How text affects your SEO

Want to be found by search engines? Make sure you have well-written copy on your website. Google and other search engines ‘read’ the texts on a website and determine whether your text is relevant. The right (key) words will result in a higher ranking, but beware: don’t write ‘SEO-proof’ forcibly. The most important thing is that your text is easy to read and contains relevant content for your visitors.

What is relevant content?

Knowing what is relevant starts with finding out which words your target group uses in search engines. With the right keywords, you can write specifically and answer the question your visitor has. Process the keywords in strategic places in your text. But don’t force it and stay relevant. You write a text to inform your visitors, not to please Google. Moreover, Google is becoming smarter and smarter and content is becoming more and more important.

Focus on the message

Keep the following questions in mind when writing:

• What do you want to say?
• Who is your target group?
• What do you want to achieve?

Do you want to inform or persuade visitors to order a product? Write targeted. In Search Engine Optimization terms, we call this ‘search intent’. To learn more about this, we recommend this short, yet effective article by Yoast SEO: https://yoast.com/search-intent/

Go for unique SEO-proof content

No matter how tempting it is to copy text from another site. Then remember that Google doesn’t like copy-paste. Your content must, therefore, be unique. Of course, you can get inspiration from another site, but write your text in your own words.

The influence of length

Search engines like texts with a body. Therefore, keep a sharp eye on the structure of your content. If you want a page to rank in the search engines, make sure it is over 900 words. But beware: make sure you have relevant and unique content. No endless synonyms of words, nobody reads that. Moreover, divide the text into paragraphs with headings. A list here and there is also doing well. Many visitors scan texts on their own, a clear structure makes that easier.

Structure

A good text starts with a title, followed by an intro and paragraphs with subheadings.

• Title. Provide a clear and concise title. Put the keyword first.
• Intro. Show the most important info in the intro. Use the keywords as much as possible in the first sentence. In your intro, answer the questions: who, what, where, why, when and how. With that, you cover the theme.
• Header. Use regularly subheadings. This is good for your visitors and Google likes to ‘read’ them. Choose an h2 (only one per article!) or h3/h4 header and process – if relevant – a keyword in your header. Below the header is a descriptive paragraph. Then place another header and paragraph and repeat it a few times. Finally, make sure you have a good ending.
• Finish. Repeat the keywords in the last paragraph and make a call to action, such as ‘contact’, ‘order’ or ‘subscriber’.

SEO Website Content

Thank you for reading How text affects your SEO. Need help to make your website SEO-proof? Feel free to contact us, we’ll be happy to help you. Our team exists of multilingual, talented copywriters that have experience in almost every sector.

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