How to Write Effective Articles for SEO

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Many experts would say, “write for humans, not bots.” This could be the hardest part of any article writer’s job. In fact, there are two main challenges that every content writer experiences consistently.

The first is to write high-quality contents that Google favors. The second one is to make these contents as available to a diverse audience as possible so you would rake in traffic and thus, conversion. These two may seem at odds with one another, but be reminded that today’s audiences are smart enough to distinguish articles written for them from articles written for crawlers.

It suffices to say that writing perfectly optimized articles is not without difficulties. Here’s how to overcome the challenges of writing effective articles.

1) Be organic

In driving up visibility, which is the main goal of search engine optimization (SEO), you need to incorporate keywords as natural as possible. Possibly, use the keywords that generate the most number of search. Never force any keyword into the write-up otherwise the read will only be unnatural. Anyway, you can always put the keyword somewhere else such as the meta description field in WordPress or as tags.

2) Make it count

Don’t track the word count. Instead, write and make informative and in-depth articles, which are usually beyond 1,000 words, count. Sure, a 200-word article is better than publishing no article at all. If you can hit the 500-word mark, the better. However, if you intend to write a long article, keep your paragraphs and sentences short and direct. One more thing, make articles fluff-free. Readers would rather read a 700-word information-rich article than a 2,000 word that they will learn nothing from.

3) Tell a story

Storytelling receives much emphasis today as a way to connect with the audience. To do this, use real-life examples. Writing is usually empowered by emotionally-driven and highly relatable examples. Examples also compel the readers to act on what they’ve read. The best part is tangible stories stay with the readers and not necessarily facts. The best stories are not necessarily found on the front page of the newspapers. Instead, these are the stories that resonate best with your target audience.

4) Add multimedia

Break up the huge chunk of texts dynamically, that is, through an image, graphic, screenshot or video. These visuals keep things interesting between the article and its reader. Using high-quality stock photos is acceptable, using low-quality original photo is not. If you will use an original image, make sure that it is of outstanding quality. Put the images to work by putting alt texts so it will show up in image search.

While SEO writing is different from regular writing, it doesn’t mean to write machine-readable articles only. Nowadays, the secret is writing content that your readers will find engaging. This means writing as organically as possible and with the use of concrete examples. Of course, striking a balance between texts and images as well as keywords and word count is an absolute must. That’s how every article writer triumphs over the challenge of writing high-quality content while attracting readership!

About this Guest Post Author : Jeric is digital marketing enthusiast and SEO specialist. Currently working at Optimind, a digital marketing agency that provides different services such as SEO, web design, mobile app development & more!


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