In 1996 Bill Gates wrote an article titled “Content is King”, the article dealt with changes and trends in the media industry and included advertising on the networks, one of the significant phrases he wrote in the article that prominently predicts what is happening today was: “Content is the main field companies will produce Money in the Internet World. “
Properly written quality content can make the difference between a site that is promoted well and a site that is promoted excellently! Over the years there have been important updates in Google on the subject of content, while in the past quantity was of great importance, today, the quality of content and proper writing have a heavy and crucial weight in a promotion. The content written on your site must be SEO-adapted, incorrect writing, especially in a competitive field, will leave your site on the back pages of Google.
If you publish articles online as part of your content marketing strategy, you know this well: an interesting blog post alone is not enough and will not do the job alone, which is exactly why investing in your SEO writing. The following article will offer you some important tips for writing SEO articles:
1. Choose the right keywords
Keyword research is the basic first step in any SEO content writing. Good keywords not only help your site get higher search engine rankings, but they also provide you, the business owners, with valuable information. Thinking about all the terms your prospects might be looking for, this is a good place to start. Every article you write should include appropriate keywords – this is the basis for writing it.
A common mistake of business owners is to use technical terms rather than common terms for their products and / or services. It is important to conduct appropriate keyword research and find keywords disguised by your prospects and keywords that indicate the intent of the searcher.
2. Identify the search intent
When someone initiates a Google search, he has in mind something specific that he would like to achieve. Google invests a lot of time in designing algorithms to refine the search process and make the results accessible according to the intent of the surfers. To get the most out of SEO and content writing, you need to know the four types of search intent:
- Information: When a surfer searches for information on a topic, they will usually include words like “how to do”, “best”, “recommended”, “instruction” and “how”.
- Navigation: Sometimes the surfer searches for a particular page on a specific site or site. In this case, the words they use will be the actual name of the service, brand or product.
- Trading: When someone checks before buying they will include search terms like “review” or “cheap price”.
- Transactions: Users will perform searches when they know they are ready to make a purchase. These users will enter terms like “buy”, “coupon” or “price”.
Examining the search intent that will bring the most traffic to your site is another key part of writing SEO content.
3. Be creative with your H1 title
Each page on your site should contain exactly one H1 tag, and you have more room for creativity in this page title. Here are some tips for writing a good H1 headline for your article:
- Use a unique H1 for each page on your site
- Create an H1 with a question to help increase traffic to that page
- The title of the page should make clear what to expect in the content
4. Write an optimal meta title
The meta title of your page is one of the most important ranking signals on the page. This is the title that users see in the search results and also in the tab of the browser window when viewing the page. This is also the reason to include your main keywords in the title, but be careful not to overdo the keywords.
The meta title should not be the same as the page title (H1) but both should include your main keywords. Your meta title will appear on the search results page, while your page title will appear on the page itself. This is why the meta title is so important for SEO and content writing. To optimize your search capability, consider the following when creating a meta title:
- Define each page for its unique title
- Adjust the title to the visitor’s intent
- The meta title should be 15 to 60 characters long
- Be sure to include your primary keyword
- Meta-title with questions have a higher CTR
5. Write a customized meta description
The meta description is what the surfers will see directly below the meta title on the search engine page. Do not leave this field blank. A meta description tailored specifically for SEO can give you an edge over your competitors.
- Each page on your site should include a unique, accurate and specific meta description
- Remember to include your keyword in the meta description
- A meta description should be 140-160 characters long for best results
- Include a call to action
- Your meta description should not be in a sentence format
- A good meta description can be one of the most important things users will see when performing a search. This should be enough to convince the surfer that your page on the site will answer his question.
6. Make sure your content is organized and well written
Creating a good structure for your articles is essential for writing promotional articles. Promotional articles with H2 and H3 tags yield better search performance. Here are some ways to ensure that your content meets these criteria:
- Create long content if necessary and provide a description at the top of the page for longer articles
- Use the H2 and H3 tags to make your content more readable
- Incorporate in each paragraph one main idea
- Do not write sentences that are too long
- Be sure to answer the questions that surfers may be looking for on your topic
- Numerated bullet points improve reading and comprehension
- Use a bold, italic, or both font to highlight key points
- Do your best to keep these tips in mind when creating new content for your site!
Example illustration:
A recipe for a baked potato with cheese
- H1 – A recipe for a creamed baked potato
- H2 – The best way to bake a potato with cheese?
- H2 – What toppings are recommended to add to a creamed potato?
- H3 – Ingredients of the dish / Preparation instructions / Notes
7. Include internal links
An internal link is when your site pages are directed to each other. It helps the search engine find your content and also gives credibility to your pages that can improve the search engine rankings. Internal links also help visitors to your site find their way and access additional content relevant to their search.
Ideally, the more we can keep a visitor from researching the site, the more likely he is to become a fan of your brand and / or come back again.
In addition, when you link to other pieces of content that relate to a similar topic on your site, it can show to the search engine that you are a source of authority and that is because you have a lot of relevant pages of content on the topic. In the same breath, be careful about this and link only pages that fit the topic.
6. Create a descriptive URL for each page
The URL of your page can help the user decide if your article will have the information he is looking for. It is important to create URLs that provide this information in a simple and readable format to the surfer. When creating a page address, separate the words with hyphens for better readability. Use lowercase letters (if the URL is in English) and make it as short as possible. Include your main keyword and be sure to describe the page in the best possible way in this abbreviated format.
7. Include photos, videos, graphs or other visual content
Adding visual content to your page will not only improve the reading of the article, but will also increase the likelihood of content being shared on other sites. This creates valuable inbound links to your site. Moreover, videos keep the visitor on your site longer and this can improve the search value of the keyword. To optimize your visual content for SEO, be sure to:
- Resize images and adjust site speed parameters to ensure site loads quickly
I wrote an article on how to optimize images for WordPress, and thought it might interest you - Give your images descriptive file names so that they appear in the image search feature of a search engine
- Create alternate text tags that accurately describe your images – this is also important for compliance with WCAG content accessibility guidelines
8. call for action
Every content page needs a call to action. It must clearly define to the reader what in general he should do next. Sometimes this can be reflected in a newsletter subscription to get more such content sent to their inbox. Other times, it will lead to contact form, phone and so on.
No matter what your goals and / or goals are with this content, whether you’re just trying to improve your keyword ranking or building an audience through the newsletter, surfers need to know what to do other than exit your content page and return to the search engine.
In conclusion
Make sure that your content exceeds the expectations of every surfer by providing interesting information, with a clear content structure and contributing with added value to the topic. If you have difficulty writing quality content for the site on your own, contact people who specialize in it