As part of providing SEO tips for beginners, the next couple of posts are about using the basics of SEO to develop optimized content. This is achieved by crafting posts and articles that purposefully include the main keywords that you have identified for your site. (And it is especially valuable when creating a local business listing by the way.)
The first rule of SEO is that every post should be written with one keyword in mind as the ‘hero keyword’ of the article. You can use other keywords and variations of keywords in the article, but the one ‘hero’ you decide on must be repeated within the post with a 1% density (ie: 500 words = keyword mentioned 5 times).
To help construct a post and to make sure you have the key elements in every piece you write, here’s a bit of breakdown of the requirements of a post or article.
| Heading or title of the post (every post MUST have a heading)MUST include the hero keyword
Should be a few well-selected words, not a long sentence – it’s what is likely to catch people’s attention The first letter of every word in the title should be capitals
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| Body content of 300 – 600 words
Write as many paragraphs as you like, remembering the first few words and sentences will either grab the reader, or not. If possible, don’t make the first few sentences ‘background’ information. Make the sentences short and immediately interesting because this is a blog not an essay, article or pontification. Remember who your reader is. Are they likely to know a little about the subject matter that has caught their attention? If so, you may not need to describe everything as people will already have some understanding.
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| 1st paragraphHero keyword MUST be in the first paragraph as this immediately shows the search engine that the content matches the titleBOLD the instances of the hero keyword to help the search engine know these words are important for organic SEO
Another good idea to help with the basics of SEO is to use other keywords including variations such as plural/singular, words in different order etc
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| 2nd paragraphOpportunity to use the hero keyword and other keywords – remember to use variations of keywords so the writing looks naturalBOLD the instances of hero keyword
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| 3rd paragraphOpportunity to use the hero keyword and other keywords – remember to use variations of keywords so the writing looks naturalBOLD the instances of hero keyword
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| 4th paragraphOpportunity to use the hero keyword and other keywords – remember to use variations of keywords so the writing looks naturalBOLD the instances of hero keyword
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| Put in however many paragraphs you would like, using the same technique as aboveThe post does not need a summary ending. It’s short, snappy, to the point and interesting.Have you used the right number of keywords to match a 1% density – remembering you should have the keyword in the first paragraph and in the heading/title. DON’T overuse the hero keyword – it will only hinder you as it is considered to be ‘keyword stuffing’
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TIP:
To help with the basics of SEO, when writing posts I find it useful to keep my list of secondary keywords handy so I can review it after I’ve written the post. I can then easily modify the words I’ve used by using the secondary keywords instead. This comes after I’ve written the initial copy so I write more naturally.
WATCHPOINT:
Don’t put in lots of formatting in the post such as numbers and widgets until the post is uploaded to WordPress or whatever software you are using. Formatted content doesn’t necessarily translate easily from a document file to the WordPress file.
The next post will be about including TAGS, which really help heaps in getting a wider distribution for your content. The more natural the spread of words, the better the chances of good organic SEO rankings.
Follow the simple guidelines above, which includes the required basics of SEO, and you will have an optimized post or article, that will help your site rank in search engine results.
Basics of SEO by Jedda Kelly