Any online marketing company out there will tell you that Content Is King in today’s world of SEO. Google and other search engines care about the relevancy and uniqueness of your content over other technical strategies that were relevant in the past. Today, sites can be panelized for “keyword stuffing” along with other black hat SEO practices. Because of this, it’s more important than ever to put the user first when creating SEO-friendly blog content. Other techniques like interlinking and meta data also play a role but the blog content itself is what is important, first and foremost. Below, you’ll find five steps to creating SEO-friendly blog content.
1. Write Great Titles
The title is the first thing a user sees and if the title is bland or uninviting, a user is unlikely to read past it. To prevent a user from scrolling on through, use accurate, eye-catching headlines that leave the user wanting to know more. Top 10 lists and how-tos are great headers to start with.
2. Understand Your Audience
You likely already have a good idea of who your target audience is. Gender, age, and location are all things to take into consideration when writing your content, as it will dictate your tone of voice within your blog posts. If you’re looking to expand your audience, you could use your content as a way to target different customers or partners. Understanding your audience is the first step to creating a successful blog post.
3. Write Easy-To-Read Copy
Take advantage of headings, bullet points, and other types of lists in order to create easy-to-read copy. Bulky paragraphs are aesthetically displeasing and might prevent a user from reading past the first few sentences. In order to ensure your posts gets read, use a lot of while space, headings, and bullet points to make your post look inviting to the eye.
4. Use Mixed Media
In regards to creating easy-to-read copy, you’ll want to add images and other forms of mixed media to your content to make it more eye-catching and to break up the text a bit. Inserting an image will also aid in catching a user’s interest and define what the blog post is about.
5. Share Your Blog Posts
If you ask any online marketing company, they will tell you how important to take advantage of social media in order to share your blog posts. From Twitter to Facebook to Google+ or LinkedIn, there are a variety of outlets where you can share your content with other professionals in your industry and potential clients. With social media, the goal is to build a base of followers that will continue to read your blog and share your posts with others – this is why it’s so important to create unique, relevant, and engaging content.
There are just a few tips for creating SEO-friendly content; however, it’s important to keep in mind that technical details like meta data and interlining does also go a long way in improving the user experience. A good rule to abide by is “User first, search engine second” – this goes not only for blog posts, but your website as a whole.
