Seo content writing guide

1. Made in PGH SEO
SEO Content Writing for
WordPress
04/21/2019

2. SEO Content Writing for
WordPress

3. What you’ll need to begin?
▪ Yoast Plugin - The Made in PGH site already has this installed.

4. Keyword Research

5. 4 tips for Helping You Choose the right keywords
1. THINK LIKE YOUR WEBSITE VISITORS - Identify your target audience and put yourself into their shoes. Ask
yourself, 'If I was visiting this web page, what would I have searched to get here? What would I be looking
for?’
2. STUDY THE COMPETITION – Check out what your competitors are writing and saying on the subject that you
are going to write about. Read their content and view their metatags to help identify the keywords they are
targeting. Looking at your competitor's keywords will not only help you see what you could be forgetting,
but also help broaden your list of ideas.
3. UNDERSTAND THE LONG TAIL KEYWORD - Long tail keywords are a combination of three or more words or
phrases. While long tail keywords tend to boast lower search volumes, they generally attract more relevant
traffic, are typically less competitive, and easier to rank well on. Think about choosing some longtail
keywords that may help drive quality high intent traffic to your site.
4. USE GOOGLE ADS KEYWORD TOOL - To research your potential target keywords use the free Google Ads
keyword planner, simply signup for a Google Ads account. With this tool you can gather data on keyword
volume and trends, keyword competition, similar keywords and more.

6. On-page SEO

7. On-Page SEO Elements
Priority on-page SEO factors
1. The slug - A slug is the part of a URL which identifies a particular page on a website in
an easy to read form.
2. Body text - The body text or body copy is the text forming the main content of a web
page.
a. Title tag - A title tag is an HTML element that specifies the title of a web page. Title tags are
displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs) as the clickable headline for a given
result.
b. Meta description - The meta description tag in HTML is the 160 character snippet used to
summarize a web page's content. Search engines sometimes use these snippets in search
results to let visitors know what a page is about before they click on it.
3. Images - Search crawlers still can't "see" the images on a website page like we can, so
it's not wise to leave the interpretation solely in their hands.

8. Webpage Slug

9. Optimize the slug
▪ URLs describe a site or page to visitors and search engines. Keeping them relevant,
compelling, and accurate is the key to ranking well. Typically URLs longer than 75
characters are an issue.
Applying the keyword or
keyword phrase to the slug
has significant SEO impact.

10. Body Text

11. Body Text Content
When it comes to document size, using more words means more ranking opportunities. It is recommended to have a minimum word count of at least
500-600 words per page to rank well in the search engines. A good keyword foundation would be to integrate 5 to 10 keywords, while still keeping the
content natural.
The more content you write, the more of a chance you have of using variations of your target keywords. If you only write one or two paragraphs, you're
limiting yourself on the range of keywords and keyword variations you can rank for.
Even though the recommended word count should be at least 500-600 words per page for good SEO, it doesn't mean you can't rank well for a specific,
target keyword if your document only has say 50 words. There are plenty of instances where a page with only a handful of words outranks a document
with 1500 words, and that's in super competitive verticals. How can this happen:
▪ Strength of domain: If a domain is an authoritative and trusted domain, there is higher likelihood that it can rank even with fewer than
recommended words on a page.
▪ Volume of quality links: Even relatively new pages can rank high if significant numbers of other quality domains are linking to the page because
they value the content there.
▪ Anchor text: If the anchor text from inbound links pointing to your page contains your targeted keywords this sends a strong signal of topical
relevance to search engines and helps in search ranking.
So, it is possible to rank very well in Google on competitive keywords if your page only has a handful of words, if that document lives on a trusted,
authoritative domain and is supported by quality inbound links. It is recommended to get to the 500-600 words whenever possible though.

12. Yoast Content Analysis Example

13. Yoast Content Analysis
▪ Keyphrase in introduction: Your primary keyword should appear in the first paragraph. Make sure the topic
is clear immediately.
▪ Keyphrase density: The keyword density is the recommended number of times that the keyword should
appear in your content.
▪ Keyphrase in subheading: Use more keyphrases or synonyms in your higher-level subheadings.
▪ Image alt attributes: Images on this page should have alt attributes that reflect the topic of your text. Add
your keyphrase or synonyms to the alt tags of relevant images
▪ Keyphrase in slug: It is recommended that your primary keyword appear in your slug.
▪ Outbound links: Your page should contain outbound links.
▪ Internal links: Your page should contain internal links.
▪ Keyphrase length: Follow Yoast's recommendations.
▪ Keyphrase in meta description: Your primary keyword should appear in your meta description.
▪ Meta description length: The ideal meta description length is 55-155 characters.
▪ Previously used keyphrase: Make sure your primary keyword isn't a keyword you have used before.
▪ Text length: Follow the Yoast recommendation, but remember that 500-600 words are recommended.
▪ Keyphrase in title: The exact match of your keyword should appear in the title of your page.
▪ SEO title width: It is recommended to keep your SEO title to 55-60 characters.

14. Images - Alt Text for SEO

15. On-Page Images - Alt Text for SEO
What is alt text?
▪ Alt text (alternative text), also known as "alt attributes",
“alt descriptions,” and technically incorrectly as "alt
tags,” are used within an HTML code to describe the
appearance and function of an image on a page.

16. On-Page Images - Alt Text for SEO
Alt text uses:
1. Adding alternative text to photos is first and foremost a principle of web
accessibility. Visually impaired users using screen readers will be read an alt
attribute to better understand an on-page image.
2. Alt tags will be displayed in place of an image if an image file cannot be loaded.
3. Alt tags provide better image context/descriptions to search engine crawlers,
helping them to index an image properly.
The best format for alt text is sufficiently descriptive, but doesn't contain any
spammy attempts at keyword stuffing. If you can close your eyes, have someone
read the alt text to you, and imagine a reasonably accurate version of the image,
you're on the right track.`

17. Aaron’s Contact Info
▪ info@cognitiondigitalmarketing.com
▪ Play Alone Records