SEO-trick 3: Checklist for writing search engine optimized texts

Today I will give you a seo-checklist. A checklist for writing search engine optimized texts, to be more accurate. There are some really easy things you can do for getting your texts to appear higher in the search results. Check this:

The top ten checklist for writing search engine optimized texts

1. Choose a word or a phrase to focus on. Check with Google keyword tool and try to find a word that describes your text, and have searches as well. Try to search the word in Google as well and check if the competition seems to be hight or low. The ideal is to find a word or phrase with a lot of searches, but low competition.
2. Keyword relevancy. Start writing or editing your text. Use the word or phrase as much as possible without making it look bad or unnatural for readers. The keyword should be between 1 and 4 % of the total amount of text on the page.
3. Title. The keyword/phrase MUST be in the title. And if possible, put it first in the title.
4. Amount of text. Use at least 500 words in your texts. More text is better.
5. URL. If you have clean url’s in your blog, make sure that the url contains the keyword. “/checklist-for-writing-search-engine-optimized-texts” is a good url. “/2011/12/03/post3” is not a good url. “/?page=233” is neither a good url.
6. Picture’s alt-tag. Add at least one picture to the page, and add the keyword as alt-tag and title-tag for the image.
7. Headings. Use headings “the right way”, with one H1, containing the keyword. Use as well some h2’s and h3’s to the texts, where at least one of each contains the keyword. Tip: it is often easier to get the keyword in to headings than to texts, so use a lot of subheadings.
8. Text optimization. make the keyword bold at least once in the text. Make the keyword italic at least once in the text. If you can, make the keyword underlined as well once in the text if you are able to!
9. Keyword placement. When writing search engine optimized texts, try to have the keyword as early as possible in the text. Put it in the first sentence for example. Put the keyword as late as possible as well, I prefer to put it in the last sentence as well. Tip: A sentence like this: “Thank you for reading my blogpost about “writing search engine optimized texts” fits very well as the last sentence of a post.
10. Description. Put the keyword in the description of the page as well. But remember not to stuff the description with keywords, the most important thing with the description is still to make people want to click on the post when seing it in Google.

There you have it! Follow that list for the next 20 texts you are writing and you will soon see some more traffic to your blog!

Why do I need to do like this for writing search engine optimized texts?

Because Google is quite smart. But it is still a machine, an algorithm, not a human. See Google as a hyperactive 10 year old boy reading a newspaper he do not want to read, and fast. What will that boy look at? He will see headings. He will see what is bold. He will see pictures (Google see’s pictures alt-tags). He will look at everything that stands out from the “boring” text. So, make it clear for Google what your text is about, like I am doing here. You have probably realized already that this text is about writing search engine optimized texts right? :) But you still read it? And Google reads it.

The checklist for writing search engine optimized texts was the third text in the SEO Christmas calendar, be sure to check the other ones as well!