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Writing SEO-Friendly Content an on-page guide

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Content(s)On-Page Optimisation:• General Tips• SEO Title• URL Structure• Meta Descriptions• Heading Tags• Internal Linking• Linking to Other SitesImage Optimisation:• Image URLs• Alternative Text• Image Title AttributeUseful Tools:• Yoast SEO Plugin (for WordPress)• SEO Mofo Snippet Optimiser• WordCounter.net

On-Page Optimisation

Website = Newspaper

• Name of Publication• Headline• Sub-Title• Related Stories /

Navigation• Article Content• Images with captions

/ Image with Alt tags• Many other similar

elements

General Tips

• Articles should be > 300 words

• 1,000+ word articles tend to rank best

• Keyword Density should be < 2.5%

• Use variations of your keyword to get around KW Density issues

• Thesaurus.com is your best friend

SEO Title Tag

• It’s what shows up as your clickable text in Google search results (SERPs).

• The first thing that Google crawlers ‘see’ when examining your page.

• It needs to entice user clickthrough while also satisfying crawlers

Optimising SEO Title Tags• Focus Keyword should be near start

(if possible)

• If they’re too long, they get cut off(looks sloppy & Google dislike it)

• Less than 50 and they aren’t making good use of SERP space.

• Preferably 50 - 65 characters - Up to 70 (depending on width)

URL Structure• First 5 words of the ‘slug’ are

scanned by Google, so include your KW here

• Words separated by dash (-)

• Focus KW should be near start

• No capital letters

• Avoid symbols (% & $ £_ ? ! “ <)

• Avoid ‘stop words’ – and, or, the, but..

• URLs shouldn’t be more than 115 characters

URL Examples

Meta Descriptions• Your shop window to entice

clickthrough (CTR) which is a strong ranking factor.

• 100 – 155 characters is best

• Include variations of your focus KWs(they will be highlighted in searches)

• Include a ‘Call to Action’ if possible.

• If you don’t manually create one, Google pulls text from the page – it can be very random!

Heading Tags

• Multiple styles; H1 – H6• H1 carries more weight than H2,

H2 carries more weight than H3 etc.

• H1 should only be used once per page.

• Many Content Management Systems auto-generate a H1 tag from your Title, meaning you should start with H2.

• Don’t go over 70 characters per Heading (that’s spammy)

• They should appear in sequence

Internal Linking

• Try to link to a piece of related content on your site.

• This helps increase users’ time spent on site and total pages viewed- both are good ranking factors.

Linking to Other Sites• Linking to relevant & authoritative sites

can have long-term SEO benefits.

• Primary research, established brands, government agencies and respected news outlets are good to link to.

• Linking to irrelevant / poor sites can be a negative ranking signal.

• If you’ve been paid to put a link in, it should be set to ‘no follow’.

Image Optimisation

Why Optimise Images?• Compressing images reduces page

load speed which helps rankings.

• Images should ideally be kept below 100 kb using programmes like Smush.it or Kraken.io.

• Proper naming convention helps Google ‘see’ your images, allowing them to rank in image search results.

Image URLs• Once created, an image URL

slug cannot be changed without re-uploading the image.

• Name the image as you save it.

• Image URLs should follow normal URL rules:

• 5 word ‘slug’• Use keywords• Avoid ‘stop words’, symbol

and capitals• Keep URL under 115

characters

Alternative Text• 4 or 5 words max.• Use keywords.• Stop words and symbols are

ignored.• Keep under 100 characters.

Title Attribute• Describe exactly what you see in 5

words or less.• Use keywords.• Stop words and symbols are okay.• Keep under 70 characters.

Useful Tools

Yoast SEO• Downloadable Plugin for

WordPress

• Located below where you write your article (beside Featured Image)

• Click ‘Edit Snippet’ to change:- SEO Title- URL ‘slug’- Meta Description

• Properly optimised segments turn green.

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Yoast Content• Extension for Yoast SEO• Focuses on readability rather than direct SEO values.• Better readability can lead to reduced bounce rate and

longer time spent on page, which results in improved rankings.

SEO Mofo Snippet Optimizer

• Can be access for free here:http://www.seomofo.com/snippet-optimizer.html

• Testing environment for:- SEO Titles- Meta Descriptions- URLs

• Generated live, so you can see exactly what your SERPs will look like.

WordCounter.net• Free online tool.

• Gives lots of writing tips.

• No Meta Data, so best used alongside SEO Mofo.

• Generated live, so you can see article stats in real time.

• It automatically saves to your cache, so you don’t lose your work when you close your browser.

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Be Sound – Giz a Follow!

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