We all know Google loves a busy website with lots of content, and most of us use blogs and articles to oblige. However, what some don’t realise, is that only going for SEO content can be to your detriment. Yes, Google might be crawling your site for keywords and relevance, but remember, it’s your readers who will eventually decide if you’re worth the visit and worth coming back to.
How many of us have come across those ‘robot-generated’ articles, with keywords bulging out of every sentence, and nothing seems to make sense at all – let alone the shocking use of grammar and punctuation? What was your reaction? Of course, this isn’t what you’d like your readers to have about articles you put up on your own blog or website.
Here are a few tips to help you overcome the pitfalls of going for keyword-dense articles and to help you stay focused on the fact that you’re writing for ‘real humans’ to read.
1. Use a keyword phrase, not a single keyword
Otherwise known as a long-tail keyword phrase (approximately 3 to 8 words long), it makes more sense to write around a phrase, rather than a single word. Remember to use this phrase in your article title as well.
2. Make sure your keyword phrase is grammatically correct and flows with the content
Your title and article content should sound natural, grammatically correct and appeal to your ‘human’ readers. Make your keyword phrase flow into the rest of the article – remember you are writing to inform / educate / entertain your reader, not only to gain ranking on the search engines.
Think of how you enter searches on Google, e.g. ‘how to blah blah’, ‘red spots on stomach’, etc. (Remember, the search engines mostly filter out ‘filler’ words such as ‘the / and / in’, etc.)
3. Focus on your readers
Remember, your reader is king! Focus on your reader, why you want to keep them at your site, and how you’re going to encourage them to come back. If you keep this in mind, it’ll be much easier to write your article, rather than focusing on how to please the search engines. After all, keywords or keyword phrases are useless if your articles don’t have information that us useful, relevant or attractive to your readers.
4. Incorporate variations of your keyword phrase
For example, if the phrase you are targeting is “selling online”, related variations of that phrase could be “sell online”, “how to sell online”. Google recognises related variations of keyword phrases, so you don’t have to keep the same phrase throughout.
5. Stay focused and don’t rush an article
Your SEO article will be far more successful if you don’t rush with your writing. Plan, research and take time to write in your own style. Remember to always write for your reader – and plan to incorporate SEO. If you can get this right, you’ll soon see your articles ranking in the search engines, and more importantly, you’ll definitely be winning with your readers.
(Picture: http://www.wikimedia.org/)
(Article: Colleen Wilkinson – d-ziner)