Many years ago, search engine optimization (SEO) meant spamming links and stuffing keywords. If the copy was helpful, that was just a bonus. Today, with Google’s algorithm calling the shots, it is a much more sophisticated practice. Professional SEO writing services cater to businesses and agencies that are looking to take a more concentrated, informed approach toward better search result ranking. 

Yet the algorithm still contains more than 200 ranking signals. Some believe this makes good SEO truly unknowable. Is any strategy ever enough? Should businesses just stick to the basics and hope for the best?

Why SEO Matters to Businesses

Sites that have made past investments in SEO and didn’t get a huge boost from it may consider putting it on the back burner. Here is why no business should let that happen. 

More traffic.

With SEO, it’s elementary: appear higher in search results, and more traffic will come. With more traffic comes more sales. Once organic traffic rises through great SEO, the rank may get a little extra lift as well. This is a much more cost-effective way of getting new customers. 

Other businesses keep at it.

When a business decides that SEO is not a top priority, they are doing their competition a huge favor. It automatically means that the competitor’s SEO efforts are going to pay off that much more. Keep reading to learn how the competition is winning with SEO writing services. 

Brand identity. 

It is every entrepreneur’s dream to have the name of their business become synonymous with their product or service. While SEO alone is unlikely to make that happen, having a company’s name show up high in results strengthens the connection between brand name and product query. 

It serves the audience.

When a page appears in the search results, the algorithm is telling the customer they found what they were looking for. Through the use of SEO, businesses make a swift, direct introduction to their target audience. What business wouldn’t want to be brought up to someone who went out of their way to show interest in something they offer?

It works when no one else is.

At the end of the day, SEO is an employee that never clocks out. It draws new customers in at all hours, in all time zones. SEO is what makes businesses visible when there is no email going out, no call being made, no comment being left. 

RankBrain: How SEO Writing Services Help Boost Rank

Today’s SEO writing services are not helpless against the Google algorithm. While much of the algorithm’s ranking signals are unknown, there is one highly influential component Google has confirmed the existence of – RankBrain.

RankBrain leverages AI and machine learning to understand human context in search queries. This way, it has a better idea of what a seeker’s intentions are when they type something in the search bar. Google used to deploy RankBrain to handle queries it was unfamiliar with, but now it applies to every search. 

Here are just a few examples of what SEO writers are doing to skate past other ranking signals, and get better results with RankBrain. 

They are up to speed on competitive content.

While extensive keyword research may not be as vital here – more on that coming up – SEO writers working with RankBrain still often begin with keyword research. They perform this to see what kinds of content they are up against. Hopefully, they will see a need for specific information in the topic’s top results.

With that, they can write a piece that is as relevant and useful as the existing top content pieces, but contribute something a little extra. 

They vary their keywords and phrases.

The most compelling thing about RankBrain is that it wants to think like a human. So instead of stuffing copy with certain keywords and phrases they have researched to death, writers can use their main medium or long-tail phrase moderately. From there, they will pepper in related words that they know RankBrain will associate with the main term.  

For instance, if their key phrase involves high heels, RankBrain will see the word “shoes” in the copy also, and know it pertains to high heels. 

They are excellent writers.

Since RankBrain is thinking like a person, it knows what an individual may consider quality writing. If copy has grammatical errors and misspellings, it is less likely that humans will consider it a reliable source. Hence, RankBrain will not promote it that much, either. 

Clean, high-quality content is more important than ever.

They respect the power of the user. 

RankBrain likes content that lots of people like. A subpar writer used to spend a lot of time on SEO and get a place in ranking that they perhaps did not deserve. Even though people did not click on it constantly, or find it very helpful, there it sat. 

That has been changing. If copy is useful and relevant to the query, people will click on it. Creating high-quality content is understandably easier for professional writers. They can write longer pieces that provide more information, and RankBrain will recognize this. 

They perform industry research.

If they don’t, it is because they have industry experience. Within an industry, there will be different content needs. For instance, certain types of businesses, and the people who search for them, like in-depth content. Other topics and queries are always looking for the latest news, which means a site would need to update with new content regularly. 

SEO writers know what kind of content (authoritative and comprehensive, buzzy and engaging) is best for an industry. It is assumed that RankBrain does as well since it is all about understanding the intent of the people who would use that query.

SEO for Today’s Algorithm

Ranking signals are anything but static; Google updates the algorithm regularly. However, web writers have found RankBrain comprehension to be worth their time. It rewards SEO writing services with a higher rank, just for focusing on what they do best: producing useful, error-free, completely original fresh content.