Writing for SEO

 Effective writing for SEO includes two main areas of focus. The first is the SEO score, relative to your chosen keywords. The second area is the readability of the article. Each of these are comprised of several separate items that need to be addressed. 

SEO Score

To achieve a good SEO score, you must know how to place your chosen keyword phrase within your post. You want it to be within your page title and at least first paragraph. It should also appear at least one more time in the body, but possibly more, depending on the length of the article.

Your page SEO title and meta description are also very important. This is the title and description that appears when your page appears in a “Google” search. Your keyword phrase should appear in both. The meta description length also needs to be correct, around 150 characters or so. 

Article length and links are also important to a good SEO score. You can link to other pages, or posts, within your website, as well as to other helpful, but non-competitive sites. A minimum of 350 words is generally recommended, but they can be much longer, as long as they are substantive

Readability

Readability can also affect your general search engine performance, but it does so indirectly. By making your articles more readable, it will help retain visitors for longer periods. This lets the search bots know that readers find your posts helpful. And that is what helps your performance.

If you follow a few basic rules, you can assure your prose will be more readable. Avoid extra large words, or words that many people will not understand without a dictionary. You must also avoid long, or run-on sentences. Also, stay away from using the same words throughout your post — use pronouns or synonyms to mix things up. Write short, direct sentences to enhance readability, and avoid the passive voice.

Writing for SEO Plug-in Help

Everybody has their own writing style, and it may be difficult for some to adapt to these rules. But it will get easier with time as the rules become more embedded in your mind. 

However, WordPress plug-ins like the free version of SEO Yoast can be extremely helpful in guiding writers through this process. There are others, of course, but I have used this one for years. This plug-in analyzes your post for SEO keyword performance, as well as readability. It gives you clear, concise actions needed to improve your post. 

This process works very well as a way to make sure all of your posts are optimized. And it also trains you to write in a certain way, so will there will less to correct as time goes on.