How can you edit articles for SEO success?

It is important as well to take a look at the SERPs that way you can have a good idea of what is already ranking for your target keyword. Put yourself in the your reader's shoes and ask yourself : Who would read this article? If it were me, what kind of information/answers do you I hope to get from reading this article.

To make a little addon- Optimize with relevant keywords Craft compelling meta titles Ensure readability for users Use header tags for structure Add quality backlinks Regularly update content for freshness

1. Keyword Research: Identify relevant keywords with tools like Google Keyword Planner. 2. On-Page Optimization: - Title Tag: Optimize the title with the primary keyword. - Meta Description: Craft a compelling description with the keyword. - Header Tags: Use header tags for content structure, including keywords naturally. 3. High-Quality Content: Create informative, engaging content that adds value. Use multimedia like videos to enhance user experience. 4. Internal and External Linking: Use internal links to direct readers to related pages and external links for credibility. 5. Mobile-Friendly and Page Speed: Ensure a mobile-friendly, fast-loading page for better user experience.

There are two Chrome plug-ins I always start my analysis with: SEOQuake (SEMRush), and the Ahrefs plug-in. First and foremost, I take a look at the headings and see if they make sense (is there only one H1, are the H2s & H3s correct, etc.). Then, I plug it into SpyFu and take a look at the metrics. How is it ranking? Where is it landing on SERPs? Then take a look at the leaderboard and see what it is that they are doing. Once you figure that out (missing keywords, backlinking, whatever), reverse engineer what the #1 spot is doing and apply it. But make sure to apply what you learned without sounding spammy or keyword-stuffing! Nobody is going to read that, and then your dwell time will suffer.

To be honest, this is the toughest part of the whole article. Usually, I will throw together a working title, and go on with creating an outline and then writing the first draft. During that first draft, once you have fleshed out keywords and created a good cadence and tempo, that title with usually reveal itself to the writer. Of course, you may need to do some tweaking to it, but the title will be there. Metas are also usually in the body of your text once you have written the draft. Yes, you might need to tweak it with a keyword, but your meta is already buried in that 1,000+ word draft.

You would be shocked at home many articles out there lack even a basic structure. And I mean from major outlets! I'll turn on the Ahrefs plug-in to see what their headings look like, and there is a single H1...and nothing else. It's just a wall of text. Don't do this, and I don't mean in a purely SEO sense. Don't get so wrapped up in optimization that your article structure itself is garbage. Look, the purpose is to have people read your material and find it useful. If your article sucks, it will only continue to rank for so long. Good content starts with good structure, so focus on creating high-quality frameworks and outlines before you ever put pen to paper. In the long run, it will save you so much time and effort.

It's also useful to check that your article includes an introduction and a conclusion as well as a body section. This does depend on the type of article you're writing though because a list may not need additional sections.

There is an old acronym in the Army that is BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front. The BLUF is kind of like TL;DR. The BLUF of content quality is simple: focus on writing good content. That is why AI-written content will never replace good writers. It will replace bad writers, yes, but not good ones. Don't lose focus on the fact that your mission in life as a writer is not to write clickbait that ranks. Your purpose is to write good content that engages because it is good, thoughtful, well-researched writing.

If you're editing an article that was published a while ago, you should also check if it's ranking for keywords that you didn't originally target. You can gain traffic quickly and improve the article by adding information that's relevant for those keywords.

I hear a lot about folks saying add alt text to images for SEO. In my experience this advice is often shallow. There's no doubt that providing better meta data (title, image, caption, alt text, etc.) will help algorithms better derive relevancy and improve SEO. However, it's important to consider the intention of each HTML element and not abuse it for SEO alone. Consider that alt text is essential for folks using assistive technology and should be descriptive of the contents of the image and not just stuffed with keywords. Additionally, there's times your image is decorative and should have empty alt text, where SEO keywords become a detriment to the customer experience, rather than improving it.

Lots of people use stock photos because they're easier to obtain but I like using my own photos. This also matters if you're trying to monetize a site because ad networks often prefer sites with unique photos. Unique photos can also generate additional traffic for your article.

Adding internal links to an article is one of the easiest ways to build backlinks to other articles on your own site. This is important because backlinks may determine whether anyone sees your article in the first place. External links can also help you build credibility but be careful when you add them. Search engines may penalize your article if it includes links to low-quality sites.