Insights

Write for the person, not the keywords

Writing for your audience (rather than for the search engines) is generally the best approach to making your content reach a wider audience. 

 

While hitting the occasional keyword in a blog post or article can help get search hits, you must be careful not to shoehorn in terms that feel contrived or unnatural. Over the past few years, digital marketing agencies have realised that writing for the audience (rather than for the search engines) is generally the best approach to making your content reach a wider audience. 

Think natural phrases – not stuffing

At the end of the day, you want people to read your articles, not web crawlers. Moreover, Google (and other search engines) have developed sophisticated algorithms that help its users find the content they are looking for by considering more sophisticated metrics besides keyword stuffing. If your content is relevant and engaging, the big search engines are going to feature your site more heavily than those that are purely trying to game the system.

Social media equals fewer keywords 

As for writing for the person, this piece of advice might seem like common sense, but it is far too often overlooked in favour of trying too hard to fulfil search engine optimisation criteria. Don't treat your readers as mindless drones; instead, treat them with respect. At the end of the day, it's people that click on ads, not web crawlers. Another critical feature of writing for the person first and foremost is that people are social. Keywords used to be a major factor in search rankings, but the rise and rise of social media means that more people are finding content (and sharing it themselves) through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Propagation of content through social media is the driving force behind what makes an article go viral, not spamming in keywords for the sake of getting hits. Keyword dependence is a rat-shot approach; any hits via this method will involve an element of luck. Writing for the person means that your content will get shared time and time again, giving your article a chance for exponential exposure.

To find out how you can reach your audience through organic social media hits as well as applying white-hat SEO techniques to boost your site's exposure, contact iFactory today to get started.

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