Should you write first - optimize later?
-
We are redesigning the website for our blog and podcast for an upcoming press release. In rewriting to improve some of our blog posts, podcast descriptions, copywriting and overall presentation, would you recommend writing for the reader _first - _then optimizing through SEOMoz? Or should you write with SEO in mind first? I'm a rookie to SEO and would appreciate any recommendations or strategies you may have. Thank you!
-
Thank you for the reply, Dawn. I appreciate the feedback!
-
I'd definitely recommend writing for the humans with quality, focused content, but then optimizing the page so that it ticks the boxes from an SEO perspective. Nothing is worse than a page which is obviously written for SEO. Likewise, it's also no good if the page never gets seen as it doesn't rank.
A few tweaks here and there with written content to optimize subtly should do the trick.
-
Great analogy, Stephen - a perfect marriage of form and content. I really appreciate the feedback. Have a great night and an even better 2013!
-
I agree with Will. However, imagine that writing content is like building a really awesome skyscraper: you obviously are doing it for "the people" but you have to remember that the "building code inspector" (Google) will come along and make sure everything is in order.
Short story -- you should design for people and code for Google.
Just because the content is killer doesn't mean that it'll explode. However, if you write killer content that is coded for SEs and then distribute it to all your network, once everyone starts spreading it... Google will "endorse" it because they like the markup and you'll see great rankings as a result.
-
Really appreciate the feedback, Will. All the best and Happy New Year!
-
I am firmly in the write for humans camp, but I need to caveat that. You need to make sure that your re-design is optimized from a structural standpoint -- it sounds like you have done that, and you are just asking about whether you should write your content for humans or for algorithms. If that is the question, then I think you are much safer if you write for humans and make sure you create compelling, interesting, highly appealing content for your audience, and after that, you can do a keyword review. For almost any website, you are not going to succeed if you write boring content that hits your top keywords. But you will succeed if you write outstanding content that hits your keywords. Hope this is helpful.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Keyword ranking for different page than the page optimized
I have optimized "equipment trailer for rent" on this page: http://www.bigtrailerrentals.com/flatbed-trailer-rentals/equipment-deckover. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me why Google has chosen to rank the keyword phrase for this page: http://www.bigtrailerrentals.com/flatbed-trailer-rentals/equipment-24 This is just one example. It has happened on several of my pages / keywords.
On-Page Optimization | | BigTrailerRentals0 -
Keyword Cannibalization vs. Optimizing Site
I am in the process of optimizing our website and I am having a hard time reconciling two best practices I have found on Moz. 1. You should avoid having multiple pages focus on the same keyword because you will lose some control of which result will show. 2. You should identify your core keywords and weave these keywords multiple times (naturally) throughout your site. I have spent months identifying our top 7 keywords and am working through the site now. The first piece of advice keeps giving me pause. Can anyone weigh in with other considerations or advice on how I can reconcile these two strategies. Thank you
On-Page Optimization | | NikCall2 -
Optimizing a large mess
An agency referred me to a client who wants a proposal for SEO. The website has been recently completed, but it a complete train wreck. I just ran a Moz crawl and I'm looking at 303 issues to fix out of a site with 377 pages. I just downloaded an xml sitemap, hoping to prioritize what needs to be done, however I'm not getting a clear sense of the hierarchy. In your opinion, what is the best way to attack a project of this size? I am clear on the client's business goals, so I can work on the most crucial pages first, but I can't leave the rest of the site a mess. Should I start by gathering for links that have no user value and plan to block them with meta tags? I'm used to optimizing much smaller sites, so any advice on how to approach this proposal would be much appreciated. Thank you!
On-Page Optimization | | ptdodge0 -
How to Optimize Multiple Listing Pages
Hello Webmasters, How can I optimize a site having a listings which creates various multiple pages? e.g: Pages like below: http://moz.com/blog?page=2 http://moz.com/blog?page=3 etc I want to optimize meta tags of these pages. If i put common title and description. My moz analysis showing duplicate meta tags and duplicate description issues. Please guide me to optimize these type of pages.
On-Page Optimization | | wmsindia0 -
Homepage On-page Optimization
How do you all handle homepage optimization, if you (or a client) offers a variety of services? Our homepage has the strongest link profile of any of our pages, but it lists all the areas of law we cover. Therefore, it has too many keywords and none really rank well. Should we just pick our most profitable areas and optimize for that? www.kempruge.com in case anyone would benefit from looking at the actual page. Thanks, Ruben
On-Page Optimization | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
In-page Optimization check list....
Hey, Mozzers I have a question about optimizing a web-page. I was just having a conversation with our web developer about optimizing our website and which changes would make the most difference in affecting the SERPs as far as on-page optimization goes. I was explaining to her we wanted to optimize our pages in the following levels (ranked most important to least important): <title>: key word laden </p> <p>2) <H1> : key word in <strong>bold</strong></p> <p>3) page content: keyword laden as well</p> <p>The idea was to have three or four layers of keywords on the page. I work for a real estate brokerage and the context was the actual page of the property listing. So in this case, the keywords would be the address of the property. She explained to me that the the H1 tag is more important than the title tag.</p> <p>Does this ring true with you guys?</p></title>
On-Page Optimization | | AubbiefromAubenRealty0 -
Do you handle website on-page/site optimization?
Our website is gaining traction and we are looking for an individual who is an expert at examining websites to see if the structure and on-page optimization is being optimized, and what. Please contact me if you are interested. Thank you.
On-Page Optimization | | balboafinance0 -
Product Page Optimization
I work for an ecommerce site and we are currently in the process of redesigning our product page. Any useful, must-do tips for this? If it helps, our site has both hard goods and apparel that can be imprinted and customized to the buyers liking. Thanks for any help!
On-Page Optimization | | ClaytonKendall1