Some people may think that optimized content can’t also be user-friendly, when the truth is that high-quality, optimized content significantly improves your ranking chances in search results.
To get your content to rank higher, check out this set of whitehat SEO tips.
Variety of Content
No two audiences are the same. For example, you might want to add videos or images to your text. Don’t slow your web page down with files that are not necessary, but do keep in mind that a better variety of content will satisfy a higher number of readers. Variety combined with quality writing and content depth will help increase the average viewer’s time on page, which shows that the content you’re creating is engaging.
Quality Writing
Visitors read about 20% of the words on a site, but there’s no way of telling which ones, so they all need to be excellent. Editing programs, like Grammarly, can help you with readability and grammar. For specific SEO recommendations, you can run the text through a tool such as SEMrush’s SEO Content Template.
Try to use bullets and write shorter paragraphs. Also, use colorful language and a unique voice that suits your demographic.
Use Headlines and Sub-headers
This can do several things for your whitehat SEO optimization. First, it makes your writing much easier to read for your audience, and users are more likely to share articles that are easier to read.
The same goes for search engines. When their robots are crawling through your content, they’ll see your headlines and use them to understand your posts, including which parts are the most significant and so on.
Also, headers and sub-headers increase the keyword saturation, but don’t use this to play the system.
Choose your Keywords Wisely
Some content writers just sit down and start writing and leave optimization for the last minute.
Others start by doing the keyword research for the words they want to include in their article. This would be the better approach.
Start by finding keywords that are relevant to your topic, either off the top of your head, or use the online keyword research tools such as Google’s, or more advanced SEO tools such as Ahrefs or SERPSTAT. You can also hire an SEO marketing agency. When you start writing, include the keywords in the title, headlines, ALT tags, meta descriptions, as well as the main copy.
Consider Mobile Optimization (But Don’t Forget Desktop)
In the U.S., in 2018, phones were more used than desktops by about 40% to 60% of the population. However, for overall web time desktops outweighed phones by the same percentage of 40% to 60%
What’s the difference?
Although mobile traffic is massive, keep in mind that mobile searches are usually more specific than desktop searches. If you write content that people will mostly search for from a desk, focus on the long-form articles, while keeping the shorter answers for the mobile.
If you need help with keyword research and website SEO optimization, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d love to discuss your SEO marketing strategy and help in any way I can.
Rob Dunford is a Marketing Consultant in the Great Toronto Area with over 25 years of experience in implementing marketing plans for small businesses.