About a year ago I created a one-page document for content writers in my team to write better online articles. I am now releasing it so you can print it and have it close to you while writing. These are the most basic and important SEO tips you need to know if you want your posts to succeed. You will find a link to download the one-page PDF at the bottom of the article.
1. The most important tip is to create quality content
Posts that are bookmarked, shared, linked, commented or thanked. That should be the purpose of every post and should either be:
- Useful (people reference to them)
- Interesting (people bookmark them)
- Funny or entertaining (people share them)
Here’s a good article extending this concept on writing with a purpose.
2. User goes always first
Keep the post readable and attractive to humans. Google is secondary. Ensuring you write for your users will have long-term SEO benefits.
3. Use Headings to split the content
Heading 1 is always the page title and it is the most important title. Headings to use in the content must start from Heading 2 to a max depth of H6. Use headings instead of bolding or formatting the text yourself.
4. Use eye-catching titles but keep them short
Don’t be just informative, get the user’s attention.
- Windows tricks -> Top 10 coolest tricks for Windows!
- London party places -> Best secret places to party in London
5. First paragraphs are the most important ones
Search Engines give more importance to the first part of the posts. In fact, really large posts are usually not indexed completely.
6. Be descriptive by adding keywords whenever possible
All headings should have keywords in them:
- What I like -> What I like about the HP Pavilion laptop
- My trip -> My awesome trip to Barcelona this summer
7. Use synonyms
Don’t repeat keywords you are not targeting for, use a lot of synonyms instead.
- What I like about Acer -> Review about Acer computers / My opinion on Acer laptops
This way, users searching for “acer review”, “acer opinion” or “acer laptop” will find our page.
8. Rich formatting increases SEO
Eases Search Engines to identify the content.
- Using lists (and differentiating between ordered and unordered lists),
- bold and italic words or sentences,
- blockquote paragraphs when quoting or pasting literal text
9. Add both inbound and outbound links
Links to authority webs like Flickr, Wikipedia or YouTube can be frequent (you don’t lose any PageRank juice). But don’t link too much to other websites (one or two per paragraph). Always describe the links:
- Download the Flash player by clicking here. -> Download the Flash player.
10. Format posts inside WordPress
Text editors like Microsoft Word may add irrelevant or invalid code into posts. If the text is in Word, paste it in Notepad so it looses all formatting, then copy and paste into WordPress and format it there using Headings, lists, bold, italic, etc.
Download the 10 SEO tips for WordPress PDF file
10 SEO tips for WordPress PDF file
If you have any doubts feel free to ask them in the comments. Also, share this article with your team, friends and colleagues for increased results and better blogging.
2 comments
Jordi Rizo says:
Many thanks for giving us a little more comprehension with all that…Amazing posts!!!
Quethzel says:
Excelentes consejos, he notado que no publicas en español. Apenas estoy aprendiendo inglés, aun así me funciona bastante sirve que practico un poco.