Practical guide on how to write an SEO Article

Whether you own an online business (B2B, B2C) or a blog, you’ll always hear about marketing through SEO article (content marketing).

This is a technique used to increase your web page visibility, your traffic but also to reach more readers. All you need to do is write SEO articles.

Do you know how to write an SEO article?

At first sight, you can say that’s very simple….. but are you sure?

Writing an qualitative and correct SEO article is not only about laying out some ideas, is also about: structure, quality of information, keywords, etc.

Writing an article using Search Engine Optimization

Writing an article using Search Engine Optimization

First of all, an SEO article requires good writing skills to make the article interesting and easy to read. Secondly, the article shall be original and not duplicate content (copy-paste from other articles).

In this article, I’ll share with you the steps to follow in writing an qualitative and correct SEO articles.

How to write an SEO Article – step by step

If you want to create an SEO articles, you shall keep in mind the next thing: content and search engine optimization go hand in hand all time.

You want to feel the taste of success? Then my advice is to create the quality content that people want to read and search engines want to index.

Here you have the steps you shall follow:

Basic steps in writing of a seo article

Basic steps in writing of a seo article

Create your article sketch

The basic idea is the subject on which you want to go: Which is the subject that you want to write? What is the kind of reader that you want to attract? Do you provide a reason for readers to spend a few minutes reading your pages?

So be very careful on how you choose your subject and how you create your sketch.

1. Find a current and useful theme
– find something that you think would attract the readers, something of general interest

2. Think about a few attractive titles and then choose the right one
– a good title must show the contents of the entire article, just in a few words
– choose the powerful title that speaks to your readers and captures their attention
– if you need help in choosing the correct title you can get some ideas using the Blog Title Idea Generator

3. Get information on the topic and write your ideas before start creating the content
– write down what you want to write in all your article sections (introduction, body and conclusion)
– give your articles a structure and perspective using the headings

Create a sketch of your entire SEO article

Create a sketch of your entire SEO article

Create your list of keywords

  1. research keywords and phrases related with your article – choose them very carefully
  2. research other related keyword, using free tools asKeyword Shitter, Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, etc
  3. use variations of your keywords – synonyms, using Thesaurus
  4. use the important keywords that you’ve previously established, particularly the ones used in the title, at the beginning or in the first sentence
  5. do not use keywords that the reader does not recognize, if they would like to learn new words, certainly they will look to other sources
Keyword Research - how to find the best SEO Keywords for your article

Keyword Research – how to find the best SEO Keywords for your article

Writing the content for your SEO article

Once you get to this step, begins the most important part: writing your content. Begin to create the content by using as often as possible the proposed keywords, but in a way which will not affect the quality of the article.

100 words of fresh content is better than no new content at all!

Factors that you should consider in the writing of an SEO article:

  1. always respect the order: introduction, body and conclusion
  2. respect the writing and punctuation rules
  3. use the important keywords that you’ve previously established (preferably in the first sentence and the first paragraph)
  4. include the most important keywords and key phrases in titles and subheadings – H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6
  5. break it up into short paragraphs with subheadings (the ideal size of a paragraph is 300 words)
  6. if it makes sense in the text, put keywords and key phrases in bold or italics
  7. don’t be excessive with your keywords – the proper keyword density is between 1 and 3% (use WriteWords to count the frequency usage of each word in your text)
  8. don’t join too many keywords in a single sentence or phrase, the search engine will penalize it
  9. stay away from unreadable long phrases – a phrase must contain at most 20 words
  10. include hyperlinks to web pages relevant for your topic (pages that would likely interest the reader, with related or complementary content)
  11. the most good articles contain at least 1,500 words
  12. use concrete examples
  13. before the publish, review your article
  14. make sure it’s grammatically correct with no spelling mistakes (you can verify and polish your content with: Reverso Spell Checker or Polishmywriting)

Important: Do not copy other texts related to your theme – be original! Use your own words to write your SEO article!

Writing SEO articles that will rank better in search engines

Writing SEO articles that will rank better in search engines

Choose the proper pictures

Good to know: a human can retain 10% of what he read, 20% of what he hear, 30% of what he see and 50% of what he simultaneously hears and sees.

Therefore, the safest way to retain information is to offer pictures. Each article should have at least one.

Before adding pictures:

  1. find, use or design unique pictures related to your topic
  2. add resized pictures – if the pictures are very large, those will affect the opening of the page
  3. use meaningful image file names instead of numbers or unrelated characters
  4. give your pictures original and unique titles
  5. the ALT attribute (alternative text), must contain a target keyword – this element help Google to understand and read the pictures
Use images related to the text of your SEO article

Use images related to the text of your SEO article

Create META elements

Before publishing, don’t forget to create the meta elements: title tag and meta description.

Completing these fields, the search engines will more easily understand the content of your article. Your promotion will depend enormously from them. Do not neglect them!

Those two elements shall be convincing enough to encourage the users to read the article

      1. Title tag

  • the title tag shall be a concise and accurate description of your web page.
  • its length shall not exceed 65 characters – keep it short, simple and unique
  • most important keywords need to be first in your title tag  (the optimal format for your title is: Primary Keyword – Secondary Keyword – Brand Name)

      2. Meta description

  • include the most important keywords inside the description – same as title tag
  • make sure that your description reads like a normal, human-written sentence
  • creates an adequate description with a length between 135 – 160 characters
  • don’t duplicate the meta description!
Create the right META tags for your SEO article

Create the right META tags for your SEO article

Checklist before publish an SEO article

  • Post title/subject for readers
  • Post title tag for search engine (keywords in titles)
  • Post meta description (keywords in description)
  • URL of the page (keywords in url)
  • Image Alt text (use keyword)
  • Interlinks within a post using good anchor text
  • Post permalinks (remove stop words from permalinks)
  • Use proper heading tags (keywords in H1, H2, H3 tags)
  • Grammatically correct with no spelling mistakes
  • A good density of usage of the focus keyword
Checklist for your perfect SEO Article

Checklist for your perfect SEO Article

WordPress blogs and websites

If your blog or website was developed with WordPress, the process will be simple. All you need is to have is the Yoast SEO Plugin installed. One you have it you can verify if your article respect all the aspects of the text.

The Yoast SEO Plugin allows you to:

  • formulate a meta description
  • analyze the text you write – it will show you the readability of your article
  • verify if you used your keyword in 5 important locations
  • check the links in your article
  • check the presence of images
  • calculates the number of words and the density of usage of the focus keyword

All these aspects will be marked with a bullet.

To have the overall score “good”, you must have all the bullets colored in green.

If those aren’t green, then you must re-verify your article.

How to use the Yoast plugin for review your SEO article

How to use the Yoast plugin for review your SEO article

Conclusion:

When I talk about SEO articles, I mean: the content must be easily understood by search engines and readers.

Do not Forget: a good article will always lead to more Facebook likes and shares, tweets and return visitors to your website.

Raul Rusu

Experienced in strategic project planning, Raul Rusu is the CEO of Design19 web agency. With great experience in public relations and skills in examining development processes, Raul has been working with passion for every project to turn it from plans to results.