How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
When writing SEO-optimized articles, we need to plan what we will write about, what objective we want to achieve with these articles, and what resources we have. Only then will our content plan be valuable and achievable. In this article, we give you the keys to SEO writing so that you know how to attract traffic to your blog or website.
Contents
1 How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles
2 Make an SEO content plan
2.1 Study of keywords
2.2 Thematic clusters
2.3 Internal links
2.3.1 Internal linkage with a silo structure
2.3.2 Internal link with a horizontal structure
2.3.3 Mixed internal linking
2.4 Outbound links
2.4.1 Nofollow Links
2.4.1.1 When should I use no-follow links?
3 Structure of SEO articles
3.1 SEO Title
3.2 SEO-Friendly URLs
3.3 Meta description
3.4 Header Tags
3.4.1 How to structure emplando Hs
3.4.2 SEO recommendations when using HS
3.4.3 How not to use Hs
3.4.4 How to use Hs
3.4.4.1 H1
3.4.4.2 H2
3.4.4.3 H3
3.5 Recommended extension in SEO writing
3.6 Use of bold and italics
3.6.1 <strong> and <em>
4 Tools to write articles optimized for SEO
4.1 Yoast SEO
4.2 Keyword planner
4.3 Ubbersuggest
4.4 Answer the public
5 SEO optimization checklist
Make an SEO content plan.
The first step should always be planning. We must understand the SEO positioning needs of our website and, consequently, design a content plan aimed at semantically enriching our page with content related to what we want to position. It does not make sense that in a web positioning agency, we talk about the reproduction of frogs. No matter how much traffic and interest arouse sex between amphibians.
keyword study
The first step is carrying out a keyword study using our website and direct competitors as references. On the results of the study, we will carry out content curation and group the ideas by themes related to our services offered. This is what is known as information clusters.
Thematic clusters
Clusters are fields of knowledge. Google is based on LSI, latent semantic indexing, or semantic latency index. The general idea is that we have concepts. For example. Digital Marketing Agency. And subordinate to this, we have other related concepts: web design, web positioning, graphic design, and social network management … These are the clusters that we must work on in a differentiated way. We must enrich the semantics of social networks so that our website is more relevant to this term. By extension, our website will be more relevant to digital marketing agencies. This is what is known as semantic SEO, and it is the SEO that guarantees sustained, scalable and penalty-free growth. Of course, the content plan requires other vital points, such as technical SEO or link building.
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
One of the fundamental roles that the content plan for articles and complementary sections fulfills on a website is to generate a solid structure of internal links that facilitates the “recrawlability” of the website. Additionally, we can work with the perspective of quality by the flag, seeking to make magisterial articles on a specific subject to try to win positions 1-3. When we do this, the internal link also transfers page authority to other points on the website.
Many internal link structures can be followed. It is different when we work on the interlinking of e-commerce, where we must try to generate a system of cross-references that consolidates the interrelationships of products and categories more than a corporate website. A horizontal linking system points directly to the mother sections in the latter. Whatever structure we apply, we must be based on consistency. It will be good if our internal linking strategy follows a logical pattern. One system may suit us better than another, but it is always better to have some system than none.
Internal linkage with a silo structure
The internal linking silo system is based on a very logical principle. Suppose our website covers several themes from the higher categories. In that case, we must develop a content plan focused on said categories that link vertically to each other and where the absolute star is the main page of that thematic cluster, that is, the category of the menu to which they will feed the items we spawn. In our case, for example, this post is aimed at reinforcing our SEO positioning category.
On our website, we will have to define our taxonomy very well, clearly explaining the positioning objectives of each mother page/category or subcategory. We will study keywords, and on this, we will draw up a thematic content plan where we will link vertically. Namely, articles aimed at reinforcing the “SEO” section will have to link to each other, and all of them should point to the mother section when it makes sense.
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
Internal link with a horizontal structure
When we talk about horizontal structure, we are talking about generating internal links between sections that occupy the same place in the hierarchy of our website. For example, when we link from one blog article to another, that link follows a horizontal structure between elements or pages of the same level, even though they belong to different categories. We will also discuss a horizontal structure if we link both categories at the same level from our web positioning section to web design. This type of linking makes less sense, for example, in online stores where the women’s pants section should not be directly linked to the men’s pants section.
mixed internal linking
The reality of most websites is that they have a certain tendency to entropy and internal links tend to be distributed unevenly vertically and horizontally. A specific entropy is not only not insufficient but also makes the structure look natural. However, in our planning work, we must set ourselves the objective of internally reinforcing the link following a particular scheme. Entropy is natural, and our plan is strategic, so (without going crazy), we must try to respect the plan, assuming that there will always be loose fringes and that these are normal in the long term. The entire universe tends towards entropy. Your website will not be different.
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
outbound links
Regarding outbound links, a good number of SEO experts will tell you that they are evil in person. You should avoid them at all costs since “they take away your authority,” “you lose positions,” “minimum, “and “The fewer outgoing links, the better; the more outgoing links, the worse, the worse for you, yours, SEO positioning.”
This is not only false, but it is counterproductive for your project. Before explaining the difference between “no follow” links and regular links, we will try to explain what link juice is and how it works.
Imagine that a web page is a drum filled with liquid and that the links are pipes equipped with non-return valves. (Okay, it may be peculiar, and your imagination may not reach that level… but we will try to make you understand it). When we connect a pipe from our drum to another drum, the water from our drum can come out but not enter. So our liquid is transferred to the drum with which we connect until the pressure of both containers equalizes. If the destination bottle has more pressure, the valve will prevent liquid from entering your bottle, but it will also prevent it from coming out.
Do all clear? Let’s keep going. A high-pressure website will be a high-authority website. A low-pressure website will be a low-authority website. The pressure or the amount of liquid depends on many factors, including age, number of incoming links, accumulated performance KPIs … That is not important now. What we want you to understand is the following:
If your page links to a low-authority website, you will transfer part of your authority to it since there is a difference in pressure in your favour. If your page links to a very high authority website, you will not transfer any authority to it, or you will “lose” positioning. The pipe (or the connection) is there, but no water will come out due to the pressure difference.
For this reason, we should not be afraid to link to institutional pages or pages of highly relevant companies such as Google, Amazon or Facebook. In sectors such as biomedicine and health where not only is it not recommended to use outgoing links, but it is highly recommendedGenerate a list of bibliographic references correctly linked to authoritative biomedical publications to give credibility and authority to our content. So keep that in mind when configuring your content plan. Provide outgoing links as long as they allow you to expand your content with other quality content hosted on high-authority websites such as universities, consolidated companies, the media, or public or government institutions.
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
nofollow links
So… What are the NoFollow links that SEO specialists defend so much? It does not make sense that our website is full of this type of link because it is contradictory that we link to resources we recommend not following. When we introduce a rel=nofollow in a link, we say to the crawler or spider: “don’t follow this path; there is nothing of interest.” Then…
When should I use no-follow links?
We link to pages at the same authority level as us or below our authority. It is optional for you to audit each website you link to. If it is a high-profile company, link without fear. If it’s your cousin Paco’s hardware store hosted on WIX and that his brother-in-law set up three months ago… don’t link it, or if you link it, use Nofollow.
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
Structure of SEO articles
Okay, we know what to consider when drawing up an SEO content plan. Now we come to the heart of the plan itself. How should we structure our SEO articles to make them work?
There are several elements that we must have as a reference. As we have told you with the link and other web aspects… this is not an infallible manual. The important thing is that the structure is systemic and responds to a logical order. Only some things have to follow this scheme. The important thing is that there is a rational base schema that understands what elements it contains and how to take advantage of them to make it easier for Google to retrieve information efficiently.
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
SEO Title
The SEO title is the title we indicate to Google and other search engines that it must retrieve to show in the SERPs. What characteristics should this title have?
- Must not be longer than 60 characters
- Must contain our target keyword
And that’s it. However, we have to consider that beyond the SEO parameters, there is a human factor that will make our title more likely to be clicked on. This improves our CTR. So… how do we put an exact match keyword in a readable context?
Here are some tricks:
- Use W questions: “How to write SEO articles,” “Why do link building,” and “Where to insert free links”… These are some examples. As you can see, using questions allows us to write in the infinitive, and infinitives are the kings of exact agreement.
- Enumerations: “10 tips for writing SEO articles that you cannot miss,” “20 pages to insert free links,” “10 common mistakes when doing link building”… Were you wondering why everyone resorts to this type of statement? You already know the answer. It is another way of using infinitives, and it also opens the fascinating door of clickbait for us… «10 things you didn’t know about marketing, the third one will blow you away.»
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
SEO Friendly URLs
When configuring the URL of our article or page, there are several factors that we must take into account so that it is as suitable as possible for positioning.
- Use your target keyword
- Suppresses determiners and articles: It is more readable and allows us to iterate the exact match. Putting “/how-to-write-optimized-articles-for-SEO” is not the same as “/write-articles-SEO.” The latter is shorter, more readable, and iterates our target keyword in an exact match.
- Could you make sure they are a manageable length? The good thing is if brief twice good.
meta description
Like the SEO title, the meta description is the text that Google and other search engines display in the SERPs following the title. This must fulfill the noble purpose of inviting the user to click while introducing what will be found on the other side. To optimize it, we must:
- Try to enter our target keyword in the exact match (it won’t always be possible, so don’t force the machine to type like a robot, think first about inviting the click, and if it’s not an exact match, nothing happens either)
- The extension must be at most 125 characters. More will be shortened according to the device. Less is wasting display space.
- Don’t use emoticons. I am not going to go into assessing whether they help SEO or not. But they are an eyesore. So from here, we appeal. SEO experts of the world, rockets, medals and little arrows are a visual horror; keep them away from the SERPs.
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
Header Tags
We have already seen the main elements of the article. Your title, meta description and URL. We will see how we should structure our article when writing content optimized for SEO.
We have the Header Tags or Hs to generate this logical structure of the HTML content. They are labels that give a particular entity to the words they contain. For us to use them correctly, we must understand what their function is, and we must understand why many web designers screw up when using them.
Header tags are titles and epigraphs that structure the information we contain on a page in an article or any other online publication format. We have a unique title that uniquely identifies our content, and then we have several subtitles that structure the information. How should we use them, then? We would use any table of contents in a scientific or academic publication.
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
How to structure emplando Hs
To use them logically, we must start from the following premise:
There is only one title. Below, we will have as many subheadings as we require to classify our information. Under these subtitles, we will have as many epigraphs as necessary to structure our subtitles. Following a logical hierarchical order.
Namely. The title of our article will always be H1. Then we will have the points in which we break down the information. These will be the H2. Then we will have the headings that break down each point. These will be the H3. For example:
HOW TO WRITE SEO ARTICLES.
1. Content plan
1.1 Study of keywords
1.2 Linked
1.2.1 Internal linking
1.2.1.1 Internal linking in a silo structure
1.2.1.2 Internal linking in a horizontal structure
1.2.2 External link
2. Structure of SEO articles
This would be a table of contents for our article. The title would be H1. There can only be one per item. The main points: 1 and 2 would be the H2 we are using. Below these, whatever hierarchy we establish underlying h2 will have to be h3. That is, points 1.1 and 1.2. If we subclassify the information from 1.2, each classification level will be an H4. That is 1.2.1.1 and 1.2.1.2… and so on.
The H tags allow us to generate a skeleton of concepts that structure our information. This is the fundamental essence of SEO articles.
SEO recommendations when using HS
- Include your target keyword in the H1
- Use your target keyword in at least one H2
- All your h3 must hang from an h2 and structure the information on it
- All your h4 must hang from an h3 and structure the information of this one…
- Between H and H, there should be 300 words at maximum.
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
How not to use the Hs
The correct use of header tags is a constant struggle between SEO specialists and web designers. Web designers tend to misuse Hs.
Why are they misused? Because web designers don’t know this. Generally, in a CMS like WordPress, in which you operate with pre-formatted templates, we find the use of the H1, h2, h3 etc. tags. To visually lay out the information.
For the SEO optimization of a website, it is essential to review the use of these tags to ensure that they are used correctly. Why? Because usually, in the template settings, you can define the size, colour and typographical characteristics of these labels so that they are usually used as design elements and not as essential information structure elements.
PS: The Chrome Web Developer extension allows us with the option « View document outline » to visualize the Hs structure of any URL with a simple click.
We can use as many H tags as we need to structure the information, but we must start from the premise that we will rarely need more than h5 or h6. If we have to subclass below this level, we can do it using lists. So. We briefly summarize what was discussed and explain how to optimize the Hs for your Seoptimized article.
How to use the Hs
H1
It is the unique title of our page, article or post. It must therefore be unique and not compete with other H1s. It would help if you iterated our target keyword.
H2
They are the main headings of our article. We must iterate our target keyword in at least one of the H2s of the article. The rest we can use to attack longtail keywords.
H3
They are the epigraphs that backbone each H2. The same with the H4 and successive ones. From now on, we must only worry that the concepts are semantically correlated with the H2 immediately above; in this way, we will make sure that the structure is logical.
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
Recommended extension in SEO writing
Another variable we must consider regarding our SEO content plan is the extension our articles must have to position correctly. What extension is recommended? Depends…
We recommend that you correctly define the title of your article. Once you have defined it, perform a manual search to analyze which content appears best positioned for that specific query. You must analyze the quality, extension and depth of those contents. If, on average, for the search “how to write content optimized for SEO, “we find seven articles on the first page with 4,000 words each… we will hardly position ourselves ahead of them with 1,200.
We must stretch out as much as necessary to provide as much information as direct competitors and a little bit more. We know that quantity is not synonymous with quality, but we are not discussing quantity or quality here. We are talking about the semantic latency index and relational semantics. And when we move in these fields, what is essential is the iteration of semantically related words. Of course, quality will be critical in determining user behaviour. And user behaviour will influence the average position.
We regret not being able to specify more.
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
Use of bold and italics
Finally, we have another element that we must consider before publishing our optimized articles. The bold and italics.
The first thing we must be clear about bold and italics is that we have two types we can use within our website. Some, the traditional ones, are intended to facilitate diagonal reading (in the case of bold) or indicate foreign words (in the case of italics). These should be marked with the <b> (bold – bold) or <i> (italic – italic) tag.
These do not contribute anything at the SEO level; if we use them, it is to make the texts more easily readable.
However, two other tags visually do the same, but that provides us with some value when it comes to improving the average position of an article for specific keywords. In this case, we are talking about bold <strong> and italics <em>.
<strong> and <em>
These bold and italics say something different from bold and italics. Specifically, what appears in <strong> or <em> has semantic relevance to our article. It’s not just modifiers on a visual level. For this reason, selecting as bold and italics all phrases or keywords directly related to our topic is advisable. In this article, we mark as bold all the longtail keywords that could bring us a potential search.
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
Tools to write articles optimized for SEO
Voucher. Our article is coming to an end. It has been dense, cumbersome and tedious. We will make a small compendium of 4 tools to help you with SEO writing.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is a WordPress plugin that allows us to control essential aspects of keyword repetition. When writing, it offers us real-time control over the critical aspects of SEO writing that we have seen (the presence of the target keyword in the title, URL and meta description; the distance between us; the length of your phrases…) in definitively, an editorial assistant which takes into account precisely many of the points that we have seen here. Please don’t take it too seriously, especially on the readability parameters. It would help if you remembered that the readability index it applies to is Anglo-Saxon. In English, it is usually not natural to use long chains of subordinate clauses (which is perfectly possible in Spanish).
Although we work with other platforms, we recommend writing directly in a WordPress with active Yoast. In this way, we will be able to control relevant variables such as the number of repetitions, presence of internal and external links, excessively long paragraphs, and adaptation of elements to the target keyword… in short, all the relevant parameters for the SEO of content.
How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
keyword planner
He is your best friend. The Google keyword planner is an enormously powerful tool that will allow us to generate lists of words ordered by their volume of monthly queries. Although other programs, SEO suites, and tools return this data to us… we must understand that all of them extract their results from the Google database and that this pure database is accessible from Google ADS, which is where it is located. find keywordplanner . The only requirement to take advantage of the Google keyword planner’s maximum power is to have an advertising account in which some money has been invested. The data will be prominent and in extensive ranges with an investment account.
However, in its full version, the keyword planner returns approximate query volume in magnificent ranges, allowing us to rank large volumes of words by average monthly queries or by queries in certain months of the year.
Through keyword planner, we can review all the reference websites of the sector, competition and our client’s website. Once analyzed, we can add all the information generated in a spreadsheet and curate the results at will to extract taxonomies, content plans, and related terms and, ultimately, plan the entire SEO content part. This feature makes it the preferred tool for SEO specialists when drawing up a content plan based on proper keyword research.
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How to Write SEO-Optimized Articles 2023
