Writing effective SEO content can seem overwhelming because SEO rules change all the time. In case you don’t know, Google itself has said that it makes over 500 changes per year – yes, per year! – to your search algorithm.

To this end, here are four things to pay attention to when write SEO content that have changed in recent years. While it may seem like a lot to do to write “effective” SEO content, it isn’t when you make it a habit and start to see the results of those habits.

1. Keyword stuffing: When I started writing SEO content in 2007, it was not uncommon for clients to ask for content with a keyword density of 5, 10, or even 15 percent. Today, Google (and other search engines) see this as keyword stuffing.

Do you know those kinds of articles you see where the keyword phrase is repeated over and over again, to the point where it detracts from what is being said? Do not do this.

To write effective SEO content in 2013, you need to strive for a keyword density of 1 to 2 percent. To achieve this, just repeat your keyword phrase every 100 to 150 words. By following this rule, you never have to worry about your content being cluttered with keywords.

2. Use the “Alt” tag: Search engines like to return mixed media results, for example, videos, infographics, photos, etc. So when they scan your article, they catalog the images, videos, and infographics that are there.

For photos, the “Alt” tag describes what the image is about. Therefore, it is important to include it so that your images can be returned correctly in the search results. Here is an example of an “Alt” tag:

If you sold women’s jewelry and had a photo of a gold heart necklace on your site, your alternate tag might look like this: [img src=”womens-heart-necklace.jpg” alt=”Photo of Women’s 14K Gold Heart Necklace”].

3. Write thematic content: You must use more than one keyword phrase in your copy, that is, use secondary and tertiary keyword phrases to complete the content. This is known as thematic SEO content writing, and search engines love it.

For example, suppose you are writing an article on how to bake apple pie. When search engines come up with the word “apple,” they have no idea whether you’re talking about Apple computers or apple pie.

But if your article contained keyword phrases like “baking apple pie”; “apple pie recipe”; e “ingredients for apple pie”; then search engines can quite easily discern that you are talking about baking and recipes, not computers and electronics, for example.

Do you see why secondary and tertiary keyword phrases are important? They provide more information to search engines, helping them to correctly categorize your content and return it in relevant search results.

Learn more about writing thematic SEO content.

4. The importance of shared content: Search engines reward content that gets shared a lot, because they (rightly) assume it must be good because so many people link to it, post it on their social media accounts, and blog about it.

So make it easy for your content to be shared by using plugins like Shareaholic and ping.

Effective SEO content writing: conclusion

As you can probably see, writing effective SEO content is only part of the search battle; The other part is doing all those things behind the scenes that make search engines notice your content so it can be returned in relevant web searches. But the rules are relatively straightforward and if you consistently follow them, you will be rewarded with more organic traffic from search engines like Google.