How to write SEO friendly Content
WordPress controls a staggering 65% of the Internet and is driven by 35% of the most popular webpages in the web development industry. For high-income bloggers, organic traffic from Google is the most important traffic source.
So, staying current on all aspects of how to write SEO friendly blog posts is a must today. According to optinmonster statistics, “Content development is considered as the most beneficial SEO approach by 72% of web marketers.”
According to a SEMrush report marketers view content development as a traffic-driver that generates an average monthly income of $8000. $8000 a month by blog writing.
Research published in 2020 by Search Engine Journal discovered that websites which rank first on the SERP (What is a SERP?) receive 25% more clicks than those that rank lower. If you look at the second- and tenth-place websites, you’ll see a dramatic drop: from 15% to 2.5%. This fraction decreases much further as you reach Google’s second page – your blog post simply does not exist.
That implies consumers have a slim chance of discovering your website organically if it is not on the first page of search engine results. Fewer people seeing your site means fewer prospects and, eventually, less money coming in.
Second best is to spend money on advertising to get them to your site. But that’ll put a dent in your budget, so if you’re strapped for cash, why not put some effort into SEO writing instead? It’s cost-free and may sustain your visitors long after a campaign has ended.
How do we combat low blog traffic? With SEO friendly blog posts!
A blog post has to be good, clear, and well-written. It can sound tricky at first, with the following SEO tips you’ll be writing articles which appear on the first page of Google search in no time.
Countless people believe that being a good blogger means having excellent writing skills. But that’s not true. In fact, there are many splendid writers out there, but many of them aren’t superb bloggers. This is because being a good blogger requires so much more than that. Allow me to explain in the following how to write SEO friendly Blog Posts…
1. Think before you write!
Before you start, think carefully about the message of your piece. What is your blog post idea? Who is your target audience? What do you want to tell your readers, or which central question do you want to answer? What action do you want your reader to take? And what do you want them to consider?
Write down the answers to these questions before you begin and think about the search intent someone may have. A search intent could be informational, it could be transactional and/or commercial. For digital Marketing Content is still king!
For optimized blog posts do some kind of keyword research.
Based on keyword research, you’ll be able to identify blog post ideas for beginner, intermediate, and advanced segments of your audience. An easy way to get an insight into this is by looking at the search results for the search term you want to rank with.
Another way is to use a Keyword Research Tool, for example Keywords Everywhere, Moz Keyword Explorer, UberSuggest, AnswerthePublic, LowFruits or Google Keyword Planner.
With most of these SEO tools, you can understand the search volume and competition for a particular keyword.
A quick Google search should give you plenty of good other tools to use.
Use the keyword in the first 100 to 150 words of the page.
Use your target keyword naturally
Use your target keyword naturally throughout your content and within your meta description.
Think of a meta description as a sales copy for your blog post: In 156 characters, you need to add your keywords and create a description that is seductive enough for users to click on it.
If you have not added meta descriptions in the past, you should start doing it immediately. Make sure to add your main keyword in meta description.
Avoid Keyword stuffing.
If you feel unsure about the right Keywords you always can order an Expert to do the Research for you, it costs at Fiverr or Upwork around 15-30 US Dollars and you are good to go.
What are the qualities of the right search keywords?
- They’re directly related to your core business.
- They have a sizable monthly search volume.
- They target your competitors as well.
- They’re not dominated by huge, multimillion-dollar brands and high-authority sites that are impossible to outrank. A target keyword which is already linked to 879,000 Websites might not be a good idea.
- The searcher’s intent matches your business goal.
Bonus Tip - Do a Google search for your goal term and copy the top ten questions from the “People Also Ask” part of the results.
A website like “Alsoasked” or “Answerthepublic” may also be a good idea to stop by.
- Create a FAQ section at the bottom of your page and include all the questions you gathered from the previous step, followed by one- or two-line responses to each of them.
Here you find 3 Methods of how to add structured FAQ Schema in WordPress.
2. Devise a structure for your post
To write a readable, optimized blog post, you need to create a clear structure or a so called outline.
Every post should have:
- some sort of introduction (in which you introduce your topic);
- a body (in which the main message is written);
- a conclusion (in which you summarize the main ideas or draw a conclusion).
- a subdivision into different sections, all titled with sub-headlines
While writing your outline you must not ignore one of the most important aspects of SEO:
- Using proper H1, H2, and H3 heading tags.
By default, in any SEO-optimized theme, the post title uses an H1 heading tag. So for the next sub-heading, you can use an H2 heading, and then an H3 heading, and so on. It is always a good idea to use proper heading tags for effective SEO writing, especially when you are writing a long post.
In a few sentences, write down what you want to say in all three sections.
You’ve now created a summary of your post. This will help you create a structured, readable and optimized blog post.
Now the real writing can begin.
Keep in mind: A SEO-optimized piece does not always contain outstanding content.
This may appear to be a contradictory statement, but it is not. When analyzing a blog post, one of the most essential aspects is the quality of the material, but it is not the only one. A well-optimized blog post with high-quality content has a better probability of ranking higher in search. Whereas a well-optimized blog post with poor content has a much lower chance of ranking high in Google.
You shouldn’t expect a blog article to rank high in Google or other search engines simply because you did your keyword research and followed our SEO-friendly instructions.
Solid content combined with good SEO will propel a blog post to the first pages of Google.
3. OMG – I need a title for my new Blog Post
The next logical step in writing blog posts is to decide on a Blog Post title and URL for your new blog post.
First, you need to understand the difference between post title and meta title.
- Post title: How your reader sees the title of the post on your website.
- Post meta title: How search engines show your post in search results.
If you have not specified a meta title in your SEO settings, your post title will be treated as the meta title. It is important to have your keywords in the meta title.
Some bloggers like to undertake this step first and then build the blog structure. I’ve found that it’s simpler to come up with a Blog Post title after you know what the article will address and who will be your target audience.
If you believe you need to work on the title first and subsequently the blog structure, then certainly, do so.
Writing a solid and engaging title within 66 characters is an essential step for SEO and user-friendliness. An optimized title is vital for SEO since it is the most weighted SEO Signal for Search Engines about the content of the page. By now you should have a good list of relevant keywords. Do not forget to implement one of those as your target keyword within the title.
4. Use paragraphs and headings
Paragraphs are an important part of writing. However, not everybody knows how to effectively use them. Some people like to start each sentence with a new line, but this isn’t necessary. Each paragraph should have its own topic or theme. Try to summarize your topic or theme in a sentence. If you can’t do that, then you probably need more than one paragraph.
When it comes to headers, a well-optimized blog content follows these guidelines:
It is critical to have only one h1 tag on the page, which is generally the same as the post’s title, although it does not have to be. That heading should of course include your target keywords (Why you should use only one H1 Tag here), if possible directly at the beginning.
Use the headings of your outline: The h1 tag represents for search engines the headline of the post, followed by a h2 for the main parts and a h3 for subsections.
As a result, the tags should be placed in the following order: H1->H2->H3.
It’s simple to get the headlines perfect when you created a decent blog structure as mentioned before.
Proper headings also help your readers understand what a specific part of your text is about.
If you want people to find their way through your articles, use subheadings to lead them.
Subheadings help readers scan your page, and clarify the structure of your articles. They’re not just critical for readability, but for SEO as well.
By varying the way that your keyword is placed in your content, you can use semantic keywords and the context of the site to make it easier for search engine bots to understand it.
This improves your search engine ranking and makes your content appealing to readers.
Looking for good headline analyzers?
There are dozens of WordPress plugins – like OptinMonster Headline Analyzer or Headlines by Sharethrough, our personal favorite is EMV Headline Analyzer – and every good SEO Plugin nowadays does integrate such a function anyway.
5. Use alteration words
People will scan through your words to find the main point of your writing. They will also look for transition words that lead into each paragraph and relate the reference to that previous paragraph. Words such as ‘first’, ‘secondly’, and ‘finally’ are phrases that can be used as transitions. Words such as ‘however’, ‘similarly’, and ‘for example’ can all help draw similarities between different sections.
Readers will instantly get that a conclusion will follow words like ‘to sum up’ or ‘in short’. Transition words are therefore significant to add structure to your text.
6. Optimize the length of your article
Finally, another advice how to write a new Blog Post is to make sure you have at least a 500-word minimum for every blog article you write.
Studies have shown that longer blog posts perform better in search.
However, it does not mean that shorter blog posts will not rank well.
Several Tools like SEMRush Writing Assistant or SurferSEO can guide you on how long your blog post should be in comparison with the ones of your competitors.
Above all, you want to write high-quality content—an informative article—that draws in a large audience.
There’s no point in wasting all your time writing a long article, only to have it read by a minuscule audience. A well-balanced length is important.
Write in-depth articles when you know you’re a skilled writer, or stick to shorter blog posts.
It’s asking a lot of your visitors to read your entire post when it’s lengthy. Take a look at this article if you’re not quite sure how long a blog post should be.
CHECK THE LENGTH OF OTHER BLOG POSTS
Don’t expect fast results; it takes time to rank in Google, so don’t sit around hoping for a miracle; instead, start working on your next blog post.
Remember to keep using your focus keyphrase throughout your text to make sure you end up with a SEO-friendly blog post!
7. PageSpeed
Another element of on-page SEO optimization that affects your website’s trustworthiness and ranking is page speed.
Even if your blog appears on page one of the SERP, if it takes longer to load, more visitors will leave and may never come back.
Search engines like Google advise making your page load as quickly as possible.
On mobile devices, your website shouldn’t take more than three seconds to load.
If not, the majority of them (Google says more than 60%) will leave your web pages. In August 2021, mobile devices excluding tablets accounted for nearly 57 percent of web page views worldwide (Source: Statista). (Meanwhile, over 69 percent of webpage views in Africa were generated via mobile. In contrast, the majority of web traffic in North America still took place via desktop connections with mobile only accounting for 48.49 percent of total web traffic.)
Remember that the majority of people, particularly Asians, still have slow internet connections. So, be careful about the stuff you put to your website. Images and other heavy content will take longer to load in some places.
It is not a surprising thing that Page speed is an important Google ranking factor.
It would be best if you made your blog more speedy all around the world.
You might evaluate putting your website into a worldwide spanned Content Delivery Network like Cloudflare for example. Installing a Cache Plugin might also be a good idea, our favorite WP Rocket sometimes quadruped the performance of our customers. You can get a clue what pages take more time to load from your Google Analytics account.
If you didn’t check your website loading speed, go ahead to Google Page Speed Insight and check your website loading time right now. Platforms like GTMetrix or Pingdom Test may be also useful.
If you want to dive deeper read our blog post “how to improve Google Page Speed Insight“
8. Add Images and Videos
When adding images, you want to be careful about image copyrights. Often bloggers copy images from other sites to use, which can get you in legal trouble if you do so without proper permissions. You always should upload your images in WebP or JPG Format, always with a corresponding ALT Text Attribute set up. There are numerous locations where you may find royalty-free photographs for your blog posts:- Pexels
- Shutterstock Royalty Free Images
- Dalle-E 2 AI Generated Images
- Beautiful Free Images & Pictures | Unsplash
- Pixabay
- Freepik
9. Optimize your images and other media elements
Images do require meaningful file names and a human-friendly ALT TEXT
For example, if you’re posting an image of Best Blog Post 2022, don’t call it img001.webp; instead, rename it Best-Blog-Post-2022.webp. Google said several times that they do read and “understand” filenames. Don’t leave the ALT TEXT field blank; instead, provide a few words that explain the picture, such as “The best Blog Post in 2022” – you can and should use the target Keyword there, too.10. Include both internal and external links
You’ve written your content; now it’s time to increase link equity (more about increasing link equity).
Links to other websites are considered the web’s money and are a crucial ranking factor for Google and other major search engines. Internal links are links that take you to other pages on the website where the blog is hosted, whereas external links take you to another website. Instead of just posting the page URL on the blog post, add links as hyperlinks around a phrase or word (the anchor text).
Internal links improve user experience and contribute to higher ranking. These links assist users in navigating to other pages of the website while reading material relating to the next webpage. Internal linking also indicates to web spiders that the sites are linked and important. Internal linking is a chance for writers to enhance user behavior-based metrics such as bounce rate and average time on site.
More internal links equals higher placement in SERP. Each blog post should include at least 2-3 links to other pages on the blog or the main site. You can check the number of links for your blog posts by using Google Search Console and Google Search Console Insights.
Link your older posts with the new one
So be sure to go to other posts on your site and link back to the new post just written. Don’t forget to think about the Anchor Text. The Anchor text should be an accurate description of what lies on the other side of the link. An optimized anchor text SEO strategy will also help Google better understand how your multiple blog posts and content assets interrelate.
Examples?
Well, here you can find out blog post about What exactly in an SEO Audit? or all about Google Pagespeed Insights 😉
External links should be used to provide the reader with extra information that the original blog post does not provide. They provide value to your material while also influencing search engine results. It is critical to provide external links to reliable websites that have authority on the blog topic. Never link to an insecure or spammy website, since this might harm your SEO (a so-called Google Penalty – trust me, you do not want this!).
Linking to reputable websites not only offers blog readers additional reading material to expand their knowledge, but it also shows search engines that you’ve done your research.
11. Improve the URL String
The URL of the blog post – the so-called slug – should be both user-friendly and related to the content. This is frequently produced automatically from the blog title, but it must be reviewed to provide the greatest user experience. A bad blog post URL gives no context for what the content is about. Add a category to the URL string if your website includes additional blog articles connected to a key theme.
12. What about a review!?
Before posting your post, you should have another person review it. Ask them whether they get the post’s basic idea and encourage them to fix any typos and grammatical faults. This will provide an objective perspective on the readability and appeal of your material.
13. Add SEO friendly Blog Content regularly
Regularly adding new blog posts to your website tells Google that your website is alive. This is significant because if your site isn’t active, Google will crawl it less often and this might negatively affect your rankings. But don’t just post for the sake of posting. Make sure that everything you post is high-quality content: informative, well-written articles that entertain readers and fit their search intent. If you have difficulty posting regularly, it might be a great idea to create an editorial calendar for your blog. This allows you to structure this process in a way that fits you and your team. It’s also a good idea to update your old blog posts once in a while to avoid them getting stale. How to write SEO friendly blog posts means also to update your old blog posts once in a while to avoid them getting stale.Writing SEO friendly content - Frequently Asked Questions
Content that is SEO-friendly is made in a way that makes it easy for search engines to rank it high. Some marketers think this means it should be full of keywords, but it’s really meant to help search engines find, understand, and connect your content to the topic you’re trying to cover.
Your SEO keywords are the words and phrases in your website’s content that help people use search engines to find your site. A website that is well optimized for search engines “speaks the same language” as the people who might visit it. It does this by using SEO keywords that help searchers find your site.
- Think before you write!
- Devise a structure for your post.
- Use paragraphs and headings.
- Use transition words.
- Use related keywords.
- Optimize the length of your article.
- Link to existing content.
- Let other people review your post.
Semrush SEO Writing Assistant makes sure that your text does both of these things by offering suggestions and changes in real time. The tool works well with Google Docs and provides important suggestions about readability and SEO based on the best content in Google’s SERPs.
Apart from your brain the best answer in 2022 would be SurferSEO.
Quality, authoritative content is the most important factor in your search engine rankings, and you can’t get by without it. This is especially true when you’re doing SEO marketing. Quality content made for your target audience will bring more people to your site, which will boost your site’s authority and relevance.
SEO writing is the process of writing content to rank on the first page of search engines like Google. This involves researching keywords, writing high-quality content that matches user intent, and optimizing your headers for easy page crawling.
An SEO copywriter is a writing specialist that uses the known aspects of search engine rankings to create content that is well optimized for them. They must deeply understand Google’s ranking factors, as well as the best practices to use in a text.
Check to see if the URLs of your pages are good for SEO. Links that are good for SEO should have keywords that are related to what the page is about and no spaces, underscores, or other characters. If you can, you should avoid using parameters because they make URLs less appealing to click or share.
With both types of writing, a writer wants to make the reader feel something. The main goal of creative writing is to build a personal brand and inspire a reader with high-quality content. SEO content, on the other hand, is all about giving users information and making them want to stay on a website longer and interact with a brand.
Copywriters don’t have to know everything there is to know about SEO, but they do need to know the basics. From researching keywords to writing content that is well-organized and optimized, a writer’s work can have a huge effect on how well a page performs.
Here are some of the most common mistakes we see and ways you can fix them:
- Not researching keywords.
- Using too many keywords.
- Poor strategy for linking.
- Title tags and meta descriptions aren’t being used.
- Not Having an Ongoing SEO Plan.
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