The following guidelines will help you to write good content using the words and word combinations from the ContentDNA.

This is one major rule that almost all SEO experts agree upon: write unique content. DO NOT copy from other websites – and DO NOT copy from your own pages either.

When you are optimizing your website for related search terms, some of the words and word combinations from the ContentDNA might be quite similar. This makes it a little more challenging to write unique content on your different pages – so be creative, because you NEED to do this!

Example:

You have an online computer hardware store; the main search term you are targeting is “online computer store”. This is the most important phrase you are going to use for your home page. Unfortunately it is also the most competitive one.

Therefore you optimise for the following related search terms on other pages of your website:

“computer parts”
“Mac computers”
“Computer motherboards”
“buy PCs online”
“build your own computer”

The ContentDNA of these search terms will be similar for a certain percentage, but NOT 100% the same. If the same words or word combinations occur in the ContentDNA of related search terms, use them in different sentences.

Example:

ContentDNA of “online computer store”:

Computer
Buy online
Best price

Text: We have a computer store where you can buy online hardware for the best price.

ContentDNA of “computer parts”:

Computer
Buy computer parts
Best price

Text: When you want to build your own computer, you can buy computer parts for the best price from our online shop.

In this example, two out of three ContentDNA terms are the same, but we have made two unique sentences.

The ContentDNA consists of a list of 280 words and word combinations; an ideal total word count of your webpage is around 1600 to 1800 words. (This may seem a lot but, as you know, search engines, and especially Google, love content).

If you are limited by the amount of text you can put on your web page or you particularly want a shorter text, reduce the amount of words from the ContentDNA in the same proportion.

Example:  For 900 words of finished text, use the first 140 words of the ContentDNA.

DO NOT change this proportion too much: with too high a proportion of ContentDNA you risk overshooting your target. You might even be penalised by certain search engines for over-optimization – because your content is no longer “natural” or “believable”.
So handle the ContentDNA as you would a prescription remedy – to be used in the right dose; too much of anything is always harmful…  

Similarly, if you use too low a proportion of ContentDNA in relation to the total page content, you may not get the greatest possible effect on your ranking (though you may still achieve a desirable result).

Try to match the order of the words in the ContentDNA with the relative order of importance of the words of your web page.

Google and other search engines give a relative value to the words of the content of your web page, depending on where the words are placed.

For example, whether the word “hotel” is placed in the title or somewhere in the body at the end of the page will make a significant difference. The relative value of the word “hotel” in the title will be higher then the relative value of the same word at the end of the page.

The relative value of a word depends on many different parameters which are the subject of endless discussion in the SEO forums. Parameters which are generally agreed to be important include: where on the web page (top, bottom, beginning of first paragraph, last sentence, first sentence, etc.), the type of font (bold, italic, etc.), the tag (title tag, summary, etc.). For more information, please check Beginner’s Guide to SEO by Rand Fishkin or Basic SEO advice.

Exactly how the ranking of relative importance in a website is evaluated goes beyond the scope of this website, but there are several SEO websites dealing with this topic.

The ContentDNA you receive will already be ranked from the most important to less important terms. The idea is therefore to match the order of the ContentDNA words with the order of relative importance of the words on your web page.

But don’t worry about this excessively. It is of less importance than whether the words are actually embedded in your content. Having these words in the right order is just an additional benefit.

All SEO experts have an opinion on keyword (search term) density. Some say you need at least 2% or even 5%; others say it has no influence at all. How many times you use your keyword is largely a question of your own personal preference and knowledge of SEO.

The only thing we do recommend, based on our own experience, is that you use the keyword or search term at least once in the H1 (i.e. the headline of your content), at least once in the summary, and at least once in the last sentence. For more information, refer to Beginner’s Guide to SEO by Rand Fishkin or Basic SEO advice.

Regarding the density of the ContentDNA words, our advice is even simpler: use all of the words at least once. Feel free to use some of them more often, but the general rule is: don’t overdo it.

Remember, the ContentDNA is the combination of words which together represent an approximation of the ideal ContentDNA. Their combined value – when used all together in a text – is far greater than their value individually.

Use the words and word combinations from the ContentDNA to write a grammatically correct text. All major search engines use advanced techniques to verify whether content is written in a grammatically correct way. The less grammatically correct your content is, the more you will be penalised.

It certainly makes no sense at all – and might even lower your current ranking – to just put the words and word combinations on a web page without creating a proper text out of them.

Avoid spelling mistakes in all content you publish on the internet. As well as annoying your visitors, you will be punished with a lower ranking.

All major search engines promote a well-written, grammatically correct text without spelling mistakes over and above the same text using the same words but with spelling mistakes.

Avoid long, complicated sentences: 10-12 words per sentence is a good average. The search engines rank your text on “easy readability for the average web surfer” – so don’t use complicated grammatical constructions. (But don’t use over-simplified language either).