“Time to Ditch old-school SEO techniques and switch to conventional SEO Friendly content Techniques to survive the 2020 online battle”
To survive in the 2020 online battle the webpreneurs need to optimize the content for search engines, voice assistants and users. Creating an SEO friendly content needs an equal contribution of time, research and effort. Doing it the right way would reap great SERP rankings and visibility.
Most of the people are under a misconception that SEO optimized content can’t be user-friendly or vice versa. In fact, to stand high in rankings you need a well-balanced combination of high quality and SEO optimized content. This will improve your brand value and take your business to newer heights.
But, Google changes its algorithms frequently. As per the latest update, the newer things would be ranked higher than older ones. This simply means that the strategies may require a different approach in 2020.
So, The Blogging Hacks brings you 9 best hacks that help you curate SEO-friendly content in 2020.
1. Research, Learn and Knowledge
Before you plan to write on a topic, a good knowledge of keywords is essential. You can’t just binge on any random set of words. To make a cut from the competitive articles, deeper research into the keywords is necessary.
Opting for a local audience is a much better option. This lowers down your competition and helps you fetch more relevant traffic. For example rather than searching “digital marketing company”, go for “best digital marketing company in Ludhiana”. The latter approach helps you target your local audience and aim for higher conversions.
Providing high-quality content with the right keywords makes your post top the SEO and audience satisfaction charts. You can use the Google Keyword Planner and Google Auto-Complete to get the right set of keywords and phrases. Create new variations of your key phrases using Quora and other free blogging tools.
If you are blogging on products, search Amazon for good keyword ideas. It will give you the best organic keyword listing. Keep an eye on your competitors and their digital marketing strategy.
Learn More: On-Page SEOHacks and Off-Page SEO Hacks
2. Structure Your Content Properly
Content is drafted for readers to read and not for the search engines. Involving foul techniques may take you to the zenith of rankings but these will seriously impact your brand and engagement. The results are even short-lived.
The content published should be readable and should follow a proper structure. A proper heading, introduction, main part and enticing conclusion should be followed.
Divide the content into subheadings that make you easy to write with a good readability score. Ensure proper formatting. Use simple words and short sentences. Keep the paragraph 3-4 sentences long.
The title should follow H1, the major sub-headings H2 and so on. The lists should either be bulleted or numbered to ensure great organized content.
Read More: 9 things that you need to do after publishing blog post
3. Link Back to Yourself
Apart from high-quality content, several other factors decide SERP rankings. Not only high-authority external links are valuable but internal links play a crucial role as well. Link back to the popular posts or cornerstone pages of your website.
This also helps the readers to spend more time on your website. Search engines understand the relevancy of the content through these internal links. There isn’t any fixed number on how many links to add. But, you need t make sure that links are natural and relevant.
Learn 10 First Steps to Rank On Google With Your Online Business
4. Keep Titles and URLs SEO-Friendly
To display the entire title on the SERP page, your title should be under 70 characters. Else, it would be truncated. A complete title encourages people to click, thereby boosting your organic traffic and rankings.
The post title should reflect user search intent appropriately. Try to use the primary keyword at the beginning of the title. This will help you score better on SERP rankings. Use compelling titles to boost your CTR. You can use “best”, “how-to”, ”amazing”,” surprising” etc words in your titles.
The page name or URL should closely match with the title. Don’t use spaces or underscore to separate two words. You can use a dash/hyphen (-) for the same. The URL should be not more than five words and should include a targeted keyword.
5. Optimize Meta Description
The meta description should be informative and compelling for the user to click the link. It should be designed keeping in view the user’s search intent to read the article. The meta description should include the targeted keywords and carefully explain the gist of the article.
A meta description is the summary of the post which is displayed in the SERP below the article link. An ideal description should be around 150-160 characters.
6. Optimize Images
This is the most ignored part of any SEO campaign. Your main aim should be to rank everywhere and not only on text. Your image SERP rank also drives traffic and converts the audience for you. Impart great reading experience to your readers by using image optimization techniques.
Google cannot read an image but it can read the associated text. A proper Alt tag, title, caption and filename helps Google bots to understand the concept of the image. Add beautifully crafted high-quality images for your website. Include an infographic that summarizes the post as well.
7. Optimal Content-Length
If you want to win the SEO 2020 battle, then you have to write longer and descriptive content. Google likes longer content but that doesn’t mean that you need to provide longer content every time.
The minimum word length of any blog should be 500-600 words but the optimal length is 2000 words. Before starting to write, browse for competitive articles. Study their length and then decide yours.
- Mobile Optimization
Making your content mobile-friendly is of prime importance in 2020. The mobile audience is now growing at a much faster pace and contributes around 56% globally. In fact, mobile-friendliness is one of the factors responsible for SERP ranking.
Prefer a single-page layout offering seamless navigation for your mobile web-template. The simple and clean layout makes it easier for readers to read and find relevant information. Use AMP pages to ensure that your website loads faster at an incredible pace.
Learn Top 10 DIY Search Engine Optimization Tips 2020
9. Keep Updating your Content
Google wants to offer the best of search experience to its users. That’s why it keeps on updating its search algorithms continuously. Apart from creating high-quality and engaging content, it’s important to keep the site updated. Keep on refreshing your old posts as well.
Publishing blogs regularly and consistently adds credibility to the website. Try to go once or twice a week initially. Give some time to your readers to digest the content. Make sure to respond to their queries and comments.
Changing Dynamics of SEO
The SEO guidelines are dynamic and ever-changing. Follow the above-mentioned tips to stay updated and on top of SERPs. Creating SEO optimized content would take time but it would be worth in the longer run.
Things that are working in 2020 may not work in the coming years. So, it is very important to keep educating yourself. Stay tuned with www.theblogginghacks.com for ingenious blogging and online money making hacks.