How to write for SEO today (and Why It’s Not Just About Keywords)

By Casey Barnett

New School SEO vs Old School SEO

Old School SEO vs New School SEO

Are you still writing the same kind of content you did five years ago? Ten? If so, it might be time to recalibrate.

Today’s SEO isn’t about tricking algorithms, it’s about earning trust, understanding user intent, and writing content that serves humans and machines (yes, that includes AI scrapers and crawlers).

Let’s walk through where SEO writing started, and where it’s going.

Old School SEO:

Keyword Stuffing

Once upon a time, SEO meant repeating the same keyword over and over. Search engines weren’t sophisticated; they scanned for terms, not meaning.

That era is long gone. Now, stuffing your content full of keywords won’t help, and it might even hurt.

Writing for Bots Instead of Humans

Back then, people wrote robotic content just to get picked up in results. But poor UX = poor SEO today. If users bounce because your content is awkward or confusing, search engines notice.

Subdomains for Blogs

It was trendy to host blogs at blog.yourdomain.com. Today, subdomains are treated as separate sites, so unless there’s a good technical reason, use subfolders like /blog/ to boost your primary domain’s authority. You may not be able to avoid the subdomain usage for your HubSpot account, so plan ahead for landing pages and blogs you plan to keep separate from your site.

New School SEO:

Write with User Queries (and Intent) in Mind

Modern SEO starts with the user’s question. Your job isn’t just to include a keyword; it’s to answer the query completely and clearly.

Understand Search Intent

“What’s the score of the ManCity game?” means “latest result,” not a Wikipedia list of 400 matches. Great SEO content aligns with what people mean, not just what they type.

Use Core HTML Tags Strategically

Some things haven’t changed:

  • Your title tag still needs your primary keyword.
  • Your body copy should reinforce the topic.

But don’t jam in keywords; Google and AI crawlers now evaluate context, clarity, and coherence.

Essential Elements That Still Matter

Headline Tags ( H1, H2) - Use one <h1> per page. Organize your content using <h2> and <h3> to reflect structure and hierarchy. This helps both humans and crawlers understand your page at a glance.

URL Slug - Keep it clean and descriptive. A well-formed URL builds trust and shows users they’re in the right place.

Meta Description - Google doesn’t use this for rankings, but it’s critical for click-through rates. Use it to tell users what they’ll get, and include relevant terms so Google bolds them in the search results.

Image Alt Tag - Don’t stuff it with keywords. Use it to accurately describe the image. Think accessibility first, SEO second.

Voice Search & AI Crawlers

Voice search continues to grow, especially on mobile and smart devices. Write in natural, conversational language to increase your chance of ranking for spoken queries.

It’s not just about voice anymore.

Today’s AI crawlers, like those used to generate AI search summaries or populate LLMs, don’t just scan content. They digest meaning, tone, structure, and authority.

Here’s how to win with them:

  • Use semantic structure (headlines, context, related terms).
  • Provide direct, useful answers early in your content.
  • Use tools like schema markup and FAQ blocks to improve your content’s ability to be parsed and cited.

Add These Modern SEO Writing Tactics

  • Use Structured Data
    Mark up your content (FAQs, reviews, articles) to give machines more context. It increases your odds of appearing in rich results.
  • Write Like a Helpful Expert
    Google’s “Helpful Content” guidelines reward expertise and relevance. If you’re just repeating what everyone else says, you’re unlikely to stand out.
  • Refresh and Revise
    Old content that gets updated regularly performs better. Treat your content like a system, not a one-and-done task.

Bring it all together

Yes, content is still king, but only if it’s:

  • Written for humans,
  • Structured for crawlers,
  • Built with strategy.

SEO isn’t about tricking anyone anymore. It’s about being the best, most helpful answer to the question your customer is asking, whether through a search bar, a smart speaker, or an AI assistant.

That’s what great content does.