Writing blog posts takes skill. To keep your reader engaged, you need to think about how you structure your content and make it enjoyable. If people enjoy and understand the article, they will be much more likely to share it with others, which will boost your rankings. So if you want to improve your writing skills and your rankings, start with these tips on how to write an SEO-friendly blog post!
Some people feel that writing for the purpose of SEO and writing to attract an audience are two conflicting goals. I completely disagree. Sure, the words you want to be found for should be prominently featured if you want your blog post to be SEO-friendly. But overusing keywords will seriously hurt the readability of your writing, which is something you definitely don’t want to do. In fact, high keyword density can even be a signal to Google that you may be stuffing your text with keywords, which can negatively impact your rankings.
This post contains tips for writing blog posts that are SEO-friendly and readable. These two goals should always go hand in hand, as we believe that writing in an understandable manner attracts more visitors and keeps them on your site.
Before you begin: Do keyword research
Before you start writing, you need to do keyword research. If you want to dominate search results, you need to figure out what words your audience is actually searching for. These are the topics you should be writing about and the keywords you should use in your copy.
Once you’ve done your keyword research and have a list of keywords to write about, it’s time to start writing. Here are 9 tips to help you create a killer blog post!
Tips for Writing SEO Optimized Blog Posts
First and foremost, your blog post needs to be a good piece of writing. When starting a new blog post, many bloggers just start writing, typing whatever comes to mind. While this may work for some people with natural writing talents, others may need some help. Personally, I always follow these “rules” when writing a new blog.
1. Think before you write!
Before you begin, think carefully about the message of your piece. What do you want to tell your readers or what is the main question you want to answer? What is the purpose of your article? And what do you want your readers to do at the end of the page? Before you begin, write down the answers to these questions and think about the search intent someone might have. An easy way to get an idea of this is to look at the search results for the search term you want to rank for.
2. Develop a structure for your post
To write a readable and SEO-optimized blog post, you need to create a clear structure. This means that each post should have:
- an introduction of sorts (in which you introduce your topic);
- a body (in which you write the main message);
- a conclusion (in which you summarize the main ideas or make a conclusion).
In a few sentences, write down what you want to say in all three sections. You have created a summary of your post. This will help you create a structured and readable blog post. Now you can start writing the real thing.
3. Use paragraphs and headings
Everyone uses paragraphs, but not everyone uses them correctly. Don’t start every new sentence on a new line just because it looks nice. Also, try not to make them too long, as each paragraph should have its own idea or topic. Ask yourself what the main idea of each paragraph is. You should be able to summarize that main idea in one sentence. If that’s not possible and you need more sentences to explain the main idea, you just need to use more paragraphs.
Good headings also help your readers understand what a particular part of your text is about. If you want people to find their way to your articles, use subheadings to guide them. Subheadings help readers scan your page and clarify the structure of your articles. They are important not only for readability but also for SEO. That’s why I would also advise using your keyword in some of the subheadings. I mean some of them, as using your keyword in every heading will make the text look clunky and unnatural. This will discourage people from reading further.
4. Use transition words
Transition words help people scan your text and understand the relationship between sentences and paragraphs. For example, suppose there are three reasons why people buy your product. You should use signal words such as: “first of all,” “secondly,” and “finally.” Additionally, words such as “however,” “similarly,” and “for example” send a clear signal to your readers. Readers will immediately understand that the conclusion follows words such as “sum up” or “in short.” Therefore, transition words are very important in giving structure to your text.
5. Use related keywords
Adding a focus keyword to your article makes it less attractive to read and can also hurt your rankings. Google is getting smarter and wants you to write content that users will enjoy. It doesn’t want you to use the focus keyword in every other sentence and offers other ways to analyze what your text is about. One way Google understands the topic of your text is by recognizing synonyms and other keywords related to your keyword phrase. That’s why you should use synonyms and related keywords throughout your text.
6. Optimize the length of your article
Make sure your blog posts are at least 300 words long, but keep the article length balanced. Google loves long articles, but if your article is too long, it can turn users off. I would advise only writing long articles if you know you are an experienced writer. It asks many of your visitors to read your entire post when it is long. Check out this article if you are not quite sure how long a blog post should be. And don’t forget to use your focus keyword in the text to ensure you end up with an SEO-friendly blog post!
7. Link to existing content
If you have already written content on the same topic as your current post, be sure to link to and from those posts. This will make your new blog post and existing posts stronger because you are demonstrating authority on the subject. Additionally, your link structure is also important for your Google ranking. And let’s not forget that linking to other content on the topic is great for your readers, as they may be interested in reading those related posts. This helps them navigate your site.
⇒ You should read our article - " 10 Tips for Creating Valuable Content ", In it we give some tips for writing creative and catchy articles.
We call this internal linking, and your readers and Google will thank you for it. It helps them manage your content and understand the relationships between the different content on your site, so spend some time linking to and from your previous content.
8. Let other people read your post
Before you publish your post, make sure someone else reads it first. Ask them if they understand the main idea of your post, and offer to correct any typos and grammar errors. This can help you by providing an objective view of the readability and appeal of your writing. If you have someone on your team who is an expert in the topic you are writing about, make sure your post goes past them. This way, they can check if you are covering everything you need to and give suggestions to make your post even better.
9. Add content regularly
Regularly adding new blog posts to your site tells Google that your site is alive. This is important because if your site is inactive, Google will crawl it less often, which can negatively impact your rankings. But don’t just publish for the sake of publishing. Make sure that everything you publish is high-quality content: informative, well-written articles that entertain readers and match their search queries.
If you’re having trouble publishing regularly, it’s a good idea to create an editorial calendar for your blog. This allows you to structure the process in a way that works for you and your team. It’s also a good idea to occasionally update older blog posts to keep them from becoming outdated.
Conclusion
The days when a few SEO tricks were enough to get your site to rank high in Google are long gone. Nowadays, quality content is king. And good content also leads to more links, shares, tweets, and returning visitors to your site. Of course, there are always other things you can do to maximize the SEO friendliness of your post, but the most important thing is to just write really, really good posts! Still not sure if your blog post is ready to publish? Take a look at this checklist for your blog article , to make sure you're ready to go!
