Read First Articles

What’s the importance of keyword research for SEO? Keyword research is important because it finds the topics people are searching for that are related to your products or services.

This allows you to build content that answers the questions people are asking online. And by picking the keyword phrases they’re actually using, you’ll lead them to the content you have provided.

This gives you a foot in the door for a conversion when you promote your brand and provide links to your products or services.

So, we do keyword research to find the exact phrases people are using. These will lead us to topics to build content around that promotes your brand.

Understanding Search Engines

Each page or post online can have hundreds of keyword phrases for which Google will return it. Each of these keyword phrases is like an index entry to the article. And Google keeps these indexes for every web page across the entire World Wide Web.

The same principle applies to all search engines, but Google is the most important. Google receives 87% of search traffic is the U.S., Bing garnishes 7% and Yahoo gets about 3%.

So, for any topic on which you may write, there can be hundreds or even thousands of keyword phrases from which to choose.

Finding Related Terms Can Suggest an Outline

SEO research of keywords, then, means identifying the phrases people are using to return any given topic. But it’s more than that. It also leads us to keyword phrases with less competition and to related phrases as well.

You may have a primary keyword phrase and its synonyms for an article, e.g., “SEO research of keywords” is synonymous with “keyword research in SEO”. Google has it listed both ways, along with many other related phrase listings.

So, you can use these related keywords to develop sub-topics in the article with section headings. Each sub-topic will use a keyword phrase people are actually using, bringing in additional search traffic. These related keywords can become an outline for the intended content.

Keyword Analysis Begins with Finding Seed Keywords

So, what phrases do you think people will use to find your goods or services? The answer to this question will provide a “seed” keyword list, maybe of one or two words each. With this short seed keyword list we’ll generate a much larger list of variations.

With that expanded list in hand we’ll cull through them to find the very best ones for your business.

Understanding the Buying Cycle

The buying journey of an online shopper often begins with seeking general information before a purchase. They need to know more and your content can meet that need. This is an opportunity to help them and plug your own brand and direct their purchase to you.

I hope you’ll soon see that keyword research is all about building content for your website. Each page you create gives Google another opportunity to direct searchers to you!

With more information they may want to navigate to specific product pages. For either an online store or affiliate marketing program you’d provide great content pages, with reviews, thus creating a purchasing funnel.

Whether it’s products or services they are looking for, they’re going to want to see comparisons with reviews. If you can fulfill their need, you’ll get an opportunity to promote your brand.

Each buying cycle phase requires different content to be developed. An informational article would have different content than a comparison article. The former may be background information while the latter could be a list format.

And finally comes transactional pages, which gives them an opportunity to buy your product or contact you. These also need different content. So, each stage of the buying journey requires different content, each page with its own content and keyword phrases.

From getting their attention, to peaking their interest, to leading them to buy, you can guide them along their path.

Building Your Keyword List

You can add to your seed keyword list by typing a seed keyword or phrase into the Google search box. As you type Google will make some suggestions. Take as your own anything that looks good.

When you hit the enter button, and you get the SERP (search engine result page), there will be another list of suggestions at the bottom of the page.

You can also add any of these to your growing keyword phrase list, and we’ll do further evaluation of each one later in our research.

Using a Keyword Research Tool

To do a good job with our keyword research we’re going to use an online keyword research tool. Two of the top research tools are Ahrefs and SEMRush, but there are many other less effective tools out there.

Are there free keyword research tools? Yes. What are the best free keyword research tools? The best free keyword research tool for SEO is Google Keyword Planner. However, it lacks many of the key features of the paid tools.

Now we’ll put the keyword list that we have accumulated so far, related to your niche, into our keyword research tool. From that, the tool will compile hundreds of variations, along with important statistics for each one.

From these, through our SEO keyword analysis process, we’ll narrow them down to 3 or 4 main phrases to use with a single article, keeping only those that will yield the most traffic to our content with an acceptable level of competition.

What Important Statistics Does our Keyword Research Tool Provide?

Important statistics for each keyword includes search volume, traffic potential, and key information relating to ranking difficulty, along with organic traffic, i.e. vs. paid ads. Examining these values will help us select the best keywords.

Beyond theses metrics the keyword should have business value, and match the searcher’s intent of the query.

We’ll look at these one at a time.

What is Search Volume?

Search Demand Curve

Search volume, or search demand, is a number that represents how many times per month someone enters a particular phrase into Google’s search box.

If the search demand for a term is very low, that means few are using it. These tend to be longer more specific terms, labeled Long Tail in the demand curve graph.

So, the 100 most popular terms could be used millions of times a month, while at the lowest end of the scale a term could be used 10 or fewer times. Both Google and our tools keeps track of this.

If the search volume is very high, then that phrase is going to be super competitive. This usually happens with shorter keyword phrases of one or two words, such as your seed keywords.

However, “Long Tail” doesn’t refer to how many words the phrase has but how often it’s used as a search term. Its name is derived from the long tail of the demand curve.

We’re usually interested in somewhat long-tail phrases but with at least double digit activity, or better yet, a couple hundred monthly searches. These are lower competition but still have enough traffic to make it worthwhile.

Search Volume and Organic Traffic

When looking at search volume we also have to consider how much organic traffic a particular query receives. Just because a term has a high search volume it doesn’t necessarily mean people are clicking on the organic results.

That’s because there may be ads and/or a Google generated info or knowledge graphs on the top of the SERP (search engine results page). It’s possible that even with a first page placement your snippet could get few clicks because its placement is towards the bottom of the page. But a very high search volume could offset this deficit.

So, what is a good search volume for a keyword? That depends on the placement of your snippet on the SERP and the strength of your own website in terms of authority with Google. We’ll discuss site authority with keyword competition, below.

Traffic Volume

What is traffic volume? This metric reveals the average daily traffic of any page listed on the SERP. This can be much higher than search volume for the main keyword, and is a better indicator of the keyword’s strength.

Remember we said that any single page can have hundreds of keywords for which Google will return it in the search results pages?

All those keywords combined can drive far more traffic to any given page than a single keyword phrase would. And with a good research tool you can see all those related search terms that generate the additional traffic.

And you don’t have to have hundreds of exact keyword phrases stuffed into your page. That’s because Google can and does lump some of the related terms together when returning a piece (class) of content.

Some of these related keywords may be good ideas and will be added to our growing list of phrases. And others will seem to be “off the wall”, and you say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Still others will become sub-topics for the outline for our article.

What is Keyword Competition

Some keywords are more difficult to rank for because there is more search demand and thus, more web pages competing for them. But there’s another factor.

What is Rank Difficulty?

Rank difficulty is another metric and it indicates the perceived strength of the competition’s web pages that are returned in the SERP. Let me explain.

Every website domain has an authority rank score assigned by Google from 0 – 100. This is a measure of the trustworthiness of the domain.

At one time it was visible to those who cared to discover it (us SEOs), but now Google keeps it under wraps, so our research tool will estimate its value.

Additionally, every web page also has its own ranking score, and all of a website’s pages together contribute to its domain’s strength.

How is Page Ranking Determined?

Google judges a web page’s authority by the number of high-quality links pointing to it from other web pages. These are called backlinks.

If others like a web page well enough to link to it, it’s sure a sign to Google of quality and trustworthiness of content. And Google keeps track of all these links to every web page and where they came from.

Because they’re trying to give you the best results possible, Google likes to return pages with higher page and domain authority first, unless there’s a compelling reason not to.

Competing with Domain Authority

So, to use a keyword that high-ranking domains are listing for, your domain ranking will have to be on par with theirs. And we’ll consider your domain’s rating to see if your site can tackle a particular keyword. If not, it may be better to choose another keyword that’s less competitive.

But if your article is stronger or better targeted, then you could still push your way to the top. If your article is stronger, then it should be able to garner more quality links, and so make its way to the top.

More targeted has to do with search intent, which is discussed below.

But there are quality links and there are junk links. The latter are considered spam and can actual hurt your ranking.

Ranking Difficulty and Authority on Topic

The last consideration of rank difficulty is topical authority. But unlike the others, this is a judgment call. When considering the top pages in the SERP, I ask the question: “Is this domain authoritative for the topic on which they have written?” That should lead you to the right conclusion.

If the top pages seem to be authoritative, then you’ll also have to be in order to get to the first page. That is, you’ll have to appear to be an expert in the field.

Summary of Ranking Difficulty

Both high search demand for keywords and competing webpages good backlink profiles make a term more competitive. If you want to tackle more competitive terms you’ll have to develop your website’s backlink profile to compete.

Long-tail keywords are less competitive by definition so we’ll tend to go that way, but there are other factors to consider.

What is Business Value of a Keyword?

Business value is another important criteria for targeting keywords. It is a measure of how profitable any keyword would be to your business.

We’re going to assign a letter grade to some keyword phrases to score their business value.

Examples of Keyword Business Value for SEO

Say you’re a wedding photographer and one of the keywords on your generated list is “amateur wedding photography”. That would be no good for our professional photography business. So it has no business value to us at all, give that keyword an “F” for business value.

Now, an article written for the phrase “your wedding ceremony in pictures” would be good for our business. This a terrific opportunity to showcase your work. For a business value, let’s give it an “A”.

While an article written for “best wedding venues near Philadelphia”, would give you an opportunity to share a link at the bottom of the page, they’d actually have to click on the link to see your great work. However, it still promotes your brand, so we’ll give it a “C” for business value.

All those with passing grades will let you both serve the searcher’s need and introduce your brand and/or direct them to your product or service page.

Business Value for SEO Means ROI

So we need to make sure any topic we develop has a return on your investment. That is business value!

Using Keyword Phrases without Business Values

Sometimes you may want to target a keyword even when you won’t be able to promote your brand. This could be done just to get lots of backlinks to a page on your website, which will boost its ranking with Google.

Now that page can link internally to other of your pages or articles that do have business value. This will relay some of that page’s Google-rank to these other pages, boosting those page’s prominence. Yes, that’s the way it works!

If we did this we’d look for higher competition keywords for which we can build clearly better content, and best the competition’s pages (those results on the top half of the first SERP). Thus, we hope to earn more links than the competition and move to the top of the SERP.

What is Search Intent for SEO?

Your goal is to get your article listed on the top half of the first page of the search results for the content’s main keyword. Yet, to be successful, your content must match the intent of the searcher’s query. Otherwise Google won’t show your page at all for that keyword.

So say, a searcher is looking to “replace a leaky faucet” but only sees how-to guides when they wanted product listing instead. That keyword didn’t return the content they’d expected. In this case, she will be disappointed with the results.

Who gets to define what content should be returned for any keyword phrase? Google does, of course! They look at the headings and keywords on a page, and return content that more or less fits what they’re expecting. And, if we know what content they expect we know what content to give them.

So, we must examine the SERP for the proposed keyword phrase to determine the kind of content being returned. That will reveal the search intent for any keyword phrase, or at least what Google’s concept of it is. And we may have to pop open the articles to get an idea what’s being said and how the article is structured.

Content Type Reveals Search Intent

There are different types and formats of content. There are product pages, videos and blog posts. Blog posts can be opinion pieces, product reviews, product lists or comparisons, or information articles

All the types of content correspond to one of the four broad categories of searcher intent shown in the marketing funnel diagram below. And these content types also corresponds to one of the phases of the buying cycle.

With informational pages, you’ll have an opportunity to raise awareness of your brand. Also, there’s navigational intent where they’re interested in a specific page, product, service or brand that they’ve heard about. Then when they have commercial intent, they want comparison formats in order to make a buying decision. And finally they’ll move on to transactional intent when they’re ready to place the order or make the call, at which time links to your product or service pages are made available.

Better Targeting Refines Search Intent

But beyond that, the more you can laser focus your article to respond to the searcher’s question behind a keyword phrase, the more closely you’ll match the intent of the search.

If after looking at the SERP we think the articles there haven’t done an excellent job of answering the searcher’s question, then that’s the exact place where we can jump in and provide a better answer.

If you can provide the best answer available you may be able to surpass even more authoritative sites that have given less well focused answers to the same keyword phrase. There’s always room at the top for those who can nail search intent!

Concluding Search Intent

So, for a particular keyword phrase we’ll look at the SERP to determine the kind of content being returned. The content we see there must be consistent with the content we propose to build for our article.

If you can’t match search intent of a keyword phrase, then you’ll have to move on to another keyword phrase. But the more thoroughly you can answer the searcher’s question, the better your article will do in Google.

The article you write doesn’t necessarily have to be long, but it does have to fully answer the searcher’s question, that is, the searcher’s intent of the query.

Important Aspects of SEO

There are several factors that contribute to a successful SEO strategy, but keyword research ranks 1st among them.

Other SEO Factors

• On-page SEO involves the choosing and placement of keywords on the page and use of headings, i.e., page structure. It also includes quality, depth and/or length of article. Additionally we’re concerned about page load speed, the faster it loads the more user friendly it is. For more information on on-page SEO, see this article for writing great content.
• Off-page SEO means link and citation building, along with social media use, which builds your domain authority. Building website authority is a process that takes time. For more information, you can see this link building article.
• Also there are knowledge and info graphs and “featured snippets”. These requires us to use structured data coding, which Google then uses to build them. But you must rank on the first page to garner this prize.
• Another major factor is the activity on your Google My Business account. This means regular postings to your My Business (Maps) account. Also important is getting reviews regularly, along with your timely response to those reviews!

Conclusion

Keyword research leads you to phrases that have the most traffic and potential value for your business, and avoiding those that are too competitive for your own domain’s Google rating.

A good keyword research tool will help us build a keyword list and then pare it down with the qualifying metrics it provides for each phrase. The metrics are search demand, traffic volume, organic traffic, and ranking difficulty scores for both domains and pages, along with business value.

While building a large backlink profile is profitable, it’s also time consuming. Keyword research, however, is always essential and profitable and by contrast requires much less time and expense.

And by matching a keyword phrase with content type and fully answering the searcher’s question we’ll do a good job of matching search intent. This will be rewarded with better placement in the Google listing.

Although keyword research is challenging, it’s the quintessential element of a winning SEO strategy. To say it another way, you can’t succeed in SEO without excellent keyword research!

Intentional Link Building

What is intentional link building? It’s all about getting other websites to link to your website, called backlinks. This is a really important technique to boost your rankings in search results, because it’s the primary way Google establishes your website’s credibility, authority or prominence. Linkbacks may help Google establish who you are, your business and community connections, and serve as endorsements.

How many links to your website are needed to boost your SEO rankings? As you may imagine some very popular authors or sites have thousands of links. But all that’s needed are 10-20 high quality online connections to establish your website as authoritative. This in turn will significantly boost your rankings and may move you from page one thousand to page 1.

Here’s an article by noted SEO expert Neil Patel on how to get and use links to your website to boost your website’s rankings. You see I’ve provided a link to this article. Why? Because I find his content to be particularly insightful and useful. However, even similarly great content on your website will never be seen without a sufficient number of backlinks. Therefore, a backlink foundation must be part of your overall SEO strategy.

Local Directories

Local directories are of particular importance to local businesses because they contain location details. But while business directories are not of much value as a SEO ranking factor, if they get a million plus visitors a year, that can potentially drive traffic to your website. Having visitors to your website is good for your SEO if you’re writing top notch content. I think you can see that if people find your porthole to contain uniquely valuable information they might share it on social media or link to you from their website.

Amelia Wilson has written an article about directories that have value in 2019 in which you may want to be listed. Some of these are free to join like Yelp and some you’ll pay for BBB. She lists Google My Business, which is a directory for local business, but it’s more than that. This free listing is essential for local businesses and it’s worth your time to post there regularly.

I’m surprised by how much traffic some of these directories are getting, of which I wasn’t even aware. I can tell your that Yelp and Yellowpages are worthwhile places to be listed, so the search engine can verify your identity details: name, address, phone number (NAP) and your website domain name, i.e. URL. You should be only listed in directories that may potentially send you customers and hopefully to your website as well.

They Love Great Content

Great content is useful content that answers the question that brought the web surfer to your site. If it is really top-notch content people will want to remember it so they can refer to it later. Or if it’s exceptional they’ll link to it or share it on social media. So strive for that kind of content every so often.

Community Connections

National or regional certification boards or industry organizations may contain your profile online. If so, by linking to that page you’ll assist the search engine verify your identity and purpose. This will help them to know when it’s relevant to display your information in search engine result pages.

Your local chamber of commerce and business or neighborhood associations that you’re already involved with are great places to get backlinks. The rule is that your online links should mirror your offline associations. These are seen by Google as good information about you and your business. Most of these organizations keep a member list, and this list should be online. Or ask the person in charge of membership to add a member web-page for contact information, with a link.

Particularly esteemed by the search engine are links from government, school and non-profit organizations because they’re seen as impartial. What relationships do you have with any philanthropic that might earn you a link? Do you give to or volunteer with any; or do you host an activity at your business location? Hosting an activity may well require a link to your contact page for directions to your location. Also regular involvement with a non-profit could also earn you a mention.

Business Relationships

If you are one of a few businesses that handle a particular product ask the distributor to list you and your location on their vendors page. If they won’t do that then they certainly would partner with you on a press release, such as through EIN Presswire (which is a subscription). This press release would state that their product can now be obtained from you, as a local vendor. And as EIN Presswire’s website states, the story might even be picked up by Google News. Lot’s of potential there.

Do you refer business to a company from whom you buy goods? Speak to your contact there and ask if you can supply a testimonial for their website. And if they appreciate it perhaps they will show it by linking to the author, be sure to ask for it.

Are there one or more businesses who currently send you referrals? Then it would be natural for them to give you a link and for you to acknowledge them on your site as well. You are seeking to have your offline relationships acknowledged, these days, online as well.

Available Online Tools

There is an online tool that you can use to see what websites are currently linking to your website, it is ahrefs.com. This same tool can be used to examine your competitors website, that rank ahead of you, to see where they have gotten their backlinks. Do you know someone who works there? If you have a connection you might be able to get a link too. Let’s find someone who works there. There is a free 7 day trial, enough to get what you need.

There is Facebook search tool by Intelligence Search that is also free. If you know of someone who works at a related-industry company you can use this tool to see who they know. Perhaps you’ll find that you have a mutual Facebook friend who could make an introduction or help you get the job done.

Featured in Local Publications

We all have local newspapers and various publications, and some of them are rather nice, like our Main Line Today. This is a good place to be featured as a local business of interest. If you know someone who works there perhaps you could getting them to write an article featuring you in their publication. And of course they’ll also have an online version, which would certainly include your contact information, including your website address, which hopefully is clickable.

Don’t know someone who works there? There is another online tool that can help. It is a free Facebook search tool. You can easily see who the authors and editors are at the publication by picking up a copy, and this search tool will tell you who they are connected with that you may know. Perhaps one of their Facebook friends you’ll also know, who could put in a good word for you and point them in your direction. Very handy little tool!

Summary

You’ll need to mine your community and business relationships that already exist to get some quality links to your website. You should never get links that don’t represent a relationship or endorsement, unless it’s a legitimate business directory.

Legitimate business directories are recognized by Google as a way to validate where and who you are. Stick with the reputable directories and don’t overuse them. But do use them because they can send traffic to your website.

There is a tool, ahrefs.com, that will tell you what sites are linking to you already. You can use this tool on your competitors websites as well and find out from where they’re getting their links. Maybe you could get in with some of these resources as well.

Writing unusual, unique, and informative content, or even old information that you have repackaged from your perspective, also makes quality content. People will share it or link to it if they really like it, that is providing they get a chance to read it. Link building is about making sure that they do!

I’ve been learning about SEO for nearly 20 years and recently my thinking has been influenced by David Mihm on this subject. He now runs an email marketing firm called Tidings. I have here largely repackaged, condensed and simplified David Milm for strictly end-user audiences on link building. This valuable information he imparted through a series of articles on local SEO in an interview with Yoast.com.

Which Development Tool to Use

How should we create your website? Should we use an automation tool like Wix, that seems to be advertising everywhere? There are other “turn-key” systems being advertised today. Have you considered which is best for SEO?

They talk about how easy it is to create a professional website with their tool. And maybe it is but do you want something that’s really attractive? If you want an attractive website then you’ll definitely need a professionally created design. But our main concern is SEO.

Create Website Tool For SEO

What is the quality of the pictures and graphics that you’ll be using? Quality of graphics is so important because if people like their experience they might share it with others on social media. So, if you’re using photographs you’ll want someone with Photoshop skills to produce your website so you get just the right result. And they’ll want their website creation platform to be flexible to allow the designer to create.

But as important as these factors are there is still one factor that’s even more important when it comes to SEO and that’s using a development environment that is SEO friendly. What is SEO friendly, let me tell you about it?

Why I Develop With WordPress

I use WordPress because it powers more than 1/3 of all websites and there are an abundance of professionally designed themes available. But some themes are more SEO friendly than others and these are the ones I use. An SEO friendly site makes your content readily available to search engines. If you’re interested, here is a technical overview of why WordPress is the best content management system (CMS) for SEO purposes.

There are many factors that the search engine uses to decide which websites to return for a given search term or phrase. One way they judge relevance is how much visitors to a page like the page, measured by bounce rate. Another factor is how well it, the search engine, is able to understand and index your content.

So the question comes up that if you have an existing website can I use it as the starting point for my search engine optimization efforts. And the answer is probably no. Not even all WordPress themes are easily accessed by search engines. SEO is an art and the artist will pick their own tools to get the very best result. The best result is both attractive and readily available for search engines to index.

Google indexes pages, that’s what they do. I’ve already discussed with you the idea of page structure. You want to have clearly defined paragraphs that stay on topic with headings so that the reader can scan content and the search engine can properly understand and index your post or page. But for your entire website, organizing site structure involves using categories to give context to articles.

Use of Categories

As a page has structure so should the the site as a whole. Site structure means that you’ll create categories and pages or posts for those categories. There are 2 reasons for doing this. One reason is so that visitors can find what they’re looking for if they reach your homepage first. And the second is so the search engine can understand the relationships between various pages.

The larger your site the more you’re going to need organization by subdividing your content into categories and subcategories. You may also use hashtags, just make sure they are connecting articles with related topics, just don’t overuse them. Larger sites will probably be using categories and hashtags while smaller sites would probably use one or the other.

When using categories try to keep the number of posts in all categories roughly the same. Don’t let one category have more than twice the posts in the smallest category. If a category gets too big you should subdivide it into subcategories. These are the search engine’s rules of the road, as it were.

Those who find a page of yours because it was returned in search results may land on a page anywhere in your site. But what if they refer to your brand online and someone else tries to navigate your site to find that same page, will they be able to find it? Will your site structure lead them to where it resides? So you see clear site organization through category pages is important.

Categories and Keyword Phrases

Site structure also has everything to do with your keyword strategy. You get traffic to your site from a search result. As we discuss in our keyword strategy post, longer more specific keyword phrases have a better chance of being returned in search results because they have less competition. The longer more specific your keyword phrase the less competition you’ll have for that phrase. One, two and three word phrases have much more competition.

The farther you go down in your site structure the more specific your targeted keyword phrases should be. A category is a generalization and members of that category are more specific instances of the category. SEO is all about being found in search results and the longer the keyword phrase the better you’ll do. As your specific long keyword pages get noticed they’ll gather SEO authority. And this adds authority to the category page just above it. This is the SEO strategy regarding site structure.

Link Up to the Category Page

So make sure you’re linking to the category page from it’s child pages so the search engine understands the relationship. This then will boost your category page as well.

Likewise as we discuss in our keyword post you don’t want to have duplicate content on your site. That would mean that more than one page is using the exact same keyword phrase, which is a violation of
hierarchy. Google will pick up on this and lessen the rank of both the pages.

Site structure, therefore, is very important to SEO strategy. It’s how we organized our site’s pages through categorization and hashtags, and also through linking to higher level pages. Site structure is an essential component of a successful SEO strategy.

Great Verses Good Online Content?

Here are some guidelines for writing and developing good online content, or copy as it’s called. Good online content will mostly conform to a set of guidelines for online content. The goal of the guidelines is that the text and images are easily understood. Clear to your audience and clear and simple so that even the search engine spider can understand your meaning.

But great online content should also be insightful and useful so people might want to or share it online. That’s writing great online content. All together the elements should be clear also made as engaging, by all creative means, as possible. Getting your articles mentioned online it is a good way to build your site’s authority.

Size of Post or Article

Let’s first note that it’s recommended to use at least 300 words per post, article or page. That’s because a well developed article focused on a topic generally needs to be of that length to be informative. An informative article improves the readers experience with your page and the likelihood that search engines will rank it well in the search results.

Plan Your Article

What is the purpose of the article? Think about how you can organize elements of your message to best convey your meaning. A signal article will be developed through several topics and topics may have several paragraphs.

Organize Thoughts Into Paragraphs

Think about the content of your paragraph. Develop a thought into a sentence, then connect related thoughts to develop the paragraph. Note that paragraphs should be short, of 2-4 or so sentences in length. Sequence your paragraphs to develop a topic. Your topics may also be sequenced to explain establish your article.

The first paragraph should serve as an introduction while the last paragraph should be a summation or conclusion. People reading content online like to skim to determine if it’s the content they’re looking for. So try to make tightly organized paragraphs in which the first sentence states the purpose. This serves the user by improving their experience with your website.

Use Headings

Also keep your paragraphs on a single intent, which is important to readability. The search engine really loves headings as they can better understand the content so as to digest and index your content. Headings create sections of one or more paragraphs. By grouping related content together you will be creating sections, and be sure to use a heading.

Particulars of Online Articles

And it’s better to use short sentences, of 20 words or less. Long sentences are harder to understand for people and even more difficult for the search engine’s spider to understand. Also try to use a lot of connecting words like, therefore, and, also, and so on, which creates a connection between thoughts. And try not to start more than 2 sentences in a row with the same word. Additionally, use few passive voice verbs, which are not as easy to understand as active voice.

Summary

Finally it’s recommended that you set aside the text before publishing it so that you can reread it several days or weeks later. This allows you to get a fresh perspective on what you wrote before publishing it. By rereading for sentence word counts, connecting words, headings and topical organization you’ll improve your articles readability for people and spiders.

The only task remaining therefore is to engage, hold interest through the most appropriate mediums like layouts, click through explanations, graphs, photos and graphics that generally improve your readers experience with your audience, called user experience (UX). So that’s how we’ll (you’ll write and I’ll edit and publish) great online content.

Why Google returns sites, relevance!

Someone enters a search term or phrase into Google and the results of the most relevant websites are returned. So that’s why Google returns sites is search results, because they think those are the most relevant.

These days Google is trying to return the best quality results, which means the most relevant. When you do a search you want the most relevant search results, right? That is, results that answer the intent of your query. Of course you do, and Google is there to help you.

And how well your page matches the search term is, of course, as compared to competing websites. Your page may be favored because it better uniquely fits an entered search phrase. That’s good for you.

Define Your Brand

Is your site the best there is that Google should return your site on top? You are unique and everyone brings their own dynamic to the table. Why should someone want to connect with you? To what advantage would it be for them? In marketing terms that is called brand. What is your brand? How would you define it?

First of all, you need to own your content. That is, a web designer may have put your site together for you and now they are done. They have written from their perspective about your business. Once they turn it over to you it’s your turn to accurately represent who you are, your brand, on your new website. Your brand defines who you are uniquely, which only you can define.

There are two factors here. First is how you differentiated yourself from the pack. The second is, does your website accurately portray you and your uniqueness, i.e. does it clearly represent your brand? This will make you stand out.

Why Google returns sites, specifically your site, is partly because you have differentiated yourself by accurately expressing who you are.

The Prominence Factor

What authority or prominence does your site possess? Sites with more “authority” are favored by the search engine over websites with less “authority”. How does the search engine determine authority? There are two ways. First, the more mentions they find of your brand and links to your website across the web the greater the authority they attribute to your website.

But individual pages can also have authority because, they have received links from other websites. The reason for this is because you have quality content. When a particular page points up to it’s own category page, some of that page’s authority is shared with the category page. That is the importance of site structure.

Links then are the measure of prominence. For more on how to achieve this prominence see my article on building links to your website.

Why Google returns sites, specifically your site, is partly because you have received more links than competing websites.

Keep It Current and Fresh

The SEO mantra is post regularly, and the more frequently the better. An old static site is little valued compared to an alive and growing website. Be alive and grow your brand, ideas and website.

Then you need to keep it razor sharp in freshness by updating your site regularly as you hone your skills, desires, and attitudes. Everything needs to be current. You are changing constantly and possibly so is your brand. Therefore, you constantly need to keep your site up-to-date.

That doesn’t mean that a video you published a year ago is outdated, but have you added something of value recently? Things in your world are changing and you’re growing as a person and so you’ll want to keep your site current and fresh and, you see, therefore highly relevant. Go through all your pages and update them regularly, and your most important articles maybe every 6 months.

Why Google returns sites, specifically your site, is partly because you have been updating it regularly.

Website Speed

Another factor that Google considers is how long your website page takes to load. Faster loading sites/pages are preferred by Google and adds to the relevance of your site/page calculation. There are many design factors to consider for speed, but two are the picture size and quality of hosting.

Have Original Content

Probably the second mantra, as important as the first, is quality of content, both text and graphics/photos. Of course you shouldn’t steal content from other websites, so it has to be unique.

Your content is original because you are unique. And because you are unique so should be your content. Just your attempt to summarize and explain can be original because it’s your perspective on the subject. It’s your uniqueness that makes you stand our from the crowd. And if your uniqueness makes you the best choice in certain areas and situations then you’re going to want to make that clear.

Are you growing in defining who you are and the market you serve? Do you do everything well or are there certain areas where you excel? Excel at what you do, tell others about it, and they will want to connect with you!

Why Google Returns Sites, Summation

Google will return your site favorably because you’re the most relevant to the search query. Also you want high quality original content, which leads to others linking to you, and to grow your site regularly. An SEO consultant can help with links. Another important fact is your site/pages load speed. Which leads us to one final point.

You’ll need an SEO specialist to orchestrate all the elements for you in order to succeed. Let me help, reach out today!