How to Optimize Text for SEO [Complete Guide]

Search engine optimization, SEO, continues to be one of the most popular marketing methods for businesses. This is due to the fact that it works – if done correctly.

In fact, more than half of all customer journeys begin with a search on a search engine.

Having said that, you of course want to ensure that your company appears high in the search results and is found by your target group.

SEO can be an incredibly good and cost-effective way to reach your target group in an organic way, but the path there is not always straight. SEO can be quite complex and there are many different components that you need to think about and get right in order to be successful. Succeeding in SEO requires hard and consistent work following a clearly defined strategy that takes into account all the many elements of SEO.

One of the most central parts of search engine optimization is the textual content of your page. Whether it’s blog posts, product pages, or informative articles, textual content is critical to success in search engines. You need to create content that is high-quality, informative, and that solves users’ problems, whether they’re looking for information, inspiration, entertainment, or something else. Although other types of content such as images and videos have an important role to play, text is arguably the most central. For this reason, the text is vital for successful SEO.

But with that said, there are many different ways to design text and to write text. The way you write SEO-friendly texts differs from the way you write other types of texts.

In this article, we will take a closer look at how to SEO-adapt texts and what to consider when writing texts to maximize SEO results.

Basic principles for SEO-optimized texts

The role of keywords and key phrases in SEO

When writing texts for SEO, a central part is of course the use of keywords and key phrases for which you are trying to rank the page in the search results.

Keywords are the terms or phrases that users type into search engines when searching for information. Here are some aspects to consider:

Before you start writing, you should do a thorough keyword analysis to identify the terms most relevant to your topic or industry. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or other SEO tools to identify keywords with high search volume and low competition. Consider focusing on a specific keyword or search topic for each page to ensure you are more specific and increase the relevance of each individual keyword. For example, you could have a page with tips on how to clean leather shoes where the focus is on ranking for the keyword “clean leather shoes”. Then you can have another page with information on how to choose running shoes where the focus is on the search term “choose running shoes”.

For each individual page you should not only use a single keyword, but a tip for optimization is to use a selection of relevant ones for the main keyword or search term. For example, the main search term could be “best running shoes” and then you can incorporate relevant keywords and terms such as “running shoes men”, “waterproof running shoes”, “best in test running shoes”, and so on.

When writing SEO-optimized texts, it is important to integrate your chosen keywords naturally into the text. An SEO text should always be natural. An over-optimized text can provide a poor user experience and be perceived as manipulative by search engines, which can lead to negative consequences for your search results.

Therefore, when writing an SEO-friendly text, you want to integrate your chosen keywords naturally into the text and place them in headings, introduction, sections and conclusion. Avoid excessive use of keywords and make sure your text still feels natural when you read it.

Structure the text for SEO

The structure is important for all types of texts, not least SEO-adapted ones. Keep in mind that user experience plays an incredibly important role in SEO. Having said that, part of writing SEO texts is to focus on the user experience and to make the text easy to read. A good user experience means that users stay on your page longer, which is rewarded by search engines with better rankings in the search results.

A well-structured text not only makes it easier for readers to understand the content, but also for search engines to index and rank the page. Here are some important guidelines:

First of all, use hierarchical headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to organize your text. H1 should be used for the main heading while H2 and H3 are used for subsections. This provides a clear structure that search engines and readers can follow.

Another detail is to break your text into short paragraphs to make it easier to read. When writers go from writing regular texts or essays to writing SEO-friendly texts, a common mistake is to write far too long paragraphs. No one wants to visit a website and be greeted with a page full of text. Most people probably won’t even start reading because they feel so overwhelmed.

A rule of thumb is that a paragraph for SEO-adapted texts should not be longer than 4-5 lines. This makes it easier for users to read and scan the text.

Another way to make the text easier to read is to use lists and bullet points to break up the text and make important information easily accessible. All components that can divide the text and make it nicer and more readable should be used in your SEO texts. Lists and bullet points break up the text and make the content more manageable. They also allow you to emphasize important points or key aspects. Both readers and search engines appreciate this structure of the text.

Structure the text for SEO

Headings and subheadings

One of the basic principles of creating SEO-optimized texts is to use hierarchical headings. H1 should only be used for the main heading that clearly describes the topic of the entire text. The following subheadings, H2, and H3, are used to structure the content of sections and subsections. This provides a logical order for the reader and signals the search engines about the hierarchical structure of your content.

Integrate your most important keywords and key phrases into your headlines. Search engines value headlines highly, and including relevant keywords will help improve your site’s visibility in search results.

Unique and engaging content

Before you start writing, it’s important to understand the user’s intent behind their search. This allows you to better customize the text based on the information you think the user is looking for. Before you start writing, ask yourself: what is the reader looking for? And what information do I need to include in the text for the user to be completely satisfied with the way their questions are answered?

As we discussed earlier, the user experience is central and if a reader visits your page but does not get an answer to what they are wondering about, it will negatively affect the user experience and cause users to leave your site. A high bounce rate is a bad sign for search engines, which can lead to poorer rankings.

By creating content that directly answers the user’s questions or fulfills their needs, you increase the chance of retaining visitors and improving your site’s authority.

Another part that has become increasingly important in recent years is the importance of mixing different types of content. This is important both for the user experience but also for the search engines.

This means that in your content you only want one page filled with text. Instead, you should include several different types of media, not least images, videos, designs, and infographics. The diversity of your content makes your website more interesting and engaging for visitors and can increase the average time visitors spend on the page, which is an important factor for search engines.

Avoid duplicate content and create unique texts for each page

Duplicate content is something that search engines generally dislike. You will not be penalized for having duplicate content on your page but it may cause search engines to only rank one of the pages if you have multiple pages with the same content on them.

In other words, it is important that the text you produce is unique. Avoid using the same content on multiple pages as much as possible to ensure that each page is visible in the search results.

If you have pages with similar content, you can use the canonical tag to specify the primary version of the page. This helps search engines understand which version should be prioritized, which can prevent the negative effects of duplicate content.

Be sure to monitor the canonical tag regularly, especially if your site has many pages or restructured content. An incorrect canonical tag can lead to unwanted indexing.

Use a unique voice and tone

A tip when writing text for your website is to find an appropriate voice and tone and then follow it in all the text produced on your website. This makes your page more consistent and makes it easier for visitors to relate to and recognize you and your brand. The voice and tone you use in your texts is part of your brand identity so it’s good to define this before you start writing.

For example, do you want to be perceived as a modern, pleasant and personal brand or do you want to be more strict and traditional? This will of course affect the way you write.

Another thing to consider in your SEO writing is that search engines are becoming increasingly sophisticated and prioritize content that is written for people, not just to meet search engine requirements. It’s easy to get blinded by all the parts you should be optimizing with keywords, headlines, and other customizations, but basically, you’re writing for people, not search engines. For this reason, it is important to focus on writing in a way that appeals to people in a natural, conversational tone in order to engage and communicate effectively with readers. Writing SEO-optimized text is not the same as writing an essay.

To make your text more engaging and interesting, it may also be appropriate to include stories and narratives. Depending on the tone you’ve decided to use, these can be personal stories. Stories have the ability to create an emotional connection with readers and can increase engagement.

Internal and external links for SEO

In addition to the text itself, there are other components to consider when writing and optimizing an SEO text. One of those things is internal and external links in your text.

In fact, external links in your text to other websites offer several benefits for your SEO. Mainly in two areas. On the one hand, external links can improve the user experience by allowing your visitors to learn more about the topic and get more information. On the one hand, external links, when made to credible and established pages, can increase the credibility associated with the information you shared. For example, if you write about a topic and link to and reference other credible sources, search engines will take note of this and see the information you share as more credible.

Also internal links, i.e. links on your page to other pages on your website, should be included in your SEO-adapted text. Internal links facilitate navigation on your website and help improve the user experience. By linking to other relevant pages on your own website, you can help users find more information on related topics and keep them on your website longer.

That being said, you should include both internal and external links to further optimize it. Just make sure to use anchor texts that are relevant and give a clear picture of what users can expect to find when they click on the link. Also, make sure to find a balance between the number of links you include in a text. You don’t want to over-optimize by cramming a page with externals and links, but include in a way that is relevant and provides value to the reader.

A tip when including external and internal links is to use “open in new tab”. If the link opens in the same tab, it means that users will leave your page to visit the other one. This leads to shorter time on the page and a higher bounce rate, which is not good for search engines. Therefore, make sure that the links open in a new tab so that you can make users stay on your page as long as possible.

Optimizing meta tags

Another part that is directly linked to the text on your page is meta tags.

The meta title and meta description are important to convince users to click on your link in the search results. Both of these are visible in your website’s results in search engines and have a big impact on whether a user clicks on your website or not – depending on how well it is optimized. You want to make sure to include relevant keywords in both the meta title and description to signal to search engines and users that your page is relevant to their search.

Google generally recommends that you keep the meta length between 60 and 160 characters so that your entire text fits in search results and is not cropped to fit.

Schema Markup to improve visual presentation in search results

Schema markup is a structured data format that helps search engines understand the content of your page. By implementing schema markup, you can improve your page’s appearance in search results by including extra information such as reviews, ratings, and events.

Choose schedule types that are relevant to your content and business. This gives search engines more context about your site and can result in a more engaging visual appearance in search results.

Measuring and analyzing SEO performance

As with all SEO work, it is important to evaluate the results of your SEO-optimized texts. It’s only when you actively evaluate and follow up on the results that you can adjust your strategy and learn what works and what doesn’t.

Google Analytics and Google Search Console are handy tools for measuring and analyzing your website’s SEO performance. Google Analytics gives you insight into visitor behavior, traffic sources and conversions, while Search Console provides information about how your website appears in Google’s search results.

In addition to these, there are also several other SEO tools such as Moz, SEMrush or Ahrefs. These tools can offer detailed analysis of keywords, backlinks and data related to your competitors.

Check spelling and grammar

When writing SEO-friendly content that search engines like, it’s important to produce high-quality content. A very basic part of this is of course ensuring that your text is free of typos and uses correct grammar.

If search engines see that your text is filled with typos and grammatical errors, it is obvious that they will see your text and by extension your entire website as lower quality. If you can’t even proofread your texts, is the information on your website even correct? Proofreading your texts before publishing is therefore an important step. In addition, poor grammar and spelling errors can negatively affect the user experience, which in the long run affects your SEO results.

A good tip to avoid typos and grammatical errors in a smooth way is to use digital tools that automatically work in the brackish ground when you write. Many text editors and online platforms offer built-in proofreading functions, but stand-alone tools such as Grammarly or Microsoft Word are also very effective.

Special attention should be paid to common spelling mistakes that can easily slip by unnoticed. Examples include “there” and “their”, “its” and “it”, etc. These small errors can affect the comprehensibility and credibility of your text.

Constant updating of the content

Last but not least, continuously updating your content is an often overlooked part that is important to maintain the relevance of your texts over time.

Facts and information can become out of date over time and for this reason you need to review your texts on your website from time to time to ensure that they are still relevant and contain correct information.

In fact, you can have just as much impact on your search engine rankings by updating existing texts as you can by producing new ones. To update and improve your texts, you first want to evaluate how they are performing, keywords that users use to find the pages, and so on.

The next step is to evaluate your competitors’ pages and see if they have written a more detailed and informative text than yourself. Are there things they’ve covered in their text that you can include as well? Improving and building on existing texts is a way to optimize and improve the texts that you have already published to improve its results. In connection with developing your existing texts, it can be good to do some keyword research to see if there are additional relevant keywords that you can include in the text in an appropriate way.