BREAK & FORMAT THE TEXT

Nobody likes to read a wall of text. You should break your text into sections, with big titles and subheadings that summarise what each section is about. This will make your content more readable and scannable, and also help search engines identify the main points of your post. You should also format your text using different elements, such as bold, italics, underline, quotes, etc., to emphasise the key sentences and words.

AVOID LONG PARAGRAPHS

Another way to make your content more readable and scannable is to avoid long paragraphs or blocks of text. You should break your text into small paragraphs, preferably no more than 3-4 sentences each. This will make your content easier to digest and follow, and also improve the user experience.

Pro tip: Try the Hemingway App to help you write clearer and more impactful texts. It’s free, no sign up needed.

USE BOLD, QUOTES & CALLOUTS

To highlight the key sentences and words along the article, you should use bold, quotes, and callouts. These are visual elements that draw attention and make your content more appealing and memorable. You can use bold to emphasise important words or phrases, quotes to cite sources or experts, and callouts to add tips or warnings.

NUMBERED LISTS & BULLET POINTS

These are another type of visual elements that allow a quicker read and are more likely to engage users. You can use numbered lists or bullet points to list items, steps, benefits, features, etc., in a clear and concise way. This will make your content more organised and structured, and also help search engines understand the hierarchy of your information.

HIGH QUALITY IMAGES

Images are essential for any blog post, as they add value, interest, and emotion to your content. You should use several images along the text, preferably relevant to your topic and high quality. However, you should also optimise them for SEO by compressing them to the lowest file size possible without losing quality. This will improve the loading speed of your page and also reduce bandwidth usage.

ADD AN AUTHOR

One not to forget, you should sign the articles with an author name and bio. This will add credibility and authority to your content, as well as personality and human touch. You can also link to your social media profiles or website if you want to build trust and relationship with your readers. Our PunchUp example below.

IMAGE ALT TEXT WITH KEYWORDS

You may think that images are just for decoration, but they are actually very important for SEO. Search engines can’t see images, so they rely on the alt text to understand what they are about. The alt text is a short description of the image that appears when the image can’t be loaded or when a screen reader is used. You should always include your keywords in the alt text, as well as other relevant terms that describe the image. For example, if your image shows a marketing metrics chart, your alt text could be something like “Marketing metrics chart showing the impact of SEO on website traffic and conversions”.

OPTIMISE IMAGE FILENAME

Another thing that search engines look at is the filename of the image. If your filename is something generic like “photo123.jpg”, you are missing an opportunity to tell search engines what your image is about. You should always use descriptive terms in your filename, separated by hyphens. For example, “marketing-metrics-chart.jpg” is much better than “photo123.jpg”. This will also help your image rank better in image search results.

INTERNAL LINKS

Internal links are links that point to other pages or articles on your own website. They are very useful for SEO, because they help search engines crawl and index your site, as well as understand the structure and hierarchy of your content. They also help users navigate your site and find more information on the topic they are interested in. You should aim to include 3-5 internal links per article, using relevant anchor text (more on that later). For example, if you are writing about SEO best practices, you could link to other articles on your site that cover specific aspects of SEO, such as keyword research, content optimization, link building, etc.

EXTERNAL LINKS

External links are links that point to other websites or sources outside your own domain. They are also very important for SEO, because they show search engines that you have done your research and that you are citing trustworthy and authoritative sources. They also help users verify the information you provide and learn more from other experts. You should aim to include 5-8 external links per article, using relevant anchor text (more on that later). For example, if you are writing about SEO best practices, you could link to reputable sites or sources that provide data, statistics, studies, tools, guides, etc. on SEO.

ADD EXPERT QUOTES

One way to make your content more credible and authoritative is to add expert quotes from people who are recognised as leaders or influencers in your field. Expert quotes can provide insights, opinions, tips, advice or testimonials that support your main points or arguments. They can also add some personality and variety to your content. You should always link to the author’s website or social media profile, so that users can check their credentials and follow them if they want. For example, if you are writing about SEO best practices, you could quote some well-known SEO experts like Neil Patel, Rand Fishkin, Brian Dean or Moz.