Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the secret ingredient to your articles being found by potential readers on the internet.
You want your articles to rank as high as possible for relevant keywords.
The competition is truly high so any writer must ensure they give their posts the best chances to show up among the first search results.
Here are 10 tips on how you can do that easily.
- Utilize Keywords Strategically. Use keywords relevant to your topic and research which ones will be most effective in driving traffic to your article. There is no point in using many keywords if they do not help you get the content in front of the intended audience.
- Create Quality Content. This will forever remain a key factor in one’s articles ranking high in search results. If they’re good, they stick. Make sure your post is easy to read, engaging, and provides real value to readers.
- Optimize Title & Meta Tags. Make sure your article’s title and meta description are SEO-friendly and include relevant keywords. I recommend using an AI-powered writing assistant to help with this part. Rytr.me and Chatsonic are great options for the task.
- Optimize Headings & Subheadings. This is particularly useful for long-form content. Use appropriate headings and subheadings with keywords to help search engines understand the overall structure of your article.
- Optimize Image Alt Attributes. I have to admit that I often forget to do this and that I plan to change my strategy to include this step. Make sure all images in your article include alt attributes with relevant keywords.
- Link Internally & Externally. Part of SEO is making sure there are links within your article leading to other relevant webpages and articles. I often considered it unhelpful to link to my own content but the more posts you have, the better it is to guide the reader toward other pieces of relevant information and also signal to search engines that some of your articles are connected to eachother.
- Include a Sitemap. Make sure you include a sitemap that links to all the articles on your blog or website. This can easily be done with website plugins.
- Use Social Media. Promote your articles on social media to help them reach a wider audience and get more attention. The social signal will be stronger and search engines will pick up on that.
- Use Responsive Design. Make sure your blog or website is optimized for mobile devices to ensure users can access your content easily.
- Monitor Your Progress. Track your article’s performance using analytics tools to see what works and what needs to be improved. I learn a lot about my websites whenever I dive into the analytics data. I can then use that information to hopefully produce better content.