Write for humans and optimize for robots
Nobody wants to read SEO content, not even the search engine! Everything points to the fact that Google prefers natural content to obvious stuff. Moreover, there’s no point in great rankings if your content doesn’t convert. So focus on your flesh and bone target audience – but help the robots find your content.
Forget about keyword density
Keyword density is one of the most tenacious SEO myths out there. But there is nothing to indicate that Google favors a certain density over another. It’s important to use relevant keywords in your copy, but use them naturally. Cramming keywords in where they don’t belong will mostly likely do more harm than good.
Use related keywords, synonym & grammatical variations
Google and other search engines use latent semantic indexing to match search results to the intensions of the person performing the search. Using synonyms, related keywords, and grammatical variations is an easy way to make your content more relevant without stuffing the actual keyword into the copy.
Write long, in-depth, quality content
Evidence points to the facts that in-depth articles get more shares and links than short, superficial ones. Aim for content that delves deep into the subject matter and provides real insight. But don’t write lengthy content just to please search engine – do it because you have knowledge and insight to share with your audience.
Get your content noticed and shared
Sharing gets you links and traffic, and more shares your content gets, the more relevant and popular it will seem to Google. Do your part to get your content out there and shared via relevant forums, blogs, newsletters, and the usual suspects like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc. And don’t underestimate the incredible power of guest blogging.
Use Google tilde to find related keywords
If you add ~ before a keyword and perform a search, Google will show you a number of related keywords at the bottom of the page that Google finds relevant in relation to your query. Use these keywords to increase the relevance of your content.
Take advantage of long tail keywords
Long tail phrases have a smaller search volume; however, the traffic quality will be higher as the visitors are more motivated and likely to convert.