Should you write first - optimize later?

[UncleTodd]

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!

[UncleTodd]

Thank you for the reply, Dawn. I appreciate the feedback!

[dawnieando]

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.

[UncleTodd]

Great analogy, Stephen - a perfect marriage of form and content. I really appreciate the feedback. Have a great night and an even better 2013!

[SteveTheWoodsman]

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.

[UncleTodd]

Really appreciate the feedback, Will. All the best and Happy New Year!

[williammarlow]

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.