The goal of any content marketer or website owner is to get as many eyes as possible to see their content.
The more people see your content, the higher your chances of influencing them to take the desired action. (subscribe to your newsletter, take a course, engage with your article, etc. )
But, how do you get people to see your content?
Different people use different strategies to increase the visibility for their content. Strategies like:
a. Making the content rank on the first page of SERPs.
a. promoting the content on social media pages.
b. Running paid ads for the content, etc.
While all these strategies have their effects, I will recommend that you work with the first strategy. RANKING YOUR ARTICLES ON THE FIRST PAGE OF SERPs.
Why do I recommend the first strategy?
I know that a lot of people have gotten great benefits from using social media as well as other channels to increase the visibility of their content.
I prefer to go through the route of optimizing my content and make them rank on the first page of SERPs (search engine result pages) for the keyword that I am targeting.
Why this route?
a. My content will potentially get seen by millions or billions of people all over the world.
Based on known facts, there are millions or even billions of people searching for different things on the internet every passing second.
So, if I position my content to answer the questions that people are asking, I could possibly get my content to the eyes of millions of people all over the world.
Is this not amazing already?
b. It is cost-effective.
I know you love how things are on social media (the trending gists, bants, etc.) and you want to create that kind of experience around your content.
Interesting? Yes, but it comes with a cost.
Most of the trending posts you see on social media did not just happen by chance. Most of them are strategic.
If you are not famous and don’t have millions of followers on social media, then you will have to spend some money to get your content out there on social media.
Getting my content to rank on the First page of SERPs (search engine result pages) is inexpensive and the most effective.
All I need to do is to optimize my content for the keyword I want to rank for. At the end of the day, People searching for the kind of answers that I am providing will find my content.
c. I Have control.
If you are a meticulous person like me, then you may just feel more organized when you have control.
At least to a considerable extent.
For me, I like to stay organized (I know it can be annoying sometimes). I like to know and plan my next two or even three steps (lol).
This is the exact feeling that making my content rank on the first page of SERPs gives me. It makes me feel like I am in charge.
What do I mean?
a. I can target the keywords that I want to rank for. Which is more like deciding how I want people to discover me.
b. I can get the attention of people that I want to reach. I don’t have to wait to become one of the big guys before reaching thousands or even millions of people, and do a host of other things without spending a dime.
I only need to do a good work on my SEO and CONTENT. That’s all.
What I do to make my Articles Rank on the First Page of Search Engine Result pages
I have talked about why I prefer to make my content rank on the first page of SERPs as opposed to other content visibility channels.
I talked about how doing a good job with my SEO and CONTENT helps my content rank on the First page of SERPs.
As easy as this sounds, it is not a plug and play effect. There are things you have to do to make your article visible on search engine result pages (SERPs).
What do you do to make sure your article shows up in Google’s result pages?
I will walk you through my simple, but yet effective methods. ready? Let’s get started.
Strategy 1: I Optimize my Content for SEO
Optimizing my content for SEO simple means structuring my content in a way that makes it easy for search engines to understand.
When search engines understand my content, they will display it to people searching for the kind of content that I produce.
One of the ways that I achieve this is by; USING THE RIGHT KEYWORDS IN MY ARTICLES.
When it comes to making your article rank rank well on SERPs, using the right key words in your articles is very important.
According to Google’s report “How Search Works”
It states that;
“The most basic signal that information is relevant is when a web page contains the same keywords as your search query. If those keywords appear on the page, or if they appear in the heading or the body text, the information is more likely to be relevant…”
Even if Google has rolled out many algorithms that can influence the ranking of contents, the old system of searching for a specific keyword on your page still applies.
The bottom line is: Google still crawls sites for keywords.
You can do a quick test to try this out.
Try typing a competitive keyword into your browser, you will notice that most of the pages ranking for that keyword used the keyword in their titles.
That said about keywords;
The truth is that there is more to on-page SEO than stuffing keywords in your article or page HTML.
To make your article rank on the first page of SERPs, you also need to optimize your content for:
a. Search intent.
b. User experience.
c. Bounce rate and dwell time.
d. Page loading speed.
e. Click through rates
and other stuff that we will take a look at as we proceed.
All these other factors matter too. Alright, let us go back to how I optimize my content with keywords.
A. I Use Target keywords in The First 100 Words of my Article
This may appear to be an old-fashioned on-page SEO tactic, but it still has an effect. This is quite easy to achieve.
All you need to do is to use your main keyword once in the first 100 or 150 words of your article.
For example; if you are writing an article about DIY home decor ideas. You will have to make make sure that you include that keyword in your first 100 or 150 words.
You may have something like this:
This is a quick guide to DIY home decor ideas that works great for different spaces.
This is a useful guide if you are:
a. A Newbie that wants to start trying things out with DIY home decoration.
b. Looking for how to make your bland home space beautiful on a budget.
c. A beginner set designer.
See all you need to know about …
Did you see how I used the keyword in the first paragraph of my article? You should do something like this too.
Using your target keyword in your first paragraph may not be easy. Why do I say so?
If you are writing about something that you enjoy or are passionate about, you may be carried away.
This means that you may forget to use your target keyword in your first paragraph. Hey! don’t get worried about that.
The good news is that technology always comes to the rescue when we need it the most. If you use a WordPress website, I will advise that you install Yoast SEO.
Why?
Yoast SEO helps you with many of your on-page SEO strategies.
Amazingly, it reminds you of some things you may be leaving out like; making your target keyword appear in the first paragraph of your article.
Why is it important for you to use your target keyword in the first paragraph of your article?
The thing is that Google puts more relevance on terms (keywords) that show up early in your article.
Just imagine that you published an article about the recipe for making the popular Nigerian Jollof rice. Nigerian Jollof Rice Recipe.
If your article was really about Nigerian Jollof Rice Recipe, would you wait till you get to maybe the last paragraph of the article to first use the term (keyword) Nigerian Jollof Rice Recipe?
Of course, no.
This is why you want to make sure you include your target keyword in the first 100 to 150 words of your article.
It appears little right? But it is one of the things that helps Google understand what your article (page) is all about.
B. I Make Sure the Topic of my Article is Tied Up in H1 Tag
H1 tags are just like title tags that you use on your web pages.
Are H1 tags important?
It is easy for you to think that H1 tags are not important maybe because there is usually a section for the article topic on your website.
Well, H1 tags are important and that is why I use them when writing and publishing my articles.
H1 tags help search engines understand the structures of your page (Article), just like it will also help your readers understand the structure of the article.
Using H1 tags help your readers understand that phrase or clause as the topic of the article. It helps it stand out, and makes the reader understand the context of the article.
Do you see why H1 tags are important?
The good thing is that platforms like WordPress automatically add H1 tags to your blog post titles. If you use the platform, then you are good to go.
If not, you can simply check your website’s code (ctrl+U) to make sure your title is tied up in H1 tag.
C. I tie up my sub-headings in H2 tags
Will your SEO be affected if you do not use H2 tags for your sub-headings?
Technically, no.
But, does it make a difference when you use H2 tags for your sub-headings? Yes.
I know that there have been some reforms when it comes to optimizing content with the use of heading tags.
It is true that your content will not suddenly rank for competitive keywords when you use heading tags, but it makes a difference.
What difference does it make?
It makes a lot of difference as regards structure and context.
Tying up your sub-headings in H2 tags gives your article a structure, and the structure of your article makes it easy for Google to understand the context.
When Google understands the structure and context of our article, it helps it to give better results to people searching.
The truth is that heading tags are important in communicating what a page or an article is all about.
D. I Use My Target Keyword Frequently
What do I mean?
I mean I use my target keyword frequently in my articles. Why do I do this?
I do this because it helps the search engine understand what the page is all about. You understand that search engines are bots and not humans.
Most of the time, these bots work with data.
What am I trying to say?
What I am trying to say is, the more times you use your target keyword in your article, the more data it gives the search engine about what your article is all about.
For example, imagine that you wrote an article targeting the keyword “weight loss” but you mentioned weight loss only once.
Do you think that you would have given Google enough data to say for sure that your article is about “weight loss”?
That said, I don’t advise that you stuff your article with Your target keywords.
When you do this, the article will appear like you are writing for a bot and not necessarily for humans that need the information.
Frequently using your target keyword in your article is about; Mentioning your keywords a few times (enough times) to help Google understand that your article is truly about that topic.
E. I Use Outbound Links (External links) In my Articles
What do I mean by using external links in my articles?
It is simply making references to other pages (or articles) that do something related to what you do or are writing about.
You can reference research done by another company by linking to the page to give your readers a better understanding of what you are talking about.
External links are basically links from another website placed in your article.
Why should you use outbound (external links)?
External links are important especially when they are linked to a related page. This shows Google that your content is quality content that users will find useful.
Alright, this is not just a theory that I made up. Rebootonline.com carried out a study that shows that linking to external authoritative sites do have a positive impact on a pages’ ranking.
Reboot created 10 new websites, half of the websites linked to authoritative sites like Cambridge University. The other half had no external links.
At the end of their experiment, the websites with external links outranked the ones without external links.
It is important for me to state that all the websites were new, and had no prior search history. The target keywords used were coined.
So it was fair.
F. I Make Sure my Target Keyword reflects in my Title Tag
The structure of your URL is one thing that can affect the SEO of your page, but many people ignore this.
I am guilty of this. Before now, I just let the system automatically generate the URL.
After a while, I noticed that the URL that I used appeared strange on SERPs. URL that does not give my potential visitors a clue of what my article is all about.
For example, I noticed URLs like this: …com>careeradvice>CVtips
This looks weird, right? That is because I was not paying attention to my URLs.
Now, I make sure my target keyword reflects in my title tag. Sometimes I can add one or two words to it.
Why should you make sure your target keyword reflect in your title tag?
Your URLs are an important aspect of your on-page SEO now more than before. One of the reasons is because it is one of the first things that people will see in SERPs.
Your URL appears right before your title tag. That said, infusing your keyword will give people searching an idea of what your content is all about.
So, this is my recommendation as regards your URLs:
a. Make sure your URL is short (it does not have to include all the unnecessary jargon).
b. Add your keyword to your URL.
If you can do these two things, then I can say that you are good.
G. I Optimize my Title Tags for SEO
I used to fault this aspect when I first started out my content writing career. (Laughing at the things I took for granted).
Then, I just pick a topic and start writing, that could work in creative writing, but in content writing nahhh!
In content writing, You should have a keyword that you want to rank for, then creatively coin a topic from it.
(This is where you can use your creativity to infuse emotions and give context to the keyword).
I believe that your title tag is an important aspect of your on-page SEO because it helps search engines, as well as humans, understand what your content is all about.
I believe that there is a structure for creating an SEO friendly title tag. In my opinion, I will recommend that you follow this structure.
Target keyword + Emotive words (adjectives) + Context for target audience
I coined this structure, but I think it would help you to create an SEO friendly title tag.
H. I Create Unique and Keyword-Infused Meta-Descriptions
Writing a meta-description is one of the first 0n-page SEO practices that I learned. The truth is that I was not doing it quite well, I just write something that looks like a description and then move on (lol).
That is not the best practice.
What I do now is; I create a unique meta description that will help search engines and readers understand what the page (Article) is all about.
What do I mean by unique meta-descriptions?
Alright, have you noticed that Google automatically generates a meta description for your articles?
Yes, they do.
The problem is that when they do, they will likely pick up a paragraph from your article that does not quite reflect the general idea of your article.
Why is this?
It is because Google is a bot (lol).
This is why creating a unique description is important because it gives you an opportunity to control the first impression that your article will have on your potential readers.
Funny enough, Google’s John M advises people to fill in their meta-descriptions themselves because they understand their content better.
” I’d generally recommend specifying one, you know your content best.”
Ps: I understand that Google can override your meta-descriptions with their own.
The truth is that a good meta-description helps your page (Article) stand out. It can also boost your organic CTR because people can get an idea of what your page (article) is all about.
So here is how I write my unique meta-description:
a. Give a brief overview of the content.
b. mention the specific value of the content
c. summarize the content overview.
Example; “This is a step-by-step guide to ranking your articles. See how you can make your articles rank on page 1 in this detailed article”.
I almost forgot to state that I also include my keyword in the meta-description.
Why do I do this?
This is because Google highlights the words/phrases that match people’s queries. Adding your target get word to your meta-description shows the relevance of your page (article) to the search queries.
I. I Use Interlinks in my Articles
I talked about the importance of using external links in your pages (articles). External links are great for SEO, so are internal links.
Using internal links is simply linking to other related pages (articles) on your website. When I do this, I specifically link from high authority pages (articles) on my website to low authority pages.
For some websites that I write for over the years, I instinctively know the high-authority pages (Articles) because I have monitored the growth over time.
If you want to interlink properly, I will recommend that you use tools like Google Analytics.
Google Analytics helps you see the top-ranking pages on your site.
Strategy 2: I Make Sure I Write a Good Content that Satisfies Search Intent
What do I mean by writing good content that satisfies search intent?
The truth is that everyone wants their page (article) to show up in the first page of Google’s SERPs, but are they providing the answers that people need?
It is okay to rank for your target keywords, but will people that are searching for answers read your article and be satisfied with the answers they see in your article?
In other words, does your article satisfy search intent?
This is exactly what sets me apart from other SEO content writers. I write useful and detailed articles that my potential readers will find helpful.
When I write my articles, I do my best to make sure that I give my potential readers all the information they need.
Basically information they can’t find anywhere. (lol)
Asides from writing the kind of content that my readers needs, I also write SEO-friendly content.
This means that the detailed content that I write will get seen by the people that needs them.
Interesting right?
Alright, Let me show you how I create content that satisfies search intent.
A. I write Unique Contents
Writing unique content means writing content that gives your readers all the information that they need.
It means writing content that brings something new to the table. A content that is not;
a. Recycled from something that is already existing.
b. A content that is the exact duplicate of an already existing content.
Writing unique content does not necessarily mean writing content that no one has written before.
Writing a unique content may mean:
a. Giving a fresh approach to an already existing topic.
b. A new strategy that people in your niche will find useful.
c. A detailed step-by-step process that your audience will find helpful.
Even if you are writing about a topic that is already existing, you can give it a fresh feel by adding examples that will give your readers a better understanding.
The bottom line is that your content should stand out from that of your competitors. That is the way you can build trust and loyalty with your audience.
B. I Write Content that are Valuable to my Prospective Readers
I have already talked about how I write unique content. While it is good for you to write unique content, it is also good to write valuable content.
Valuable content is one that your prospective readers can read and connect with. There are thousands of articles written every day by people that have no idea about the topic.
This is what can make your article different. The fact that you have expert knowledge about the subject matter already sets you apart. This is what will help you create valuable content.
My copywriting skills also helps me to write content that are very engaging. One that will help me build a connection with my readers.
If you want to become a good content writer, then you need to have knowledge of copywriting (at least beginner knowledge).
You can include the following to make your content more engaging:
a. Include screenshots to give context and to help your readers understand what you are saying better.
b. You can embed videos or infographics that give more details about what your article is talking about.
c. You can also include except research and studies. It gives your content authority.
C. I Write Content for Skimmers Too
The truth that you have to put into consideration whenever you are writing is that people have a low attention span.
What does this mean?
It means that people search the internet because they need answers. So, they want to get the answers to their questions as quick as possible.
As a content writer, I also love to structure my content in such a way that anyone reading can get the answers that they looking for at a glance.
How do I achieve this?
To make my content scannable, I do the following:
a. I make sure my sentences are short and easy to read and understand.
b. I use bullets or numbers to highlight important points that may be useful to anyone reading my content.
c. I highlight and bolden top points and quotations to help readers see them at once.
d. I make use of heading tags in my article (H1 tags for title, H2 tags for subheadings, H3 and H4 tags subsequently for smaller headings or lists).
My knowledge of copywriting also helps me craft short and engaging sentences that will capture readers’ interest.
Strategy 3: I Optimize the Images that I Use in my Articles
I have learned to optimize the images that I use on my page and in my articles. When I started out as a content writer, I used to ignore my images.
I understand that if you have to design custom images, you may tend to save your image files in weird formats like; new image, today, now, etc.
I used to do this a lot until I noticed that it could affect the SEO. Now, I pay attention to the images that I use in my articles.
What do I do exactly?
a. I give all the images that I use in my articles a descriptive file name.
b. I also add a description in the alt text. Don’t ignore this.
Why do I do this?
Saving your image files in a descriptive name and adding a description to the image alt text give Google information about what the image is about.
When Google understand what your image is all about, it helps your article rank higher.
PS: When you are trying to tell Google what your image is all about, don’t write a `description that has nothing to do with the article.
I make sure I include my target keyword in the description of all the images that I use in my article and also in the alt text.
These are the on-page SEO strategies that I use to write informative and engaging content that rank on the first page of SERPs.
These are not all you need to do for your content to rank on the first page of SERPs. They are other stuff that contributes to your page rank, like:
a. Your domain authority.
b. Your page speed.
c. Your entire website’s SEO.
d. Your website’s schema
and a host of other things…
Although, from a content perspective, these strategies will help your article rank.
Hope you find my strategies helpful?
Do you need help with writing an informative and engaging article that will make it to Google’s first page?
I can help, reach out to me via the contact details on this website. I would love to hear from you.