Writing an article is easy but writing an article that satisfies the needs of users as well as search engines requires some effort and some little different optimization and tactics. In this article, I will be sharing some tips for writing SEO friendly articles by applying these tactics.
1. Understand the Searcher’s Intent & Type of Content to Produce
The very first step is to understand the searcher’s intent, think of what the searcher is looking for and then write accordingly.
If you create the wrong type of content, then most probably when any user comes on your article, he is going to bounce back as this was not what he was looking for which will clearly give a signal to Google that this article is not a quality article as users are not liking it.
There are mainly two types of Searcher’s Intent:
- Product Focus Type: Users are looking to buy a product
- Informational Type: Users want to gain knowledge
In informational type of content comes two other types:
- Listicles: Users want a list of tips, things, etc
- Subjective & Guides: Users want a guide kind of article
You can learn about the searcher’s intent by looking at your
competitor’s articles ranking in the top 10. If the majority of the
websites ranking on the top 10 for your targeted keyword are listicles then you
should write a listicle article only because most probably that’s what users
want.
2. Use Subheading to Break The Text
Using H2 and H3 gives a great user experience as well as it gives a signal to search engines that this content is quality content.
You should use 4-6 subheadings for every 1000 words you write, it breaks the long article. So, the users are reading four 250 words articles which looks much easier than reading a whole long 1000 words.
Quick Tip: Do some research and make a list of all the subheadings before even starting writing. This way you will be able to create content quicker because now you just have to fill in the text and you know what you have to write about.
Make sure the subheading you’re adding to your article is related to the topic, if you are writing about ‘How to lose weight’, then don’t add a subheading of how to gain weight, as that is going to be completely different than the topic of the article you are writing about.
3. Use Target Keyword in the Title, URL and in Between Content
Your target keyword should be in the title as this tells the search engines what the article is about. Now, you don’t necessarily need to use the same target keyword in the title, you can make some little adjustments to make it look good in the eyes of users as well.
Search engines are nowadays very good at determining the topic of the article so it is ok to make little adjustments. Also, add the keyword in the URL and remove the extra words from the URL like How to, what is, etc. as short URLs look good and are considered to be good for SEO.
Also, add some of your target keywords in between the content but don’t go over and destroy the user’s experience as search engines don’t like a lot of keyword stuffing. Don’t add your target keyword in every other sentence, add it to the place where it makes sense.
4. Use Related Keywords Or LSI Keywords
LSI (latent semantic indexing) keywords are basically related keywords. Now your article is not only going to rank for your one target keyword only, there are going to be some other related keywords as well in which users want the same type of content as yours and if you don't have those LSI keywords in your content, then there are very less chances of your website ranking for that keyword.
You can see these latent semantic terms in the bottom of the search results and in the people also ask section. You can also think of some related keywords using some keyword research tools and even by using your own brain.
5. Optimize Meta Description
Meta description is the small snippet under your title in the search engine results page. Add your target keyword in the meta description once or twice and then clearly state what your article is about in under 160 characters.
6. Use Short Paragraphs
More than 5 lines looks terrible on mobile devices which results in people bouncing back which is a poor signal in the eyes of Google. Would you prefer reading one full long paragraph that fills the whole screen of your phone or 3 smaller paragraphs? What’s easier for you?
That’s why you should always use short paragraphs; try to not go over 3 lines, 4 lines maximum. Also, you can consider using software called Hemingwayapp to shorten and simplify your content which gives a better user experience and a better user experience means a better search engine experience.
7. Internal Linking
If you have already written a content on a topic which is related to what you are writing about, then make sure you link to it as it helps the users as well to scan through and gain more information, also it gives a positive signal to search engines like Google that users are going through your website and users are spending more time on your website.
Secondly, it is going to increase the overall traffic of your website which acts like a cherry on the top for you. Morten, who is a successful digital marketer, found a 20% increase in his traffic just by spending a few days internally linking more than thousands of links using a simple tool, you can see his case study here.
Bonus Tip: Make Your Article Visually Appealing Using Pull Quotes, Images, Bold, etc.
Use different formatting options to make your content visually appealing. Guttenburg has a large variety of block items you can use to make your content more appealing. You can also use several images, you can even bold some text to highlight the main information and you can literally do a bunch of other things with formatting.
Quick Tip: While adding images, make sure you write the Alt text to improve the SEO rankings of that image.
Bottom Line
In today's world of digital marketing, you should focus first on the user experience as search engines are nowadays very smart in determining quality content so writing quality content that satisfies the need of users should be your main goal as that’s what search engines as well as users want.
Check out these articles: Blogger Tips
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