On the search engine results page, the fate of a blog article fluctuates between the best and the worst. It can occupy one of the top positions (even Position Zero) or linger in the depths of page 22. Naturally, the performance of content depends greatly on its positioning.
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| How to Write an SEO-Optimized Article |
Improved visibility brings more traffic and, consequently, more recognition and/or conversions, while invisible content produces no effect.
What are the secrets to placing a text at the top of the SERP? In other words, how do you write an SEO-optimized article for search engines?
Writing optimized content: Why is it important in your marketing strategy?
An SEO article is content optimized for search engines. In other words, it's content that meets the requirements of search engines in terms of:
- Quality
- Relevance
- Structure
- As well as the selection and use of keywords.
Why is it important to optimize your content? Because the goal is to position it at the top of search results, giving it the best chance of being seen (and read) by internet users. On this point, there are two things to know.
Good to know:
- Most web pages don't even rank in the top 100 of Google's results because they haven't been properly optimized.
- The majority of clicks focus on the first results of the SERP. More than 86% of all clicks related to a given query are for the first page of results. Even more importantly, 54.4% of clicks are concentrated on the top three organic links. This means that over half of internet users, when making their choice, do not go beyond the third natural link. From the second page of the SERP onwards, links become virtually invisible.
The importance of visibility:
Therefore, SEO has a strong visibility aspect, but it's not the only one. Generating clicks to a particular content is not enough; it must also be able to satisfy internet users.
Otherwise, they may go back and increase the page's bounce rate, which sends a negative signal to Google. The search engine tends to think that a page that users leave immediately after discovering it lacks relevance.
In short, the goal of an SEO article is twofold. It must meet the requirements of search engines while providing added value to users. This requires applying a number of best practices that we will now detail.
What are the best practices to follow to produce an SEO article?
How to write a good SEO article that search engine algorithms will decipher and that internet users will enjoy? The answer in 8 points.
1. Always keep readers in mind:
When embarking on the writing of an SEO article, it is important to keep in mind the purpose of Google and other search engines: to provide users with the best possible answers.
Based on this principle, we can formulate a relatively simple equation. The more content pleases internet users, the more search engines tend to feature it prominently in the results. The reverse is also true.
Providing value to readers:
Therefore, a good SEO article is primarily content designed to provide value to readers, whether it's by:
- Providing useful information
- Answering the questions they have
- Helping them solve their problems
- Simply entertaining them.
To achieve this, you must have a clear understanding of the needs and expectations of your target audience and build as specific buyer personas as possible.
2. Create a list of relevant keywords to work on in the SEO article:
Keywords are at the heart of content optimization principles. There are two ways to approach this issue:
- Starting with a theme and a list of topics to extract keywords to work on.
- Or by starting by searching for popular phrases typed by your target audience, from which you will extract appropriate topics.
Both methods have their advantages.
It is relatively easy to identify relevant keywords at the beginning of a content marketing strategy. In essence, you just need to target the most frequently typed generic terms by internet users, for example, through a simple Google search.
Dedicated tools:
However, it quickly becomes essential to use a suitable professional tool – such as SEMrush or Ahrens – to go further. These tools provide lists of terms associated with several particularly useful indicators:
- Search volume
- Average click-through rate
- Cost per click (for advertising campaigns)
- Expected difficulty in ranking, etc.
An example below for the query "SEO article."
These lists also have another advantage! They provide indications about related terms searched by internet users. These phrases can be integrated into the SEO article as secondary keywords or set aside for producing other content by varying the writing angles.
3. Identify the semantic field around the topic being addressed:
Make no mistake: even though an SEO article is built around a primary keyword, it should not be treated as an exception.
On the contrary, it should fit into an appropriate semantic field that enhances the presence of the primary term. In other words, the entire content aims to reinforce the presence of the primary keyword.
How to identify the components of a semantic field? The best solution is to create a list of related keywords, synonyms, and co-occurrences. A glance at the "other questions asked" in Google's SERP can provide some welcome ideas. However, it's digital tools (such as Your Text Guru) that are most likely to make all the difference.
4. Properly structure the article and place keywords strategically:
The structure of an SEO article must follow the rules of web writing:
- Clarity
- Transparency
- A reverse pyramid structure that prioritizes essential or general information.
The goal is to make the text as understandable as possible at first glance, both for indexing robots and for readers.
Here's the classic structure of a well-optimized article:
- An introduction to present the topic and outline the questions the content aims to answer.
- Text divided into subsections, each with a relevant headline, included in a series of Hn tags.
- Keywords placed strategically: the primary keyword in the introduction, in the body of the text, and in at least one H2 heading. Secondary keywords scattered throughout the content and placed in H2 and subsequent heading levels, etc. For more information on keyword placement in an SEO article, read our article.
- A conclusion that summarizes the major ideas and, ideally, ends with an open question. This also guides readers to other content.
Don't forget to create and fill in the <meta> tags (title and meta description) that will appear in the SERP alongside the URL of your page, and include the primary keyword there.
5. Adapt the length to the topic (and SEO strategy):
In SEO, content length is a subject of debate that should be approached with caution (at a minimum). It is commonly considered that an SEO article should not have fewer than 500 words. But the need to produce much longer content is not yet firmly established in people's minds.
To support the idea of a "length bonus," it's worth mentioning the results of a HubSpot study. It reveals that the ideal length for a blog article ranges between 2,100 and 2,400 words!
A set of SEO best practices:
Obviously, this is an average. Many much shorter pieces of content still rank well in the SERP. What you should understand is that an article ranks better in the results because it combines a set of SEO best practices:
- Writing quality
- Technical performance
- Internal linking
- Inbound links from authoritative domains, etc.
The success of a comprehensive strategy:
A good ranking is the result of a comprehensive strategy and cannot rely solely on a large number of words. Otherwise, it would be enough to publish lengthy articles to manipulate search engine algorithms.
Furthermore, the number of words to reach should be set based on what the competition offers. If your direct competitors all have online content ranging from 1,500 to 2,500 words, it is in your interest to target an average of 2,000 words for an SEO article on the same keyword.
6. Interlink the article with other pages on the site:
The importance of internal linking in SEO cannot be overstated. This technique helps boost the popularity of recent pages through authority transfer, often referred to as "link juice." It also makes it easier for indexing robots, which use hyperlinks to explore different pages of a website.
From the user's perspective, effective interlinking results in a better user experience, with visitors spending more time on the site and accessing more content.
Also, remember to include links in your SEO article that point to external resources that are as relevant as they are legitimate, giving priority to institutional sites.
7. Add visuals to illustrate your SEO article:
It's not a new idea: search engines appreciate visuals in content because they make reading more enjoyable for internet users.
From your perspective, adding images promises to help rank your SEO article in the "Images" tab of search engines, providing an additional entry point to your page.
Additionally, visual elements are likely to be shared on social networks, which is very useful in promoting content.
Think about images:
However, be sure to optimize your images:
- Compress them to avoid slowing down page loading.
- Don't forget to give your image a coherent name. This allows indexing robots to "see" it while making it accessible to visually impaired people.
8. Optimize the content's URL:
URLs are often overlooked by webmasters because they are automatically generated by CMS systems. However, URLs are displayed in the SERP alongside other metadata, and as such, they should be optimized in the same way.
Make them concise and impactful, eliminate unnecessary terms (articles or conjunctions), and include the primary keyword.
Think about your marketing strategy:
Apply these best practices to create a well-optimized SEO article to publish on your professional blog – this will increase your chances of ranking this content at the top of search engine results.
But be aware! This work should be part of a broader marketing strategy deployed over several months, punctuated by the regular publication of new content.
In the end, search engines take into account your entire website to rank your pages! So why not consider using the services of a specialized editorial agency to develop a strategy tailored to your business?
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