SEO writing in 30 seconds
Read the search results before you write, answer in the first two sentences, structure with question subheadings, back up what you claim, then check the tags.
- A format modeled on what Google already shows
- The keyword in the title, H1, intro and one H2
- One sourced figure or real example per section
- Paragraphs that make sense on their own
- Counting keyword occurrences
- A target length copied from competitors
Free text analyzer 6-step method and checklist
Key takeaways
- SEO writing is writing a text that answers a specific query, in the format Google already favors for that query.
- One page, one intent. Two intents in the same piece of content give you a page that is average at both.
- The primary keyword goes in the title tag, the H1, the first 100 words and at least one H2; its variants go in the other subheadings.
- Google has no preferred word count: the length of an SEO article follows from the topic, not from competitors.
- A short, sourced passage that makes sense on its own helps you rank and get picked up by answer engines.
- Reworking a page that already ranks between positions 5 and 20 often pays off more than new content.
A lot of "optimized" text is painful to read: the keyword repeated in every sentence, subheadings with nothing under them, an intro that keeps you waiting for the answer. SEO writing is not what produces these texts; old habits are. Today, writing for Google mostly means writing clearly for the person who typed the query.
This page covers optimizing the text itself. The full process, from picking a topic to hitting publish, is in my guide on how to write a blog post.
What is SEO writing?
SEO writing (SEO stands for search engine optimization) is writing content designed to rank in search engines for a specific query. It combines two requirements: answer the question better than the other pages do, and do it in a form the search engine understands without ambiguity.
SEO content is therefore a page written for an identified search intent: a blog post, a service page, a product page, a guide. An SEO article is its most common form: a blog post that targets a primary keyword and its variants.
What SEO writing no longer is: a matter of keyword density. Search engines now understand topics, synonyms and related questions. Repeating a phrase no longer moves a page up, and forced repetition shows.
Web writing vs SEO writing: what is the difference?
Web writing covers any text written to be read on a screen: readability, short sentences, visible structure. SEO writing adds a search goal: a chosen keyword, a verified intent, optimized tags, internal links. In practice the two merge: good SEO writing is good web writing first.
What makes good SEO content
Four qualities, and you can check them in thirty seconds.
It targets a single intent. You should be able to say in one sentence what the person landing on the page is looking for. If you need two sentences, you have two pages to write, not one.
It answers before it justifies. The answer fits in the first two sentences. The rest explains, adds nuance and proves. It is the opposite of the school essay, and it is what takes the most effort for writers trained the old way.
It brings something unique. A measured figure, a real case, a complete example, a clear position. Without it, the content rephrases what already exists, and a search engine has no reason to prefer it.
It leads somewhere. A clear next step: more in-depth content, a tool, a way to get in touch. Content that informs and stops there feeds the reader's general knowledge, not your business.
How to do SEO writing: the 6-step method
The process, in order.
1. Choose the keyword and read the search results
Start from a query your audience actually types, checked in a keyword tool. Three filters before you keep it:
- Value: can the person typing this query become a client?
- Legitimacy: do you have something to say that the other pages don't?
- Feasibility: who holds the first page? Against sites far more established than yours, go for a more specific phrasing.
Then type the query and look at the top ten results. Their format (guide, list, tutorial, comparison, service page) tells you what Google considers the right answer. If the first page shows nothing but comparisons, a definition guide will not rank, however good it is. Deciding which queries to cover, and in what order, then belongs to your content strategy.
2. List the questions and related terms
Note the questions in the "People also ask" box, the related searches at the bottom of the page, and the subtopics every top-ranking page covers. These are the ideas your reader expects to find: an article on SEO writing that mentions neither the title tag nor length leaves a gap.
Semantic optimization tools (Semji or YourTextGuru, for example, both widely used in France) suggest lists of terms to use. Treat them as a list of topics to cover, not a list of words to squeeze in. Keep about ten terms that match actual ideas, and drop the rest.
3. Build an outline of question headings
One H1, H2s for the main parts, H3s for their subdivisions, without skipping a level. Phrase subheadings the way people search: "How long should an SEO article be?" rather than "The question of length". The first matches what people type, the second matches what writers write.
A simple test: if the outline alone already answers the topic, it is good. If you have to read the paragraphs to understand where the text is going, start again. If you outsource the writing, this outline is the centerpiece of your SEO content brief.
4. Write the answer first
Write the two opening sentences before anything else. They contain the primary keyword, without forcing it, and the direct answer to the question. They frame the whole piece and keep it from drifting.
For a definition query, those two sentences are the definition. For a how-to, they are the steps in brief. For a price, they are the range. This passage is also the one Google can show as a snippet, and the one an answer engine can quote.
5. Write self-contained paragraphs with proof
A paragraph that works runs three to five sentences, opens with the claim and then supports it. It contains at least one concrete element: a figure, a duration, a name, an example. And it makes sense without the previous sentence: a paragraph that starts with "that is why" or "furthermore" depends on what came before.
This is also where trust is built. Google describes its quality criteria as E-E-A-T: experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. In practice: an identified author, cited sources, examples drawn from your own work, an update date.
6. Optimize the tags, add internal links and edit
Once the text is written, check the locations in the table below, add three to five internal links with descriptive anchors, then edit to cut rather than embellish: pointless transitions, recaps of what was just said, nuances that add nothing. Tight content ranks better and gets quoted more.
SEO content optimization: where to place the keyword
The locations that matter, and what to put there.
| Element | What to do | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Title tag | Keyword first, then a concrete promise | About sixty characters: Google truncates by screen width |
| Meta description | Keyword, benefit, what the page contains | 120 to 155 characters; Google may replace it with a snippet from the page |
| URL | Short, lowercase, no stop words | /blog/seo-writing rather than /blog/2026/10/how-to-get-your-seo-writing-right |
| H1 | Only one per page, with the keyword | Can differ slightly from the title |
| Introduction | Keyword in the first 100 words, with the answer | Two sentences that answer |
| H2 and H3 | Keyword in at least one H2, variants and questions in the others | Subheadings phrased the way people search |
| Images | Alt text that describes the image, compressed file | WebP or AVIF, width and height set |
| Internal links | To related content and to the page that converts | 3 to 5 links, anchor that describes the target page |
How many times should you repeat the keyword? No number is authoritative. If it sits in the locations in the table and the text genuinely covers the topic, it will appear naturally as often as needed. If you put it in every paragraph, the text becomes unreadable long before it ranks any better.
To check a text in one minute, paste it into the analyzer below: it checks these locations, the length and the readability, without sending anything anywhere.
How long should an SEO article be?
There is no ideal length. Google says so in its guidance on helpful content: it has no preferred word count, and writing to hit a number is one of the habits it advises against.
Length follows from two things: what the format requires, and what the top-ranking pages already cover. The method:
- Open the top three results and list the subtopics they all cover.
- Add what they are missing: the complete example, the recent figure, the template to copy.
- Write that outline without padding. The length you end up with is the right one.
For reference, typical ranges by page type:
| Page type | Typical length | What makes it vary |
|---|---|---|
| Product page | 300 to 900 words | Number of features, reviews, usage questions |
| Service page | 800 to 1,500 words | Scope, process, proof, pre-purchase questions |
| Blog post, tutorial | 1,500 to 2,500 words | Number of steps, examples to show |
| Complete guide, comparison | 2,500 to 4,000 words | Number of options compared, expected subtopics |
Two signals tell you a text is too long: paragraphs you could delete without losing anything, and an answer that only shows up below the first screen. One signal tells you it is too short: a question from the "People also ask" box that you don't cover.
SEO writing for answer engines: writing quotable content
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews don't rank pages; they select passages and rephrase them. For a passage to be picked, it has to meet three conditions.
Be extractable. Understandable out of context, with no pronoun pointing back to the previous paragraph, no "as mentioned above".
Be verifiable. A figure with its source and date. A claim with no origin will be passed over for an equivalent claim that is better supported.
Be attributable. An identified author, an update date, expertise visible elsewhere on the site. Structured data makes this information explicit rather than something to guess.
These three conditions also serve classic SEO and the human reader: there is not one way of writing for Google and another for AI. I go deeper into the subject in my guide AEO: optimizing your content for AI answers.
Optimizing existing SEO content
It is the most profitable lever, and the most neglected. A page Google already knows gets evaluated faster than a new one. In Search Console, Performance report, look for:
- pages with an average position of 5 to 20: they are a few improvements away from page one;
- uncovered queries that already show the page: add the section or FAQ question that answers them;
- pages with high impressions and a low click-through rate: rework the title tag and meta description;
- two pages competing for the same query: merge them into one and redirect the other.
Then rework the page with the same method as for new content: reread the search results, answer up front, add the missing sections, refresh the proof, show the update date. When the problem goes beyond the text (indexing, speed, site-wide internal linking), that is the job of an SEO audit, and I show an SEO audit report example.
SEO writing with AI: what works
Google does not penalize a text because it was written with AI. Since February 2023, its official position has been to judge the quality and usefulness of content, not how it was produced. Its spam policies, however, explicitly target the mass generation of pages with no value, generative AI included.
In practice, AI is useful for listing the questions around a topic, critiquing an outline, suggesting title tags or rephrasing a muddled passage. It is risky for producing the whole text with no raw material: the result looks like the average of what already exists, sometimes with made-up figures. The quality of the output depends mostly on the instructions it is given.
SEO writing mistakes to avoid
- Repeating the keyword in every sentence or aiming for a density. Search engines understand synonyms; readers, on the other hand, tune out.
- Creating one page per variant of the same phrase. You are building cannibalization: one good page ranks for all the variants.
- Rewriting a vendor's news without adding anything: your page ends up behind the official source and dozens of faster rewrites.
- Writing the generic definition already published a thousand times, with no example or opinion.
- Publishing to stick to a calendar rather than because the content is ready. Two solid pieces a month beat four weak ones.
- Forgetting the next step: content with no link to a page that converts attracts visits that bring in nothing.
How long before SEO content ranks?
The orders of magnitude I see, to be adjusted for the age and authority of the site:
- A few days to a few weeks for indexing and first impressions on very specific queries.
- Three to six months for a stable position on a low-competition query, longer on a new or rarely cited site.
- Six to twelve months on a competitive query, provided you have published several solid pieces on the topic in the meantime and earned a few links.
Reworking an existing page goes faster, because Google already knows it. A page that has produced nothing after six months will generally produce nothing more by month twelve: rework it in depth, or let it go. If you want to hand this work off, it is at the heart of my SEO consulting.
Frequently asked questions
What is SEO writing?
SEO writing is writing content designed to rank in search engines for a specific query. It combines two requirements: answer the question better than the other pages do, and do it in a form Google understands without ambiguity. It is no longer about keyword density but about intent, structure and proof.
How do you write an SEO article?
Choose a keyword your audience actually types, read the first page of results to see the expected format, then list the questions to cover. Build an outline of question subheadings, write the two sentences that answer first, write short paragraphs backed by proof, then check the title tag, meta description, subheadings and internal links.
What is the ideal length for an SEO article?
There isn't one: Google says it has no preferred word count. A blog post or tutorial often runs around 1,500 to 2,500 words, a complete guide or comparison around 2,500 to 4,000. The right length covers the subtopics of the top-ranking pages, adds what they are missing, and stops there.
How many times should the keyword appear in an SEO text?
No number is authoritative. Put the primary keyword in the title tag, the H1, the first 100 words and at least one subheading, then write naturally. Search engines understand synonyms and variants: forced repetition makes the text harder to read without improving rankings.
What are the 3 pillars of SEO?
Technical, content and authority. Technical SEO lets Google crawl and understand the pages, content answers what people search for, and authority, meaning links from other sites, breaks the tie between comparable content. SEO writing works on content, but it cannot make up for weak technical foundations.
What is the difference between web writing and SEO writing?
Web writing covers any text written to be read on a screen, with short sentences and a visible structure. SEO writing adds a search goal: a chosen keyword, a verified intent, optimized tags and internal links. In practice, good SEO writing is good web writing first.
Does Google penalize SEO writing done with ChatGPT?
No. Google does not penalize a text because it was written with AI: it judges its quality and usefulness. Its policies do, however, target the mass production of pages with no value. ChatGPT is useful for listing questions, critiquing an outline or suggesting titles; the substance, the examples and the figures have to come from you.
How do you optimize existing SEO content?
In Search Console, find the pages with an average position of 5 to 20, the queries they don't cover yet, and those with many impressions but few clicks. Add the missing sections, put the answer up front, refresh the proof, rework the title tag and show the update date. Merge two pages that target the same query.
Get your content produced
I plan and write content that ranks and gets quoted, with the structure and proof it takes.
Written by
Anthony Courtin
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