How to create SEO’d blog articles with the best chance of getting found by content searchers
One thing Google’s Panda update has taught us is that quality content is a clear focus on their indexing process.
Beyond quality content, we’ve seen specific techniques for placing content within web pages that has helped achieve the three primary concepts behind effective content marketing: content, community and commerce.
These techniques show exactly where keywords should be placed and components that should be included within each article you publish. The following list will help you create engaging, Google-friendly articles for your target audience.
Nine components for article optimization
SEO Blogging Component #1: Page Title – The page title needs to carry the main keyword phrases of the article. Often times, writers make the page title and the headline one in the same, providing their headlines are keyword-optimized.
SEO Blogging Component #2: URL – Keywords should be placed in the URL for added optimization. If your headline is optimized, your URL and headline could be very similar.
SEO Blogging Component #3: Headline – The headline needs to include keyword phrases while remaining relevant to the overall topic. Some journalists prefer to write catchy headlines and then have difficulty incorporating keyword phrases. To supply both needs, journalists can publish an article with one title, and then change the title for SEO purposes after the initial publication.
Intriguing headlines can be created while still including keyword phrases. How-to articles, numbered lists and fascination headlines can all do this with ease. The title of this article is a good example of how a numbered list can include a keyword phrase. In this case, “SEO Blogging” is the main keyword phrase being targeted.
[text_ad use_post=”15014″]
SEO Blogging Component #4: Subhead – The subhead should include keyword phrases while elaborating on the main content found in the article.
SEO Blogging Component #5: Body Copy – A keyword density around 3.0 should be the goal for articles you’d like to be ranked on. Body copy needs to be engaging, informative and contain multiple paragraphs. Furthermore, the editorial standard of proper spelling and grammar is a must.
SEO Blogging Component #6: Category – Putting all articles into categories allows audience members to find aligned content easier while consistently receiving additional SEO fodder.
SEO Blogging Component #7: Free Report Link – All articles should point to an aligned free report. This helps online publishers collect more data from visitors as the free report is given in exchange for a valid email address. Having a link to an aligned free report in every post helps affords a better chance of converting casual visitors into registered members. For instance, if you were reading a post about Internet marketing and were offered a longer, more in-depth report on the topic of interest for free, wouldn’t you act on that opportunity?
SEO Blogging Component #8: Share – To fulfill the criteria of community, adding a share option in every post allows audience members to easily distribute the content to others. Facebook and Twitter are two of the most popular avenues for sharing content. Plus, a recent SEOmoz study revealed the prevalence Share features have on SEO rankings.
SEO Blogging Component #9: Comment – The Panda update has made user comments more valuable to publishers. Comments are great for community building and help pages rank better within search engines. If you don’t experience a lot of comments on a normal basis, start conversations within your articles and specifically ask people to comment.
Search engine optimization is a free, organic method for increasing your website traffic and visibility. For more on SEO, and an array of other methods for increasing website traffic, join us for our 29 Ways to Increase Website Traffic webinar on June 14th.
Absolutely agree with you Matt. Thanks for adding your insight.
Yes, I think that commenting is very valuable. The more you comment on other blogs, the more comments you get back on your blog, since many bloggers like to return the favor.
Google is also indexing these comments, so it’s like adding extra content, and showing that the blog is “alive and kicking”. This has to help a bit as a general SEO factor.