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Once your article is written there are a few steps that are required to ensure that the content of the page is as accessible to search engines as possible. Use this checklist to see if you’ve missed anything once you think you’re ready to publish.

 

HEADLINE / TITLE

  • Title must contain your primary keyword
  • Should be contained in an <h1> tag
  • Keep it to 70 characters or less, if possible
  • Make it intriguing and consider whether it answers a question (search query)?
    • Search query: Ideas for Christmas party invitations
      • Title 1: 11 Crazy Ideas for Christmas Party Invitations
      • Title 2: Hilarious Christmas Party Invitation Wording
      • Title 3: Creating your own, unique Christmas Party Invitation
      • Title 4: Top Trends for Christmas Party Invitations in 2017

 

META DESCRIPTION

  • Incorporate your primary keyword
  • Keep it to 160 characters or less
    • Try to be as close to the max as possible to utilize all of the available space in the search results
  • Add detail to build on your title but don’t give everything away. This is your chance to encourage the user to click through to learn more.
  • Consider that this will likely be pulled by social sites if users share your content and how it will look when viewed on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
  • Try to find the right balance that will encourage users to click through without writing ‘spammy’ content – your CTR will help boost your rankings in the SERPs BUT if users bounce immediately search engines will take that a negative sign

 

SUB-HEADLINES

  • Incorporate short, concise sub-headlines that help users browse the content
  • Should be contained in <h2> or <h3> tags
  • These may contain variations of our primary or secondary keywords

 

IMAGES

  • Use ‘alt’ tags for your images
  • Size images appropriately for the placement (too large can hurt load times)
  • These help your images show in image searches in search engines and can be an indicator to search engines about your content
    • They are believed to have been downgraded a bit as a ranking factor but writing proper alt tags is still a best practice

 

LINKS

  • Internal linking
    • Incorporate internal links to other areas of the website where applicable
    • Consider updating past posts to link to the new article or vice-versa if applicable
    • Use anchor text that represents the content being linked to (keywords)
  • External links
    • Consider linking to external sources that are high quality
    • Outgoing links can be a positive factor for SEO rankings if done properly
    • Outbound links can be to major publications or even small blogs as long as they are an authority on the topic
    • Use anchor text that represents what and why are you linking ‘XYZ’s creative ideas’ or simple the website name ‘XYZ’
    • Use target=”_blank” within the A tag when linking to external sites to open it in a new window and keep the user’s tab or window open to your article
    • This can also be used so that you can ‘mention’ or reach out directly to the 3rd party to encourage them to promote the content for you

 
If you’ve mastered on-page optimization tactics, you may be looking for new ideas for SEO-friendly content.