2024 when helpful content updates became a standard part of the ranking algorithm.  Getting to Google top ten means writing about what you know a lot about. If you don’t know about a topic, you won’t be able to help anyone.

The best way is to create content about a topic you know well. For example, no one expects a Doctor to lead a team of web developers. They consider him an authority in a hospital or a clinic.

Recommended: Create content that falls under your area of expertise. You will be able to help people in that niche find solutions or helpful information.

• Find people just like you – your audience: The next step is to identify with people whose lifestyle aligns with your topic. Ask yourself what their needs and problems are, or what information may prove helpful to them. Create content in a way that will appeal to them and solve their common needs.

These people who share your niche or fall within your area of expertise are called your audience. They are the ones who you easily understand and can identify with their pains and triumphs.

For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people turned to their Doctors for advice, tips, updates, and solutions. A relationship existed between patients and doctors. The doctors are the experts, and the patients are the audience.

Recommended: Discover your audience before you start creating content.

• The second audience: Every content writer must know that they also write for search engines. However, these bots do not understand content the way humans do; they follow established structures.

These structures are laid down and followed by content creators and the search engines.  Good content structures make it easier for the reader and improve interest.

For example, one common rule requires short paragraphs with 3 -4 sentences.  Most people lose interest and are turned off by huge chunks of content. Small paragraphs make it easier.

So it is a win for everyone. human readers stay longer on your content, and they find more answers. On the other side, bots can read your content.

Recommended: Before diving into content creation, read Google’s helpful content guide.

Discover more on this in the next section, which reviews the established content structure that you can use.

2: How to Use Content Structure That Appeals to Your Audience

One of the easiest steps in search engine optimization happens on the content page, commonly known as On-page SEO. Another way to look at it is designing your content or page layout in such a way that it becomes appealing to readers. To make it easier to follow, this section is divided into the human audience and the search bots audience.

How to Structure Content for a Human Audience

Writing content for human readers means adapting universal standards and elements that make it easier to read. Creators break down chunks of information into formats that allow human interaction. These are the most commonly used formats.

1. General Layout: All content usually has four main sections- a title or topic, an introduction, the body, and a conclusion or summary
2. Body divisions: Content must be further broken down into short paragraphs and sentences. It is recommended to limit paragraphs to 3-4 sentences and keep sentences below twenty words.
3. Content highlights: Another set of elements that are often used to break up articles are headings and subheadings. These are mostly used to divide ideas into sections. Main ideas normally use higher heading values, such as H2, and subheadings may use smaller value such as H3
4. Bullets or Listing Formats: To further enhance readability, content creators may add a summary or listicle format to their pieces. Using numbered lists or bullet points, they can summarize paragraphs into single sentences or phrases.
5. Audiovisual Elements: People are more attracted to content that contains audiovisuals. Elements like images, diagrams, and videos can be easily embedded into articles to further edify the content.

How to  Structure Content for an AI Audience

Writing for AI does not need any additional expertise, and is easy to follow by anyone with an eighth-grade education. The principal technique involves using a hierarchy of your headings and subheadings written in question formats.

Here are four ways to lay out your content to enable easy crawling by robots.

1. Logical Hierarchy (H1-H4): Begin your document with a single H1 tag to serve as the primary title, clearly indicating the overarching subject of your work. For each major section within your content, utilize H2 headings to establish a well-structured hierarchy. Introduce H3 or H4 headings for subsections and sub-points as needed. 
2. Quick Answers: Place your answers to your title question as close to the top as possible. Don’t make it too long; about 40-60 words will do, and (within the first 30%).
3. Question-Like Headings: Let your headings capture the user intent by leading with search questions. 
4. Table of Contents: If your content is very long (long-form) it is recommended that you include a table of content.  This will make it easier for bots to follow your mapping.

How to Write Helpful Content for Your Audience

SEO has changed amid the rise of AI content creation and the abuse of its generative power. Today, Google focuses on a special type of content known as helpful content. To write it, you must understand what it is all about.

Google defines helpful content as people-first content designed to inform or assist users, rather than primarily for search engine ranking. 

Recommendation: Although you have 70 characters, try to stay between 55 and 60. The shorter tags are more presentable within the SERP.

• Your title could look like this: ‘Fabulous Hats: Find Hats for every fashion’,
• Or, sliding more to a specific group, Fabulous Hats:  Finest hats for today’s fashion.
• You could add a push to your sales by including the word “free” in the title. Fabulous Hats:  Find the finest free hats for today’s fashion.

The third tag carries a sales pitch directed at winning the client in that 3–5 second window, a window that online shoppers tend to use to make a decision. However, it maintains compliance with the evergreen concept and stays within the 60-character bracket. You can read more about people-first content here.

How to Support Your Page Title Tag in Search Engine Optimization

Most people forget to add boosting verbiage to their titles, and so do not get better SERP responses. When you create a document, one of the best ways to support your title tag is to add supporting headers to your document.

Start by dividing your article into at least three sections, each with a similar keyword to support your title. Think of them as supporting actors; they are there to improve your search engine rankings. Let’s use an article about Hawaiian-made flipper hats as an example.

Your first subtitle could enhance two of the four keywords you used in the title, “free and fashion,” and may look like this.

The best free Hawaiian flipper hats that fit today’s fashion.

Recommendation: Try to stay within the 55 -60 character limit. As search engine optimization changes, titles and descriptions will allow more words, especially for answer engines.

SEO Just for You – Using Descriptions

What is a description? Our next step is to tell the search engine how you want it to describe your blog to surfers. Remember, you are not promoting your website’s name; rather, you are selling the concept of your product or services.

Search engine optimization is preparing your website for search engine indexing. It must begin with adding unique page titles, descriptions, and keywords to every page. Unique titles and descriptions help search engines accurately identify and display your pages in relevant search results, making it easier for users to find your content. Carefully chosen keywords tailored to each page’s specific subject further enhance visibility, ensuring your site attracts the right audience and stands out among competitors.