A guide to Digital Content Writing

9 min readNov 24, 2023

Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drive revenue.

— Andrew Davis

Hi guys, hope this article finds you well 😃 In this article I will tell you a guide how to create content writing that will be boost your search engine optimization (SEO) and create a powerful article on your company website. Ok, so lets start! 🚀

What is SEO?

before we jump in to the guide of creating content writing, I think for those reader who are new about SEO, will tell you briefly about it. So SEO stands for search engine optimization that is a set of development process to improve some digital platform such as website, application to be have more visibility in search engines such as Bing, Google, yandex and aiming to get more traffic on those digital platform.

for the simplicity SEO in a nutshell is just like figure 1.

in summary, there will be a content writer that will publish their article on their digital platform, later on search engine robot will do some selection between good/bad content based on their guideline and finally if your content is good, their robot will be published and compete with others based on the relevancy of user’s search. The more you have a higher score on search engine guideline the more your content will be found on the search engine. So we need to know what are the current winning content for content writer to create a winning content on search engine right? so lets begin the story.

Content Writing Lifecycle

Based on figure 2. we know that first, we need to do some keyword research to make sure that your content (article) is really have some demand. to do it we will need some tools to help you find out what are the current trending keywords that relevant to your business. In this article we will closely discuss on the keyword research & On page optimization only :)

Keyword Research

Types of Keyword

so For keyword itself is divided by several standard:

Informational Keyword : Keywords are used with the aim of providing information (ex: Tips makan sehat, 10 tempat makanan terenak di Jakarta).
Transactional Keyword: Keywords are usually used by users if they want to buy any goods (money keywords) : “jual hp”, “beli makanan”, “promo grab”, “beli hp murah”.
Navigational keyword: Branding keyword: Tokopedia e-commerce, ruang guru no need to be targeted because its already represent your brand).

Keyword based on length of word

There will be 2 kinds of keyword based on their length of word. each of it had their own characteristic:

Short tail keyword(2–3 words) : High Search volumenya,tend not to have any purchase intent (jual casing Samsung, jual samsung) usually this keyword is used just for the sake of creating traffic.
Long tail keyword (>3 words) : tend to have high purchase intent because the users are tend to searching specific criteria (Jual casing samsung galaxy S10) usually this keyword is used to drive some conversion/sales.

How to Keyword Research?

Find seeds keyword, It is a single word or a short phrase that represents the main topic or theme around which you want to discover related keywords. The goal is to use this seed keyword as a starting point to generate a list of relevant keywords that you can then target in your content or marketing strategy. For example, if your seed keyword is “digital marketing,” you might generate related keywords such as “social media marketing,” “SEO strategies,” “online advertising,” and so on.
Find search-related keyword, after we know about our seeds keyword, we also need to find others keyword from the seeds that are similar to it. you can use keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, or other similar tools. These tools provide data on search volume, competition, and other relevant metrics for specific keywords, helping you make informed decisions about which terms to target in your content.
Search volume & Keywords Difficulty, after you already know some of the keywords from the competitor, you can also check on the keywords difficulty, what are the current keyword search volume? did the monthly search volume is big or not. And also keyword difficulty is important to know to compete with other brand that already used those kinds of keyword, will it be easy to boost our content or hard?

And finally your keyword research is done. After you’ve done with keyword research you can also do some competitor keyword benchmarking by doing several tactics:

Find search-related keyword, use keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, or other similar tools.
Find our Competitors Page that brings a lot of traffic, this is important, because we need to know what are the current winning content nowadays that drive traffic on their website.
Backlink Analysis for off-page optimization, for those who didn’t know what backlink is, also known as an “inbound link” or “incoming link,” is a link from one website to another. It is a way for users to navigate between pages on the internet and for search engines to crawl and index websites. Backlinks are crucial in the field of search engine optimization (SEO) because they are considered as “votes of confidence” or endorsements from one website to another. so we need to analyze their backlinks to know their trending contents and target page after user read on several content.

And after you already do this 2 research, you are ready to create a winning content!

Content Creation

Content Strategy — Content Pillar

Figure 3. Content Strategy (content Pillar

The content pillar strategy is an approach to content creation and organization that involves creating a comprehensive, in-depth piece of content (the “pillar content”) that serves as the main resource for a particular topic or theme. This pillar content is then supported by and linked to smaller, related pieces of content (cluster content) that delve into specific subtopics or aspects covered in the pillar content.

Here are the key components of a content pillar strategy:

Pillar Content: This is a long-form, comprehensive piece of content that covers a broad topic or theme in-depth. It is typically evergreen and serves as the cornerstone or foundation for a particular subject. Pillar content can take various forms, such as a comprehensive guide, an ultimate resource, or a detailed tutorial.
User Experience: From a user perspective, the content pillar strategy enhances the overall experience by providing a comprehensive guide on a specific topic while allowing users to delve into more detailed information on specific subtopics if they wish.

On page Optimization

Heading Structure

A well-structured heading hierarchy is important for search engine optimization (SEO) and overall readability of your content. Search engines use heading tags to understand the structure and hierarchy of your content, so it’s essential to use them strategically. Here’s a typical heading structure, often referred to as HTML heading tags, that you can use for SEO:

H1 (Heading 1):

Usage: There should be only one H1 tag per page, and it typically represents the main title or topic of the page.
Example: <h1>Your Main Page Title</h1>

2. H2 (Heading 2):

Usage: Used for section titles and represents the main headings under the H1.
Example: <h2>Main Section Title</h2>

3. H3 (Heading 3):

Usage: Subheadings under H2, providing more specific details or breaking down the content further.
Example: <h3>Subsection Title</h3>

4. H4 to H6 (Heading 4 to Heading 6):

Usage: Used for additional subheadings or subsections, each level providing more specific details under the preceding heading.
Example: <h4>Sub-subsection Title</h4>

Internal Linking

Internal linking is a crucial element of the content pillar strategy. Each piece of cluster content links back to the main pillar content, and the pillar content links to relevant cluster content. This internal linking structure helps search engines understand the relationship between the content pieces and can improve the overall SEO performance of the website.

URL Structure

a well-optimized URL structure is essential for SEO because it enhances crawlability, improves relevance signals, supports a positive user experience, and contributes to overall website accessibility and readability as in example on figure 4.

EAT-able content

It’s important to note that E-A-T is not a direct ranking factor, but rather a set of guidelines for Google’s human evaluators who assess the quality of search results. However, Google’s algorithms are designed to prioritize high-quality content, and following E-A-T guidelines can contribute to better search engine visibility.

Expertise (E): This refers to the level of knowledge, skill, and experience demonstrated by the content creator or the website. Expertise is particularly important for content that deals with medical, legal, financial, or other specialized topics. Content should be created by individuals or organizations with the appropriate expertise in the subject matter.
Authoritativeness (A): Authoritativeness is about establishing the credibility and authority of the content creator or the website. Factors that contribute to authoritativeness include the reputation of the author, the website, and the overall brand. Backlinks from other authoritative sources can also contribute to a website’s authority.
Trustworthiness (T): Trustworthiness is crucial for content that could impact users’ safety or well-being. Users should be able to trust the information provided. Factors that contribute to trustworthiness include transparency about the source of information, clear citations and references, and a professional and well-maintained website.

These principles are particularly important for websites that fall under the category of YMYL (Your Money or Your Life), where the information provided can significantly impact users’ financial well-being, health, or safety.

Mobile Friendly Site

Mobile-friendly websites are important for SEO. Several reasons, and Google has increasingly emphasized the importance of mobile-friendliness in its search algorithms. Here are key reasons why mobile-friendly websites are crucial for SEO:

Mobile-First Indexing: Google has shifted to mobile-first indexing, meaning it primarily uses the mobile version of a webpage for indexing and ranking. If your website is not mobile-friendly, it may not be ranked as well in search results, and you could potentially lose traffic.
User Experience: Mobile-friendly websites provide a better user experience for visitors accessing your site from mobile devices. Google prioritizes websites that offer a positive user experience, and mobile-friendliness is a significant factor in determining this experience.

You can test your site whether is mobile friendly or not using this link

Fast Loading

Google’s algorithms take into account the overall user experience, and page speed is a part of that evaluation. Websites with faster loading times are more likely to rank higher in search results, leading to increased visibility and traffic.
Crawl Budget: Search engine crawlers have a limited amount of time, or “crawl budget,” to crawl and index the content of a website. Faster-loading pages allow crawlers to more efficiently crawl more pages within the allocated time, ensuring that your content is thoroughly indexed.

you can test your site for the load time using this link

SERP Optimization

SERP stands for “Search Engine Results Page.” It refers to the page that a search engine displays in response to a user’s query. When you enter a search term into a search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo, the search engine returns a page that includes a list of results relevant to the entered query. This page is the Search Engine Results Page or SERP.