How to Write an SEO Article to Get Into the Top 10 of Search Results

Intro

For an article to be worthy of the top ten results, it needs to be optimised for the Google search engine. This process requires certain skills and knowledge, but the basic algorithm can be reduced to understandable points. The longread is long, but it contains practical advice on the frequency of keywords, the correct alternation of short and long sentences, and a bonus checklist for those who read it to the end.

About SEO Text in Simple Words

SEO text is a detailed, structured content optimised for the requirements of search algorithms. It must contain keywords and phrases that match the intentions of users and headings that make it easier for search engines to crawl pages.

You need such text on your website to attract the target audience, increase your website's position in search results, and increase the level of authority of your content.

To have high-quality and optimised SEO content, you first need to create text that:

• Attracts the target audience and answers their questions.
• Provides stable traffic from search engines (organic traffic).
• Provides users with comprehensive information that encourages them to buy on your website, attracts more targeted subscribers to your blog, etc.

How SEO Articles Differ From Regular Articles

SEO article	Regular article
Involves the use of certain keywords and phrases with high frequency to clearly show the search engine bot what your content is about.	Does not necessarily contain keywords and phrases.
It is aimed not only at readers but also at search robots.	Focused primarily on the reader, not search engine algorithms.
Provides useful information for the reader to improve the site's position in the search results and increase the number of potential customers.	Provides interesting and/or useful information only for the reader to find something useful for themselves.

The task of an SEO article is to:

• Provide readers with exactly the information they are looking for and give them the answers they need.
• Create the best possible answer to a particular search query.
• Help the site to take higher positions in the search results.
• Increase website visibility.
• Increase organic traffic from search engines (to attract a new target audience for your blog or as many potential customers as possible for your store, etc.).
• Make your services more popular and your business more profitable.

How to Start SEO Text Optimisation

Choose a Topic

According to Google algorithms, content should be primarily for people. To attract a new target audience, you need to genuinely capture their interest, which is why choosing the right topic is so important. For instance, if you're targeting casino enthusiasts, creating engaging content around popular online platforms like Slotozen Casino can be a great approach. Highlighting the features, bonuses, or unique gaming experiences offered by Slotozen can resonate with readers and keep them coming back for more. By tailoring your content to their interests, you'll not only draw in new audiences but also establish credibility in your niche.

Here are some ways to find a relevant topic:

• Enter a search query related to the topic of our website and go to the ‘Similar Questions’ and ‘Related Search Queries’ blocks in the results.
• You can find a topic in the Serpstat service. In the Search Tips and Search Questions sections, you will see the questions that users most often google.
• Review competitors' articles and identify topics that were not covered on your site or were partially covered. To save time, you can collect the titles of your competitors' blog posts using services such as Netpeak Spider.
• To find out which articles bring the most traffic to your competitors, look at the data in the Domain Analysis → Competitors section of Serpstat.
• And then, by clicking on the competitor's domain, go to the ‘Top Pages’ section, where you can see which pages of the competitor's website/blog are among the most visited.
• You can find popular, ‘painful’ topics on Reddit.
• If your business is seasonal, consider this in your content plan. You shouldn't publish an article on ‘What to combine tops with?’ in winter.

Analyse Your Competitors and Make Theses

You have decided on the topic. It is highly likely that your competitors have a similar article. Enter the relevant query in the search engine and check the first 10 results.

You need to do an SEO analysis of the text on competitors' pages, i.e. analyse the existing articles of competitors and highlight the features of their writing: the structure and length of the article, keywords and LSI words, images, the way they present information, etc.

It may turn out that the content of the articles is different. For example, you have found three good articles about millet porridge from competitors. One article has a section about the benefits for the body, the second one tells who can eat it, and the third contains the fastest recipe. If you combine the three points, it will automatically make your article more useful for readers and search robots.

Identify Additional Structuring Elements

I advise you to identify repetitive elements, as well as pay attention to the ‘highlights’ of your competitors that make their content different. This will help you understand what additional elements you need in the structure of your article.

For example, if all your competitors have images on their pages, you should add them too. If some articles have a question and answer section or a comparison table, you should do the same.

As a result of the competitor analysis, you will formulate the points that your SEO-optimised article must contain.

Collect the Semantic Core (SC)

The search engine crawler needs to understand the direction of the content, and keywords help it to do this. With the help of keywords, Google will be able to display this content to readers. There are plenty of services for collecting the semantic core, and I use Serpstat most often.

Make a List of LSI Words

In addition to key phrases, Google analyses the page as a whole. From an SEO point of view, it is useful to add words related to the topic of the content (LSI) to your page.

For example, if you have an article about summer dresses, then the following are considered LSI words: style, cut, colour, print, length, short, light, image, bow, combine, etc. You can find LSI words using Serpstat in the ‘Similar Phrases’ section, Google's autocomplete, or the Istio service.

Write a Plan

The points of the plan include:

• Different variants of the title.
• The purpose of writing the article.
• Keywords in descending order of frequency.
• List of LSI words.
• Length (number of characters/words).
• Subheadings (theses).
• Other content structuring elements (lists, images, infographics, tables, etc.).
• Anchors (the text on which the link will be placed) and links for linking.
• Ideas on how to make your text better and how it can stand out.

How to Write an SEO-Optimised Article

Create an Anchor Menu of Content

SEO articles can be of different lengths: if the article is long, a clickable block with the content of the article at the beginning of the page will help the reader. Here is an example of such an anchor menu:

Highlight Headings and Subheadings

It is worth highlighting headings and subheadings in the text, i.e. tags H1-H6. In practice, the most commonly used subheadings are H1-H4.

H1 is the title, it is strictly recommended to use the keyword with the highest frequency in H1. In the subheadings of lower levels (H2-H6), you can use keywords with an average frequency.

The H1-H6 tags help the search engine crawler to define the topic more precisely. The search engine then offers the article in the search results to those users whose queries it matches.

Include Lists in Your Content

Lists make text easier to read visually:

• Bulleted lists (like this one) are implemented in HTML markup using the <ul> tag.
• Bulleted lists start with a lowercase letter and end with a semicolon.
• Numbered, which in HTML markup are implemented using the <ol> tag.
• In numbered lists, the abstracts are capitalised after the ordinal number and end with a period.

If your article contains any list, it is advisable to present it in the form of a list.

Don’t Forget About Images

It is advisable that the information on the page is accompanied by thematic pictures and photos. Images should also be optimised with the alt tag.

The alt attribute is a short alternative text that describes for readers what exactly is depicted in the picture or photo. This attribute, especially when you include a keyword or phrase in it, confirms to the search engine that the image is relevant to the article. The presence and appropriateness of the Alt attribute help with ranking.

Add a Video

A useful, relevant video will attract attention and enhance the content. For better ranking of a video page, you can use Schema.org markup for videos.

Create a Table

Tables help to better perceive and remember information. In a table, you can compare features/characteristics of products, describe the advantages and disadvantages of a product, give life hacks, what to do and what to avoid, etc. You can place a table on a page using the <table> tag.

Add Quotes to the Text

Apt quotes from professionals will make your article look more expert and be perceived with more trust.

Check for Errors

Be sure to check for spelling, grammar, lexical, syntactic, punctuation, and other errors in the article. Language errors reduce the level of trust in the author's expertise.

Search bots also notice errors in content. If there are too many of them, it will prevent the bot from correctly identifying the topic, which can lead to a deterioration in rankings and lower page positions. According to Google Search representative John Mueller, for most websites, spelling and grammar take precedence over incorrectly implemented HTML markup.

To check the text, I like the Language Tool extension, which highlights different types of language errors with different colours.

Check for Uniqueness

This is one of the most important factors in ranking a page in the SERPs. Search engine algorithms analyse the content and determine whether it is duplicate of another website or too similar.

John Mueller emphasises that the text should be unique, especially in the part of the page that the reader sees before he starts scrolling.

You can check an article for plagiarism with the Duplichecker service. I advise you to focus on the uniqueness of 95% and above. In some topics where it is too difficult to create unique content (drug instructions, recipes, etc.), the lower threshold for uniqueness can be lowered to 80%.

Create Micro-Markup

Implement Schema.org Micro-Markup to improve how search engines interpret your page. Adding structured data ensures that your content is easily indexed and accurately displayed in search results, leading to enhanced visibility and higher rankings.