Search engine optimization (SEO) often feels like an uphill climb for small business owners. I suspect because–like most digital marketing subjects–it’s a broad topic and can become very technical very quickly.

At its core, SEO writing should translate to connection. When you optimize your website, social media profiles, Google Business profile, videos, or your blog articles, your goal should be to communicate your value to the reader.

You’re SEO Writing for All Online Media Formats Now: Video, Websites, Images & Social Posts

SEO writing is the process of optimizing your online assets so they rank on search engines and AI search results. Search engines are Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask, and other sites that allow you to type in a question and receive answers. The goal is to appear at the top of this list of answers. 

However, long gone are the days of getting to the top of a traditional search results page using 1-2 long-tail keywords embedded into several blog posts.

For you, this means creating and optimizing content across platforms that benefit your target audience like publishing YouTube videos, using your LinkedIn profile to showcase your services and case studies, posting on relevant subreddits where commonly asked questions appear, and other online content that Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity AI might prioritize in their results ranking.

Remember that the goal of search engines and AI search sites is to deliver the most relevant and timely answer to a person’s question. This is good on a consumer level because it means we can retrieve accurate answers more quickly when we need them in real time.

Choosing Relevant Topics: Providing Answers to Your Audience’s Questions (Yes, Keywords Are Still Important)

Every successful online marketing strategy begins with an in-depth understanding of how your prospective audience searches for solutions.

The key is tapping into the right topics. Identifying and implementing the right keywords should be part of the preliminary research process (and used in the basic architecture of your content build), but it is not the driving force of SEO writing.

Topics should derive from questions you hear on sales calls, customer account or account representative conversation topics, customer survey results, things you hear during networking events with other professionals in your industry, and common pain points you uncover at conferences or trade shows that pertain to your target client base. Topic research should never be conducted solely online.

The first step in building the GrowthSpurt Strategies website online presence was the creation of a marketing strategy. The core messaging, target markets, and competitor research gave us the information we needed to get really granular.

This granularity included research into specific pain points from conversations with real people from our client base. This prompted online keyword research into competitor and industry-relevant topics that were commonly entered into Google, ChatGPT, and other sites.

After identifying local keywords for which my competitors ranked and that were common searches (you can use tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz for this), we then implemented those high-impact keywords into our meta descriptions, page titles, video titles, video descriptions, and blog content.

High-impact keywords won’t look the same for everyone. It means keywords and search terms likely to be used among your prospective clients seeking answers online. For us, it was “NJ-based digital marketing agency” or “higher education digital marketing strategy.”

These commercial search terms are helpful for building the agency’s online reputation (and to inform Google of our location and service offerings, but they are not very informational. That’s where our understanding of our marketing and sales funnel came into play.

For example, keywords we researched to brainstorm blog post ideas included “effective marketing strategy for small business owners” and “SEO tips for startups,” but these were starting points. One needs to delve deeper on a psychological level to generate content that someone engages with. This requires an understanding of your clients’ needs and challenges.

Optimize Your Website Structure: SEO-Friendly Design in Action

Building a repository of SEO-friendly online assets is crucial. It’s not just for search engines and AI search, but for the human experience too.

Our agency’s website and blog rank for the commercial and topic-focused keywords and search terms we targeted because every page follows the structured layout necessary for Google and AI sites to find us.

Here’s why it works:

• H1, H2, and H3 Tags: Each page is structured with clear, hierarchical headings. For example, the homepage features an H1 tag that emphasizes the primary focus of the business, while H2 and H3 tags further break down services, solutions, and client success stories. This structure not only improves readability for visitors but also signals to search engines the importance of specific content.

• Meta Descriptions: Each page includes unique, keyword-rich meta descriptions that succinctly describe the page’s content. These descriptions play a vital role in enticing users to click on the site when it appears in search results.

• Topic & Keyword-Focused Content: The site is crafted with a strategic use of topical keywords that are relevant to both our industry and our target audiences. From service pages to blog posts, each piece of content is optimized to reflect the common questions and challenges faced by members of the higher education, creative, agency, and professional services sectors.
• User Experience (UX): The layout is simple and intuitive, ensuring visitors can easily find information about services, blog resources, or contact details with ease. Mobile responsiveness is another key feature, as many users engage with sites from their phones. It’s better to have a very simple and fast website that gets your value across to new visitors than a flashy website with beautiful video loads that don’t clearly show what you do.

Once you implement the technical SEO fixes that enable you to write topical and relevant content to enhance target visitor’s experience, your website will not only attract new visitors, but it will convince them to stay and engage.

The next trick is to generate enough content across multiple media formats to drive enough traffic to your website (or focused landing pages), to convert visitors into leads.

Building Authority: Leveraging Social Media and Video Marketing for Strong Backlinks

Social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube are invaluable tools for strengthening your website’s SEO. They serve as both a distribution platform for short form and video content, and a way to create strong backlinks to your website.

They do this by having incredibly strong domain authority which lends itself to high ranking on traditional search and AI search results.

Here’s how we integrate our social media presence with the agency website to maximize impact:

• Instagram: By sharing visually appealing posts with relevant hashtags and clear calls to action, we drive traffic back to the GrowthSpurt Strategies’ website. For instance, a carousel post breaking down “5 Marketing Tips for Small Businesses” might include a call-to-action directing viewers to read more on the blog using our link in bio copy. The goal is to always get someone to take a clear action back to the website.

• LinkedIn: On LinkedIn, we publish content that showcases the agency’s expertise. Again, each post includes backlinks to the website, boosting authority using LinkedIn’s domain, while engaging with a professional audience. We know who our audience is on LinkedIn and how they differ from our audience on Instagram or Bluesky. This is an important research point during the formation of your marketing strategy.

• YouTube: Video content is a powerful driver of engagement right now. By hosting marketing tutorials and success stories on YouTube and linking back to the website, we can take advantage of the platform’s high domain authority and search functionality. YouTube plays an important role in providing video hosting, so you don’t have to upload videos to your website’s management systems (i.e, WordPress, Squarespace, Wix), which takes up storage space.

Backlinking from social media platforms doesn’t just drive referral traffic; it also signals to search engines that the website is credible and relevant because other websites point to it. This synergy between social media and the website creates a cohesive ecosystem that supports both visibility and engagement.

The Goal: To Create Content That Adds Value

We know, by using data analytics tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, that most of our organic site traffic comes from blog articles. For this reason, we focus our content strategy around creating a long-form version that we then splinter them into shorter and medium forms of content across platforms.

Below is an example of how we converted a long-form blog article on the subject of the Instagram algorithm across media platforms and sites.

All topics discussed and content created on the GrowthSpurt Strategies website come from real conversations with prospective clients, actual clients, creative partners, and other marketing professionals. All content curated is meant to help a small business owner, freelancer, or head of a team implement digital marketing practices into their everyday so that they can see conversions as they promote their business.

When you write or develop content for your business, you want to ensure that each asset serves to answer an important question or offers a unique perspective or value to the reader. The more often you successfully engage people using this relevant online content, you gain visibility among search engines and AI search sites by building an audience and positioning your brand as a trusted authority.

Monitor, Test, and Adjust: SEO Writing is An Ongoing Process

For some, this may come as a surprise, but SEO isn’t something you “set and forget.” Regular site monitoring and adjustments are crucial to maintaining and improving overall traffic and acquisition results.

Use free tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool and Page Speed Insights to track new errors and technical fixes that keep your website healthy. Tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console tell you how many people arrive at your site, from which sources, and using which search terms.

We track metrics such as bounce rate, session duration, and page conversions (using Hubspot forms) in Google Analytics to assess what’s working and where there’s room for improvement.

If we notice that a particular blog post is driving significant traffic, we may optimize it further by adding internal links or updating the content with fresh insights. This iterative approach ensures that the website continues to meet the evolving needs of its audience. Continous optimization is at the crux of good SEO writing.

Continuous SEO Writing = Healthy Online Presence 

Content and SEO writing are powerful tools for amplifying reach and building meaningful connections with visitors online. Whether you’re optimizing your website’s technical backend or creating valuable prospect-facing content, the primary goals should remain the same: always communicate your value to the reader.

Didn’t understand some of these terms?

You’re not alone! SEO can get quite technical. Take a look at this marketing glossary for a list of common digital marketing terms and their definititions.