How to write SEO texts in 2021

More is expected of SEO texts in 2021 than in 2021: they must rank well for search engines and be read by people. Google and Yandex are driving more and more traffic to their services, so the copywriter's task in 2021 is to bypass advanced snippets, citations, and quick search engine responses and write in a way that gets clicks from search. The backlinks finder tool can help you.

Rule #1. Be the expert

Write like you would write a doctoral dissertation: with justification of facts, with verification of sources, with an analysis of the product and relevance of the idea. 

Superficial texts full of water and digressions are a thing of the past. Be precise, specific, unambiguous.

Feel free to sign off on 3,000-6,000 characters. Google still likes large, detailed articles with professional terminology and a structured feed.

Rule #2. Add illustrations

Between a picture and 2,000 characters of text, choose what best reveals the meaning of the article. A graphic? A series of sketch sketches? A video? Anything that is useful and facilitates the perception of the information will do.

By no means are we trying to take bread away from copywriters and give it to designers. It's just that in some areas it's easier to show than to explain.

The text itself, by the way, can also facilitate the perception of information. Use boxes, indents, quotations, two-column format, so the eye does not glide over the canvas of the article, and clings to the key points and messages.

Rule #3. Reinforce the beginning

Let's go back to Google and Yandex, which monopolize search. Now the user can get the answer to his question right in the search, without having to go to the site. Recipes, premiere dates, biographies of actors and politicians, product selections appear on the first screen, while your (and our) site hangs out somewhere in the third or fifth position. Three years ago, that was pretty good. Now the organic clickability in the top 10 of Google, for example, has dropped by 13%. Sad, but it can't be helped.

In this situation, the only point of contact with the audience is the headline with a snippet. In 2-4 phrases, you need to interest the reader and show him that he will get more value in your article than in the search engine's quick answers. To do this, there should be 3 main aspects in the headline and the announcement:

1. Emotions (joy, anger, curiosity satisfaction, emotion)
2. Pragmatics (time, efficiency, money)
3. Social message (recognition, unity, respect).

To encourage the reader to click on the site in the output, already in the title is important to show - you have something to surprise, delight, help.

Rule #4. Add useful action

Will the reader be able to use your article as an instruction manual? For example, to clear cargo, choose a vacuum cleaner, decide on the material for the roof. If yes - congratulations, the text has value. If no - find it and bring it to the reader.

Value is not always about the material. Often it hides in emotions and feelings. Take the iPhone 11 with its three cameras. The cameras in it are far from the most important and valuable. What is valuable is how you feel when you take pictures with the wide-angle camera of the Alps or the Cordillera peaks.

And it does not matter that 70% of iPhone 11 buyers can afford to shoot the urban landscapes with three iPhone 12 cameras. The main thing is to convey in the text a sense of value and to show HOW useful it can be.

Rule #5. Be precise

Google has an algorithm called "Consensus," which is able to compare information in text to scientifically proven facts. It was "Consensus" that reduced the visibility of websites in 2019 by 60-90% where articles about alternative therapies did not match the positions of official medicine. 

This is why it is so important to stick to the facts in the 2020 texts, to keep the information presented objectively, and to confirm your findings and conclusions with references to authoritative sources. Authoritative sources in this case can be publications of industry experts, GOSTs and SNiPs, comments of specialists, references to articles of industry periodicals.

Rule #6. Consider the context

It is both appropriate and inappropriate in relation to the demands of the audience, the life situation, and the experience and beliefs of the reader. An illustrative example is the texts for the men's magazine MAXIM Online and Men's Health. The audience may be the same, but the requests and situations are different. The same applies to SEO texts.

The articles on the blog can describe the main differences between the fireproof and burglar-proof safe in the format of an unobtrusive informational overview, but the text about the product needs to be very concise with data about the materials, wall thickness, security mechanisms, duration of fire resistance or burglar tools.

It's top-notch to write a text so that it reads equally well in the context of 2021 and 2051.

Rule #7. Remember about voice requests

41% of Google's paying audience use the "okay, Google" feature at least once a day. This means that 2020 SEO texts need to include:

• long queries that people use when asking a question to Siri,
• trigger words that answer questions about "best," "cheapest," or "closest,
• turns explaining or answering the question words "where, when, who, why".

А где же глава прямые и косвенные запросы, тошнотность, баллы Главреда и другие нежно любимые оптимизаторами параметры? Постепенно уходят в небытие. Потому что если подойти к написанию текста по всем 7 правилам, все сложится само собой. И водность будет в норме, и Главред с «Тургеневым» удовлетворены.