To write an SEO-friendly blog post, start by considering the structure and enjoyability of your content. When readers like and comprehend an article, they are more likely to share it, thereby boosting your rankings. Therefore, these tips on improving your writing skills and rankings can help you write an SEO-friendly blog post.
There are people who believe that writing for SEO and writing to engage your audience are incompatible objectives. However, I strongly disagree with this notion. While it is important to have the desired keywords in a prominent position for a blog post that is optimized for SEO, excessive use of keywords can greatly reduce the readability of the text, which is something you should definitely avoid. Additionally, having a high density of keyphrases might even indicate to Google that you are trying to manipulate rankings by keyword stuffing, leading to negative consequences for your website’s ranking.
This post offers guidance on how to write blog posts that are both SEO-friendly and readable. We strongly believe that these two objectives should always be pursued together, as writing in a clear and comprehensible manner attracts more visitors and encourages them to stay on your website.
Writing tips for SEO-friendly blog posts
When beginning a new blog post, it is common for bloggers to immediately start writing without any structure or organization, simply jotting down their thoughts as they come to mind. Although this approach may be effective for individuals with innate writing abilities, others may require assistance. Personally, when creating a new blog, I consistently adhere to these guidelines.
1. Think before you write!
Before you begin writing, carefully consider the main message you want to convey in your piece. Determine what you wish to tell your readers or what central question you aim to address. Define the purpose of your article and the desired action you want readers to take by the end of it. Note down these answers beforehand and evaluate the search intent that someone may have. A useful approach is to examine the search results for the specific search term you hope to rank with.
2. Devise a structure for your post
In order to write a blog post that is both readable and SEO-friendly, it is necessary to establish a coherent framework. This entails ensuring that each post possesses the following elements:
- some sort of introduction (in which you introduce your topic);
- a body (in which the main message is written);
- a conclusion (in which you summarize the main ideas or draw a conclusion).
Now that you have thought through and rephrased the text in a step-by-step manner, you should write a summary of your post by condensing the information into a few sentences. This summary will serve as a basis for creating a well-organized and coherent blog post. With this summary in place, you can now proceed to actually write the post.
3. Use paragraphs and headings
When using paragraphs, it is important to use them effectively. Simply starting a new sentence on a new line for aesthetic purposes is not sufficient. It is also important to avoid making paragraphs overly lengthy, as each paragraph should focus on a specific idea or subject. To determine the main idea of each paragraph, ask yourself what it is and try to summarize it in one sentence. If you are unable to do so and require additional sentences to explain the main idea, it is necessary to use more paragraphs.
Using subheadings in your text is important for helping your readers understand the different parts of your article. Subheadings also make it easier for readers to scan your page and see the overall structure of your article. Not only are subheadings important for readability, but they also contribute to SEO. It would be a good idea to include your keyword in a few of the subheadings, but using it in every heading can make the text sound awkward and unappealing to readers.
4. Use transition words
Transition words play a crucial role in allowing readers to easily navigate and comprehend the connections between sentences and paragraphs. To illustrate, consider a scenario where there are three compelling reasons for individuals to purchase your product. In such cases, employing signal words such as “first of all,” “secondly,” and “finally” would aid in effectively conveying these points. Similarly, utilizing terms like “however,” “similarly,” and “for example” would serve as clear indicators to your readers. These words provide immediate cues that a conclusion will ensue when expressions such as “to sum up” or “in short” are utilized. Therefore, the inclusion of transition words is highly significant, as they contribute to the structuring of your text.
5. Use related keywords
The more you stuff your article with your focus keyword, the less appealing it becomes to read. It can also negatively impact your rankings. Google is becoming more intelligent and prefers content that users will enjoy. It doesn’t want you to continuously use your focus keyword in every sentence and has alternative methods to determine the subject of your text. One way Google accomplishes this is by identifying synonyms and related keywords associated with your focus keyphrase. That’s why incorporating synonyms and related keywords throughout your copy is essential.
Synonyms are fairly simple to come up with, but it can be a bit more difficult to think of the appropriate related keywords. That is why we have added a new function to our plugin that assists you in instantly finding related keyphrases. Using your chosen focus keyword, our plugin can generate numerous related keyphrases with just one click! Additionally, it provides information on the search volume and search trend of each keyword. This feature is powered by SEMrush and is available in both our free and Premium plugins. Take advantage of this related keyphrase feature!
Tips on writing SEO friendly URLs
URLs are important for ranking factors, and the more relevant they are, the better. They enhance user experience, particularly in the context of sharing links.
Including your target keyword in the URL of your webpage is essential as it assists search engines in appropriately classifying your URL within the search engine results pages (SERPs).
To maintain a concise URL, shorten it by removing unnecessary words, aiming for an average length of around 60 characters or three to five words.
Keep URLs simple, compelling, and relevant while using lowercase letters. Avoid stop words and do not use uppercase letters to prevent redirects or 404 errors on certain servers.
Use small paragraphs
Breaking your paragraphs into shorter segments is beneficial as it helps users comprehend your content more easily. Each paragraph should focus on a single idea, comprising 2-3 sentences. Enhance the readability on mobile devices by utilizing various formatting options like bullet points, highlighted text, and different fonts. By doing so, your content becomes visually appealing and engaging.
Optimise images
Search engines use alt text as information to understand the subject matter of an image better. Google can’t read the actual text in the images themselves, but they can interpret the content of images to define images’ relevance in the search results. So, you’ll need to name alt text and descriptive titles, captions and filenames.
The alt text is only visible to users if the image fails to load, serving as a helpful display in that case.
This is an example of an alt text for an image in HTML.
Please rephrase the following text while maintaining the same meaning and keeping the same information: Consider the text below and rephrase it step by step, without adding or removing any information: The text: 
Rephrased: The provided text shows an image with the file name “novoslogo.jpg” and an alternate text saying “thisisnovos agency logo”.
External linking to sources that make sense to the user
It is crucial to include external resources in every new blog post. The use of a descriptive anchor text is vital as it enables readers to comprehend the subject matter of the linked content. By incorporating links, your audience can delve deeper into a particular topic while remaining attentive to the primary focus.
While adhering to the same meaning, you can rephrase the text below to think step by step. Avoid adding or removing information. External links can be utilized to assist search engines in comprehending the article topic. Similarly, internal linking can be employed to achieve a comparable advantage, depending on the available content on your website.
Pro tip: Remember to link out to useful external resources like Wikipedia, as it will build trust and improve user experience.
Optimal content length
When considering this matter, it is important to prioritize quality rather than quantity. Your primary objective should be to offer the most appropriate content for your readers that fulfills their search intent. To determine the ideal length for your specific topic, you can examine the competitors who rank on the first page.
Blog posts usually have a minimum length of around 300 to 500 words due to the fact that longer content tends to receive more likes and mentions on social media, which is something Google prefers. Therefore, having longer content increases your likelihood of achieving better rankings in search results.
The recommended word count is approximately 2000 words, however, it is not necessary to prioritize writing exactly 2000 words each time since it varies depending on the factors mentioned earlier.
Optimise your content for mobile
In 2021, it is crucial to optimize your blog/website for mobile devices because search engines, such as Google, prioritize mobile-friendly websites. Currently, mobile internet usage accounts for 55.4% of the market share, which is significant. Failing to make your website or page mobile friendly will significantly decrease your chances of ranking. With Google’s core web vitals update already implemented in June 2021, it is more important than ever to ensure that your pages are functioning at an optimal speed. You can check this by entering your URL into Google’s page speed insights tool, which will provide you with a list of recommended improvements. However, optimizing your website for mobile may require technical assistance from a web developer.
Update your content regularly
If your blog post becomes successful, with a top ranking in SERPs, active audience engagement, conversions, and a significant number of social shares, it does not mean that your efforts can come to an end. Google is constantly searching for better resources, and your competitors will always be striving to produce more valuable content to surpass you.
If you publish regularly, it will indicate to Google that your blog is a reliable and current resource, which can assist in addressing this issue. Keep in mind that you can update blog posts with the date or include additional new information to maintain its freshness.
Include schema markup
Schema markup is located within your website’s code in order to assist search engines in analyzing your content. For instance, by employing Schema markup, search engine result pages (SERPs) can be instructed to exhibit a calendar of forthcoming hotel events. This feature proves to be extremely beneficial for users. To incorporate markup into your blog posts, you can make use of Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper, which offers a relatively effortless process. Additionally, it is important to remember to test the implemented markup using Google’s structured data test tool.
