Let’s get real for a second: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a tricky subject.

Think about it. By saying “this content is absolutely optimized for search engines,” you’re effectively claiming you have successfully told some of the most comprehensive pieces of algorithm in the world that your content is more valuable than anyone else’s.

That’s a tall order for anyone. Which is reason number one why I personally don’t say it.

The second reason is that in the pursuit of eternal optimization, people sometimes forget who they are really writing the content for—the reader. You have probably heard the following phrase before: “optimizing for the user.” It’s a phrase I abide with, and keeps me focused as I work on various pieces of content.

Now, that’s all well and good, but what does “user-optimized content” really mean? And how does it work with SEO?

Getting it out of the way: Black-Hat SEO

Let me start with what it isn’t—keyword stuffing, spamming inbound/outbound links and other “black-hat” SEO tactics are the absolute opposite of content made for the reader.

These were practices that started in the early 2000’s, back when search engines were relatively new. Google wasn’t as sophisticated yet and simply measured frequency of keyword use and little else. People could get away with using their search terms needlessly tens or hundreds of times just to rank well in the search engine results page (SERP).

Another practice was trying to game a website’s quality score by creating multiple “dummy” sites. These sites served only one purpose—to provide hundreds of outbound links to push the “real” website higher up in the rankings. Again, at the time, Google couldn’t properly determine which sites had legitimate and credible sources linking to it versus those which were basically spam sites.

The good news is that these practices no longer work. The algorithm is sophisticated enough to determine the validity of your content. And what’s more, Google will blacklist sites that repeatedly try to do these kinds of bogus tactics. Blacklisting ranges from a temporary to a permanent de-listing of your domain—a virtual death blow in a world driven by digital communications.

Tools Misused: A Suboptimal Way to Optimize

Allow me to use a quote from Harry Potter’s Dumbledore to preface these next paragraphs: “From this point forth, we shall be leaving the firm foundation of fact and journeying together…into thickets of wildest guesswork.”

In the same way you need tools to cut through wild thickets of grass, many people nowadays use SEO tools to cut their way to the top of SERP’s.

And why wouldn’t they? Some of these tools are very powerful—allowing you to scan thousand word documents for keyword usage, outbound links, image alt tags and meta descriptions in a matter of seconds. And yes, I use some of these tools myself and am very happy with how they work.

But this is where the “guesswork” or opinion comes in—many people allow themselves to be driven by the tools, rather than the other way around.

Let’s take Yoast, for example. It’s a fairly comprehensive and user-friendly tool for managing blog posts and pages on your site. It works primarily by running through a checklist of common SEO items and alerts users if they missed tagging an image, adding a description, and so on.

Critical criteria such as keyword usage, however, is where things get murky. All too often, writers question whether they’ve used the target keyword enough times in an article from a search engine perspective alone.

My take? This is a trick question.

The correct number of times to use a keyword in an article is however many times the article makes sense when it’s read by the user. User-driven content and actions such as conversions, comments and social shares are infinitely more valuable than keyword use in Google’s eyes—and your business. If users read your content and share it on their social channels, leading to more people who also read it and then share it as well—that is the primary KPI you should use to measure content effectiveness.

And Google will recognize and reward that accordingly.

Process for User-Centric Optimized Writing

So, how do you write content for the user?

There are many ways to do it, but I personally follow these simple steps:

1. Start with a brainstorming session using keyword research to narrow down a topic.

   The concept of keywords originated from users’ behavior when searching online. So, it makes sense to start with some keyword research before deciding on your content strategy.

   For example, if you’re looking to boost your site’s content for the word advertising, you can use Google Trends to determine which terms are being searched frequently by users around the topic. Moreover, Google Trends will also list “hot” search terms—keywords that have been growing in popularity recently. These represent ripe opportunities to capitalize on current trends.

2. Don’t handcuff your writers. Allow professional writers to write compelling content.

   Keyword phrases are important, but they’re tools—not absolute mandates your writers must follow blindly. Creating compelling content around the keyword topic is what will fuel your SEO engine, and artificially stuffed keyword phrases into an article won’t resonate with your readers.

   It’s important to allow your brand’s tone of voice and what matters to your readers to both come through in the writing. For example, if your company’s tone of voice would normally shorthand the word “advertising” to “ad”, that’s totally fine.

   Google’s algorithm will recognize the shorthand version just as well. Differing order of keyword phrases, such as “advertising for business” and “business advertising”, would essentially rank for the same keyword phrase. In other words, you’re not losing anything by letting your writers write. Your content strategy will actually be stronger by letting your readers read.

3. The penultimate task: Keyword Optimization

   After the article is sufficiently written but before any final edits, I suggest implementing the actual optimization process here.

   Normal things to look for in this stage include: applying headings, creating title and description tags, using images with alt tags and using outbound links as appropriate. Go by your keyword research back in step 1 and see if you can use any other keyword phrases that belong in the same group.

4. Final review—then launch!

   After optimization comes the real test—passing it through your editors and stakeholders. The article or content has to make sense above all else. No forced keyword usage, proper use of colloquialisms and tone, relevance to your audience, etc. Tools like Yoast can also come into play in this step to provide a final SEO-check of the article. But remember, tools are just a part of your arsenal, not a strategic decision maker.

When it’s all said and done, “the user is king”. Readability and value far surpass raw SEO scores and metrics in terms of your content’s success. If your reader is happy and keeps coming back, Google will catch on to that sooner than you think. So will your marketing momentum.