What are the guidelines for writing good content ?

[umk]

Hello Guys

I am bit confused on how to write good content.

I have read so many articles where they are mentioning you have add your keyword in the first paragraph,the last paragraph and use latex words etc

I am confused !

I want to create reviews that rank on the first page and stay their.

Please could someone point out what are the basic guidelines for writing good content for google & users ?

[SEODinosaur]

What I think is good or what you think is good doesn't really count. It's what people in the industry think is good. These days creating an article takes time and sometimes a team of people.

Step one research: What are relavent topics? Who has a real following (people who interact)? What are they currently talking about?

_Find related industry's topics that are trending. Find the social leaders for these industries. _

Step two add value: Do you agree with what they are talking about? Can you add something of value?

Read what the industry is currently all about. Add content to your blog that will educate or entertain these people.

Step three connect:  Can you network with the industry leaders?  Do these industry leaders have a google +/twitter/facebook. Where do these industry leaders hang out?

_Do whatever it takes to network. Buy the flowers, movie tickets, concert tickets. Find out who they really are and what they like. Build a relationship based on other things rather then business business business... _

**Please could someone point out what are the basic guidelines for writing good content for google & users ?           **

_                       "Give the people what they want and Google will give you to the people."_

[peterlaurent]

For example you have a blog on XYZ, next time you find yourself searching google and have to spend a long time to consolidate useful information on a topic related to XYZ to get the answer you are looking for and you can see through Yahoo! Answers, forums etc people are also looking for that information, that can be a good topic to consolidate information on. Are Google is essentially a query response engine anything "How to XYZ", A guide to XYZ" etc. You need to think about what people really want to know about the topic, customer surveys can be a great starting point. SEOMoz does a great job at this, try and apply some of the ideas Rand & Co use to your industry. Once you have written your article run it through the On-Page Report Card in SEOMoz.

[brandonjschwartz]

I always point people to Yahoo's style guide at http://styleguide.yahoo.com. It gives great advice for writing online and includes some pointers about good SEO that sounds natural and helps users.

[umk]

Thank your for responses

I have an idea in terms of writing an article . However people who add keyword density , LSI to their articles will rank better to the article which isn't heavily focused on keywords.

[SEODinosaur]

Not necessarily.. If your article gets no action and it's keyword density is perfect (if there is such a thing), it will not out rank (give more authority) an article that goes viral without perfect keyword density.

Remember Google does not like manipulations. The latest Panda update is designed to detect keyword stuffing and other unnatural on page factors.

Place your keywords where it makes sense for the user and in time your site will gain authority.

[umk]

Thanks

Okay so worry about quality not quantity

[SEODinosaur]

You got it!

Produce content that people can benefit from : )

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Umar,

You've gotten some helpful replies here. I'm a professional copywriter, and will share my own guidelines with you here.

1. Discover a topic you want to write about.

2. Do keyword research to determine how people are searching for information about your chosen topic

3. Cover your chosen topic as thoroughly as you can. You may only end up with 600 words on a given page, or you may end up writing a 2000-3000 word piece if a certain topic merits it. Don't focus on word count - focus on the thoroughness of your coverage of the topic.

4. As you write, keep your keywords in mind. Don't focus on including them a certain number of times. Use them where they make sense from a human perspective. This means your keywords will be sprinkled throughout the page, rather than crammed together in any one place. This is natural.

5. Make the copy a pleasure for humans to read. Yes...those keywords are in there, but they have been highlighted in a natural, non-robotic manner.

6. Once you've written the copy, read it through and craft a compelling title/headline for it, again, taking your keywords into proper consideration.

7. Run spellcheck and read the piece through at least twice before hitting publish. Weed out any typos, errors and awkward language before you go live.

8. Where appropriate, enhance the text copy with images, videos and other relevant tie-ins.

Hope this helps!