How to Write a Search Engine-Optimised Article?

For aspiring digital marketers and leading online businesses, the importance of having relevant content cannot be overstated. Particularly, the significance of the written word, commonly uploaded in the form of articles, is a seminal element in achieving the attention of your target audience. 

Among thousands of content on the internet, writing an article that stands out is known to be a challenging task. Fortunately, it becomes much simpler if you understand the concept of search engine optimisation. For digital marketing enthusiasts and content writers, SEO is essential to make their articles visible and easily accessible to Internet users.

As a major part of digital marketing strategy, SEO is a widely known process transforming how website content is created and presented in the digital environment. The significance of SEO in content writing is so wide as it contributes towards increasing your content visibility, connecting it with the target audience, and enhancing the overall user experience. This detailed guide will explain the steps you need to follow to understand how to write an SEO-friendly article.

What Is the Significance of SEO in Content Writing?

A properly optimised article creates a far-reaching ripple on the internet by increasing your brand’s visibility, boosting traffic to your site, and ultimately advertising your digital presence. 

SEO includes some set of rules and techniques and acts as a guiding light for content creators. Combining keywords, optimising meta tags, and structuring your content in a search engine-friendly manner can increase the possibility of your website appearing prominently in search engine results.

You must pay attention to SEO to avoid becoming invisible to your customers and social media followers seeking your content or products. Like a beautifully designed billboard in a deserted area, an unoptimised article is only effective if well-written.

Your ultimate purpose of writing articles should be to reach out to as broad an audience as possible. But, just generating quality content will not do the magic. Use relevant keywords, meta tags, and engaging words often appearing in your user’s search query to reach your target audience. This is where your SEO knowledge will prove to be beneficial. Following are some of the key reasons why it is essential to have a good grasp of SEO techniques and procedures:

• It Improves Visibility and Ranking: SEO enables search engines to find your content easily and categorise it to make it accessible to your users.
• It Drives More Organic Traffic: Well-planned SEO practices will immensely boost your content’s reach, increasing organic traffic on your website.
• It Enhances User Experience: SEO gives your content a well-designed structure that makes it easier for your reader to navigate and consume the uploaded information.

Key Elements in an SEO-Optimised Article

Now, the question arises: how does one write an SEO-optimized article? The answer to this involves various key parts, each playing a unique role. Additionally, as technology and search algorithms tend to go through rapid changes, the tactics we use to enrich our SEO content must also evolve.

Key elements (not all) that we will talk about will include keyword research and usage, original content, meta-descriptions, headline quality, and high-quality external and internal links. Nailing these tricky techniques will ensure that your articles can rank higher on search engines and put your ideas, services, and products in front of a broader target audience.

At this point, we will discuss some of these terms in detail to comprehend their meanings and ways to tackle them.

Keyword Research

Proper keyword research is the first step toward writing an SEO-friendly article. Keywords are those words that internet users type into the search bars of search engines. To make your article visible to such users, it should have the keywords they will likely search for.

Online tools, including Google Keyword Planner and SEMRush, will help you get the most searched keywords relevant to your topic. Also, consider long-tail keywords (longer phrases with three or more words), as, according to research, they account for nearly 70% of all online searches.

Meta Title & Meta Description

The title and meta descriptions are the items that every internet user pays attention to in the SERPs. Hence, they should be engaging and contain your primary keywords.

Title tags: Ensure your acquired title is compelling and includes the primary keyword. It should range between 50-60 characters to avoid being cut off in the search results.

Meta-Descriptions: These should be 150-160 characters and include your primary keyword. Think of the meta-description as simply a brief advertisement for your content.

Content and Keyword Usage

When writing your content, try naturally incorporating keywords rather than forcing them. Search engines, especially Google, have become quite adept at recognising and penalising this phenomenon, and it is widely known as ‘keyword stuffing.’ Aim to use your primary keyword in:

• The first 100 words of your article.
• At least one subheading.
• Throughout the body of the article, your primary keywords should be utilised, but only where it makes sense.

Besides, your article should be comprehensive, well-researched, and engaging to your reader.

Use of Headers And Subheaders

This is an important section as dividing your content using headers (H1, H2, H3, etc.) not only enhances your reader’s experience by making your article skim-friendly but also helps search engines understand your content to a better extent.

Linking

An SEO-friendly article uses linking. These links are categorised into two categories: Internal and External linking.

• Internal linking: It is where you provide a link in your article that joins the readers to other pages on your site. It helps in website navigation and distributes page authority throughout your website.
• External linking: It involves providing links in your article to connect your readers to relevant pages on other websites. It improves credibility and might lead to reciprocal linking.

Optimised Images

When you use images in your articles, which is highly recommended because it increases engagement, you need to optimise them. Use ‘alt tags’; these are brief image descriptions, as search engines cannot ‘see’ the images. Also, include a relevant keyword in the alt text in your idea to make it worthwhile.

Do’s & Don’ts of SEO Article Writing

An amateur writer might find it tempting to stuff their article to the brim with SEO-centric material, but an experienced writer learns to strike a balance. Remember that overusing keywords and links can harm your article’s readability, leading to a rapid decline in user engagement and retention. A successfully SEO-optimised article has a harmonious blend of search engine design principles and well-researched, enjoyable content. User experience should never be sacrificed at the altar of SEO.

SEO-optimised article writing perfectly combines technical understanding and quality content creation. When done right, SEO will help you build a powerful digital presence. Avoid any unnecessary shortcuts and focus on quality, as it is something that your visitors and search engines will thank you for.

We will review some essential Dos and Don’ts of SEO-optimized article writing to understand this better.

Do’s Of An Optimized Article

• Do Research Suitable Keywords

Keywords are those terms and expressions that internet users type into search bars when looking for specific services, products, or information. Keyword research is an integral process that involves finding and analyzing popular search terms people search for and using them in your article to increase visibility. Tools like Keyword Explorer, Google Keyword Planner, Moz, and SEMRush are known to be of great assistance.

• Do Include Meta Tags

Meta tags are essential as they provide information about your webpage to search engines and website visitors. The most important Meta tags can be categorised into Meta Titles and Meta Descriptions. These tags influence your website’s ranking and how your content is displayed in search results.

• Do Optimize Images

Image optimisation consists of providing alt text for images, using relevant file names, and reducing the file sizes without compromising its quality. This way, search engines will easily be able to understand the image, leading to an improved overall user experience on your business website.

• Do Use Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are those specific phrases that visitors are more likely to use when they come close to making a purchase. They help you craft content that solves your users’ particular needs.

• Do Include Internal and External Links

Including links in the articles of your other blog posts or web pages helps increase the time your users spend navigating your site. Links to reputable external sites also add credibility to your written content.

Don’ts of an Optimized Article

• Don’t Duplicate Content

Duplicate content always harms your SEO efforts. Google and other leading search engines, including your audience, prefer unique and original content. Always focus on creating original, valuable content for your online visitors.

• Don’t Ignore User Experience

SEO isn’t just about keywords and backlinks. Excellent user experience is known to play a vital role in the process. Please ensure your website is user-friendly, has an easy-to-use interface, fast loading speed, and properly formatted published articles

• Don’t Work Without a Plan

Neglecting the plan will prove to be problematic for your SEO efforts. Before writing, research your audience, your brand’s objectives, and how your article can provide value. Keep your content organised and properly aligned with your overall SEO strategy.

• Don’t Stuff Keywords

In past years, filling your content with keywords, commonly known as keyword stuffing, helped you rank high in search engines. Nowadays, modern search algorithms are known to prioritise meaningful and coherent articles over keyword-filled nonsense.

• Don’t Forget Mobile Users

Because of the growing increase in smartphone users in the past decade, major search engines like Bing and Google have increased the importance of mobile optimisation. Therefore, ensuring your article is readable and easy to navigate on mobile devices has become essential to SEO optimisation.

A Step-By-Step Guide to Writing a Search Engine-Optimized Article

This detailed guide will provide systematic steps to write SEo-optimised content pieces.

Step 1: Understand SEO

Before you start writing, there’s always a basic SEO groundwork you need to learn how to lay. The SEO-optimized article is a complex task, but with this step-by-step guide, you can create content that engages your audience and is favoured by search engine algorithms. 

Step 2: Keyword Research

Keywords are said to be a safe foundation for SEO. They’re the terms your target audience enters into search engines. Use digital marketing tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs and SEMrush to discover which relevant keywords have the highest search volume. Afterwards, choose a primary keyword for your article headline and a few secondary keywords.

Step 3: Position Keywords

After finding out which keywords must be included, it is time to position them strategically in your article. The title, headings, subheadings, body text, meta description, and even image alt text should include these decided keywords. However, make sure always to prioritise readability over keyword placement! Make sure to distinguish your readers from complicated terms, as it will force them to move to the following easily comprehensible available website.

Step 4: Write High-Quality Content

High-quality content is the king when it comes to SEO optimisation. Ensure that your article is well-researched, informative, and adds value to the reader. Software like RankBrain and Google’s AI algorithms are well known as they prioritise content that keeps your users engaged, so make your content relevant, compelling, and audience-friendly.

Step 5:Write Convincing Meta Descriptions

The summary on SERPs is known as the content’s meta description. Therefore, it is essential to have them optimised if you wish to have an excellent first impression. Make your article’s meta description persuasive enough for the user to click on your link. Include your primary keyword in it to heighten its relevance.

Step 6: Use SEO-Friendly URL

Your article’s URL should be short, concise, and needs to encapsulate your topic. This way, both the search engine algorithm and your user will know what your article is about.

Step 7: Make Use of Internal and Outbound Links

Add internal and outbound links to your published content. Internal links will guide your users to other connecting content within your site. On the other hand, outbound links will point to relevant, high-quality websites related to your brand. This builds credibility and gives value to your readers.

Step 8: Optimize the Length of Your Article

As per many researches, it is found that longer content tends to rank higher on search engines. Usually, a word count above 1500 is recommended, although this tends to vary depending on your target audience and chosen topic. If you decide to write longer content, always remember to write engaging and up-to-date information. 

Step 9: Use Images and Other Media

Your content must be awe-inspiring and exciting to read to gain more audience. Adding relevant images, graphs, videos, or infographics to your content is known to increase engagement rates, and they also break up large blocks of text, which stop your readers from getting bored, all the while enhancing its readability.

Step 10: Proofread and Edit

Typos, grammatical errors, and awkward phrasing are a massive turn-off for readers. These blunders quickly make your article seem unprofessional. It drives away readers and decreases your website’s ranking on search engine results. Always proofread what you publish on your website to attract more audience and retain your existing one.

Step 11: Test Your SEO

Applying SEO practices is only enough if your website earns from your efforts. To check your progress, use SEO tools such as Yoast SEO or SEOquake and compare your present SEO performance with your past. If and when required, revise and edit your content until you achieve your desired results.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, writing an SEO-optimized article is similar to constructing a well-structured bridge. Each aspect of your article must be meticulously built and added to ensure its long-term stability. We must respect the principles of writing as much as those of a competent SEO strategy.

Article writing is a tricky process that demands routine time and constant attention. Fortunately, the payoff is excellent for your online business website- increased visibility, audience growth, and stronger connections with a global audience. After all, in the vast wilderness of the internet, successfully writing an SEO-optimized article is a lighthouse guiding your audience straight to your product or services.

Learning to craft these articles expertly takes time and patience. To improve your skills, you can consult reliable SEO websites, participate in SEO training courses, or engage the services of SEO professionals. With enough time, you can comprehend and capitalise on article writing opportunities.

With this, you have a comprehensive guide to writing an SEO-optimized article. But remember, SEO isn’t just concerned with search engines. It is about providing valuable, high-quality content that connects with your target audience. Your SEO skills will naturally improve as you continue to write and work on SEO understanding. Happy writing!