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Even though WordPress is an SEO-friendly CMS, that’s not enough to satisfy the demands of search engine crawlers. If you want to improve your rank and drive more traffic to your website, you need to write optimized content.
Creating content with search engine optimization in mind will boost your efforts to reach the top of search results. Your website doesn’t stand a chance without the right tactics to craft optimized content.
Are you ready to learn about the best practices for writing SEO-optimized content? Then, keep reading and employ the following tips.
1. Lead in with Keywords Research
Preparing the target keywords in advance will make embedding them much less of a hassle. If you write the content first and then add keywords, you can end up with a mess.
Do thorough keyword research before writing. List short—and long-tail keywords you want to use in SEO content. Remember that you shouldn’t overstuff the content with keywords, so prioritize the most relevant ones.
With your list of keywords in front of you, start writing. You’ll notice how you find the right place for your keywords during writing. You’ll also get ideas that will include the keywords.
2. Write Attention-Grabbing Titles
Titles are significant. They signal to search engines and readers what the page is all about. With compelling titles, you’ll drive more traffic and prove the value of your website.
The rule of thumb is that the title must always be relevant to the content. The users will be disappointed if the title doesn’t match the story behind it. Moreover, your bounce rate will increase.
To trigger an emotional response, you can incorporate powerful words. Also, don’t forget to include the primary keywords in the title.
3. Make a Good Use Out of Header Tags
Header tags are a handy optimization tool. They don’t demand any special effort but contribute to your optimization strategy.
“While it’s been said that H1s don’t directly affect organic rankings, it’d be impossible not to consider them a significant part of each web page’s overall optimization and presentation. Suppose headers can help people understand the content on the page more easily. In that case, they can likely help similar search engines”, wrote Sam Hollingsworth, the VP of Digital Strategy at Elevation Ten Thousand, in his post for Search Engine Journal.
How do you use header tags? Organize your titles and headings with H1, H2, H3, and other header tags. The H1 tag is used for the post’s title, while H2, H3, and so on are used for subsequent headings.
4. Write Engaging Content
Elements such as keywords, backlinks, internal links, and so on aren’t the only path to optimization. Another aspect of content is essential—engagement.
If your content isn’t engaging, you won’t be able to retain users’ attention past the headline. Therefore, all your SEO actions will be in vain.
You need to craft content that readers will love. Find out what type of topics interest your readers. Use different writing techniques, such as storytelling.
If you aren’t sure about your content’s engagement, use an editing tool to assess it. Here are a few valuable tools that can help you in your times of need:
- Grammarly – Aside from being a great online editing tool, Grammarly also shows your content’s engagement. A low engagement score means that your content needs some more work.
- Readable – If you are confident in your writing but want to check the content’s comprehension and engagement, Readable is the solution. It will show you the content’s readability score. The tool will also highlight confusing, lengthy sentences that diminish readers’ experience.
If you need inspiration for writing educational and informative content that is also engaging, there’s a solution. You can find an essay samples database here, and you can get some ideas for engaging topics for your audience.
5. Use Internal Linking
Adding links to other posts and pages on your website increases the users’ dwell time. Consequently, search engine crawlers will observe your website as engaging and worthy of users’ time.
Use appropriate keywords that refer to a different post on your website. Then, add a link to that post. Digital marketers emphasize that you should solely link posts related to the topic you are covering. You don’t want to lead your readers from “The Best Android Smartphones in the Last Decade” post to “Top Fishing Gear for 2020.”
6. Don’t Forget about the Meta Description
Meta descriptions are often overlooked, even though they are essential for SEO-friendly content. These snippets give a glimpse into what your content offers, which can convince users to click on your link.
To write an effective meta-description, you should include the primary keywords and present your content briefly. That is, explain your topic in a nutshell and attract the attention of search crawlers with keywords. You will see how such a simple step can make a difference in your SEO strategy.
7. Organize Your Content for Maximum Comprehension
Both search engines and readers love well-organized content. Using headlines, subheadings, bullet points, numbers, and other structural elements will improve your content’s engagement and boost comprehension.
Plan and organize your content using short paragraphs, white space, and segmenting the main ideas into sections. You can also use bullet points and numbers to make it more digestible. This will help search engines spot all your content’s information and connect more searches to that page.
Final Thoughts
Search engine optimization can seem tiring initially, but you’ll be unstoppable once you embrace practical SEO methods. Hopefully, these tips will help you clarify what you need to focus on to optimize your WordPress website’s content. Take time to figure out the best approach for utilizing all these tactics. Remember that the more you practice content optimization, the easier it will get.
BIO: Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks, and empowers using the magic of a word. While pursuing her degree in creative writing, she gained experience in the publishing industry and expertise in marketing strategy for publishers and authors. Besides working as a freelance writer at ClassyEssay, she also does some editing work at SupremeDissertations and Subjecto. In her free time, Kristin likes to travel and explore new countries.