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Quick Tips to Improve Your Content SEO

7 Quick Tips to Improve Your Content SEO

In today’s world of information overload, search engine optimization (SEO) is more important than ever before. Search engines and their users expect more from the content. They want relevant results, timely content, accurate and useful articles that provide definitive answers to search queries.

This is good news for smart WordPress bloggers because it means that with the right optimization tactics and optimized loading speed, they will be able to get their content to rank high and drive more traffic to their websites. And this is also a proven recipe to make your blog more profitable. If improving content on WordPress for better SEO results sounds like something you’d like to achieve, then read on to discover the 7 tips to improve your content SEO.

Keyword Research

For each piece of content you create on your WordPress blog, you need to target a specific keyword so your content can rank high and be displayed to users searching for that topic. To achieve high search engine rankings, you must conduct proper keyword research using tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, Moz Keyword Research tool, etc. You need to find both seed keywords and long-tail keywords that are relevant to the main topic and then use that keywords effectively within your content.

As Jemma Clinton from Printer Wire states, “Every piece of content that we create on our blog has a very specific purpose. We only write content that we understand how to use strategically to increase our business revenue.”

Choosing a Topic

Based on the targeted keywords you’ve chosen, you can then choose a topic for your post. For instance, if your chosen keyword is “destination wedding”, you might choose a topic such as “How to Have the Perfect Destination Wedding on a Budget”. You need to focus on what your audience wants to learn or know, and choose topics that will be interesting enough to keep your readers engaged. Furthermore, the topic you choose should be one that you can cover with authority. You need to prove to your audience that you know what you’re talking about so they can trust you to provide the solutions they need.

SEO in Content

There are many different ways to optimize content for SEO. One of the main ways is to use keywords within the content itself, but without overusing them as this can harm your SEO efforts. In addition to focusing on SEO within the content, you can also focus on the following areas:

Featured Snippets

You can optimize content to get included in Google’s featured snippet. This will help you drive higher levels of organic traffic to your site. Below is an example of a featured snippet for the Google search term “choose the right font”.

Featured Snippets

One of the best ways to optimize your content for featured snippets is by focusing on content that answers question-type search queries. For instance, look at the “People also ask” box and then create content around the questions there.

SEO for Title Tags

A title tag is an HTML element specifying the title of a website page. It’s often displayed in the SERPs (search engine results pages) as a headline for that result. The best way to optimize your title tags for SEO purposes is by including your main keyword in the title tag and keeping the character count between 50 and 60, as in the example below:

SEO for Title Tags

SEO for Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions are HTML elements that describe and summarize the contents of your webpage. They are important to your SEO rankings as they give both users and search engines information on what they can expect to find on your page. Below is an example of a meta description on a search results page:

Meta description Example

To optimize your meta-descriptions, make sure you include the main keyword and keep the description length to the optimal number of characters (130-155) to avoid the text being truncated. And remember to use language that appeals to emotion and compels readers to click through to your site after reading your meta description.

Optimizing your Title

The headline should be highly relevant and clickable or else your click-through rates will be very low. To optimize your headline for SEO (also known as the H1 tag), make sure you include your main keyword at the beginning of the headline wherever possible. Also, keep your headline length short and sweet as it’s been proven that headlines with 8-12 words, and under 60 characters perform best.

URL Slug Optimization

A URL slug is the part of a page URL that identifies different pages on your website in a way that is easy to read. The slug explains the page content and is an important element for your SEO. You can edit your URL slug for each post you create in WordPress. To optimize your slug for SEO, make sure you include the words you really want to rank for, and since this URL is one of the things searchers see in the results pages, your slug must be aligned with what readers expect to see. For instance, the slug for this article you’re reading might read “SEO tips for WordPress”, or something like that.

Internal Links

An internal link is a hyperlink that points to the same site that the link is on. The importance of internal linking on content for SEO purposes cannot be overstated as it’sone of the major ranking factors for your page. Internal links help establish site architecture and to spread link equity (ranking power) throughout your entire website. Ultimately, this increases the ranking potential for each of your pages that are intimately linked.

Create Reader-Friendly Content

Although it’s important to write content that search engines will love, it’s even more important to make sure that your content is reader-friendly.

There are certain attributes required for content to be reader-friendly, such as:

  • Using simple writing that is easy to read
  • Avoiding big/complicated words that people have to look up to understand
  • Not using industry jargon that ordinary people don’t use in everyday conversation

There are also other factors, such as writing in a conversational tone so you can maintain audience engagement for longer. Also, always include a call to action in your content so you can keep the conversation going. The higher the levels of engagement on your blog, including comments, shares, etc. the more likely it is that Google will mark your content as relevant and rank it at the top.

Write Content that Matches Search Intent

In recent years, search intent has become one of the most important elements in SEO content writing. You need to be able to identify search intent in organic results to make sure that the content you create matches the specific terms users are searching for, and also your audience’s search intent. In other words, you should always have a clear purpose that matches what a specific user is searching for.

  • Your post should be informational when people search for information.
  • It should be transactional when their searches are transactional.
  • It should be navigational to suit navigational search intent.

To take things a step further and better monetize the content, match “content upgrade” with the intent of the user. For instance, if you have a post comparing different webinar platforms, it’s best to have a “content upgrade” like an online course that provides a lot of value in exchange for the visitor’s email address. If you have a clear understanding of search intent, not only will you be more strategic than most bloggers, but you’ll have the best chance of making money from your blog.

Word Count Matters

When it comes to the word count of your WordPress blog posts, correlation studies have shown that the number of words on your post can affect your ability to rank the page for its target keywords. The amount of content needed for a page to rank high varies from one industry to the other, but the best way to determine how long your post should be is to do a quick search online for the target keyword and see what the average is for blogs on the first page. The information on the industry averages is easily available online. For instance, in the digital marketing industry, the best word count for SEO is between 1,760 – 2,400 words, according to a recent study. For the most part, longer content is important in regards to SEO because it provides more useful and in-depth information and incorporates a lot of long-tail keywords.

Use Visuals

Visuals have been shown to have a massive impact on SEO. By including attractive images and videos in your content, it helps to improve the engagement factor for the readers. Make sure to edit your videos and pictures using the right editing tools so you get the best results with your visuals.

This in turn increases the relevancy of your content in Google’s eyes since readers remain on your page for longer. Also, don’t forget that the use of beautiful templates and blocks with website builders is very influenced by the good user experience on your site.

There are tons of different images that you can use, ranging from photographs to screenshots, charts, infographics, animated presentations, etc. Instead of choosing images that look pretty but add nothing to the page, rather opt for images that will help you tell a more compelling story or provide additional information, or help you break down and explain complex topics in a way that is easier for your audience to understand.

Summary

In addition to the tips outlined above, you must also make sure that your content is easy to share. The more readers share your content, the better it is for your SEO efforts. By implementing these quick SEO content writing tips for WordPress users, you will become better at publishing high-ranking content that is loved by both users and search engines.

What are your go-to SEO content writing tips for high-ranking content? Let us know in the comments below!

Ron Stefanski

Ron Stefanski is an internet entrepreneur at One Hour Professor and marketing professor at National Louis University who has a passion for helping people create and market their own online businesses.

We hope this article was helpful. If you liked it, feel free to check out some of these articles as well!

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