Before we delve into the tips, let us begin with what it means to have SEO friendly content. Simply put, it is producing content that is written with attention given to how search engines might view your content. Sadly though, there are a lot of marketers as well as bloggers who put too much emphasis on their SEO and tend to forget about putting their readers front and center. Think of your audience and write something that will be beneficial to them. You are writing for people, not for the search engines.
1. Write Useful and Engaging Content
When asked what my formula is for writing good content my answer is always write content that is useful and/or entertaining. Most search engines rewards sites that share relevant content with their readers. The more original and fresh the content you share, the better visibility you will gain in search results. The more people who find your content helpful or entertaining, the more share worthy it becomes. Remember that a well written article trumps quantity at all times. Some site owners think the more articles they churn out, the more ranking they acquire. This couldn’t be more wrong. If you just vomit words out for the sake of having new content, you will be disappointed.
2. Keep It Short and To the Point
You need to be considerate your reader’s time. Keep it short and make your point right away. Some articles longer articles can be boring. In my experience, if a person can read your article and benefit from it in under 5 to 10 minutes, you’ll get more people engaging with your content. I also like using lists. Try to break up your copy for easy reading.
3. Choose Your Keywords and Use Them Wisely
Even before you start writing an article, you should have already chosen which keywords to use. Include them in your title, in your meta-tags and within the body of your post. Be careful not to over use them. Most readers are wise enough to see what you are doing and will get turned off and never go back to your site again. Don’t be lazy. Tag your content. This will help search engines categorize your content more accurately and that will help your search positioning. Don’t know which keywords or tags to use, try Wordtracker or Google Trends.
4. Have a Point Of View
What will set your work apart from others is your point of view. Everyone can write an article on the same topics as yours but adding your own story and experience will make your content unique. Offering your own spin or twist will make your content much more interesting to your readers. If they can better relate to you, the more shareable and engaging your article will be.
5. Make Links Part of Your Copy
When you add links to your article, it is important to make it part of your copy instead of just saying “checks it here”. Adding back links from credible websites that you used as a source is important as it builds trust and credibility with your readers about the information you are sharing.
6. Optimize Your Images for Better Search Engine Ranking
Use relevant images not just all text. Not only does it make your article more interesting, but you’re able to optimize your images with relevant keywords to name your image files or graphics. Make sure to name the image properly and to optimize the size of the image as load time can have an impact on your SEO. Make the image as small as possible without sacrificing quality. You can try the Image Optimizer tool for this task.
7. Proof Read Your Material Before You Publish
This is a must for all writers. Proof read your work. Make sure you check your spelling. Imagine if you are relying on keywords to help you be more searchable and you misspell those keywords, then all your hard work becomes futile. Besides, you also don’t want to annoy your readers with misspelled words and bad grammar.
8. Make Your Content Easily Shareable
Okay, you have followed all the tips above. You wrote a killer article and have published it. The next important step is to make it shareable. Make sure you have all the leading social share buttons on your website. All the popular social networking sites offer plug-in readily available for anyone to install and most are free. Search ranking tends to increase when content is shared frequently. Don’t under-estimate the power of social media.
There you go, the eight tips that I use as a checklist before publishing any article. Did I miss any? Please share your tips by leaving a comment. We would love to hear from you.
Source: Binkd
