Digital businesses need client engagement to drive sales and prosper. So what better way to engage the audience than through a nice blog article that will bring leads and stimulate website clicks? Regular blogging improves overall rankings, enhances online reputation, proves expertise, and keeps brands relevant.
That’s why optimizing blog content is super important to get the best results. Stay put for our essential tips on how to write better structured blog posts:
6 Blog Post Tips to Improve SEO and Content Readability
1. Heading Management
Headings are the top feature of every blog post. They are basically the planned out roadmap of an article and are the first thing the audience pays attention to. Good titles create urgency and have an emotional context. They need to be carefully brainstormed so the content makes sense and the topic is relevantly presented.
That's why writers should concentrate on heading relevancy. If the titles failed to get the reader's interest in the subject, then they will leave the site without further due. So it's time to answer the questions - how to write good headings and how to structure them for better impact?
Headlines
Let's start with the most important heading - the headline. Catchy headlines are key to capturing a reader's attention. They should be people-oriented and have to create urgency, as well as trigger emotions and curiosity. The ultimate length of a headline is 6-12 words.
Some proven methods to make the title better is adding trigger words, numbers, bold statements, questions, and formulating it in a negative/positive tone. If the viewers don't find the main title intriguing or engaging, they will scroll away and never feel the urge to click on the article in the first place.
Text Headings
Some viewers would not put the effort to read a full article. However, if they already opened it, they will go over the headings and decide whether the small font content will provide them with the ultimate information they are seeking.
Every blog post needs a nice H2 heading that has all the features of a catchy headline. The H3 headings should be directly referring to the H2 they fall under. They are usually short and informative.
H3 headings are perfect for feature presentation and listing. H4 headings are not necessary, however, they are good if you need to separate H3 types or further categorize them.
Heading Structure
Here is an example of a good structured post looks like:
> H1 (headline)
> H2 (catchy heading)
> H3 (a list item, feature, method, directly reffering to H2) > H3
> H4 (cathegorizing H3)
> H4
> ... etc.
> H3
> ... etc.
2. Paragraph & Sentence Length
It is generally not that hard to optimize blog posts for better readability. Just make sure you present the topic according to the audience that's going to read the article. Overusing professional terms and complicated words is only acceptable if your readers are experts in the field.
In case your audience is looking for some recreational content, make sure you use simple and short sentences. Fewer adverbs and no passive voice is a good recipe for success when your readers are not experts in your niche. We would suggest using a lot of transition words as well.
Short sentences are easy to read, so stick to the following rules. The ultimate sentence length for better readability is less than 20 words. Also, use no more than 4-5 sentences per paragraph. And note that more than 3-4 paragraphs under a heading (without any subheadings) are too much.
3. Fonts and Colors
When it comes to fonts, there is one general rule - readability is more important than design. Indeed, it's pretty when the blog post font matches the site theme. But if your default website font is hard to read - you definitely need to change it.
Our advice is to stick to regular fonts and avoid cursive, bold, handwritten, and overly-decorated fonts. Another thing - make sure that the font is in contrast with the background. If your blog post background is light, go for a black font. If it's a dark-themed site, make sure the text is in bright white color.
4. Visuals Management
Graphic content can be optimized for better readability as well. It is considered a good strategy to put 2-4 images in a 1000-word article, or an image/video after H3 heading for listing blog posts. Another strategy is to put graphics before their respective subtitles or spread them evenly in between listed features.
Visuals make a text easier to read on a psychological level. Remember how when you were a kid, the most interesting stories were the ones with pictures? And the long ones without images seemed just too long? The same thing applies to blog articles. People are not presuming your content as a full-on book, but more like a quick read.
Hence, graphics like instructional videos, pictures, and infographics can keep the viewer's attention and stimulate their interest to actually read the text.
Here is some additional advice. A good SEO practice for search engine readability is to include relevant image descriptions in the Alt text field. Also, your visual's title should always correspond with the topic you are covering in your blog post. Aim for small-sized (~100 MB) but high-quality images, in light formats like .jpg and .jpeg (not .gif or .pgn).
5. Write Content for Your Audience
At the end of the day, the goal is to optimize blog post structure for better readability. But that does not mean content writers should only write for the algorithm. Even though search engines love SEO-friendly content, they also love it when the text is readable and people-oriented.
Hence, blogging is more than just stuffing keywords and writing randomized sentences. It should give value, information, and should educate. When you focus your writing on the needs of the audience, you will start creating blog posts worth sharing.
6. Check Readability Before Upload
The two main readability scales we like to focus on are the Flesch Reading Ease formula & the Automated Readability Index. They help blog managers like ourselves determine if their content is easy to read and comprehend. So we highly advise you to do the same.
There are many software solutions that help determine the readability of a post. Our team works with a few effective tools to assure texts are high-quality material. Here are our favorites:
Seems like too much work? Hire a dedicated content team today...
If you want to generate readable content, Skribu Digital is the solution you are looking for! Never settle for low-quality blog posts again. Trust us with your online content and increase your website readability. Our content writing services will complement your in-house SEO strategy and will get you closer to your organic traffic goals.
Get in touch to learn more!
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