Writing SEO-Friendly Content is Not Rocket Science. To achieve this, you need to have a writing plan to follow and know the best practices to implement so that Google and others can find their way. You will find numerous resources on this topic online. In this article, rather than theory, I offer you a concrete illustration of best practices.
Like many companies, you have a website. And like many companies, you wonder how to gain visibility on search engines, particularly on Google.
First of all, be aware that to be well-positioned on Google, your site must meet a certain number of criteria, which you can find listed (filled tags, loading speed, mobile optimization, etc.). If you're interested, take a look at the article on the 20 criteria of an SEO audit.
Among all these criteria, proper content structuring is fundamental. I would even say that before activating another SEO lever, you must first ensure that your text is well-designed.
The Preparatory Phase
1. Determine Your Objective
Before starting to write a text, you need to determine what your objective is. Let's imagine you work as an advisor and you want to appear when a user searches for how to choose one advisor over another.
2. Target a Keyword
We can assume that this user will type "choose an advisor in". Your target phrase will therefore be "choose a management advisor". The interest of this phrase is that it contains a keyword directly targeting your profession: management advisor.
Second interest, this expression targets individuals who are actively seeking an advisor, who already understand the benefits of using your services. In other words, you are targeting individuals who are advanced in their decision-making process, qualified individuals.
In this regard, you must be cautious in choosing the expression to target, because an expression that is too specific will not bring you enough traffic, and one that is too broad will present too much competition to rank well. On this topic, I invite you to read or reread this article explaining how to choose your keywords effectively.
3. …and only one at a time
For each text you write, target only one keyword. Why? Because if you incorporate too many keywords within the same text, their importance becomes diluted. This dilution weakens the strength of your page. If you wish to target two keywords, write two texts.
4. Track your keyword's ranking
Once the keyword is determined, set up tracking for your website's position on this keyword. This will allow you to see the before/after effect of the text writing. It can also prevent you from writing a text for a keyword on which you are already sufficiently well-ranked.
The Writing
The writing phase will then consist of explaining how to choose an advisor. This should not be difficult for you as it echoes your classic sales pitch. However, in the way you present things, you will need to follow a certain structure.
The structure of your text must revolve around titles and subtitles. The famous H1, H2, etc., in HTML.
For example:
- h1: the title of your page: "How to Choose a Financial Advisor Wisely"
- A summary paragraph encapsulating the main idea
- h2: a 1st subtitle containing your keyword: "Prerequisites for Choosing a Financial Advisor"
- A paragraph
- h2: a 2nd subtitle
- A paragraph
- h2: a 3rd subtitle
- A paragraph
- The conclusion
Throughout the text, sprinkle it with images. For each image, add alternative text and a caption. This shows Google that your images are contextualized and relevant. Specifically, choose between 1 to 3 images. This helps to break up the text without significantly increasing the page's load time.
Regarding the chosen keyword, use it sparingly. For example, place it 5 to 6 times max.
In terms of length, aim for at least 800 words per page. I did say 800 words, not 800 characters ;)
Monitoring the Text's SEO
Once this text is written, regularly check its ranking progress on Google based on the keyword you previously selected.
The ranking progress can be swift if your site already has strong authority; however, if it’s a site with low traffic or if you are just starting this writing approach, the progress may take several weeks.
If, despite everything, you see no movement or insufficient progress, update the text and extend it. This shows search engines that you care about your content and, ultimately, your users, which is an excellent signal for them.
Finally, remember to promote this content. Send it to your contacts, at least by email, or better yet, via a newsletter. Don’t hesitate to share it on your social media profiles as well.