How to Create SEO Friendly Content

As we explained in a previous article, fresh content constantly added to your site is one of the most important Google ranking factors. For this reason, today we will show you how to create SEO-friendly content. What does this mean? Google is looking for certain things in content it ranks: keywords, readability, the way the ideas are organized, and more.

Get Familiar with Formatting Content for Online Publishing

The first step is knowing how to write for the web. It may sound strange, but the medium where content is published determines its format. When you write a scientific paper, for example, you focus on getting all the relevant information, adding quotations and the reference list at the end (among others). When you write a patient progress report, you focus on pointing out the improvements in clear terms, that the patient can understand.

Likewise, when you write for an online blog for your chiropractic practice, you need to format your text in a way that facilitates reading on any device and in any condition. Some people read blog posts on their laptops, in the comfort of their homes or office. Others use a tablet as they ride on a train. And others read on their smartphone while waiting for the bus. Each of these people, in their specific circumstances, needs to be able to read your articles easily and understand their gist.

This is one of the first requirements of SEO-friendly content and it involves:

• Writing short paragraphs separated by headlines
• Adding bullet points and lists to break paragraphs
• Finding the ideal spacing between lines to create sufficient white space
• Use a mobile-friendly layout for your blog posts

Follow These Basic Rules to Create SEO-Friendly Content

These are some of the most common rules for SEO-friendly content that ranks high on Google, tested and proven by top content writers and marketers.

1. Find the Ideal Word Count for Your Content

Google does not like short and meaningless content, which does not really offer helpful information. Thus, the bare minimum length for any text that gets indexed by Google is 300 words.

In practice, blog posts should have around 500-600 words. However, if you are writing an in-depth article, you can go as high as 2,000 words. In general, longer texts rank better, because they provide more useful information and content with more relevant keywords.

2. Use the Right Keywords in the Right Proportion

When you create SEO-friendly content, you need to focus on the main keyword and several secondary keywords. Long-tail keywords (containing 3 to 6 words) will help you outrank bigger practices because they are more focused on your specific services. As a rule, try to add your location as frequently as you can next to your keywords.

Speaking of frequency, the Google ranking algorithm does not like keyword stuffing, meaning overusing a single keyword. The ideal main keyword density in a text is 1%. Thus, in a 500-word blog post, the main keyword should appear 5 times.

3. Create a Catchy Headline

While your purpose is to create SEO-friendly content, do not forget that you are writing for people first of all. And nowadays people are easily distracted and with a short attention span. They will click or tap on an article if it sounds really interesting and useful.

How do they determine that? By reading the headline. A good and SEO-friendly headline should be:

• Short and self-explanatory
• With the main keyword included
• Enticing the reader to find out more

However, please remember that you must always deliver what you promise. Overinflated titles, called “clickbait” are actually frowned upon by Google and penalized.

4. Organize Your Text

How do you deliver the content? This is just as important as keyword optimization when you create SEO-friendly content. There is a simple rule that journalists learn in school: start with the 5Ws. They stand for:

• Who
• What
• Where 
• When
• Why

Thus, the first paragraph of your article should answer these first basic questions. The rest will provide more detail and reach the conclusion you are preparing for the readers (the call to action).

5. Create an Explanatory and Keyword Optimized Meta Description

Each page on your website should have a meta description. It is the sentence that appears in Google search results under the link. And it is not important just for Google ranking, but also for readers. A good meta description complements the catchy headline and determines users to click on your link and read your article.

Finally, do not forget to proofread your text before publishing it. Typos and grammatical errors will reduce its quality and undermine your efforts to create SEO-friendly content.