Sourced from Blog Maggrand
Writing a blog article that satisfies both human readers and search engines will get you to the top of SERPs. After reading this article, you will know how to write an SEO-friendly blog article. In other words, you will learn how to optimize your blog article for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
No need for a long introduction; let’s dive in.
1. Keyword and Post Title
You don’t just start writing an article without targeting or having any specific keyword in mind. A keyword is the search query a user will type in Google Search box to find your article. So, your blog post title and its content must match the user’s search query.
My keyword for this article you are reading is “SEO-Friendly Blog Article.” Any search engine user that types those words in the search box will indeed find me. The post title doesn’t need to be too long or too short. If it is too long, parts of it will not show in search results. And if it is too short, it might make the user not want to click through to your page.
The title of your blog post needs to have the appropriate width, and it must include your keyword. Take the title of this article your are reading for example.
Google has a fixed width limit of 600 pixels for page titles. If your title tag is wider than the set limit, Google will cut parts of it, and I know you don’t want that. So, you can take advantage of Moz Title Tag Preview Tool whenever you want to craft an article. As you can see on the image above, all you need to do is write a title in the box and click the Check button.
So, in the long run, a good title:
- Has a direct influence on your ranking.
- Can give you a high CTR (click-through rate).
2. Content body optimization
Now that you know how to optimize your title tag and its keyword for SEO, it is time you give details of what you know. It all begins with a brief and straightforward introduction. You need to provide quick info about your keyword. Tell the readers what they should expect to gain or learn after reading the full article. If it is not something they are looking for, they can quickly bounce away after reading the introduction.
But they won’t because you have insights about the information they are searching for in your post.
Your introduction is the first paragraph of your content. Your keyword must appear in the introduction. Scroll to the top of this page and double-check my introduction. It contains my keyword as well as what the reader should expect to learn along the way.
While writing the body of your article, here are some crucial factors you need to put into consideration:
- Images ALT tag.
- Text readability.
- Text length.
- Internal links.
- Outbound links.
3. Image ALT tag optimization
Alt text (alternative text) briefly describes an image to search engine crawlers for proper image indexing. Without an Alt text, search engine bots do not understand what images in your post are all about. Therefore can not correctly index and rank them in image search results.
Someone suggests that you write your alt tags as if you are describing them to a blind person. Search engine bots are blind; therefore, they can’t read or see what or who is on the image. So, you have to help them with a brief description. That’s where alt text comes in handy.
At least let one of your image alt tags include your focus keyword. Yes, just one of them to avoid spammy attempts at keyword stuffing.
The one benefit of optimizing your image for SEO through alt text is traffic from image search result pages. You would notice that whenever you conduct an image search on Google, there is a Visit link button under every image you click on.
Google is telling the user to click on the Visit button for more information about the image. When the user does, you have a visitor from an image search. So, both image and web search can bring traffic to your blog. With that in mind, don’t underestimate the power of alt tags.
4. Text readability
Text readability is another essential SEO factor you need to consider if you want to write an SEO-Friendly blog article. A readable text has to do with the length of your sentences, the use of difficult words in your writing.
In order words, you should limit the use of difficult words and shorten your sentences. By breaking down long sentences, your text will be much easier to read. Writing too many long sentences makes your text difficult for readers to absorb.
Below is an example of both complex and easy to read text:
You should also try to avoid using difficult words where possible. In case you have to use them, try to explain them to readers who might not understand their meanings. That way, you are writing to a broad audience. Above all, your text should be easily understood by 13- to 15-year-old students.
In addition to avoid using complicated words, you also need to:
- Write in active voice instead of passive voice.
- Avoid repetitive sentences.
- Use enough transition words.
- Know the basics of subheading distribution.
- keep your paragraphs short.
Moreover, you can also use this free online tool to check your text readability score.
5. Text length
Writing a high-quality lengthy post is no easy task. But your article will have a higher chance of ranking high in Search engine result pages if it contains more than a thousand words. However, to write a high-quality lengthy post, you need to have a lot of information at your disposal.
In other words, the information at your disposal will determine the length of your text. Most importantly, you should keep the readability aspects in mind when you are writing a lengthy post.
It would be best if you always aim to write blog posts of around 700-800 words. The minimum word count of a blog post is 300, while the maximum is 2500. Your content needs to be unique. Don’t do copy and paste, if you want to become a successful blogger, be original in your writing.
The longer your article, the more often your keyword will naturally pop up here and there throughout your text. Your focus keyword should not appear more than 3-4 times, depending on the length of your text. In a well optimized SEO-Friendly blog article of 700 words, the focus keyword should appear at least 3 times.
To get blog post ideas, this article could come in handy.
6. Internal and External links
Linking from one page to another within your own blog is called internal linking. Linking from your blog to another page outside your blog is called external linking. Throughout this article, I have linked to articles outside my blog. Why? Because I find them to be helpful and can add value to my audience when combined with what I’m saying here.
In the same vein, anyone who finds my article informative will link to me from his content. So, both Internal and External linking are crucial to your SEO.
Are you a WordPress user? If yes, then you would want to check if you have these four essential plugins for WordPress SEO installed on your blog.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the main point of this article is to give you insight into what an SEO-Friendly blog article is all about. I believe you know how to craft one already, so share the knowledge?
Sourced from Blog Maggrand
