Every website owner dreams of having a first-page ranking in Google.
However, good content alone won’t bring you there. With thousands of competitors on the internet, no matter how good your content is, it won’t matter if your target audience can’t find it.
Therefore, applying Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) practices are essential. Through strategic planning, and proper implementation your website rank will improve over time.
There are SEO writing services you can access online. However, if you’re looking for more ways to improve content yourself and reach that sweet first-page spot, here are a few SEO tips to help you:
Always Remember The FAT rule, to Create Discoverable Content
Keep in mind that not all keywords fit the type of content you want to create. For example, you want to write a food blog article about the history of spaghetti.
While the keyword “spaghetti” might be well-searched, the first things that will appear on the search engine will most likely be recipes—not informative history blogs.
From this example, you can see how important it is to write the corresponding content specific keywords demand. This concept is also called search intent.
To help you get a better grasp of how it works, consider the FAT rule:
- F - Content Format. Commonly used in informational content, knowing the right content format can help you in structuring your article. Some of the common examples include how-to lists, news articles, and opinion pieces. For example, any blog post which aims to rank products will most likely be a listicle with reviews.
- A - Content Angle. The content angle refers to how your content is framed. For example, if you want to make a how-to article about programming, you can tag it as “beginner-friendly” or “introductory.” Considering this can help you zone in your target audience and help them find your work.
- T - Content Type. Content usually falls under five types: product pages, category, blog posts, landing pages, and videos. Before creating content, make sure to look up the keyword first and see what kind of content search engines rank high.
Overall, knowing what kind of article to make and how to frame it will significantly help you make the right content. Make sure to keep the FAT rule in mind for your next work.
Use the Inverted Pyramid Method
If you’re familiar with journalism or marketing concepts, you’ve most probably heard of the term “inverted pyramid method.”
The main idea behind this method is to lay down all the principal ideas and information first before the non-essential details. From an SEO perspective, this means giving your reader an immediate answer or a rundown of information the article provides.
With a well-crafted intro, you can immediately engage with your readers and convince them to stay for the rest of the article, thus increasing ‘dwell’ time.
To use this method, make sure to mention all the preferred keywords within the first paragraph. Readers often skim over the first few paragraphs, looking for keywords, before ascertaining that they want to read the article entirely.
Lay down the principal ideas clearly and concisely, then grab their attention by convincing them that your blog, review, or list offers the information they seek.
Having established all the principal ideas, you can now move on to laying out the details.
Break Down the Information
Structure is a crucial element in creating good content. Oftentimes, when website visitors see a long block of text, they don’t bother reading it. The same goes for writing.
If your language is not accessible, they just tap the back button and check other sites. To avoid this problem, you need to break down the information you’re offering—both literally and visually.
Here are some tips to help you achieve that:
Add Content Breaks
The importance of breaks cannot be stressed enough.
Similar to the act of breathing, your work needs to exhale at some points as well. The main idea behind them is to help and give time for the reader to process the information.
Breaks comes in different forms, including:
- Proper spacing between paragraphs and sections
- Multimedia (i.e. images, videos, GIF)
- Annotations (i.e. quotes, sidenotes)
- Change in structure (i.e. bullet points, numbered items)
All in all, breaks help keep your readers engaged throughout your work. The internet is a fast-paced world.
To help ensure that your readers stay throughout the whole article or video, give them breaks for a breather.
Avoid Complicated Sentences and Words
Even if your article is properly structured and visually readable, it doesn’t matter if readers can’t understand what you’re trying to say.
Some of the bad habits writers tend to fall into include:
- Complicated or archaic words
- Wandering train of thought
- Exceedingly long sentences
- Over-explained concepts or ideas
Of course, it also depends on the specific niche you’re targeting.
Generally, however, people prefer to get the information as quickly as possible. Hence, keep your sentences brief and to-the-point.
To conclude, there are a lot of things you need to consider when writing content, and perhaps SEO does make it more complicated. However, it is also a rewarding practice. Several websites utilise SEO to improve their rankings, and that is possible with your website as well.
Utilise these tips and start your website’s journey to the first page.