7 Tips for Writing SEO Friendly Articles to Rank on Google

Do you know how to writing SEO Friendly article? Writing articles is important to get more visitors to your website, but simply writing articles is not enough.

SEO Friendly articles make your website easier for search engines and readers to understand its content. In this guideline, we will discuss what it is and how to write it to get more traffic.

What Is an SEO-Friendly Article?

SEO Friendly article is an article that is written following SEO guidelines so that it can be easily understood by search engines. In addition, it also focuses on providing information that is relevant to the user's search objectives. In short, SEO-friendly articles are articles that can be understood by both users and search engines.

Publishing SEO-friendly articles will help your website rank better in organic search. If your article appears at the top of search results, it has a bigger potential to bring in more traffic.

Compared to paid advertising, writing SEO-friendly articles can be used as a more affordable optimization tactic. The results are also more consistent and stable because organic rankings can last longer. It is unlike paid advertising which can lead to a ranking drop when you stop using it.

6 Differences Between SEO Articles and Regular Articles

If you want to produce articles that can organically bring in visitor traffic, then you need to understand the difference between SEO articles and regular articles. Unlike SEO articles, ordinary articles are written without following certain rules and are not optimized for search engines.

For those of you who don't understand the difference between the two, here we present 6 differences between SEO articles and regular articles:

1. Purpose

The difference between SEO articles and regular articles can be seen in the purpose of their creation. The main goal of creating SEO-friendly articles is to improve and optimize content performance in organic search. While the purpose of making ordinary articles is only to educate or meet the information needs of readers.

2. Use of Targeted Keywords

The difference between SEO articles and other regular articles is the use of target keywords. You don't need to target certain keywords in regular articles. To create SEO-friendly articles, you need to do keyword research to find potential keywords that will increase organic traffic.

Make sure to always add the target keyword in the title tag, meta description, heading, internal link, and initial paragraph. Distribute keywords naturally throughout the article so that search engines understand the main information of your article.

In addition to choosing one main keyword, you can also add keyword variants to increase the visibility of the content on search engines.

3. Topic of Discussion

SEO-friendly articles usually have general discussion topics with a specific language focus such as business, health, technology, tourism, and so on. While ordinary articles have more specific topics of discussion, usually discussing the contents of a journal, book, and others.

4. Language Style

The language style used in writing SEO-friendly articles is adapted to the target reader. However, in making SEO articles the language used must be easily understood by humans and search engines. Meanwhile, the style of language in ordinary articles will also be adjusted to the needs of the targeted reader, but not prioritize search engines too much.

5. Heading Structure

Next, the difference between SEO articles and regular articles is the use of headings or page structure. In making ordinary articles, the author does not need to pay attention to this heading structure.

In SEO articles, generally, headings are used to make it easier for search engines and readers to find the information presented in the article. That way, the article has the potential to perform well in organic search.

6. Added Link

The last difference between SEO articles and regular articles is the insertion of links. Regular articles may contain only a few hyperlinks or no hyperlinks at all. Meanwhile, SEO-friendly articles must include internal and external links. 

It aims to tell search engines the relationship between one article and another. Thus, search engines can more easily do crawling and indexing.

How to Write SEO-Friendly Articles

Here are some tactics you can do to produce SEO-friendly articles:

1. Do Keyword Research

The first way to write SEO-friendly articles is to do keyword research. Keyword research is conducted to find the most suitable and accurate keywords for your business niche. The right keywords will bring more traffic to your website.

There are several things to consider while doing keyword research:

• Choose primary keywords based on their accuracy by considering search volume, keyword difficulty in organic search, average monthly clicks on certain keywords, and cost per click (CPC).
• Define the main keyword and its variants. The more variations of keywords, the greater the chances of the article appearing in the SERP.
• Use long-tail keywords as keyword variations to help you produce content that is more specific to the user's search intent.
• Controlling keyword density and preventing keyword spam or keyword stuffing, the ideal number for keyword density is around 1-2% of the article words count. Excessive repetition of keywords can lead to article quality degradation. Check the keyword density of your article using the Word Counter tool. 

Google has provided several tools to support your keyword research activities, such as Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends. In addition, you can also check the related searches, people also ask, and suggestions displayed on the Google SERP to find keyword ideas. We also provide an SEO tool namely Keyword Ranking Tracker which can be used to track, monitor, and provide keyword suggestions for you.

2. Understand Users’ Search Intent

Understanding user search intent is also one way to write SEO-friendly articles. Search intent is the reason why users perform a particular search.

If you understand their search intent well, then you can determine the right type of content for your keyword. There are four types of search intent that you need to know in order to write SEO-friendly articles, namely:

1. Informational
   
   This type of search intent aims to get in-depth information or just want to discover a certain topic. If you are targeting informational search intent, then it is important that you present content with complete discussion. 
   
   For example, internet users might be looking for “what is SEO”, “how to write SEO articles”, or just looking for “website optimization steps”, and so on.
    
2. Navigational
   
   The second is navigational search intent. It is a keyword used by a user to search for a particular website or brand. In other words, users performing this type of search know where they need to go, but don't know exactly which domain or page to go to.
   
   For example, the query they used is "cmlabs", when they want to open the official website page of cmlabs without the need to manually type the URL in the search box.
    
3. Transactional
   
   Transactional search intent is a search that is carried out with the intention of buying. Usually, they already know exactly what they want to buy so the keywords used are also more specific (long-tail keywords). 
   
   For example, the keywords used are “cheap MacBook pro”, “original leather bags”, “iPhone 12 promo”, and so on.
    
4. Commercial Investigation
   
   The last search intent is a commercial investigation which is a search carried out by users who are expecting options before buying something. Internet users may enter queries related to product recommendations, product reviews, or comparisons between products.

3. Organize Article Structure

In order to make the article more SEO friendly, you need to organize the structure of the article. A good article structure will make it easier for readers to find the information they are looking for. In addition, a clear article structure can make search engine crawlers understand your content better.

A simple example of an article structure usually consists of the following sections:

1. Intro
   The first part is the intro or opening paragraph. In this section, you need to add keywords and mention the summary of the article so that both users and search engines can get an idea of ​​what will be discussed in the article. Close this paragraph with a sentence that attracts the reader to read the article to the rest.
    
2. Paragraph
   The paragraph is an article structure that presents the subject. You can use a maximum of three to four sentences in one paragraph to make the article more SEO friendly. It also makes it easier for readers to understand the explanation, find the information, and keywords they need.
    
3. Headings
   Headings are used to mark important information or points in an article. Using headings in articles will make your articles more structured. In that way, both users and search engines can understand and find the information in the article better.
    
4. Closing
   The last part of the article structure is the closing paragraph or statement. Usually, it contains a summary or conclusion of the main discussion that has been explained in the article. In this section, you can also add persuasive sentences to promote your products or services that are relevant to the discussion in the article.

4. Determine Article Length

Search engines prefer high-quality content. Likewise, internet users prefer to read and share high-quality articles with rich information.

The quality of the content is not only determined by the information it conveyed but also by the readability level. Make sentences that are short but can explain the information accurately. Sentences that are too long can make it difficult for readers to understand the meaning of your article.

Therefore, try to make an article that is not too long and easy for readers to find what they are looking for. In general, SEO-friendly articles consist of a minimum of 500 - 1,000 words with information that is easily understood by readers.

5. Keyword Distribution Strategy

In addition to doing keyword research, another way to write SEO-friendly articles is to apply a keyword placement strategy. By knowing the best position to place your keywords, hopefully, you can produce high-quality articles that perform better in organic search.

In addition to using target keywords in the content, here are the 7 best positions for placing keywords to produce SEO-friendly articles:

• Article title (title tag)
• First paragraph
• Heading tags
• URL structure (slugs)
• Meta description
• Image title (caption)
• Inbound links

6. Use Link Building

SEO-friendly articles need to add link building to make it easier for Google to index the page and understand the topics discussed in the article. You can attach relevant internal links or external links to your articles.

Internal links are links that direct users to other pages on your website. It is usually used to make it easier for users to navigate to a more specific discussion on your website. In addition, it can be used to attach a link from a page that contains a product or service as a way of soft-selling marketing activity.

On the opposite, external links are links that direct users to other pages outside your website. This type of link is usually used to include links from other websites that are used as references or sources of writing.

7. Optimize Meta Title and Meta Description

Optimizing meta titles and meta descriptions is also a way to write SEO-friendly articles. The use of attractive meta titles that represent the content of the article can be used as a gear to compete in organic search. Keep the meta title between 50 - 60 characters long, so it doesn't get truncated in search results.

Another thing to consider in writing SEO-friendly articles is the meta description. If it is optimized properly, it can increase the click-through rate (CTR) of your pages. Put keywords and descriptive sentences that can invite users to visit your article in your meta description. The recommended length is around 400 – 750 pixels. Check the appropriate length of the meta title and meta description through the Title and Meta Description Checker tool from cmlabs for free.

That is a wrap-up explanation to understand how to write SEO-friendly articles. Follow each step of writing SEO-friendly articles that we recommend to improve the quality of your articles. If your website provides high-quality content, internet users will be happy to read and share it. In that way, you can bring more traffic to your site.

To produce high-quality content without a hassle, you can use the SEO content writing service by cmlabs. By using our service, your website can gain organic traffic and perform optimally, all without having to do keyword researches and optimize your website on your own.