This is a copy of a hints and guided writing template I roughed up in Google docs.
Page 1 – SEO Tips To Improve Your SEO Articles
Read these tops and hints before starting a new page. Why? It’s good to be reminded of what is important before we write a blog, page or other article.
- Write for your audience – not Google (but keep one eye on Google). Deliver to users expectations . Content topics should align with the search queries for which they rank.
- Use Strong Structured headlines
- Catch them and set the topic with Headline 1 – which is often your page title
- Tell them where you are going / outline with Headline 2 (subtitles)
- Use keyword rich phrases you have pulled from SEO research but don’t over stuff. Keep it natural sounding. They should be relevant. Search Engines understand synonyms nad variations.
- Structure your post – easy reading paragraphs, logical flow, an intro, the meat and a conclusion.
- Use images. Photos, cartoons, graphics – a picture is worth a thousand words
- Linking : Is it appropriate to Tweet, Facebook, Instagram, Pintrest, , Linked in article, cross post to other sites the content?
- Use Google authorship. Some content management systems like WordPress will do this using your user profile details, others you have to add code for yourself. Not only does it promote your talent and authenticity but people may start trolling through articles by you and so catch other content
- Offsite Links : Link to other sites as appropriate, cross link to relevant materials in your own site, link to relevant information in other sites. Make it easy to share (email, social media, post link, send to other person form)
- Check back to see if the article was effective or caught peoples interest. If it did – build on that. If not – re-evaluate why not.
- Call to action : If you want some action taken – then put links or buttons to allow this action. As sales people will tell you – you can make the best pitch but if you don’t ask for the sale you wont get the sale. Be clear exactly what you want out of this article.
Page 2 – SEO Article Summary Plan – Guiding a page’s intent and topic
This section asks questions you should answer before writing an article or blog. It makes sure your SEO and intent line up – making your writing clearer, strong and more easily found. use it as a check list, turn it into a document and fill in the blanks for each section. Not doing this process first makes your writing less effective.
- Topic – Include blog subject
- Audience – who should be reading this? Do you use jargon, language, formality, reading difficulty
- Intended outcome (Call to action – CTA). Must be S.M.A.R.T
- Page Title – This is what will be seen in SERP See our Title writing article here : How To – How do You Write A Human Focused Page Title?
- Approx 60 chars long – See https://moz.com/learn/seo/title-tag
- URL
- Folders / Categories and page file name are important.
- Include the subject
- Meta Description
- A short description of the article
- Use the subject
- 50 -160 characters
- Images to Use
- Alt text shown if the image is not shown
- Include the subject
- 125 characters max
- Tags
- Categories
- Social Media Shares
- Other Site Shares
- Don’t share as direct page link but as Google search URL where possible but only if you are fairly unique and likely to be found. EG https://www.google.com/search?q=boldly+web+app+circle+with+mentors
- Cross Linked Pages
Page 3 – Guided structure SEO Article Outline and Sections
Heading One – The Topic – Normally the page title
Introduction to the topic
Heading Two – Sub topic
Writing here
Heading Two – Sub topic
Writing here
Heading Two – Sub topic
Writing here
Heading Two – The Summary
What did you tell them?
What is your S.M.A.R.T C.T.A?
