Striking a good balance between user-friendliness and search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t always easy to do. After all, we’ve all heard that creating user-friendly content for search engines can help drive targeted visitors to your site.
Many people think that SEO-friendly content is incompatible with good user experience, yet that couldn’t be further from the truth. Let’s discuss the best ways for creating content that is both search engine and user-friendly.
However, before that, you would not want to miss All SEO Checker – Website Analyzer which is an amazing tool for improving websites’ performance and rankings.
1. Do Some Keyword Research For SEO-Friendly Article
Looking ahead to 2022, any SEO expert would tell you that search engine algorithms are gravitating towards more thought-led sorts of content.
Although keywords are crucial to ranking highly in search engine results pages, it is also important to keep your intended readers in mind when you create content. The following are the top points to keep in mind:
- One essential step in effective keyword research is to recognize the importance of search intent. The client path for a sustainable apparel brand is depicted in the figure below. In this way of thinking, you can see why it’s important to center your keyword research on the information gaps that exist for your target audience.
- See who’s at the top of search engine results and utilize that information to double-check that you’ve addressed similar topics in your own post. Please don’t think it is for advocating plagiarism, rather, show off your knowledge and make the article more useful.
- Third, you shouldn’t ignore long-tail keywords. They may have little volume, but they also may have little to no competition. It’s not only that your content will have an easier time ranking highly for long-form queries; doing so will also assist provide your readers a better understanding of the topic at hand, which is something Google values highly when it’s making decisions about which websites to feature.
- Use a social site like Quora to investigate different permutations of your target keywords. Users can freely discuss any topic relating to their industry using this platform.
- Find relevant search terms with the help of tools like AnswerThePublic and the Google Keyword Planner.
- Find the Wikipedia articles that are most relevant to your topic of interest. People rely on this user-created website since it provides accurate and reliable information. You might use it as a resource for inspiration when deciding what to write about.
- Google is able to figuratively and actually complete your thoughts. Google’s autocompleting feature will recommend keywords based on actual search terms entered by users. And it’s quite helpful when striking a harmony between keywords and audience.
- At the bottom of a Google search results page, you’ll see links to related searches. Google’s algorithm uses these terms to generate these results for you automatically. To further your quest for the optimal keywords to employ in your campaign, you can’t do better than this excellent resource.
- Visit relevant online discussion boards to learn what issues and queries interest your target audience.
- If you are an online retailer looking to increase traffic to your product pages, searching Amazon for keyword suggestions can be very useful. For terms related to making a purchase, Amazon is unrivaled in the organic search results.
- Find out which keywords your primary competitors are using to get a large number of high-quality visitors. To conduct this kind of investigation on the Google AdWords interface, you can use the Google Keyword Planner Tool, which requires only a free Google account.
A Pro Tip for Competitor Keyword Research Using Google AdWords
- Go to the AdWords Keyword Planner and click the button labeled “Find new keywords.”
- Select “Search for new keywords using a phrase, website, or category” to continue.
- In the box labeled “Your landing page,” type the URL of your competitor’s site, and then click the “Get suggestions” button.
- If you provide a URL, Google will index it and produce a set of keywords relevant to the page and the website as a whole.
- As soon as Google finishes processing your query and displaying your results, select the “Keyword suggestions” tab located just below the graph to view your list of competitor keywords.
2. Use Your Metadata Correctly
You’ve finally zeroed in on the right set of keywords. Put them in the appropriate locations like the title, URL, and Meta description. Include it naturally in the text, and limit it to 160 characters max. Put your keywords in the title, heading, and body of your content.
There are many free Meta writing tools available to help you stick to Google’s recommended lengths for titles and Meta descriptions if you need assistance doing so.
When putting this into practice, just make sure you don’t overuse your keywords. The readability of your article will suffer, and it may come off as spamy.
In the end, you need to write blog posts and other material that answers frequently asked topics or otherwise helps your target audience. Integrate your keywords into the text in a way that doesn’t seem forced. It is possible to have a native speaker proofread your work to ensure a smooth transition into another language.
3. Lay Out Your Information in an Organized Fashion
I can’t stress enough how much simpler your writing will be if you take the time to plan out your content beforehand. The first step in writing a successful blog post is to determine the post’s central theme. You can then divide the rest of your writing into sections for greater efficiency. After your information is organized, you can focus on each section individually without re-evaluating the whole.
Please keep in mind that all content should include an introductory paragraph, body, and conclusion. You can break up the main body into sections and write in a way that showcases your brand’s voice and style.
4. Create a Compelling Call to Action
It is a common mistake made by novices (particularly in SEO!) while crafting a conclusion. Include a compelling call to action at the end of your content to encourage people to explore the rest of your site. Something as simple as “sign up here” or other similar articles can help move the reader along the sales funnel.
Expert Advice:
Using emotional modifiers like “best,” “brilliant,” “funny,” “free,” “how to,” “tips,” and so on in your headlines can help captivate your audience and raise your CTR.
5. Use Catchy Meta Titles
Meta titles are crucial not just for search engine optimization but also for the user experience. A user’s decision to read your content against one of your competitors’ is often determined by the titles provided.
The following are some ideas that can help you get higher search engine rankings and boost click-through rates:
- Titles should not exceed 60 characters in length. If your title is longer than 60 characters, Google may cut it off when displaying it in search engine results pages (SERPs).
- Make sure your keyword is front and center when you create the title.
- Use as few words as possible to convey the post’s substance.
- Always read a sample first. It has already been established that free SEO tools can be used to assist you in your endeavor.
- Improve the effectiveness of your Meta description.
Google employs Meta descriptions, which are short summaries of your content, to display your page below the title in search results. Your CTR can be increased by using the keywords you want people to click on in addition to interesting material. Meta descriptions should be between 155 and 160 characters long.
There is no surefire way to know if Google will use the unique Meta description you’ve created. Google often creates their own implementations.
6. Titles and Headings
Ensure that your header tags reflect the proper level of organization. There should be just one h1 tag per page, and it should be the post title. Use the h2 tag for headings of major sections and the h3 tag for headings of minor ones.
Create unique header tags, please. Tags should be unique; using the same tag twice for the same piece of content can confuse visitors and search engines. If you do see a connection between the two, it could be helpful to merge the two into a single paragraph.
7. Tips for Optimal Use of Heading Tags (H1 and H2) in Search Engine Marketing
When it comes to search engine rankings, URLs are crucial. More important than the actual URL, though, is its relevance. This is due to its superior user experience, especially when it comes to the dissemination of links.
- Put the keyword you want people to find in the URL. If you do this, search engines will be better able to place your URL in the appropriate section of search engine results pages.
- Cut out any extraneous words from URLs to keep them short and sweet. A good length for a URL is between 60 characters (three to five words).
- Don’t use a bunch of filler words like a, an, but, and or. Create short, memorable, and useful URLs.
- Use just lowercase letters, as this is standard practice in the industry. Some servers will redirect you or give you a 404 error if you type in all capitals.
8. Write In Short Paragraphs
The rule of thumb is to have brief paragraphs. When each paragraph is focused on a single idea, your information becomes more manageable for the reader (aim for 2-3 sentences). Bullet points, highlighting text, and altering the font size are all valid forms of formatting. Making your material more aesthetically appealing and accessible across all devices.
9. Enhance Photo Quality
Alt text provides information for search engines to better comprehend an image’s context. While Google is unable to directly read text from photos, it is able to use an image’s context to determine whether or not it should be included in a search result.
For this reason, it is important to provide your images descriptive names in the alt text, titles, captions, and filenames.
Unless the image fails to load, site visitors won’t see the alt text; it’s there for their convenience in case the image doesn’t show up.
10. Useful External Links to Relevant Sites for the User
In every new blog post you make, you should include links to relevant outside materials. When creating a link, it’s crucial to provide anchor text that accurately describes the linked resource. By using links, you can encourage your readers to investigate your issue further without distracting them from your main argument.
Linking out to relevant resources can improve an article’s visibility in search results. Depending on the content you already have, you can leverage this to your advantage in internal linking as well.
One way to increase confidence and the user experience is to provide links to reputable external resources like Wikipedia.
11. The Optimal Length of Content
In this case, excellence, not number, is more important. The first and most important step is to give your users content that actually answers their questions or solves their problems when they conduct a search. If you want to know how long an article should be about a specific topic, you should look at the lengths of the articles that currently rank first in Google for that subject.
Generally speaking, the minimal word count for a blog article is between 300 and 500 words. It is because Google favors longer material, since it receives more shares and comments on social media. As a result, the longer the material, the higher it will likely appear in search engine rankings.
The sweet spot for content length is anywhere between 2,000 and 2,500 words. Given the aforementioned caveats, you shouldn’t make it your top priority to write 2000 words every time.
12. Adjust your writing style to fit mobile devices
Due to Google’s shift in emphasis to favor mobile-friendly sites, optimizing your blog or website for mobile devices will become increasingly important for search engines in the coming year (2021).
Incredibly, as of July 2021, mobile Internet usage accounted for 55.4% of all Internet access. Not optimizing for mobile devices is a surefire way to kill your page’s search engine rankings.
Due to Google’s core web vitals update that went live in June 2021, it is more crucial than ever to ensure that your pages are loading quickly. To see if your site is slow, just enter its URL into Google’s page speed insights tool. From there, you can get advice on how to fix the problem. The optimization isn’t trivial, so you could need some assistance from web developers.
13. Frequently Add New Content
Let’s imagine your blog article is a huge success: it’s at the top of Google’s search results, people are reading it, its generating leads, and it’s getting shared widely on social media. That’s not the end of the challenging work, either.
Google is constantly on the lookout for new and improved resources, and your rivals will always be hard at work attempting to outdo you by publishing more valuable content.
This may be fixed by publishing on a regular schedule, which provides signals to Google that your blog is an excellent resource that is being actively maintained. Don’t forget that you can change the publish date of a blog article, or add additional information based on fresh discoveries, at any time.
14. Ensure Schema Markup Is Present
Schema markup is coding added to your site that is read by search engines to better understand its content. A hotel’s event schedule, for instance, might be marked up with schema.org so that it would appear in search engine results. That’s very useful to the user!
If you want to add markup to your blog entries without any hassle, you can utilize Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper. You should also put it through Google’s structured data test tool to make sure it works properly.
Signing Off:
If you use these guidelines for writing SEO-friendly content, you can increase the quality of visitors to your blog post and website. Although the reading and rereading of this text may take a considerable amount of time, the results will be well worth the effort.
