Can SEO content still be creative?

a female writer is surrounded by devices; a laptop, smartphone and tablets. she is thinking of creative content. — Can SEO content still be creative? 4

Let’s start with the bare bones. You know that you should create fresh content to keep your website relevant. If, after that, it all gets a bit confused and muddled don’t worry. It’s a common feeling. Content should fulfil so many requirements; be informative, contain keywords (enough but not too many!), have the right structure, use language that is accessible yet informative. It should meet the needs of your sales funnel, but also be readable, engaging, authentic, and – yes – creative. It’s no wonder that people feel drained of energy when they face the prospect of creating such content. Especially when they feel obliged to do it every week!

We’re here to say that it really needn’t be like this. Your content can tick SEO boxes and still be creative. It’s time to stop overthinking criteria and implement a content strategy that has plenty of room for creativity.

Understand SEO principles

Just because you want content to be creative, it doesn’t mean that all structure should go out the window. You still need a strategy and to understand the principles behind how SEO content works. Once you understand and appreciate these core principles, you can decide which of them a particular piece of content works with. Because here’s the big thing: you don’t have to tick all the boxes with EVERY piece of content.

Keywords: Keywords help search engines understand what your content is about. If your content is informative, they’ll happen organically and won’t impinge creative thought.
Links: Links with reputable sources boost your content’s credibility and improve its ranking. Good backlinks are something that an SEO agency are wonderful at, but don’t forget the value of internal links that keep users on your website for longer.
Meta tags: Meta titles and descriptions should include keywords to improve click through rates from search engine results pages. This is another thing that your SEO agency can help with and comes after your content.
Structure: Using headings, subheadings, and bullet points helps search engines crawl your content more effectively. More importantly, they help your reader source the information they need. So put the reader first when writing headings.
Regularity: The more regular the better. This is where a schedule really helps. Put the work in once a quarter to plan different types of content and it’ll feel less of a chore when you come to create it.

These things are great. They should not, however, come first. When your content is created with authenticity and creativity, SEO techniques can be addressed at a later point.

Plan your content

From writing a schedule to laying out an article structure, planning shouldn’t be the antithesis to creativity. Instead it should proved the foundation from which creativity can bloom.

Content type

Routine can stifle creativity. So part of your content strategy should involve scheduling a mix of content forms that keep things fresh. Blogs are a staple of SEO content. They provide valuable information, answer questions, and establish your brand as an authority in your industry. Video content is engaging and shareable, making it a key form of content to include in your strategy. Some industries are ideally suited for infographics and animations, which communicate messages in an accessible way. Think, too, about how a podcast might fit in. These are growing in popularity, and guesting on another podcast can be a great start.

Words and structure

Think about structure in the way you would a story. Varying your sentence length naturally makes content easier to understand. Structure your information to reveal the solution to a well explained problem. Keywords are helpful signals to search engines, but gone are the days of keyword stuffing. Today, the focus is on naturally integrating keywords into your content. With search engine recognition of context and synonyms, variations of your keywords are both helpful for SEO and more natural.

Authenticity and engagement

This is where we enter EEAT territory. Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness are core guidelines for content tone as outlined by Google itself. But they simultaneously carry a huge risk of turning content into staid criteria led churn. It can be better for creativity, and ironically, EEAT itself, to simply prioritise the human reader. Engaging concepts, personal stories, and brand consistency are all key pillars for your creative content.

Let’s get creative!

Innovative ideas come easier to some than others. Maybe you’re not even sold about the benefits that it will bring. Or perhaps you want to explore increasing the creativity of your content offering but are not sure how to do it. There are a few simple things to keep in mind.

How to do it

Creativity in content isn’t all about flashy designs or narrative drama. It’s about presenting information in a way that’s original, thought provoking, and memorable. Think of each page of your website, each blog post, as a story. How might you frame the information in a way that follows a narrative journey.

You might offer fresh insights and unique takes on industry topics. Opinion is a great source of authenticity – and it needn’t always be yours. Partnering with influencers can add a fresh perspective to your content.

Don’t be afraid to try different content formats. Incorporate images, videos, and graphics to break up text and make your content visually appealing. A well designed piece of content is more likely to be shared and linked to. On this strain, think about including interactive content, such as quizzes, polls, and interactive infographics to up engagement and fun.

Why we do it

Creative content isn’t just good for your brand, it’s also beneficial for SEO and wider marketing success. Think about engagement and shareability, for instance. Creative content is more likely to be shared on social media and other platforms. This increases your reach and drives traffic to your site.

Then there’s the journey and experience of your users. They should always be the first priority. A well crafted piece of content improves user experience. Lower bounce rates and longer session durations signal to search engines that your content is valuable. And your content has genuinely helped the user, and who wouldn’t want that?!

When it’s planned thoughtfully and created with authenticity, content that is creative will work to support your SEO. It’s easy to become so preoccupied with meeting the needs of an algorithm, so be wary of forgetting about the humans who ultimately consume your content. If all this makes you feel a bit weary and drained of ideas, get in touch with us at Leapfrog for more SEO and content expertise.

About
Latest Posts

Becky Hinshelwood

Content Manager at Leapfrog Internet Marketing

Becky has been writing content for business websites for nearly ten years. She loves to make any topic illuminating and engaging, and can't resist a wordy challenge! In a previous life, she was an artistic decision maker for a number of UK Theatres.

Latest posts by Becky Hinshelwood (see all)

Original content: Now for something completely different… - January 6th 2025
How important is website visibility? - December 4th 2024
The no-nonsense guide to planning your SEO content strategy - November 6th 2024

"We've been with them for almost 4 months now and they've delivered lead after lead - high quality ones too! "

Chris Shaw, Atom Studio
"I've had the pleasure of working with the Leapfrog team for several months now and if I had to use one word to sum up the effect on our business I'd go with transformative."

Chris Shaw, Atom Studio
"Leapfrog Internet Marketing were brilliant to deal with. Great value for money that delivers incredible ROI."

Matthew Letley, Impact For Good
"The Leapfrog team are a highly professional, expert company who work really hard for you behind the scenes. They kept us informed of progress and recommendations, providing a first-class response to any questions and quite simply,

transformed our pesence and our results."

Julia Pearson, just4one
"One area in which Leapfrog has excelled is communication. Any queries are always promptly dealt with and we also receive excellent monthly reporting, with videos that clearly explain our progress. This is great as it gives us a clear picture of what’s going on."

Leigh Emmerson, Voice Fairy
“Leapfrog provides fantastic video reports, to help explain the topline results. As SEO is a hidden science, this has made the whole process a lot clearer.”

Rebecca Couture, Rebecca Couture Millinery
"When it comes to organic SEO, Leapfrog's your company. Thanks for everything you've done for my business."

Paul Deach, Deachy Social Media
"Over a 6-month period, we’ve improved from a position of no ranking at all, to achieving page 1 rankings for our key search term. In a highly competitive market, this is really impressive and has already increased our organic traffic by more than 400% over a 6-month period. We can definitely recommend Leapfrog to other businesses struggling to get seen by Google."

Leigh Emmerson, Voice Fairy
"Leapfrog Internet Marketing has been key in supporting my clients, providing SEO services to allow them to achieve increased and more qualified traffic to their sites. I've worked with Geoff and the team on several different sized projects and am very pleased with the results achieved. I highly recommend Leapfrog Internet Marketing for your online SEO needs."

Oliver Schlieben, Digital Marketing Strategist
“The company is really helpful and approachable and you’re never made to feel embarrassed when asking questions.”

Rebecca Couture, Rebecca Couture Millinery
"Leapfrog Internet Marketing has been a key resource in providing insights and strategies within the SEO arena. Their work is always of a very high standard and always delivered on time. I would have no hesitation in recommending Leapfrog to any business."

Drew Griffiths, Mosaic
"I've been benefitting from Leapfrog’s expertise and experience for several months now and really value the way in which they make knowledge so accessible. We've worked on improving website authority and content, list building and social media optimisation. A great company to work with and very good value."

Chris Farrance, Frontier Digital Business Consultants
"Month-on-month we’ve seen fantastic improvements. Over the first 6-month period, search traffic has increased by over 550%. We've achieved page 1 rankings for at least 85 keywords relating to our key products, the site is now found on Google nearly 5000 times per month and an additional 800+ users visit the site monthly."

Rebecca Couture, Rebecca Couture Millinery
"The team at Leapfrog has been able to keep an eye on our site, using their specialised knowledge to not only spot any invisible problems that will affect SEO and site speed, but also identify any coding errors. This kind of value-added benefit is a great asset and makes a real difference for our company."

Leigh Emmerson, Voice Fairy
"Leapfrog Internet Marketing have been working on our website for 6+ months now and we have certainly seen the benefits of professional SEO. Organic leads have significantly increased in line with our Google position and ranking. I’d highly recommend Geoff and the team at Leapfrog Internet Marketing."

Mark Dalton, The Tech Lounge
“We’re really happy with Leapfrog Internet Marketing. We feel every step has been clearly explained, the communication is excellent and we’ve seen month-on-month improvements that have converted to enquiries and those all-important sales. We’ve definitely received the return on investment we were looking for.”

Rebecca Couture, Rebecca Couture Millinery