Seamlessly integrate SEO keywords into your content

Amateur SEO writers try all manner of tactics in an attempt to game the Google algorithm – including keyword loading, but it won’t work. Why? Because they’re fundamentally missing a key principle of great SEO content:

Don’t think about keyword placement, think about solving problems.

Don’t worry; we’ll explain what this means in this article – including how you can update and improve your content for SEO. Let’s start with some basics…

Why are keywords important for SEO?

Google is a highly sophisticated software company that uses multiple strategies to assess the relevance of your text and how it relates to a search question. That’s true. No matter how advanced the algorithm, it analyses the text to “understand” what it’s about and the questions that it answers.

Critical to that are keywords.

Keywords are so important to Google. It’s the name of its blog (which you can read here). We don’t know precisely how the Google algorithm works, but it analyses content in the content of EEAT. It’s searching for content that demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.

Viewed in this context, it’s obvious that simply loading a piece of content with keywords won’t boost your ranking unless your content demonstrates strong EEAT credentials.

Basically, keyword optimisation won’t work if your content is junk.

The real power comes when you use keywords intelligently, in various permutations, throughout a well-written, 100% original, and insightful post that delivers value to the reader.

That’s the gold standard of SEO content right there.

Want to know more about keywords? Check out these articles:

• What are keywords?
• Why Keywords Are Still So Very Important for SEO
• 5 Key Reasons Why Keyword Research is Important for SEO

What are my keywords?

You tell us!

Let’s use an example of a content agency that wants to sell SEO content services to clients. (Never met one of those, they sound dodgy…) 

Now, we could create hundreds of blog posts about our company, but unless we look at what users are searching for, we’ll never reach them. Google’s Keyword Planner – part of the Google Ads suite – is our preferred tool for getting the job done (but there are others, like Ahrefs, that do the same).

Add your search query (in this case, SEO content agency), and you’ll see the search traffic for your keyword (or key phrase), as well as a lot of associated keywords. 

Basically, that’s it…

But, of course, it’s more complicated than that. SEO content agency is a highly competitive keyword, which means it will take time, expertise, and investment to rank. It’s possible – and you should always try – but you can often reach customers targeting niche search terms. 

When we say “niche”, we’re not talking about anything rude or dodgy – but more specific terms that people may use. Terms that more closely match the search intent. 

Would anyone interested in engaging an SEO content agency simply type that into Google? No. But they may type:

• Best SEO content agency
• Bristol SEO content agency
• How much does a content agency cost?
• What does an SEO content agency do?

…and so on.

When thinking about your keywords, don’t make the mistake of thinking about your product or service and promoting it. Think about the problems your readers are experiencing – and how you can solve them.  

Can you explain primary and secondary keywords?

Primary keywords are the single words or phrases that each piece of content is focused on. Secondary keywords are supporting keywords that can add content to the article, and match the search intent.

Each piece should have one primary keyword that is its sole focus. This is the keyword you want to flag to Google, and as such appears in the title, meta, H1, H2s, intro, conclusion and throughout your content. 

Experts recommend between 3-8 secondary or supporting keywords. To us, that seems like a lot. Having too many secondary keywords can leave your content feeling confused. While it’s great to consider other keywords, save your SEO efforts for just one.

Can’t AI create optimised SEO content?

AI companies are selling the dream of 100% original and optimised content, but it’s a lie. How can we tell? Because we’ve tried almost all of the systems out there and they all fail to create content that’s any better than a basic content mill charging $5 for 1000 words.

Let’s put it to the test. We asked ChatGPT (GPT4, obviously) what SEO optimised content is, and this was its reply:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) optimized content refers to content created with the intent of attracting search engine traffic. It’s designed to rank higher in search engine results for specific keywords so that more people can find, read, and engage with your content.

Let’s look at why this is junk. Firstly, it’s almost indistinguishable from the first responses on Page 1 of Google. Great, you may be thinking – but it’s a big problem. The content is derivative and designed simply to try and rank. It’s not original, innovative, or demonstrates any authority. It’s one more page of junk content, and that will harm its ranking chances.

The first sentence is clumsy. Optimization and optimized are used side-by-side, which scans poorly. It also fundamentally misrepresents what SEO is (or should be), about delivering the best and most accurate result for a search query. 

The second sentence sounds interesting, but it’s a word soup that contains little substance (a bone broth, I guess). SEO content isn’t “designed” – it can be written, edited, or (at a push), engineered, but not designed.

We’re not going to go on, because the whole article is like this: junk.

If you want to optimise your content, website, and customer engagement strategy use professional writers – not AI programmes.

Aren’t SEO content writing assistants effective?

We love a good content writing assistant, and have invested hours in SEMRush and the rest of them, and can see the value – but we have concerns. And it all relates to how they work.

Take SEMRush, for example. The programme works by analysing the top results in Google to provide ideas of core keywords, supplementary keywords, titles, structure, and more. 

These tools make it easy to create content, but the content you create will inevitably be similar to, or the same, as the existing content. That’s the same for you as it is your customers. The ubiquity of these programmes mean that content is churned out to a formula that won’t pass the Google EEAT test. More fundamentally, it’s designed to rank, not solve customer problems. 

Basically, using SEO writing tools means sacrificing creativity to create content that has no value. 

It’s soulless, pointless, and in most cases, won’t deliver the benefits you want…

Can you *please* just tell me how to optimise my content for SEO

We’re getting to that now. At this stage, you should know what your keywords are and have confidence in creating content yourself (not using some AI writing assistant or SEO programme).

We’re going to start with some SEO content keyword basics:

Content writing for SEO: Keyword basics

This is a simple tick list to work through. If you’re an SEO content writer, you’ll already be doing this, so skip to the next bit.

• Select one core keyword (or keyphase). Attempting to do too much with one piece of content will leave it cluttered and unfocused, which will harm your ranking. Focus on a single keyword or keyphrase, and use it in several permutations to 
• Use the keyword in all the right places: We’re talking content H1 and in some of the H2s (depending on content length), the Title and meta tag, in image tags (if relevant), in the introduction and the conclusion.
• Don’t overuse your keyword: Keyword loading is a rookie error that can harm your ranking. Use your keywords sparingly and intelligently. (This is where something like SEMRush can earn its $100 per-month fee.)
• Create long blog posts: 500 words won’t budge Google, so invest in long-form content. Aim for 2,000+ blogs *every time*. For highly competitive search terms, think 5,000 or even 10,000 and you’re getting close.

These are the real basics of keywords. Now let’s look at how we can take that a step further, and understand SEO keywords in the context of search intent. 

Content writing for SEO: Understanding search intent

Keywords tell you one thing: what the person is searching for. Search intent is the “why”. Understanding search intent is critical to creating content with value. You don’t need to do research here, you simply need to switch thinking about people and their problems.

Nobody wants to work with an SEO content agency if they can afford not to, so they’re experiencing a problem, searching for an answer, or wanting a solution. The best SEO content writers use this as a mechanism to incorporate keywords throughout their text. 

When it comes to the search term “SEO content agency”, you can easily check out the “People also ask” section to see the questions that users are asking Google. 

This intelligence can help you understand the core search query, and the supplementary questions that they might have. When searching for an SEO content agency, for example, people may want to know:

• What an SEO content agency does
• How much a blog costs
• Do SEO agencies create content
• What are the best content marketing agencies near me?

…and so on.

In fact, by understanding the search intent, you can build a fairly accurate outline of who your reader is – and what they want.

Keywords are superficial, search intent is all about value, and in SEO, that’s what matters.

Content writing for SEO: Conversational content

Content online has changed. We no longer want to be lectured, spoken down to, or be stifled by excessive formality. Instead, the key to incorporating keywords is about creating conversational content that’s readable, relatable and authentic. 

• Ask questions and answer them: We’re not talking about FAQs here, but acknowledging the reader will have questions and answering them through your content is an effective strategy to include keywords in your content. It also clearly matches the search intent.
• Focus on joint discovery: Nobody likes a know-it-all, and content that may appear to you to have authority may come across as condescending. One effective tool for incorporating SEO keywords is to work through a problem together, with the writer and reader learning as you go. It’s hard to express this here, but 
• Simple sentences are better for SEO: Don’t try and be too creative or intelligent when writing for SEO. You may be passionate about words, and have a vocabulary more extensive than Stephen Fry’s, but it’s best to save that for the creative writing class and keep things simple (but not overly simplistic).

Content writing for SEO: Section structure

The key to SEO content is to answer questions and deliver value. When creating content, build up in layers of complexity. This seems counterintuitive to some, but it’s how Google wants you to create content. We can see that from the success of the snippet text. These are short (2 sentences typically), that answer a question.

Grabbing a coveted snippet text slot is great, but even if you don’t, following this approach can help you improve your SEO content writing skills. Here’s how:

• Provide a simple, single sentence explanation at the start of each section that sums up what it’s about. 
• Answer the who, what, when, where, and why (if possible). 
• Strip out any unnecessary or irrelevant words. You can use writing assistants here (if you need to) but we’d advise against it… Invest the time in developing your skills as a writer, not in training an AI program to replace you. You have been warned…

When we explain this approach to people, we use the phrase “write like a reader”. It sounds stupid, but too many writers try to overcomplicate things and that can lead to confused messaging. 

When we engage content online, we do so in a different way than we do on a page of printed material. Most of us don’t read in a linear fashion from top to bottom, we skip to the information we need on how to fit a set of wiper blades, install an app, or find our favourite TV channel on our new digital TV box. If you leave information scattered all over your article, it’s impossible for people to piece it together without reading from top to bottom. The result is, you’ll lose them.

Content writing for SEO: Work with a technical expert

The quality of your SEO content is an essential part of an integrated SEO strategy. Keywords, of course, play a part in this but there are also some serious technical aspects that you need to tackle – and for that you’ll need a technical expert.

At 42group, we don’t do technical SEO (but we know agencies that do), but we do understand enough to know you need to speak to someone who does. 

You can learn more about technical SEO in a great guide by SEMRush.

Can you refresh old content with keywords?

This is a question we’re asked all too often, and the answer is yes. Updating and optimising existing content is an essential part of any content strategy. Expert writers (like 42group) can take any piece of content and use the skills described here and improve its search engine ranking. 

How? Here’s our blog on how to optimise existing content like an SEO pro.