Originally published October 14, 2021 , updated on August 29, 2024

Every business wants to get its Search Engine Optimisation right. But the internet is a rapidly-changing environment, and algorithms are nearly impossible to pin down. It’s difficult to keep track of what attracts and repels search engines. So difficult that even the best SEO content writing services struggle to keep up. 

As a result of dynamic algorithms, SEO writers and strategists are constantly kept on their toes. Do keywords still matter? How often should your website be updated? Should the copy be long or short? These are among the endless list of questions that are pondered when putting together an SEO strategy. 

In this blog, we take a deep dive into the world of SEO copywriting to find out what is currently needed to rank highly. We also look at the various things that work against your efforts to optimise for search. 

Below is everything you need to know about SEO content development in 2021. 

Keywords Are Less Important Than You Think

We’re not saying that keywords are unimportant. It’s just that they’ve become less important than some other aspects in recent years. While keywords may have been central to ranking on search engines in years passed, they’re certainly no longer the most important thing today.

Google and other search engines have recognised the trend of overstuffing content with keywords. Since adapting to this hack, search engine algorithms ensure that keyword stuffing harms your rankings. 

Yes, keywords should be included. But when they’re used, they should fit in with the words around them and make sense contextually. Avoid using keywords for the sake of using keywords. This brings us to our next point…  

Readability Is Key When Using SEO Content Writing Services

Now more than ever before, readability is key. Readability will keep people on your page and engaged for longer periods. This is a hugely important contribution to your rankings on search engines. People don’t often spend a lot of time on websites, so your content needs to be enticing and readable. Be sure to make it easy for visitors to browse your website.

Use headings and subheadings, make use of bullet points, and ensure that your content is suitable for a quick scan. A website that is difficult to read with content that is tough to understand will have a high bounce rate. This all impacts your search rankings at the end of the day. 

Optimise Your Site for Mobile

According to Statista, there were 4.28 billion mobile internet users in 2020. Statista notes that this “indicates that over 90 percent of the global internet population use a mobile device to go online”. If your website is not optimised for mobile, you are going to have major issues when it comes to SEO. 

Imagine for a minute that you search for something from your cell phone. The website you land on appears messy and has a terrible user experience. You’re likely to close that tab immediately, all because it’s not optimised for mobile. 

That’s what will happen to your website if you haven’t put thought into how it looks on mobile. This will give your search rankings a massive knock. 

Refresh Your Low-Performing Pages

Every website has low-performing pages. These are the pages that get the fewest visitors and little interaction. Go into the back end of your website and find out which pages on your website are performing poorly and make time to refresh the content.

Is there a blog you can add to your pages? If it’s a product description page that hasn’t been updated in a while, look into how you can update it. You could even hire SEO content writers to read over them and provide ideas to freshen them up. 

Some pages will be more difficult to update than others, and you might even find that some can be archived due to lack of relevancy. But this is certainly better than having low-performing pages negatively impacting your chances of ranking. 

Look Into Your Loading Time 

Studies have shown that if a website takes longer than three seconds to load, people will lose interest and jump off. Your website might be amazing, and the content could all be perfectly optimised for SEO. But if it takes too long to load, you will struggle to rank. 

It’s not just people who are impatient about webpages loading. Search engine algorithms take it into account too. When the algorithms note that the overall user experience with your website isn’t a great one, your bounce rates increase.  

All of this contributes to a low search ranking. So, be sure to take a look and test your load time. Websites should load as quickly as possible. 

Don’t forget to optimise your images 

It’s so easy to forget about the images. Images count when it comes to SEO. How you name them, the alt tags, captions, and meta descriptions all play a part. 

Also, pay attention to the size and quality of your images. Large images that take long to load hurt your ranking. Low-quality images are detrimental to your efforts. Resize your images to make them small enough to load quickly. But be sure that resizing doesn’t take away from the overall quality of your images. 

Links Are Still Important

Both outbound and inbound linking continue to be important factors in SEO content development. 

Linking to relevant sources outside of your website can greatly help your SEO. Ensure that these links go to reputable websites and that the content is not outdated. 

Inbound links keep people on your website for longer periods of time. It shows search engines that your website has relevant content that people want to continue to engage with. 

Make Use of SEO Content Writing Services 

If you need help, you can use an SEO content writing agency. A professional service will be able to not only write your content for you but also analyse your website’s performance and make suggestions for improvement. 

A good SEO content writer will know the latest news about what search algorithms are looking for. It’s their job to stay on top of what is happening behind the search bar. 

There is so much to consider when it comes to the world of SEO and SEO content writing services. But with this insight and the help of some professionals, you can ensure that your business is well on its way to ranking highly. 

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