Text structure

The ideal structure includes the following elements:

• thematic image – there must be one image under the title;
• introductory paragraph – the introduction sets out the reasons for writing the text itself. The purpose of the introduction is to acquaint the reader with the topic or plot;
• list or table – inside it you can list products, brands, features or make a comparison between different items, etc.;
• conclusion – here we can write a summary of the topic. It is important to have logical completeness of the text.

There are 3 very important steps that we recommend that you follow before you start writing the text:

• collecting a semantic core of keywords and phrases;
• writing the text;
• text editing.

Text preparation

When we publish content on the Internet, our goal is to get people to read it. The best way to reach more readers is to optimize the text for search engines. Search engines nowadays analyze all text and look for key elements that show the depth of information in the content.

The chance that our posts will get a higher ranking on Google depends a lot on the SEO strategy, as well as on the semantics. Using semantic keywords is not difficult, but it takes time. Every time you create new content, you need to use keywords and long-tail keywords.

For example, if your topic is “dresses”, then the keywords can be “dresses” and “types of dresses”. Your long-tail keywords or phrases can be “which dress to choose”, “which dress suits me”, “what dresses are fashionable”, etc.

Writing the text

There are certain rules, of course, that are recommended to follow, because this way you will have a properly structured and ready for optimization text. The rules that it’s good to keep in mind, are the following:

• The volume of the text —  approximately 2000 characters (without the punctuation marks). Тhe length of the text is determined on the basis of competition analysis, but at a minimum, it must be 2000. For English-language sites, the competitive text analysis is obligatory.
• Do not use transaction keywords (price, buy, prices) more than once per 1000 characters.

Modifiers are words and expressions that are used in some combination of keywords.

Headlines

Include keywords in your headlines

Including keywords in your headlines is important to the search engines, as well as potential site visitors. Google, Bing et al put a great deal of emphasis on a headline so including your keywords in it is a no-brainer.

Make sure that the keywords are relevant to the topic of the website too or won’t attract any customers or search engine spiders.

Use intellectual, emotional and spiritual words

On average, 8 out of 10 people will read your headline but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. This is the secret to the power of your title, and why it so highly determines the effectiveness of the entire piece. Therefore you have one chance to grab the reader’s attention as well as their mouse click.

Using a combination of power words, common words, uncommon words and emotional words to tempt your audience in. A great tool to use to analyze your headlines and determine their Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) is the Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer. This tool examines your headline for intellectual, spiritual and emotional factors and provides feedback for you.

Avoid bounces

Whatever you do, don’t try and tempt users in to your site with an SEO friendly headline that doesn’t deliver. Ensure your headlines do what they say they’ll do. If you’re promising to provide an answer to an information search then make sure that you provide that answer. There is no point drawing a customer in for them to find out that you’ve wasted their time. The site visitor will just leave and you will see this as a bounce on your site analytics.

Understand your target audience

If you know your target audience, then you’ll know what they’re looking for. This must be the main focus of your site. If you can give your target customer what they want then you’ll get what you need from them too.

Your SEO friendly headlines should reflect the needs of your target audience. If you know what they’re looking for then write your headlines to attract them to your content. Once they’re in your site then they’ll stick around if you get the content right.

There are formulas to write a catchy SEO friendly headline as shown in the info-graphic below from Int Network Plus

Include numbers in your catchy SEO friendly headlines

One of the techniques alluded to above is to include numbers in your headline. The site visitor then knows what they’re getting. If you promise 100% of something then it’s likely to be low quality content– less is more here as the site visitor will believe it to be succinct and fitting to their needs.

You can use a formula when including numbers in your headline, as follows:

Number + Adjective + Noun + Keyword + Promise

For example, 9 interesting ways to write catchy SEO friendly headlines in two minutes. Funnily enough, odd numbers do better than even numbers in headlines as they stand out more.

Use strong adjectives

Positive, strong adjectives such as amazing, delicious, easy, essential or outrageous are great for grabbing the reader’s attention. Words such as valuable, proven and steal-worthy denote something worth having whereas adjectives like free are attractive to everyone.

These types of words captivate the reader. Newsworthy phrases that suggest the headline is urgent also attract clicks as it means they will get the news before anyone else.

Keep to around 8 words

A short and snappy headline can be read quickly. The quicker it can be read, the faster the user comes to a decision whether to click or not. According to the content marketing institute, headlines with 8 words perform best. These titles receive a 21% higher click through rate than average. Bear in mind that long headlines don’t relate to long tail SEO.

The list above contains a few pointers to writing SEO friendly headlines that grab your reader’s attention. Some sites have also indicated success with adding hyphens in the headline as they indicate a subheading. Others have seen an increase in click-through by using questions as the headlines.Make headline writing a key component of your content marketing strategy. Follow these simple rules and you’ll appeal to audiences as well as search engines.

Content (body of article)

Create a Well-Optimized Meta Title

• Write a unique title for each page. If you use the same title on different web pages, Google can show an alternative title instead of yours.
• Consider the user intent. Choose a title that indicates what problem users will solve or the benefit they will get from reading your content. Include the clue words to catch users’ attention and entice them to click.
• Keep the title between 15 to 40 characters long. The maximum length is approximately 60 characters – any text beyond that can be truncated automatically.
• Include your target keyword in titles. Search engines use titles to understand whether the content is relevant to the query. However, don’t over-optimize.

Create a Catchy H1 

• Create a unique H1. This will help prevent visitors from getting lost between similar pages on your site.
• Use words like ‘how’, ‘why’, ‘what’, and ‘where’. This way, you help people understand what they will find on the page below — guides and how-to articles also drive 2x more traffic than other types.
• Use numbers like ‘top 10’, ‘5 best’, ‘N things…’, etc. Articles with list headlines get 2x more traffic and 2x more social shares than other types.
• Describe what is discussed in the text body. The H1 of the page should describe the content; otherwise, Google regards the discrepancy as low content quality.

Optimize the Meta Description

• Make sure that every page on your site has a meta description. Also, create meta descriptions that accurately describe the specific page. 
• Include a relevant keyword in the meta description.
• Keep them about 1-2 sentences (140-160 characters) long. Even though there’s no limit on how long a meta description can be, search result snippets are typically truncated to fit the device width. 
• Meta descriptions don’t just have to be in sentence format; it’s also a great place to include the critical information scattered throughout a page. For example, product pages might have a price, age, manufacturer in their description. These descriptions become even more attractive for both search engines and users. 
• Target an emotion and add a call-to-action if it’s relevant.

Content Structure and Readability 

• Make your text long if it’s necessary. Long reads of 3000+ words get 3x more traffic, 4x more shares, and 3.5x more backlinks than articles of average length (901-1200 words). But this doesn’t mean that a short article is bound to rank poorly — it depends on what users need.
• Consider adding a table of contents. If the article is long, add a table of contents at the beginning of the article to let visitors quickly go to the desired section.
• Use H2 and H3s. Well-structured articles with both H2 and H3 tags are more likely to be high-performing. Structure the article to make it easier for the user to understand the content, but don’t overdo it by making the structure too complex with multiple subheadings.
• One paragraph equals one idea. Divide the content into logical, digestible segments to keep readers engaged. 
• Answer user questions. Attract users’ attention by including their questions in subheadings.
• Highlight important ideas. You can use bold font or change the font size. This helps to emphasize, makes the text easier to follow, and helps cement the main ideas in users’ minds.
• Divide long sentences. Just like breaking your content up into paragraphs, divide long sentences into shorter ones. 
• Use bullets and numbered lists. Using them, you can convey large amounts of information in a concise form. Bullet points also increase your chances of getting a Featured Snippet.

Keeping so much information in mind when creating content may seem overwhelming. Thankfully, you can rely on SEO tools that can help you with optimizing your content before publishing, like Semrush SEO Writing Assistant. You will get all the necessary recommendations in real-time and can assess your text right in Google Docs or WordPress:

• Check your overall optimization status — ensure your text is perfectly structured for a target keyword and written in an SEO-friendly style.
• Adjust your text length and optimize reading time — check if your text matches the average word count for your top 10 competitors.
• Add recommended keywords — the tool will suggest adding some related keywords to your text to increase the article’s SEO potential.
• Make your tone of voice consistent — make sure your content piece complies with your overall brand voice — casual, neutral, or formal — and detect sentences that stand out.
• Ensure your text is unique — avoid plagiarism by finding out the total percentage of copied words in your text and seeing the original sources of content from across the internet.