How to Write SEO-friendly Content Guidelines
Qualitative content is important for your website; however, it is more important that it ranks high on Google SERP to reach a wider audience. Here are few SEO guidelines on how to write SEO-friendly content.
It is rightly said that ‘Content is the King”, but it’s the SEO that helps you achieve higher ranks on the SERPs and become visible to your targeted audience.
Writing SEO content is not a difficult thing provided you learn and understand how on-page SEO can work well with your content and boost your online presence.
Here are some useful tips to help you write SEO-friendly content for your website:
Create unique content
Creating new content can go futile if it has been copied or lacks the essence of authenticity in it. If you have found a relevant topic or come up with a new idea from another source, it is important that you produce in your own unique perspective that is worth appreciating and adds value to your chosen topic.
You may use an online plagiarism checker like Copyscape to check the originality of your produced content. Writing duplicate content is not a healthy way of producing content to your readers as well as the search engines.
Provide an SEO Title for your content
I am sure you have heard about this famous saying that ‘First impression is the last impression’. It holds true for web content as well. Optimize your page title properly so that your content appears to your visitors when they are searching for the related topic. Therefore, you need to conduct extensive research on related topics and make a deadly combination of titles with relevant keywords to grab the attention of your audience.
Set a target keyword for your content and place the focused keyword at the beginning of the SEO title. The length of a good SEO title is up to 55-60 characters as this is the length that is displayed on the Google SERP. Also, include the targeted keyword in the URL of your page. The URL should be relevant to the topic and not complicated.
Arrange your content in an organized manner
Focussing on the structure of your content can help search engines to decide which results they’ll display first. A clear and well-organized content with headings and paragraphs makes it convenient for your reads as well as the search engines to scan your content easily.
Adding headings at relevant points helps the search engines to get a quick idea of the overall content and that is why it is essential that you include your focused keyword at least once in any of your headings or sub-headings.
Use focused keywords
Specific keywords on your posts indicate what your content is all about gives an overview of the topic that you’ve targeted. Doing keyword research for the topic you’re focusing on is useful when deciding on the trending topics. Keywords in your content can be fruitful only if you place them maintaining the right balance. However, make sure you don’t stuff the keywords in your content in order to please the search engines. Always keep in mind that the keyword density should not exceed 2.5%.
Focus on the readability of your content
In order to facilitate the readability of your content, all you need to do proofread your content to check the language, grammar, spelling mistakes, and the sentence formation. You may check the readability of your content online on Grammarly or readability tests that indicate the readability score of your content. A good readability score depends on the following:
- The length of the sentence
- Use of passive voice
- Number of syllables contained in each word
There are different readability formulas that can help you calculate and improve your readability. However, a good quality content can also drive more traffic and gain valuable insights.
Add inbound and outbound links for relevant keywords
Adding internal links establishes authority in a specific field of knowledge and creates a sequential series of related posts linked with the keywords. This way of arranging your posts adds value to your post and makes it easier for the search engines to venture on your site.
On the contrary, the outbound or the external links indicates that you are well-acquainted with your topic. Adding outbound links on specific terms redirects one to a different source that supports the context of your post. However, linking your keywords to a renowned source can prove more advantageous for your content. Also, keep in mind that excessive linking can bear opposite results
Image optimization
When it comes to image search, optimizing your site’s image increases the chance of online presence and visibility. As visuals tend to have more impact on the readers, it requires proper optimization. Always keep in mind that the file name should be relevant and the file size should be optimal as these affect the loading speed. Add an Alt text to the images along with an SEO title. Producing a high-quality image can also attract more audience.
Know and understand your targeted audience
No matter what strategy you implement, after all, you are writing to satisfy your targeted audience. You can’t write another piece of content unless you know your audience better. Write from their perspective and requirements.
Focus on the user
Every piece of content should have the user in mind. This also applies to SEO. You can’t create your next piece of content, or carry out keyword research, without knowing your audience. What do your readers expect from you? What steps could you take to improve user experience and conversion rates? Is your content related to your website?
Once you have answers to all such questions, no one can beat you from standing out on the web. Always remember that focusing user experience can bring you on top if people love your posts.
How to write SEO-friendly content: Tips at a glance:
If you want to learn how to write SEO-friendly content, here’s what you need to focus on
- User experience
- Be creative and unique
- Choose best SEO titles for your content
- Organize your content structure
- Focus highly searchable keyword and maintaining the right balance
- Careful proofreading and editing of your content to improve readability
- Add useful internal and external links for authority and authenticity of your content
- Proper optimization of the images to increase your online visibility and achieve higher ranks.