Author: Anamaria Copilau
Publication date: 07.09.2023
So much content is published on the internet nowadays that merely having a platform and a topic doesn’t suffice. In order to truly be successful and attract an audience, you need to understand and be able to use SEO. This is the process of optimizing blog articles on your site to improve its visibility on search engines. In this article, we’ll go over what you should keep in mind when writing a blog post, in order to increase traffic on your site.
What Is SERP Tracking
SERP, or Search Engine Results Pages, are a search engine’s response to a user's search queries. These include search results and paid ads just to count a few. In short, it provides data on what the search results page would look like for a particular search query.
SEO tools are mainly used to show where a particular site ranks on the SERP. By optimizing certain aspects of the site or of individual posts on it, this ranking can be improved. Newer tools will analyze keywords, which postings on a similar topic contain said terms, as well as what other pages these postings link to.
Additionally, they can analyze where a particular website ranks on SERP for a given keyword. These last tools, also called SERP visibility tools are increasingly used to measure brand and product awareness.
Some of the best SERP tracking tools:
● Surround Sound by Semrush ● SE Ranking ● Google Search Console ● Serp Api ● Zen SERP ● SEOMonitor ● Accuranker ● Rank Tracker ● SERPStat
Step 1: Have a clear purpose
Firstly, think about what kind of person you’d like to read your post. Consider what they might be looking for and thus what the main takeaways of your article should be. This will help you define the purpose of your article.
What’s more, it might be beneficial to look into what questions people usually have with regards to this topic. To do this, check out the ‘People also ask’ section on Google. The results will be questions and answers Google creates based on previous searches.
Step 2: Structure your article for readability
Search engines evaluate how readable and how easily understandable your article is. Particularly important here is the structure of the text. Divide your text into well structured paragraphs and ensure that sentences aren’t too long. This way, readers will be able to easily scan the text for information.
Beyond the outline, you should also work on your data structure so it’s easier for search engines to understand. Increased text readability will improve traffic and exposure and cause your text to rank higher.
Step 3: Use a strong focus keyword
A focus keyword is the main search term that will lead readers to your post. Choosing a keyword that is specific to this particular post will ensure your pages don’t compete with one another. Keywords can also be word sequences, also called long-tail keywords. These are best used in the title, introduction and all throughout the article.
Step 4: Have an effective title
The title is decisive in determining your article’s content, both by search engines as well as by readers. As a result, it plays an important role in influencing the decision to click or not.
Although you want your title to be enticing, you should avoid click-baiting readers as this could lead them to avoid your site altogether. It’s recommended that you include the main keyword in the title. Remember, the title shouldn’t consist of more than 55-60 characters (including gaps), as Google cuts them off after the 60 character mark.
Step 5: Optimize the meta description
The meta description is a summary of your article, and it’s displayed below the title on the search results page. In particular, it should be limited to 150 characters, and include the main keywords. The description supports your article, and allows you to elaborate on what the article is about.
Some SEO experts say they’re no longer relevant as Google tends to display parts of the article, as opposed to the description itself. Since such practices tend to change quite quickly however, we still recommend you write meta descriptions.
Step 6. Keep Your URLs Tidy
Long URLs typically don’t perform as well as short ones, primarily because of how they’re perceived by the users. Shorter URLs appear cleaner and more trustworthy, whilst being easier to remember. Compared to longer ones, they’re easier to modify as well. The primary downside to this however is security: long URLs are less susceptible to cyber attacks and malware.
Step 7. Update internal links
Adding internal links allows you to redirect users to other pages on your site. Beyond making it more user-friendly, anchor text can improve your rankings on Google. What’s more, it’s easy for readers to understand where the link will be leading them.
Step 8: Link to related content
Search engines can determine if an article is linked to and from other web sites, also called external links. Beyond making your work accessible to more readers, it increases the legitimacy of your content and site. Therefore, this increased relevance will improve the rating of your article on SERP.
Step 9: Use images effectively
First and foremost, content such as pictures and videos is visually appealing. As a result, it helps you better explain your point, keeps your readers engaged and places your article higher on SERP.
However, as beautiful as your selected pictures might be if their resolution is too high, they will cause your site to load slower. For this reason, there are sites you can use to reduce the size of the image, without reducing their quality too much, such as Photoshop or Pixlr.
Keep in mind that slower pages don’t make the top 10 which causes them to only get few visitors. So, your site’s speed is a crucial factor in its ranking. Last but not least, don’t forget to add an alt text in all the images since it’s essential for SEO.
How to write optimized blog articles based on SEO
What is most important to remember is that engaging content will improve your ranking. Whilst SEO involves understanding how meta descriptions and search engine algorithms work, publishing good articles is crucial.
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