Want to improve your SEO? The first thing that you need to do is write reader-friendly content because this is the sort of content that is ranked higher by search engines whether it is Google or any other. Through your content if you solely concentrate on SEO, you neither improve your search engine rankings (in some cases you do, but it hardly pays) nor your conversion rate. Coming to the point, here is how you make your content reader-friendly:
- Create a meaningful title for the webpage or the blog post: Many content marketing experts and established copywriters believe that the title of your webpage or the blog post is as important as the body text because on the Internet grabbing someone’s attention is very important. If people don’t come to your page, if your title does not draw them in, there is no chance of them ever reading your webpage or blog post. This can be achieved by writing a compelling and to-the-point title. Writing a great title tells people what your blog post or webpage represents and has to offer. The search engines make out what your webpage or blog post intends to communicate by analysing your title. Spend ample amount of time writing your title.
- Make sure the body text has high-quality and relevant content: Unless people really like your content it is never going to enjoy better SEO, so make sure that your written content solves the purpose for which it was written. If your title says that your webpage or blog post solves a particular problem then actually solve that problem rather than simply beating around the bush and leaving the reader hanging. Provide the solution. Help people. Deliver what you have promised.
- Be mindful of the language that you use: Preferably you should write in the language people use but sometimes some writers go overboard and end up using really crude language that doesn’t look good on a business webpage or blog post. When I say use the language that people use what I mean is, use the sort of language people use to find your product or service on the search engine. For example, I need to decide whether I should write more content about “content writer”, “content writing services”, “web content writing” or “need business writer” and such. They don’t necessarily have to be the same words because these days even related and contextual words can get you higher rankings even when you have not used the main keywords. The gist is, neither dumbify your writing nor make it too hard to read.
- Use shorter sentences and shorter paragraphs: Remember that when you are writing commercial content you’re not showcasing your literary skills and all the prestidigitation that you can do with words and phrases. The sole purpose of your writing is improving sales and leads. So use concise sentences that are stick to the meaning. This will also help those who are reading your content from their mobile devices.
- Make your content scannable by using headlines and bulleted points: Organize your main thoughts using headlines and bullets. Take for example these bullets that I have just now used. Even if you don’t read the paragraphs you can just read the highlighted bullet points and you can make out what I’m trying to say. Your headlines and bullet points are the regions where the search engines quickly go through to find relevant information and then evaluate your content accordingly. It also makes it easier for people who don’t want to read the whole thing and just want to scan your material.
- Link to existing content without compromising the wholesomeness of your current page or blog post: Since many people might be reading your content using their phones and tablets avoid using lots of links to other pieces of content at the cost of the meaning of your current webpage or blog post. Use the hyperlinks only when the topic is totally different and it would help your readers learn more but if they don’t want to click or tap the hyperlink they shouldn’t miss anything.
Why reader-friendly content improves your SEO?
Why do you want to use a search engine like Google? It is because in most of the cases you are able to find what you’re looking for and you also like the quality of the content that comes up on the results page. You wouldn’t be happy with the search engine if you rarely find high-quality content. So Google has to constantly think more about its users and less about people trying to promote their services using the search engine because you cannot force people to use your search engine but if many people use your search engine you can always force businesses to adhere to your guidelines. Most of the major search engines make it a point – through their algorithms and ranking patterns – that you make your content as reader-friendly as possible and if you keep on creating high-quality reader-friendly content they rank your content well, automatically improving your SEO.
Many clients hire me to create SEO content. They give me SEO titles and a list of keywords and they want me to write content around those titles and keywords. For a while I have also promoted my SEO content writing services but in reality, when I’m writing SEO content I’m simply writing high-quality reader-friendly content. The rankings of my clients improve and so does their conversion rate.