Pebble’s Guide to Writing Content

Introduction 

When people think of content for websites, it is easy to immediately think of blogs, but there is a lot more to content creation than that. Broadly speaking, ‘content’ covers everything that you write for your website and your images and videos as well. 

Within this guide, you can learn about how to optimise your written content to rank well in search engines, and help people visiting your site to navigate your content.

Keyword Research

What keywords are and how to find them

Every time you search for anything on the internet you use a keyword to do so. They’re the words and phrases that you type into search engines, like Google, which then gives you a list of results they hope will best meet the intent behind your search. They’re also the key to understanding your audience, so you can appear in Google when people are wanting to find businesses like yours. 

That’s why doing keyword research can be so useful when it comes time to write your website content. We recommend using a tool to help you find a wide range of keywords in your area. For example, in Semrush’s free subscription you can use their ‘keyword magic tool’ ten times each day. With this tool you can put in one word or phrase that you think customers could use to find you, such as “art clubs for kids” and it will generate similar keywords that people use and show you the search volume for each. 

What is Search Volume?

Search volume is the number of people using that keyword each month. Generally speaking the broader the term used the higher the number will be and the more specific the term, the fewer people search for it. 

How to use keywords? 

To use keywords effectively you should know what your ideal audience is looking for. Firstly, you need to make a list of keywords you want to target that are relevant to your business. You should also make sure to be mirroring language that your target audience is using i.e. basic or more technical terms as necessary. This will help your audience find your site and help your site rank in Google for those terms. 

Where should keywords be?

Keywords should be placed in a variety of spaces around your site where your audience will easily see them and understand what your website content is about. Ideally, keywords should be in:

• URLs

• Meta Title

• Meta Description

• Headings

• Body of Text

Your keyword placement should feel natural to the reader and flow easily within the text. When Google was still young, people would list keywords in bullet points or add them in white text on a white background and try to trick search engines into ranking their site high for related terms as well as unrelated terms. Google became wise to this and they can stop your site from ranking, so the best advice we can give is to write naturally and don’t try to game the system. If you’d like to understand this more, take a look at “keyword stuffing” in the glossary. 

How many keywords should you use?

Typically, you’ll want to have one page for each topic you discuss on your website. For example, your homepage will act as an introduction to your business and what you do, your about page will tell people more about your business and who works there, your contact page will be about how to contact your business and where it’s located. You might also want to have a page each for the activities you run. 

PageIntent of the pageTopics people are looking forHomepageTell people about what your business doesThe name of your businessActivity pageAll about an activity that you run “Art activities near me”“Art club for kids near me”Activity pageAll about an activity that you run “Dance activities near me”“Dance class for children near me”

Search Intent

What is Search Intent?

When a user types a keyword into a search engine there is always an intent behind it. Google is very good at understanding intent so we can normally find what the intent is behind a keyword by looking at the Google results pages. But first - we group intents into the following buckets:

Types of Search Intent

When a keyword is typed into a search engine, the intent will fit into one of the following four categories. On occasion a keyword can fit into more than one, depending on the reasoning behind it. 

Navigational

People who use a navigational keyword are generally looking for a specific page. For example, “baby sensory nottingham”. 

Commercial

People that have used a commercial keyword are normally looking for research that is going to inform a purchase, e.g. “best nursery near me”.

Transactional

Users that have typed in a transactional keyword are normally looking to perform a specific action, such as making a purchase. For example, “buy Montessori toys”.

Informational

Users who have typed in an informational keyword are usually looking for more information on a topic, e.g. “what does Montessori mean?”.

Keyword best practices

To ensure that you get the most out of your keywords, you should make sure to stick to these best practices:

• Research - ALWAYS make sure you are using the right keywords for your page

• Intent - Check you are creating the right content for people searching for your page

• Placement - Make sure your keywords are in the right places

• Volume - Don’t stuff your keywords

• Check - Make sure to check they are still working the way you want regularly

Web Page Content

Web page content is anything that’s written specifically for a page online, that includes blog posts, articles, website copy etc. What links all these types of writing is the purpose. Content is made to be read and develop the relationship between your company and its audience. Written content can also include non-text, such as images and videos. No matter what you plan on writing for your page you need to follow guidelines to make sure you are making content that your audience wants to see. 

Choose the right topic

When writing your content, you need to make sure that you are choosing topics that are relevant to your audience. By focussing on topics that your audience is interested in, it allows you to build a platform that your audience trusts and engages with. By creating content that you have a solid knowledge of you will have a better chance of ranking as Google ranks sites that demonstrate experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. 

Choose the content type

Some topics will lend themselves to different types of content more than others, for example you wouldn’t want to create a blog post around your companies opening times when that information would be ideal in web page copy that is easy for your audience to find, such as on a content page. 

Create a plan

When creating content, it’s not advisable to sit down and just start writing. It’s always best to start with a plan. This is true whether you are writing the content yourself or getting someone else to write it for you. A good content plan should include:

• Your target audience

• Keywords you want using in your content and in the headings

• The format and layout you want the content to be in

• Suggested meta data

• The ideal length of the piece

• The title

• Any desired in-linking opportunities

If you are unsure how to start a plan, you can create a free account on Semrush which gives you one free template on their SEO Content Template tool. This will also give you 10 suggested keywords for your piece of content so it’s a useful tool if you are just starting to create content. 

What is inlinking?

Inlinking is the name given to creating links to other pages within your own website. For example you may be writing about your company's ethos on a page (for example, Montessori learning) and include a link within it to a blog on your website about the benefits of Montessori education. This not only increases your authoritativeness on the subject from the view of your audience, it also tells Google that these pages are related.

Make sure it’s helpful

When creating your content, you need to make sure that it has a purpose, that it’s helpful to the reader. If you’re creating content that is not needed or unhelpful it can hurt your brand’s reputation and drive customers away. If you create content that’s trustworthy, actionable and targeted you are more likely to develop a better relationship with the reader and they’re more likely to return to your website, or even better book an activity or nursery slot, in the future. 

Optimise your metadata

The meta title and meta description are the part of the content that is displayed in results pages in search engines such as Google or Bing. In the image below you can see the meta title (this is usually in blue, unless you have visited the page before, in which case it appears purple) and the meta description below it. This tells you useful information about that page before you click on it. 

These need to be optimised so you know exactly what the first impression is of your page. If left undone, Google will choose an excerpt for you and it may not be the section that describes the page best. 

Meta titles should be between 50 and 60 characters long and meta descriptions should ideally be between 150 and 160 characters. They can be shorter but it’s best to make them as descriptive as you can in the space that you have. 

Structure

It is important to know how to structure your content on your website, not just so it’s easy for your customers to understand but so Google can understand it as well. 

What are Headings?

On web pages the “titles” are referred to as headings. Headings are used to inform the reader (and Google) what the text is going to be about. Not all headings are equally important, they are coded differently. There are 6 different levels of headings, ranging from H1-H6. Generally speaking, this is how headings are organised:

• H1 - This is normally the title of the page or post. 

• H2 - The first of the ‘subheadings’. These generally contain the main key points of the page. 

• H3 - These further subheadings that help expand upon the points made in the H2 subheadings above them. 

• H4-H6 - Each of these help to subhead, clarify and expand on the headings above them. 

FAQs

It’s always a good idea to add an FAQs page to your website, as long as it’s written well. A well written FAQ page gives you the opportunity to answer any questions your audience has.. 

What is an FAQ page?

An FAQ page (short for Frequently Asked Questions page) is a page that users can go to on your website with the hope that it will answer any lingering questions they have about your business. 

What should an FAQ page include?

For a good FAQ page, you should make sure to include certain elements to make sure it’s useful for your audience. 

Genuine Frequently Asked Questions

This may sound obvious, but questions that are asked of your business regularly are more likely to be asked again and should, therefore, be on the list of those answered on your FAQ page. 

Keep them updated

Should a new question become frequently asked, make sure to add it into your page. Similarly, if you find certain questions aren’t being asked any more, make sure to remove them.

Simplicity

Users don’t want to find an FAQ page that is full of long paragraphs of writing, often when users are looking for specific information they want it easy to find with a simple answer, so keep your answers easy to read and to the point. If you have a lot of FAQs to include, categorising the questions can be useful to stop the page looking cluttered. 

Tone of Voice

What is Tone of Voice?

The term ‘tone of voice’ refers to the way you speak to someone. It refers to the pitch, volume, choice of words and the speed of the message. All of these affect how the listener perceives and responds. If this is not done correctly, your meaning can easily be misinterpreted and responded to in an undesired way. In terms of content and branding, ‘tone of voice’ is how a company communicates with its audience and customers. For a business, ‘tone of voice’ also includes imagery you use and encompasses emails, ads, landing pages, social media, and blogs.

Why is tone of voice important?

Your company's tone of voice shows your customers (and your potential customers) who you are and what they can expect from you. If you get your tone of voice right you can build trust with your audience.

Companies with a great tone of voice

As an example, these companies have really perfected their tone of voice and adapted them to their advantage.

Baby Sensory

Baby Sensory wants to come across to their audience as approachable but also authoritative in their field, this image below, taken from a section on their website, represents just this. The photographs of the sessions showing the children and carers enjoying themselves makes them come across as friendly and approachable, then the text underneath tells the reader the education behind Baby Sensory and the authority behind their classes. 

How to find your tone of voice

Now you are aware of tone of voice and how important it is, follow these steps to create yours:

• Step 1 - Define your company's core values
  To do this, take a look at what makes your company unique and what you stand for. You also need to know your goals and figure out what your company stands for and what it doesn’t.

• Step 2 - Define your company’s tone of voice
  Think about whether you want your company to be more funny or serious, formal or casual, enthusiastic or more matter of fact. Make a list of adjectives that describe how you want to come across. 

• Step 3 - Get to know your audience
  Customers want a brand to understand their wants and needs. Take some time to learn who they are, what social media platforms they use the most and what they interact with.

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How to create your own tone of voice guidelines

Once you’ve completed all the above, you can implement a guideline for anyone writing or creating for your company. You should make sure to include:

• Correct and incorrect examples of what your tone of voice is

• Your core values 

• Vocabulary to avoid 

• Grammar rules 

• The adjectives you decided to use to describe your company

As you begin to create content for your website, remember to look back at this guide and use it as a checklist for creating the ideal content for your website. 

Glossary

Keyword: Any word or phrase that gets typed into a search bar in any search engine

URL: Also known as the web address, every website has a unique URL

Meta Data: Includes information about the content of the webpage. Encompasses the term Meta Title and Meta Description

Meta Title: The title of a webpage, displayed in search engine results and browser tabs. 

Meta Description: A brief summary or snippet describing the content of a webpage. It is often displayed beneath the meta title in search engine results, influencing click-through rates.