Apr 17 2024
10 tips for an awesome and SEO-friendly blog post

Writing blog posts requires skill. To keep readers interested, you should think about the structure of your content and keep it enjoyable. Because if people like and understand your post, they’re much more likely going to share it with others – and that will increase your rankings. So, if you want to improve your writing skills and your rankings, start with these tips on how to write an SEO-friendly blog post!

It might sound like writing for SEO and writing to attract and engage your audience are two conflicting goals. But that’s actually not true. Sure, if you want to write an SEO-friendly post, you should feature the words you want to be found in a prominent place. But over-using keywords severely damages the readability of your text. In fact, a high keyphrase density can even be a signal to Google that you might be stuffing keywords in your text, which can negatively affect your rankings.

This post provides tips on writing blog posts that are SEO-friendly and readable. These two goals should always go hand in hand. Because we believe that writing in understandable language gets you more visitors and keeps them on your site!

Master SEO copywriting and other vital SEO skills by getting Yoast SEO academy Premium. This gives you access to all our courses and the Yoast SEO Premium plugin!

Before you start: do keyword research

Before you start writing, you have to do keyword research. If you want to dominate the search results, you’ll have to figure out which words your audience actually searches for. These are the topics you should write about and the keywords you should use in your text.

When you’ve done your keyword research and have a list of focus keywords to write about, it’s time to get on with writing. Here are 10 tips to help you end up with an awesome blog post!

Writing tips for SEO-friendly blog posts

Above all, your blog post has to be a good piece of writing. When starting a new post, many bloggers just start writing. While this may work for some people, others need more guidance. Personally, I always follow these ‘rules’ when I write a new blog.

1. Think before you write!

Before you start, think carefully about the message of your piece. It helps to answer the following questions:

  • What do you want to tell your readers, or which central question do you want to answer?
  • What’s the purpose of your article?
  • What do you want your readers to do at the end of the page?

It’s also good to think about the search intent someone may have. An easy way to get an insight into this is by looking at the search results for the search term you want to rank with.

2. Devise a structure for your post

To write a readable and SEO-friendly blog post, you need to create a clear structure. This means that every post should have:

  • some sort of introduction (in which you introduce your topic).
  • a body (in which the main message is written).
  • a conclusion (in which you summarize the main ideas or draw a conclusion).

In a few sentences, write down what you want to say in all three sections. You’ve now created a summary of your post. This will help you create a structured and readable blog post. Now the real writing can begin.

3. Use paragraphs and headings

Everybody uses paragraphs, but not everybody uses them well. For example, it might be tempting to start each new sentence on a new line because it looks nice. But you shouldn’t do that! You also shouldn’t make your paragraphs too lengthy, as each paragraph should have its own idea or subject. So, ask yourself what the main idea of each paragraph is. You should be able to summarize that main idea in one sentence. If that’s not possible and you need more sentences to explain the main idea, you simply need to use more paragraphs.

Proper headings also help your readers understand what a specific part of your text is about. If you want people to find their way through your articles, use subheadings to lead them. Subheadings help readers scan your page, and clarify the structure of your articles. They’re not just important for readability, but for SEO as well. That’s why we also advise to use your keyword in some of your subheadings. Don’t use your keyword in every heading! It will make your text read clunky and unnatural. Plus, it will put people off from reading further.

4. Use transition words

Transition words help people scan through your text and understand the relationship between sentences and paragraphs. For example, let’s say there are three reasons for people to buy your product. You should use signal words like: ‘first of all’; ‘secondly’ and ‘finally’. Also, words like ‘however’, ‘similarly’ and ‘for example’ give a clear signal to your readers. Readers will instantly get that a conclusion will follow after words like ‘to sum up’ or ‘in short’. Transition words are therefore very important to add structure to your text.

Stuffing your article with your focus keyword makes it less attractive to read, and it can hurt your rankings. Google is getting smarter, after all. It wants you to write content that users will love. It doesn’t want you to use your focus keyword in every other sentence, because Google now has other ways to analyze what your text is about. For example, one of the ways Google understands the topic of your text is by recognizing synonyms and other keywords that are related to your focus keyphrase. That’s why you should use synonyms and related keywords throughout your copy.

Synonyms are relatively easy to think of, but finding the right related keywords is a bit more challenging. That’s why the Yoast SEO plugin comes with a feature that helps you find related keyphrases right away. Based on your focus keyword, our plugin can generate a number of related keyphrases with the click of a button! Along with how many times that keyword is searched for and what the search trend looks like. This feature is powered by SEMrush and can be used in both our free and Premium plugins. So use this related keyphrase feature!

6. Optimize the length of your article

Make sure your blog posts have a minimum of 300 words but keep the length of your article balanced. Google likes long articles. However, if your article is too long, you might scare users away. So, what should you do? Our advice is to write short to medium-length articles. When you know you’re a skilled writer, you can also try your hand at longer articles. Check out this article if you’re not quite sure how long a blog post should be.

And remember to keep using your focus keyphrase throughout your text to make sure you end up with an SEO-friendly blog post!

7. Link to existing content

If you’ve already written content on the same topic as your current post, don’t forget to link to and from these posts. We call this internal linking. Both your readers and Google will thank you for it, because it helps them manage your content and understand relationships between different content on your site. So, take some time to link to and from your previous content. Our internal linking tool can help you by suggesting relevant pages and posts on your site that you can link to.

To summarize, internal linking is useful because:

  • Your link structure is also important for your rankings in Google.
  • Linking to other content about a subject is great for your readers, as they may be interested in reading these related posts too. It helps them navigate your site!
  • It will make your new blog post (and the existing posts) stronger, because you show your authority on the subject.

8. Let other people read your post

Before publishing your post, make sure to let someone else read it first. Ask them whether they understand the main concept of your post, and invite them to correct any typos and grammatical errors. They can help you by providing an objective view of the readability and attractiveness of your text. If you have someone in your team who happens to be an expert on the topic you’re writing about, make sure to run your post past them. That way, they can check whether you’re covering everything you need to and give suggestions to make your post even better.

9. Add content regularly

Regularly adding new blog posts to your website tells Google that your website is alive. This is important! Because if your site isn’t active, Google will crawl it less often and this might negatively affect your rankings. But don’t just post for the sake of posting. Make sure that everything you post is high-quality content: informative, well-written articles that entertain readers and fit their search intent.

If you have difficulty posting on a regular basis, it might be a great idea to create an editorial calendar for your blog. This allows you to structure the process in a way that fits you and your team. It’s also a good idea to update your old blog posts once in a while to avoid them getting stale.

10. Use our Yoast SEO plugin

The analysis tool in our Yoast SEO plugin helps you write readable and SEO-friendly blog posts. Start by choosing the most important search term you want people to find this particular page for. This will be your focus keyphrase. After you fill this in, our plugin runs all kinds of checks to see whether your post is optimized or still needs improving. Such as:

  • Our plugin checks your post to see whether you’ve used the keyphrase in the right places, like your copy, SEO title, meta description, alt text and URL. Yoast SEO Premium also recognizes different word forms of your keyphrase.
  • It gives you suggestions for related keyphrases that you can add to boost the quality and relevance of your content.
  • It checks the readability of your text: Are your sentences or paragraphs too long? Do you use transition words?
  • It checks the internal and external links in your article. Yoast SEO Premium even provides suggestions for links to related articles on your site.
  • It calculates how often you use your keyphrase throughout your text: not enough or too often? When you have Premium it also checks if you’ve distributed your keyphrase evenly throughout your post.
  • It checks if you’ve used potentially non-inclusive words or phrases, so you can make your content relatable for everyone.
  • It also checks if other pages on your website use the same focus keyword, to prevent you from competing with yourself.

If you write a relatively SEO-friendly blog post (based on the aspects discussed above) the plugin will indicate this with a green light. Posts and pages with green lights will help you improve the ranking of the pages on your website.

An example

It’s good to remember that not every light has to be green for your overall SEO score to be good. For example, these are the results of this blog post. As you can see, it does have an overall green light for the focus keyphrase “SEO-friendly blog post”:

Analysis results as shown in the Yoast SEO sidebar

Kind of a cool way to get feedback on your content, right? When you use the Yoast SEO plugin you’ll find this feedback in the Yoast SEO sidebar next to your post and in the Yoast meta box under your post (while editing). If you’re interested in learning more about all the aspects this analysis tool looks at, read our article on how to use the Yoast SEO content analysis tool.

Conclusion

The days when a few SEO tricks were enough to get your website to rank well in Google are long gone. Nowadays, quality content is king. And good content also leads to more links, shares, tweets and returning visitors to your website. Of course, there are always other things you can do to maximize the SEO friendliness of your post, but the most important thing is to just write very, very good posts! Still not sure if your blog post is ready to publish? Take a look at this checklist for your blog post to make sure you’re good to go!

Read more: SEO copywriting: the ultimate guide »



Cindy Paul

Cindy is a content manager at Yoast. She writes and optimizes blog posts, and enjoys writing content that will help people create better content for their site and users.

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Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Apr 9 2024
Word count and SEO: how long should a post or page be?

We often get the question of how long an online text should be. As this often depends on different factors, it’s difficult to give just one answer. But looking from an SEO and user-oriented perspective, there is a rule of thumb you can follow. We advise writing more than 300 words for posts or pages, while product descriptions should be over 200 words. Why? Because a higher word count helps Google understand what your text is about. It also gives you the room to give enough information on the topic being discussed, which is helpful for your site visitors. However, we don’t advise adding more content for the sake of it. Quality and readability always come first!

Table of contents

Did you get a red or orange traffic light because your word count isn’t high enough? Read about the text length check here, or jump to the paragraph on how to write high-quality lengthy posts or informative taxonomy archive pages.

Why does word count matter?

Defining word count is easy: it’s how many words are used in a specific text, on a page or in another place. It’s an easy way to measure text length. But why does it matter you ask? Well, making sure that your text is long enough helps Google better understand what your text is about. We’ve experienced this ourselves; we have written quite some articles that are over 2500 words, such as our SEO essentials. They are cornerstone content, and they help our organic traffic grow. Here’s how longer articles contribute to SEO:

When your text is longer, Google has more indicators to determine what it is about. The longer your text, the more often your focus keyphrase will probably appear. This is no excuse for keyphrase stuffing, though! If you optimize your copy naturally, your focus keyphrase will pop up here and there throughout your text. You can also fit in more synonyms and related keyphrases. What’s more, in a longer post, you can add more headings, links, and images, where you will mention the keyphrase or related phrases. So more content gives you more room to provide users with high-quality and nuanced information.

A longer text can also help you rank for multiple long-tail variants of the keyphrase you’ve optimized your text for. That’s because you have more opportunities to address various topics in a lengthy text. Your article, or your other posts that take a deep dive into the subtopic, will have a chance to turn up in search results for the long-tail variants of your keyphrase. If you do some well-thought-out internal linking you can even boost the traffic to the extensive post you’ve written. This helps you drive more organic traffic to your site.

Avoid having thin content

Also, if a page doesn’t have a lot of text (a low word count), Google is more likely to think of it as thin content. All search engines want to provide the best answers to online searches people do. Thin content is less likely to offer a complete answer and satisfy the needs of the public. Consequently, it will probably not rank very high.

The same goes for product pages and descriptions in your online store. While these don’t have to be as long as blog posts, it is a good idea to make sure the text is long enough. Don’t underestimate the importance of having the proper information on your products. This can make the difference between making a purchase or not, as more text helps them make an informed decision and helps them trust your website.

What does Yoast SEO check?

The text length check in Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO helps you by checking the length of your texts. This check is part of the SEO analysis, and you will find it in the SEO tab of the Yoast SEO meta box or in the Yoast SEO sidebar. It calculates how many words you’ve added to a page and whether that’s enough to help you rank. This check is also available in our Yoast SEO for Shopify app.

Feedback of the Yoast SEO analysis on text length
Feedback of Yoast SEO for Shopify analysis on text length

Every page on your site needs to contain a certain number of words to be helpful for your site visitors and Google. How long your text should minimally be, depends on the type of page. Taxonomy pages require less content than blog posts, whereas cornerstone content is often your most important content and therefore needs to contain a significant number of words.

In the table below, you can see how we assess the different pages. If you have less than the minimum number of words on a page, you’ll get a red traffic light in the Yoast SEO analysis. Where you get a green traffic light when you’ve hit the minimum word count we advise.

Taxonomy page >250 words
Regular post or page >300 words
Cornerstone product page >400 words
Cornerstone content page >900 words
Product page or description >200 words
Minimum number of words per type of page to get a green traffic light in Yoast SEO

Not enough content

Yoast SEO will also give you a red or orange traffic light if your post or page consists of less than 50 characters in the readability analysis. To properly evaluate the readability of your content, the Yoast SEO plugin needs a minimum number of characters. If your post or page contains less than 50 characters, the plugin’s readability checks won’t give you the best results. And, in most cases, you can’t provide the best answer to your audience in such a short span of words.

Word count in the Yoast SEO insights tab

You can also find the exact word count of your content in the Yoast SEO Insights tab in the sidebar. The Insights tab also contains other useful features, like the Flesch reading ease, estimated reading time, and prominent words.

How to write a high-quality lengthy post

So, longer articles might have some advantages over short posts. But while you’re writing posts with a high word count, it is important to keep the quality of the text at a high level. Good quality texts are readable, well structured, and always contain original content. 

Writing high-quality content for your site or online store is hard. Especially when your goal is to write articles with a high word count to grow your organic traffic. When you’re writing, and especially elaborating on what you already have, make sure you keep the following aspects in mind:

Write readable texts

The most important thing when writing long (or any kind of) posts is to write for your audience. That may sound obvious, but it is surprisingly easy to get distracted and start adding irrelevant information. Start by thinking about questions a reader could have about the topic you’re covering. Then, provide clear answers to those questions. Of course, the answers should be well-written and readable.

What can you do to make your text readable? Your text needs to follow a logical line of thought. To accomplish that, we advise you to start every paragraph with a topic sentence, i.e., a sentence that explains the main idea of that paragraph. Use the rest of the paragraph to elaborate on that sentence. Be sure to keep your sentences and paragraphs short and snappy. If you find any unnecessary words or sentences – delete them. Minimize your use of passive voice. But do connect your paragraphs to make the text easy to read, a good way to do this is by using transition words.

Use headings

One way of structuring your text is by using headings. Headings within a text serve two purposes. First: they show a top-down hierarchy. You immediately see that a subject has, for instance, three subheadings that elaborate on it further. Another function is for scanning. You can let your readers know what a paragraph is about by using headings. It also makes your text pleasant to read, as a heading tells you what the next piece of text is about.

Write original content

This is the hardest one. It is not easy being original with so much content out there. But, it might help if you reflect on what makes you unique. Think about how what you offer is different and better than what your competitors offer. Then do some keyword research to see what your audience searches for online. Preparing with research can give you plenty of ideas on what to write about and how to make yourself stand out from the crowd. In case you get stuck, we have a whole blog post on how to find inspiration.

Want to learn more on how to write high-quality posts that users and search engines will love? Our SEO Copywriting course and other SEO courses can help you with that. You can get access to these courses with Yoast SEO Premium or Yoast SEO for Shopify, which also gives you access to extra features in the Yoast SEO plugin.

Go Premium and get free access to our SEO courses!

Learn how to write great content for SEO and unlock lots of features with Yoast SEO Premium:

How to create high-quality archive pages 

Let’s start by explaining what archive pages are. WordPress uses so-called taxonomies to group content. The word ‘taxonomy’ is a fancy term for a group of things (website pages, in this case) that have something in common. WordPress has two default taxonomies: categories and tags. The difference between a category and a tag mostly has to do with structure. Categories are hierarchical: you can have subcategories and even sub-subcategories. Tags, however, don’t have that hierarchy.

WordPress automatically generates a page for each category or tag you create. So, do be mindful of them, and don’t create new tags for each post you write! We call these pages archive pages because that’s what they do: they archive posts (or products) that have something in common. Besides categories and tags, there are also other types of archive pages. You can even create a custom taxonomy or use a plugin that creates one.

Why are archive pages important for your SEO?

Taxonomy archive pages are very valuable when it comes to structuring your site. A clear site structure helps both Google and your visitors to understand and navigate your site and help you rank higher. To get the best out of your taxonomy archive pages, you will need to work on them. The pages that WordPress automatically generates tend to only consist of a list of posts without any further introduction. So, if visitors land on one of your archive pages, they don’t get much information. This increases the chance that they won’t find what they’re looking and leave the page.

How to optimize taxonomy archive pages

To make your taxonomy archives awesome, you often don’t even have to do that much. Start by adding a clear heading and an introduction, where you highlight the content on that archive page. In addition, you can add some links to that introductory content pointing to the best posts or pages on that archive page. This will go a long way in making sure that the users understand what the page is about.

For descriptions on archive pages, we recommend a minimum of 250 words. That’s less than what we recommend for blog posts, but that’s because the description of an archive page has a different purpose than a blog post. Rather than exploring a topic, these descriptions serve as an introduction to the rest of the content on that page. These texts don’t have to be lengthy. You want to rank with these pages though, and that means category and tag pages need content.

How to write high-quality product descriptions

A lot of online stores use the default text that the manufacturer provides when it comes to the products they sell. This is not something we would recommend (at all). Not only will this show Google that there are already five other websites out there that are providing the same content as you are (which hurts your rankings), but it also shows users that you don’t take the time to properly optimize your product pages. This hurts your credibility. Of course, if you have an online store with lots of products we understand that this isn’t done in a few minutes. In that case, we recommend starting with your most important products or best-sellers.

Make sure your product descriptions contain the information people will want about these products. Make this information easy to read and to the point. As you probably saw in the table, these pages often ask for less content than blog posts or other pages. But do make sure that all the information that someone would want about that product, is on the product page. As I mentioned before, a great product description can be the difference between making a sale or not.

Conclusion on word count and SEO

This post taught you that the word count of your posts and pages can influence your rankings. However, and this is very important, you should not compromise the quality of your text for the sake of writing longer pieces. So, always use your common sense and write readable, and well-structured texts that are helpful for your site visitors. Eventually, this is what Google wants as well and therefore will get you higher up the rankings!

Read more: SEO copywriting and writing for sales »



Camille Cunningham

Camille is a content specialist at Yoast. As part of the Search team, she enjoys creating content that helps you master SEO.

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Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Mar 6 2024
SEO basics: SEO fact or fiction?

SEO has a somewhat questionable reputation. In the past, people shared supposed tricks that would instantly get you to rank. But a lot has changed in the SEO world. So, are these tricks still true? Let’s take a look at what’s an SEO fact, and what’s SEO fiction!

The origin of this reputation

A lifetime ago, when Google’s algorithm wasn’t that good, you could trick your way into the search results. Putting down keywords in white (so nobody would see, but Google would crawl it) was an effective strategy back then. As was buying bulks of links from questionable sites. As Google evolved, these kinds of dirty SEO tricks started to backfire. 

If you’re wondering whether certain tactics of old school or blackhat SEO still pay off, just think: does it give the user a better experience on your site? Does your website become a better result? If you can answer these questions with yes, then it’s probably a good SEO strategy. Anything that feels like a trick though, probably won’t be a good SEO strategy in the long run. So, let’s look at some SEO statements and find out if they’re fact or fiction!

SEO fact or fiction?

Fact or fiction 1: Content is king

Content is a very important aspect of any SEO strategy. After all, Google crawls texts and determines the ranking of your site on the quality of your texts. High-quality content also leads to lower bounce rates and more social media attention.

SEO fact: Content is king

While backlinks are definitely important for your SEO strategy, you should be rather selective in which kinds of backlinks you’d want to attract to your website. To start, you shouldn’t buy large amounts of links. (Nor should you exchange links.) Secondly, don’t use any automated programs to get links. Moreover, don’t do guest blogging with very thin content and don’t go for links that are unrelated to the topic of your website. You shouldn’t have links from spammy sites whose only purpose is to advertise for gambling, viagra and porn (unless your website is about gambling, viagra and porn). Lastly, make sure there is real content behind the links you use. In a nutshell: you should never pay for links.

If you choose to go overboard on link building, you’ll risk a penguin penalty and lose your rankings in Google. If you want to learn more about link building strategies and other essential SEO skills, you should check out our All-around SEO training! 

SEO fiction: Get as many links as possible

Fact or fiction 3: Keyword density should be sky high

Some people claim you should put as many keywords in your texts as possible. They hope that Google will notice the amount of keywords they’re using and therefore will rank the text highest in the search results. However, their text will become unreadable. So they shouldn’t do that! It’ll definitely backfire. Never write content that’s created for the search engines. Always write content with a real audience in mind. Invest in high-quality content that’ll generate long-term stable traffic to your website.

SEO fiction: keyword density should be sky high

Fact or fiction 4: You don’t need high-end technical skills to do SEO

Technical SEO is definitely an important element of an SEO strategy. And it doesn’t hurt to learn a bit of code (it could even be great fun). However, if you’re using WordPress and our Yoast SEO plugin, your technical SEO is pretty much covered. Our plugin is designed to take care of all the technical aspects of your SEO strategy.

SEO fact: You don’t need high-end technical skills to do SEO

Fact or fiction 5: Meta descriptions don’t matter

Google rewrites 70% of manually added meta descriptions. That means there’s a high chance that a meta description you added manually will be rewritten by Google. However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t pay attention to the content of your meta description. Meta descriptions provide critical information to both search engines and users. Moreover, it’s based on the SEO title and meta description that the user decides whether to visit your page. Neglecting them would be missing an opportunity to get more traffic to your website.

SEO fiction: Meta descriptions don’t matter

Fact or fiction 6: Social media can improve your rankings

Google doesn’t look at your website’s social media performance (like followers or shares) when ranking your content. However, a good social media strategy helps your rankings by boosting your traffic. A lot of traffic makes search engines deem your content as relevant. Furthermore, the difference between search engines and social media has been blurring. For example, both Google and Instagram can be used to find an answer to a question. 

SEO fact: Social media can improve your rankings

Fact or fiction 7: Google will be replaced by AI

While using AI platforms as search engines might be relatively new, AI has been shaping the search engine experience for quite some time. For example, AI is what helps Google provide voice search and image search. And not only are some search engines introducing their own AI language models (like Gemini), they are also integrating AI models into the search engine results.

So while we don’t know exactly what the future holds, it’s clear that Google and AI found a way to work together instead of replacing each other.

SEO fiction: Google will be replaced by AI

Fact or fiction 8: SEO is all tricks

At Yoast, we propose an SEO strategy we refer to as holistic SEO. Holistic SEO means you focus on developing a long-term SEO strategy that focuses on all aspects of website optimization, in order to be the best result. Part of this strategy is to write awesome content, do great PR and social, make sure your website is properly secured and create a superb User Experience. And of course, your website should have technical excellence and an awesome site structure. That’s no trick. That’s just a whole lot of hard work.

SEO fiction: SEO is all tricks

Conclusion

The final SEO fiction actually says it all: SEO is not all tricks. Yoast believes that SEO is a long-term strategy that focuses on creating quality content for your audience and becoming the best result. It is a lot of work, but it will definitely pay off in the long run!

Read more: Holistic SEO »



Camille Cunningham

Camille is a content specialist at Yoast. As part of the Search team, she enjoys creating content that helps you master SEO.

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Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Feb 28 2024
Perfect prompts: 10 tips for AI-driven SEO content creation

The art of content creation has become increasingly sophisticated. The key to standing out is to produce high-quality content. You should craft it precisely, making it both engaging for readers and friendly to search engines. This is where AI-powered content generation tools like ChatGPT, Bing CoPilot and Google Gemini come in, offering efficiency and creativity. However, the true power of these tools lies not in their ability to generate content but in how we, as SEO content writers, instruct and refine their output.

Table of contents

Tip 1: Crafting the perfect SEO-driven prompt

Define your content goal: is it to inform, persuade, sell, or explain? Understand your audience’s needs and search habits to tailor your prompt effectively.

Choose a primary keyword that encapsulates your content’s essence and guides its direction. Then, break down the keyword to address search intent. List subtopics that delve into different aspects of your main theme, incorporating related secondary keywords.

Combine all these elements into a concise prompt. For example: “Create a detailed guide on primary keyword, covering subtopics, for target audience, integrating secondary keywords. Ensure the tone is desired tone, suitable for content type.”

Ensure clarity in your prompt to effectively align AI-generated content with your SEO objectives. This transforms your prompt into a strategic blueprint for SEO-optimized content tailored to your goals and audience.

Example prompt:

"Generate a detailed guide focused on 'Maximizing Small Kitchen Spaces.' Incorporate primary keyword 'small kitchen organization' within the introduction, headings, and conclusion. Cover subtopics including 'Creative Storage Solutions,' 'Decluttering Strategies,' and 'Multipurpose Furniture Ideas,' integrating secondary keywords 'space-saving kitchen gadgets,' 'decluttering tips for kitchens,' and 'multipurpose furniture for small spaces.' Target audience: urban apartment dwellers. Tone: Informative yet engaging."

Tip 2: Keyword optimization beyond the basics

Specify keyword placement for the AI, requesting inclusion in the introduction, subheadings, and conclusion to kickstart SEO-friendly content creation. Emphasize the natural integration of primary and secondary keywords throughout the text to maintain flow and enhance readability.

Encourage the use of keyword variations to broaden content appeal and reach. For instance, suggest including variations like “how to garden organically” alongside the primary keyword “organic gardening tips.”

Highlight the importance of contextual keyword usage to enhance content value and user experience. Doing so helps align with search engines’ preference for contextually rich content. Instruct the AI to incorporate secondary keywords in subheadings to improve the content structure for readers. This also enhances search engine visibility by signaling covered topics within the article.

Example prompt

"Create an article on 'The Benefits of Yoga for Stress Relief,' ensuring the primary keyword 'yoga for stress relief' is naturally integrated throughout the content, especially in the introduction, subheadings, and conclusion. Include secondary keywords 'stress-relieving yoga poses,' 'beginner yoga routines,' and 'yoga mindfulness practices' within specific sections. Focus on providing valuable information and insights on how yoga can help with stress relief, and use variations of the primary keyword to enhance readability."

Tip 3: Request structured content

Outline the content structure for the AI. Say you need an introduction, a set number of sections or headings, and a conclusion to provide a clear framework. Briefly describe the focus of each section or heading to ensure all content segments contribute cohesively to the main topic.

Request the use of bullet points to enhance information digestibility. Prompt the AI to present key points or lists in a bullet format for improved readability where needed.

Conclude by asking for a summary highlighting the main points and including a call to action (CTA) to engage readers. Encourage actions like commenting, sharing the content, or exploring related topics on your website.

Example prompt:

"Draft an informative post titled 'The Ultimate Guide to Eco-Friendly Living.' Structure the content with an introduction that highlights the importance of sustainability. Include sections on 'Reducing Plastic Use,' 'Sustainable Eating Habits,' 'Eco-Friendly Transportation Options,' and 'Green Home Improvements,' each with relevant bullet points and examples. Conclude with a compelling call to action encouraging readers to adopt at least one eco-friendly practice."

Tip 4: Instruct AI for intent match

Understand why users search for your keyword: to learn (informational), find a site (navigational), make a purchase (transactional), or compare options (commercial investigation). Tailor your prompt to match the identified intent explicitly. For informational searches, request a comprehensive guide or tips; for transactional intent, focus on product details, benefits, and purchasing guidance.

Clearly outline the desired reader response in your prompt—what they should feel, know, or do by the article’s end. This guides the AI to create content that aligns closely with the user intent and desired outcome.

For content addressing common questions, direct the AI to structure part of the content in a Q&A format. Provide audience queries for the AI to address within the content. For prompts targeting commercial investigation or transactional intents, instruct the AI to incorporate comparisons, case studies, or scenarios. This assists readers in decision-making and directly addresses their underlying intent.

Example prompt:

"Write a comprehensive comparison article on 'Electric Cars vs. Gasoline Cars: Which is Better for the Environment?' Target user intent by providing detailed analysis and evidence on environmental impact, long-term costs, and performance differences. Include FAQs to answer common queries directly. Conclude with a recommendation section tailored to environmentally conscious drivers considering their next vehicle purchase."

Tip 5: Creating engaging titles with AI

Ensure your primary keyword features in the title to enhance SEO and indicate content relevance. For instance, if the keyword is “vegan baking recipes,” integrate this phrase naturally into the title. Instruct the AI to craft titles that inform about the content while intriguing readers to click, balancing clarity with curiosity or value. For example, consider a title like “10 Vegan Baking Recipes That Will Revolutionize Your Dessert Game.”

Ask the AI to provide multiple title options to explore different framing possibilities based on your keyword and content focus. This helps spark creativity and aid title refinement.

Titles with numbers and power words often perform well. Guide the AI to include these elements in some title options, such as “5 Mouth-Watering Vegan Baking Recipes for Every Sweet Craving.” Encourage title specificity by including details like the target audience, problem solved, or unique content. For example, “Vegan Baking for Beginners: Master Dairy-Free Desserts Step by Step.”

Opt for titles in the active voice for dynamism and engagement. Active voice titles are direct and compelling, such as “Uncover the Best 10 Vegan Baking Recipes Loved by All.”

Example prompt:

"Generate five engaging titles for an article about 'Indoor Herb Gardening for Beginners,' incorporating the primary keyword. Each title should invoke curiosity and offer value, possibly including numbers or power words. Examples of structure could include 'How To Start Your Indoor Herb Garden: 5 Easy Steps' or 'Transform Your Kitchen with These 7 Easy-to-Grow Herbs.'"

Yoast SEO Premium has an excellent AI title generator

Yoast SEO Premium features an AI-powered tool designed to generate SEO-optimized titles and meta descriptions for your content effortlessly. It swiftly analyzes your articles to produce compelling, search-engine-friendly headings and summaries, improving click-through rates and saving valuable time. This intuitive feature streamlines content creation, ensuring your articles are primed for maximum visibility and engagement.

Yoast SEO Premium helps you write great titles and meta descriptions with AI

Ensure your primary keyword is prominent in the meta description to convey relevance to search engines and potential readers. If, for instance, your keyword is “indoor gardening tips,” feature it at the beginning or early on in the meta description.

Instruct the AI — or have Yoast SEO Premium do it for you! — to encapsulate your content’s primary benefit or value proposition in the meta description. Focus not just on what the content is about but why it holds significance. For example, “Transform your living space into a verdant oasis with these indoor gardening tips.”

Given the character limit for meta descriptions, emphasize crafting concise and compelling descriptions that prompt users to click through. Be succinct, engaging, and direct to entice readers effectively. Also, end the meta description with a call to action (CTA) to prompt reader engagement. Request the AI to include a subtle yet persuasive CTA, like “Start your indoor garden transformation today with our expert tips!”

Example prompt:

"Produce a concise answer section for 'What Are the Best Practices for Password Management?' Structure the content to answer the question directly within 50 words, suitable for a featured snippet. Follow with a bulleted list of top practices and a brief explanation of why each is important for securing online accounts."

Identify common questions related to your content’s topic to align with your audience’s needs. Direct the AI to structure content segments that directly answer these queries. For instance, for “vegan baking,” address questions like “What is vegan baking?” or “How to substitute eggs in vegan baking.”

Featured snippets favor clear, concise answers. Instruct the AI to provide direct responses, ideally within 40-60 words for paragraph snippets. This increases the likelihood of your content being featured.

Google often showcases lists and tables for how-to guides and rankings. Ask the AI to incorporate bulleted lists for steps, ingredients, tips, and tables for comparative data or statistics. Utilize headers (H2 or H3 tags) that align with identified questions to aid search engines in understanding your content’s structure. This alignment increases your chances of selecting your article for a featured snippet.

Example prompt:

"Write an article on 'The Importance of Hydration for Athletes,' suggesting points for internal linking to our previous content. Include placeholders like '[Link to "Best Rehydration Drinks"]' where relevant. Ensure each suggested link provides additional value and context related to hydration tips, benefits, and strategies."

Tip 8: Using AI for internal linking suggestions

Begin by comprehensively understanding your website’s existing content to guide the AI in suggesting relevant internal linking opportunities. This step ensures that the AI’s recommendations align effectively with your site’s content structure.

In your instructions, specify that you want the AI to pinpoint potential internal linking chances within the content. For instance, if discussing “Vegan Baking,” highlight related articles like “Vegan Ingredients” or “Eco-Friendly Cooking Utensils” as potential anchor points for internal links.

Direct the AI to propose specific phrases or keywords within the content that can serve as anchor text for internal links. Ensure the anchor text is contextually relevant to the linked article’s content. Things like this help the user experience and can make it easier for search engines to understand content relationships.

Emphasize the importance of seamlessly integrating internal links within the content’s context to the AI. Each suggested link should provide value to the reader. Links should offer additional information or related topics that enrich their engagement with the content.

Write better prompts by instructing the AI to create calls to action (CTAs) with internal links. For instance, “Explore our comprehensive guide to Vegan Ingredients for more insights on vegan baking.” This approach encourages readers to delve into related content, enhancing site navigation and user engagement.

Example prompt

"Write an article on 'The Importance of Hydration for Athletes,' suggesting points for internal linking to our previous content. Include placeholders like '[Link to "Best Rehydration Drinks"]' where relevant. Ensure each suggested link provides additional value and context related to hydration tips, benefits, and strategies."

Tip 9: Improve content depth

Begin by mapping out a range of subtopics that cover your main topic from various angles. This ensures your content addresses the breadth and depth of the subject. For instance, if your main topic is “Sustainable Gardening,” potential subtopics might include water conservation techniques, organic pest control, and sustainable garden design.

Direct the AI to dive deep into each subtopic, providing detailed explanations, step-by-step guides, benefits, challenges, and solutions. This level of detail enriches the content and positions it as a valuable resource for readers seeking thorough information.

Enhance the depth of your content by asking the AI to include relevant examples and case studies within the subtopics. These real-life illustrations add credibility and interest, making complex information more accessible and engaging to your audience.

Direct the AI to cover each subtopic comprehensively, addressing common questions, misconceptions, and practical advice. This not only aids in SEO by covering a range of related keywords but also provides value to the reader.

While instructing the AI to cover subtopics thoroughly emphasizes the need for clear, accessible language. Complex topics should be broken down into digestible sections. Use headings, subheadings, bullet points, and images to enhance readability and engagement.

Ensure that each subtopic includes actionable advice or takeaways. This transforms the content from purely informational to practical. You should give readers clear steps or strategies they can implement in their context.

Example prompt:

"Develop an in-depth feature on 'Sustainable Travel Destinations Around the World.' For each destination, provide detailed insights into how it promotes sustainability, including conservation efforts, eco-friendly accommodations, and green activities. Incorporate real-life examples, hypothetical expert quotes, and recent studies supporting the benefits of sustainable tourism."

Tip 10: Enhance SEO-friendliness

Start by creating a broad content draft using the AI based on your initial prompt, covering all subtopics and including primary and secondary keywords. Treat this draft as the foundation for further refinement.

Review the draft thoroughly to enhance engagement, add detail, and improve flow. Focus on significant enhancements aligning the content with your goals.

Use specific prompts to refine content sections. For instance, if a section like “water conservation techniques” needs improvement, prompt for enhancements like including current technologies and efficiency practices. This targeted approach allows for precise improvements.

After enhancing content quality, shift focus to keyword optimization. Integrate primary and secondary keywords naturally throughout the text to add value and maintain readability.

Example prompt:

"Create an initial draft for 'Top Digital Marketing Trends in 2023.' After review, refine the content with a follow-up prompt focusing on enhancing sections that discuss AI in marketing and the rise of voice search, adding current statistics, expert opinions, and practical tips for marketers to adapt these trends."

High-quality example prompts

Here are three AI prompts to try that should give you good results to build upon:

Example prompt 1: Crafting SEO-driven content

"Create a detailed, SEO-optimized guide titled 'The Ultimate Guide to Organic Gardening in Small Spaces.' Start with an engaging introduction with the primary keyword 'organic gardening in small spaces.' Break down the guide into the following sections: Choosing Your Space, Essential Tools for Small Space Gardening, Selecting Plants, Organic Pest Control Methods, and Maximizing Your Yield. Each section should integrate secondary keywords: 'urban organic gardening,' 'small garden tools,' 'best plants for small gardens,' 'natural pest control,' and 'increasing garden yield,' respectively. Conclude with a summary and a CTA encouraging readers to share their small space gardening tips."

Example prompt 2: Keyword optimization

"Write an informative article on 'Top SEO Strategies for 2024,’ ensuring the primary keyword 'SEO strategies 2024’ appears in the introduction, at least three subheadings, and the conclusion. Use secondary keywords 'keyword research,' 'mobile optimization,' 'voice search SEO,' and 'content marketing trends' in different sections to structure the article. Each section should provide detailed insights and practical tips while not using the main keyword too much. Include bullet points for key tips and end with a compelling CTA to subscribe for more SEO insights."

Example prompt 3: Requesting structured content

"Produce a comprehensive post on 'How to Create Engaging Content for Social Media.' The content should start with an introduction emphasizing the importance of engagement on social media platforms. The body should be divided into sections covering 'Understanding Your Audience,' 'Crafting Captivating Headlines,' 'Using Visuals to Enhance Posts,' 'Incorporating Hashtags Effectively,' and 'Engaging with Your Community.' Each section should start with a subheading and include bullet points for the main tips. Conclude with a summary reiterating the value of engagement and a CTA encouraging readers to implement these strategies in their next social media post."

Conclusion

Careful prompt crafting enables the AI to generate high-quality, SEO-optimized content, paving the way for improved visibility and reader engagement. Use this guide as your roadmap to SEO content writing excellence, harnessing AI tools as valuable assets in your digital marketing endeavors.



Edwin Toonen

Edwin is a strategic content specialist. Before joining Yoast, he spent years honing his skill at The Netherlands’ leading web design magazine.

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Feb 21 2024
How to write an SEO-friendly introduction for a blog post

What is the most important part of a post? The first paragraph! It’s the introduction of your article, and tells your audience what your post is about. But the first paragraph is also important to Google. That’s why you should give it extra attention. In this blog post, we’ll explain why an SEO-friendly introduction is so important, and give practical tips on how to write an awesome first paragraph. So read on!

Why should you write an SEO-friendly introduction? 

People usually start reading at the beginning of an article. If your introduction is not compelling, people will click away. Google knows this too, because Google is trying to mimic a human. So if your introduction is bad, you’ll see a decline in your rankings. To avoid this, your first paragraph should be well written and optimized.

What should a good introduction do? 

Because the demands of the first paragraph are higher than the demands on the rest of your text, your introduction should do at least three things. Let’s look at what these are! 

1. Introduce the topic

The first paragraph should introduce the topic. Just by reading the introduction, readers should know the message of your article is. It has to answer the question: What do you want to tell people in this article? 

The introduction of this blog post has the message: ‘the introduction of your article is very important to both your audience and Google.’ Because that’s what this article is about. It’s what we want you to remember.

SEO tip: use your focus keyphrase

Introducing the topic also allows you to use your focus keyphrase in the introduction. You should use the exact search terms that your audience uses. It’ll make your audience confident that your post will answer the question they asked Google. 

2. Get people excited to read more

The second thing a good introduction should do: get people excited. To do this, you need a hook. Something that’s fun or catches people’s attention. Your introduction should make people want to read more. People should feel curious about what’s next and excited to have found such an amazing article. 

3. Set expectations

The third thing an SEO-friendly introduction should do is set expectations. By reading the first paragraph of your post, readers should know what to expect. Because if your introduction is vague or boring, chances are high that people will click away.

Tips on how to write an SEO-friendly introduction 

Think before you write 

As we’ve discussed, your introduction is your most important paragraph. So, think about what you’re going to write! Think about your audience: who are you trying to reach? What will they learn from your article, or which problems are you solving? If you know the answer to these questions, your introduction will be much easier to write.

Of course, you can also write your introduction last. While it’s good to think about the focus of your post before you start writing, you can discover new insights while writing. After finishing your post, you’ll have a clear idea of what it’s about, which hopefully makes your introduction easier to write. It just depends on your preference!

Example

Let’s take this article as an example. Our desired audience is mostly writers and bloggers; people who want to create content in order to rank higher in the search engines. That’s also their main problem: their content is not ranking as high as they would like. This article is then part of the solution, because it gives people practical tips on how to improve the introduction of their posts. 

Focus on the problem 

You should mention the problem your audience is facing in the introduction. If people recognize the problem, they’ll want to read the rest of your article to see if it helps them find a solution.

Make it relatable 

Hey, you! The one reading this post! If you address your readers directly, they’ll feel more inclined to continue reading. So, make your readers feel like you’ve written this post especially for them. Use ‘you’ and ‘your’ and ask them questions. It’ll make people feel like you’re talking to them. 

Make it fun 

Use quotes, statistics, stories, and anecdotes in order to make your introduction more fun to read. Quotes and statistics will make you more convincing, while stories and anecdotes make your article more entertaining to read.

Tip: if you use quotes or stories in your introduction, it’s nice to mention them again in your conclusion. This will make your article feel ‘complete’. Plus, it’ll help your readers to remember your story and your message.

Use a different font

You know the introduction should be well written, but did you know it should also be well designed? Make it stand out by using a different font or embolden the words. Your readers will immediately know that they’re reading the introduction. Plus, it will make the introduction look important (which it is!).

Use that focus keyphrase! 

We’ve already discussed this, but it’s good to mention it again: if you want to write an SEO-friendly introduction, use your focus keyphrase in the first paragraph! You want your audience to recognize what they were searching for immediately. Because it will convince your audience that they’re reading the right post.

Keep it readable 

Readability is important for your entire article, and even more so for the introduction! Don’t make your first paragraph hard to read. Use short sentences, and avoid the passive voice.

In addition, an introduction shouldn’t be too long. It’s best to write one paragraph with 10 or 12 sentences at the most. You could divide an introduction into two shorter paragraphs; just don’t make the paragraphs longer than 12 sentences.

Short recipe for an SEO-friendly introduction 

Let’s make this short and practical. Here’s the recipe on how to write an SEO-friendly introduction:

  1. Start with a hook. A hook can be anything that catches the reader’s attention. You could state a controversial opinion, or ask a (rhetorical) question. You could share a statistic. Just make sure to write two or three sentences that entice your reader, and make them want to read on.
  2. Introduce the message of your article. After your hook, write two or three sentences in which you introduce the main problem that you’re solving in the blog post.
  3. Next, write two or three sentences about what people can expect in this article. A helpful sentence is: “In this post, we’ll discuss/you’ll learn…”

Love your site by writing SEO-friendly introductions

If you write content, you want your audience to read it! But you also want to rank high in the search engines. That’s why you have to make sure that the most important part of your text, the introduction, gets extra attention. Give your first paragraph a little extra SEO love, because it could make all the difference.

Read more: SEO love: Why you should add links to a new post as soon as possible »



Cindy Paul

Cindy is a content manager at Yoast. She writes and optimizes blog posts, and enjoys writing content that will help people create better content for their site and users.

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Feb 13 2024
Paragraph length check: Why and how to write shorter paragraphs

The paragraph length check in Yoast SEO (for WordPress or Shopify) tells you to write shorter paragraphs when they are too long. But why is this important? What does a good paragraph even look like? And lastly, what should you do to keep your paragraphs concise? Let’s explore!

Table of contents

Why your paragraphs shouldn’t be too long

Properly sized paragraphs play an important role in making your text readable. Big walls of text are not very nice to read, and they tend to scare off readers. Just imagine this entire article being one big paragraph! You’d probably have left the page before even reading the introduction.

Paragraphs also break down your text into bite-size and easy-to-understand chunks. This puts your readers at ease, because every time you end a paragraph, you give readers the opportunity to relax and think about what they’ve just read. It really helps people make sense of the entire text.

Easy to scan

Paragraphs also help readers to scan your text more easily. When people end up on a page, they rarely start reading the article from beginning to end. First, they want to see what they can expect. That’s why people generally scan headings and the first sentences of every paragraph before they start reading. So, if you break up your text into paragraphs that reflect the topics you’re addressing, people will quickly get a good grasp of what your article is about.

What does a good paragraph look like?

A good paragraph provides information on one well-defined aspect of the topic you’re discussing in your article. Consider the two paragraphs under the previous heading in this article, for example. They address why paragraphs make your text easy to scan. In addition, it’s good practice to start your paragraphs with a core sentence that summarizes the content of the paragraph. This will help readers decide whether a paragraph is interesting to read.

How long should your paragraph be?

This depends on the context, but a paragraph should generally be more than two sentences and fewer than 200 words. Anything more than 200 words becomes difficult to understand for most readers, which means you’re better off breaking it up into different subparagraphs.

And don’t underestimate how difficult it is to read long paragraphs! Sure, more experienced or skilled readers tend to be more forgiving. But that doesn’t mean your text wouldn’t benefit from shorter paragraphs. After all, presenting complex information in an accessible form is an art, not a shortcoming.

What does Yoast SEO’s paragraph length check do?

The paragraph length assessment checks the length of your paragraphs. We advise you to keep the length of your paragraphs below 150 words. If you do that, you’ll score a green light. You’ll get an orange light if your paragraphs contain more than 150 but less than 200 words. And if you exceed 200 words, your traffic light will be red.

In the case of an orange or red light, what should you do? Do you need to use fewer words to convey the same message? Do you need to cross out entire sentences? In most cases, the answer is no. Randomly deleting sentences will harm your text instead of improve it. It makes more sense to take a look at the structure of your text. Let’s explain!

The check shows a red light and corresponding feedback. If you click the eye button, the paragraph that needs improving will be highlighted.

How to keep your paragraphs short and crisp

If you have trouble limiting the length of your paragraphs, take a look at the entire text. Try to write down the main topics and individual aspects that you’re discussing. Let’s break down the heading and paragraph structure of this post as an example:

  1. Why your paragraphs shouldn’t be too long
    • Long paragraphs are bad for readability
    • Easy to scan
      • Long paragraphs make it difficult to scan a text
  2. What does a good paragraph look like?
    • A paragraph addresses one specific aspect of the topic
    • Paragraphs start with a core sentence
  3. How long should your paragraph be?
    • A good paragraph has more than two sentences and fewer than 200 words
  4. What does the paragraph length check do?
    • Describes the check and its feedback criteria
  5. How to keep your paragraphs short and crips
    • Look at the entire text
    • Example
    • Example analysis
  6. Conclusion

As you can see, the text is now neatly divided into different parts. It’s probably a good idea to do this before writing your article. If you notice one specific aspect is taking up more space than you expected, just consider whether you can break it down into two separate aspects. This is almost always possible. If it isn’t, you can get away with a long paragraph here and there.

Want to learn more about paragraph length? Our SEO copywriting course explains everything related to writing great posts. You can get access to this course and all of our other SEO courses with Yoast SEO Premium.

Conclusion

The Yoast SEO paragraph length check warns you when you write paragraphs that are too long. Because lengthy paragraphs make it harder for readers to read and scan your text. Good paragraphs discuss a single, well-defined aspect of the topic at hand. They start with a core sentence and generally shouldn’t exceed 200 words. If you tend to struggle with limiting the length of your paragraphs, consider breaking your article down into a schematic view. Then, consider whether you can break up larger paragraphs into shorter ones. Good luck!

Read more: The complete guide to SEO copywriting »

Marieke van de Rakt

Marieke was Head of Strategy and former CEO at Yoast. During her time at our company she wrote a lot. Topics that she loves writing about include SEO copywriting, site structure and readability.

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Jan 24 2024
What is keyphrase density and why is it important?

Yoast SEO checks for the keyphrase density or keyword density of your text. But what is keyphrase density exactly? And why is it important for your SEO? In this article, we answer these questions. On top of that, we’ll discuss what you can do to improve the keyword density of your content so you score a green bullet on the plugin’s keyphrase density check. Let’s dive in!

Did you get an orange or red traffic light for the keyphrase density check in Yoast SEO? Here’s what this check does and how to improve your keyphrase density.

What is keyphrase or keyword density?

Keyphrase density is the number of times your focus keyphrase occurs in your copy, compared to the total text of that page. So if you have a text that is 100 words and 5 of those are your focus keyphrase, your keyphrase density is 5%. We used to call it keyword density, but nowadays it’s more common to focus on a search term that consists of more than one word. That’s why we rather call it keyphrase density in Yoast SEO.

Why is it important for SEO?

Your keyphrase density is important for SEO because Google tries to match a user’s search query to the best-fitting page out there. To match your pages with a certain query, Google needs to understand what the page is about. That’s why you need to use your keyphrase, the phrase you’d like to rank for, in your copy. Luckily, this often comes naturally. If you want to rank for, for instance [bake vegan pancakes] you probably use this phrase or variations of it throughout your text.

However, if you repeat your keyphrase too often in your copy it becomes unpleasant to read. That’s something you should avoid at all times. After all, you want users to enjoy and understand your copy well. A high keyphrase density is also a signal to Google that you might be stuffing your text with keywords – also known as over-optimizing. As Google likes to show the best result to users, both in relevance and readability, this can negatively affect your rankings.

What does the keyphrase density check do?

The keyphrase density check in Yoast SEO assesses whether you’ve used the word(s) from your focus keyphrase often enough in your copy. It also checks if you didn’t go overboard and use the keyphrase too often. It’s good to know that the length of your keyphrase plays a factor in how your score is calculated. If you choose a longer phrase, it might be much more difficult to use it a certain number of times in your text, than if you’re using a shorter keyphrase. The check takes this into consideration to preserve the readability of your text.

We’ve included the length of your keyphrase as a weighting factor when calculating keyphrase density. That means that you will need to use your longer keyphrase less often in the text than your shorter keyphrase, to get a green traffic light. Not only do we tell you how many times you already used your keyphrase in the text, we also give you an idea about how many times you should use it.

The keyphrase density assessment in Yoast SEO
An example of the keyphrase density assessment feedback in Yoast SEO

In the free version of Yoast SEO for WordPress, you’ll get a green traffic light if your keyphrase density lies between 0.5 and 3%. For a match to be counted, all words should occur in one sentence, but the order of the words may differ.

You won’t see the percentage mentioned in your feedback. Instead, we mention the exact number of times you used your keyphrase throughout your text and compare this to the number we advise. We feel that absolute numbers make it easier to work on improving your text.

Premium and Shopify: Word form recognition and related keyphrases

In certain languages, Yoast SEO Premium and Yoast SEO for Shopify recognize various word forms of your keyphrase. For instance, [train], [trained] or [training]. This means that Yoast SEO picks up on these variations and sees them as forms of your chosen keyphrase. Making it easier for you to naturally write about your topic and be less concerned about using your keyphrase often enough.

Let’s say you’d like to rank for [bake vegan pancakes]. If you write, “Here, you’ll learn how to bake the best vegan pancakes” this will be counted as an occurrence of the keyphrase. Also, if you’d write “baking a vegan pancake is easy as pie”, Yoast SEO Premium and our Shopify app recognize that as the focus keyphrase as well. That’s why the upper boundary in these tools is a bit higher: 3.5% instead of 3%.

In Premium and our Shopify app, you can also enter related keyphrases. These are words and phrases that are connected to your focus keyphrase, but not synonyms. Any related keyphrases you add have a keyphrase density check of their own. So if the density of your focus keyphrase is too high, have a look at any related keyphrases and see if those are more suitable to use instead. 

Go Premium to get access to this feature!

Unlock lots of features and get access to all of our SEO courses with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin:

How to improve your keyphrase density

If your keyphrase density score is too low, that means that it’s not clear enough that your text is about that specific topic. In that case, you should use the keyphrase (or variations of it) more often. Check your copy and make sure you make clear what you’re writing about. Stay on topic! If the keyphrase density is too high, you’re using your keyphrase too often. Your text will probably come across as quite spammy, to both your website visitors and Google. 

Using synonyms is a great way to avoid repetitiveness. Synonyms do not count towards your keyphrase density score, as that exclusively looks at the use of your actual focus keyphrase. If you’ve used synonyms and are worried it might be too much, here’s a tip! Have a look at the keyphrase distribution check in Yoast SEO. That highlights your focus keywords and its synonyms throughout the text. If you’ve entered synonyms that is. By looking at the highlighted phrases you can determine whether your keyphrase (in any form) is mentioned often enough throughout the text. A good check to see whether you stay on topic until the end!

Why do I have a red score on the keyphrase density check?

If you get a red traffic light for using your focus keyphrase too often or not enough and you’re not sure why, here are some things to look out for.

An example of a red feedback traffic light for the keyphrase density check
  • First off, make sure your full focus keyphrase is within one sentence to make sure it’s being counted.
  • Check your spelling. If you use [pancake] in your text, but wrote [pencake] in the focus keyphrase field, the plugin will not recognize it. Using capital letters, like in [Pancake] or even [PANCAKE] will not impact recognition though.
  • If your keyphrase density is too high, make better use of synonyms. Synonyms of your focus keyphrase will not count towards your total score, but they’ll probably make your text more pleasant to read.
  • Some page builders in WordPress conflict with our plugin. If our plugin is not able to find your content or your keyphrase due to a page builder, the results will be distorted. The fastest way to rule out conflicts is to perform a conflict check.
  • Some non-latin, non-ideograph based languages may not calculate accurately. Please submit a bug to notify us of that, it’s much appreciated.

I don’t get feedback on my keyphrase density. Why is that?

If you don’t get feedback on your keyphrase density, there are a couple of things you should check:

  • Did you enter your focus keyphrase in the focus keyphrase field? Because that’s a basic requirement for the plugin to run the check.
Focus keyphrase input field in Yoast SEO
If you don’t enter a focus keyphrase in this field, the plugin is not able to perform all checks.
  • The keyphrase density check is only performed when your content consists of at least 100 words.
  • Sometimes our plugin conflicts with another plugin, a feature within your theme or, in rare cases, something on your server. For example, there has been a recent increase in users with a plugin or theme that provides a visual page or content builder. This may not be compatible with our page analysis.

Conclusion

Make sure you use your focus keyphrase enough throughout the whole text. But at the same time, don’t overdo it. You don’t want Google to think you’re stuffing your text with keywords. It’s doesn’t make for great user experience and will hurt your rankings.

If your keyphrase density is too low: add your focus keyphrase into your text more often. Also, check if your text stays on topic, because it should be quite easy to mention your keyphrase enough. If your score is too high, reassess your text first. See if there are places where you can replace your keyphrase with a synonym. With these tips, you should be able to score that green traffic light for keyphrase density!

Keep reading: SEO copywriting: The ultimate guide »



Camille Cunningham

Camille is a content specialist at Yoast. As part of the Search team, she enjoys creating content that helps you master SEO.

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Jan 23 2024
How to create great headlines without using clickbait

Most people know that using clickbait headlines to get people to visit your page is a pretty bad idea. People don’t like it, and search engines and social media platforms don’t either. But how do you craft an enticing SEO headline without using clickbait? And what even is the line between a catchy title and clickbait? In this post, we will share some tips on how to create great titles without relying on clickbait. Hopefully, these tips can help you craft titles that are still eye-catching, but don’t leave readers feeling ‘baited’.

Read more: How to write an awesome and SEO-friendly blogpost »

What is clickbait?

Simply put, the goal of clickbait is to get you to click, at any cost. To achieve that, clickbait headlines use dubious strategies, such as exaggeration, relying on shock value, sensationalizing, and misleading. They also often withhold key information about the content so that you’re compelled to fill the knowledge gap by clicking. Here are some examples of clickbait titles:

“Elon Musk absolutely hated this one thing about Steve Jobs”

“McDonald’s Just Made a Stunning Announcement That Will Completely Change the Future of Fast Food”

“Netflix’s Worst Nightmare Has Come True”

Why you shouldn’t use clickbait headlines

Needless to say, the actual content is usually far less exciting than the clickbait title makes it out to be. This leads to a high bounce rate and diminished trust. A 2022 study also found that people are less likely to share clickbait articles on social media. Not to mention that social media platforms such as Facebook have policies that penalize clickbait. 

So, clickbait titles may work to get someone to click, but they’re unlikely to create actual engagement. And even clicks are not guaranteed. These days, people are more aware of clickbait tactics and are getting fed up with them. There are even communities dedicated to exposing clickbait articles, such as the Saved you a Click subreddit.

How to create a great headline without using clickbait

1. Write great content

You can’t have a great title without having great content. Otherwise, you’re guilty of what clickbait does – overpromise and underdeliver. So first and foremost, focus on writing quality content to create engagement beyond that initial click!

2. Make sure your title is descriptive

Since you want to attract people who will stay on your page, your title should give a good idea of what people can expect from the content. Of course, it can be hard to manage all expectations with a single line of text. But at the very least, you should always include your focus keyphrase in the title. 

You should also make sure that the value of your content is clear from the title. What question does it answer? What information does it provide? Which problem does it solve? And what is the unique value it provides compared to other similar content?

Examples

Example of a non-descriptive title: “Games for cats”

This title doesn’t give you a clear idea of what to expect from the content. Game ideas? An article about why games are important for cats? Something else? And what distinguishes this page from other pages about games for cats?

Example of a descriptive title: “5 games even the laziest cat will love”

On the other hand, this title gives you a good idea of what you’ll walk away with after reading the article: 5 game ideas. It also tells you what’s unique about these game ideas – they are suitable even for lazy cats. This specificity also means that the article is more likely to reach the right audience (such as people with lazy cats), who will be more likely to engage. 

Though of course, this title is only a good title if it’s truthful. A small exaggeration is fine (you probably didn’t test your games with the laziest cat in the world, and that’s fine), but you should make sure that the content mostly delivers on the title’s promise.

Keep reading: Make satisfying content by managing users’ expectations »

3. Make sure your title is easy to scan

A super descriptive title is not enough – you want the information to actually reach people’s brains. There’s a lot of information on a search engine result page, and a title that’s not immediately clear will probably not capture people’s attention. That’s why your title should as easy as possible to read for people who are scanning the search engine result page.

To achieve this, make sure that your title is not too long, and that the keyphrase is as close to the beginning of the title as possible. If the key information is at the end of the title, people are more likely to miss it. Also, try to improve readability by avoiding complex words and passive voice. 

Examples

Example of a difficult to scan title: “Veterinary specialist explains why your cat always seems hungry”

This title is a bit long and contains the complex phrase ‘veterinary specialist’. The key information (why your cat is always hungry) is also at the end of the title.

Example of an easy to scan title: “Why is my cat always hungry? Vet explains.”

This title has two shorter sentences instead of one long one. The complex phrase ‘veterinary specialist’ is replaced with ‘vet’. Also, the key information is at the beginning of the title.

4. Create a curiosity gap, but don’t exploit it

Clickbait often explores the curiosity gap by withholding certain pieces of information from the title, so that you are compelled to click.

This is not necessarily a bad thing: if your article provides some interesting information, you want to convey that through the title and elicit curiosity. However, your content should provide more value than just giving an answer to a question that can be summarized in one word or sentence. This will not create engagement, and will make people bounce right back to the search results.

Examples

Example of a title that exploits the curiosity gap: “This one activity can do wonders for your immune system”

This title withholds information that can be summarized in one word (in this case: “yoga”) and that is the main topic of the article.

Example of a title that doesn’t exploit the curiosity gap: “How yoga can do wonders for your immune system”

This title still creates curiosity because you’re not saying how yoga can boost your immunity. But at the same time, you provide a little bit more information about the content. However, this title only works if there is some depth to the answer provided in the article. If the answer is something very obvious or that can be summed up in one sentence, people may leave feeling uninterested at best, and manipulated at worst.

5. Use evocative language

This won’t work for all titles, but if possible, you should consider using evocative language. Evocative language captures particular senses or emotions, which can appeal to people more than plain factual descriptions. 

One way to do this is by using adjectives, for example, describing a pasta dish as “creamy”. You can also use a verb, especially one that addresses the reader directly. Even better if the verb can serve as a call to action, or describe the benefit someone might enjoy after reading your article. For example, “Learn sewing with these beginner tips”. 

Be careful to not overdo it, though – appealing to strong emotions is a key feature of clickbait. So ask yourself whether your title really needs adjectives such as “mind-blowing” or “heartbreaking”. And try to avoid relying on eliciting negative emotions, such as fear or anger, as that can feel particularly manipulative.

Examples

Example of a title without evocative language: “Best books for people who don’t read a lot”

Example of title with evocative language: “Books that will make anyone fall in love with reading”

6. Use the Yoast SEO title generator

Let’s be honest – even if you know the theory of what makes a good title, it’s not always easy in practice. The good news is, you can ask for help. The Yoast SEO AI title and meta description generator, available in Yoast SEO Premium, helps you craft quality SEO titles and meta description. With a click of a button, you get multiple title (or meta description) ideas based on your keyphrase and content. It’s a great option if you want to save time or if you need a bit of inspiration!

Conclusion

Not using clickbait doesn’t mean writing boring titles. It’s all about balance – highlighting what’s great about your content, but without overpromising or deceiving. Often, you can already create a compelling title by focusing on the basics, like making sure your title is descriptive and easy to scan. But you can also use techniques like creating a curiosity gap or using evocative language, as long as your title remains descriptive and truthful. And of course, a great title can’t exist without great content, so you should focus on that first and foremost!

Agnieszka Szuba

Agnieszka is a developer and a researcher at Yoast. She is part of the team responsible for the Yoast SEO content analysis. She is passionate about anything language related, such as readability and inclusive language.

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Jan 19 2024
Content clusters: What are they and do you need them?

Content clusters, or topic clusters, can be a great tool to show Google you have authority on a specific topic. When done right, a content cluster strategy can get you a higher position in the search results and grow your business. But what is a content cluster, and how do you ensure you’re doing it right? In this blog post, we’ll walk you through it so you can decide whether this content strategy fits your website!

Structuring your content into topic clusters can take time and effort. However, regardless of how new your website is, it’s worth your consideration. If you’re starting, this can be a great basis to structure the content you create for your website. If you already have content but need help with SEO, this strategy can help you organize your content and improve your rankings.

What is a content cluster?

A content cluster is a group of pages and posts focused on a particular topic. It has one page where the main topic is explained, also known as a pillar page, and loads of other pages on more specific parts of that topic. You can compare these pillar pages to cornerstone articles if you’re familiar with cornerstone content. These are your most important pages focused on a central topic that links to all your other content on that subject.

Although similar, content clusters and their pillar pages go one step further than cornerstone content. It’s a way to structure your content and pages with it. Structuring your content in the right clusters helps you establish authority on that subject. It shows Google and your site visitors that you have lots of knowledge on that topic. When you do this right, your content clusters will be a strong basis for your content SEO and help your rankings.

Most websites have more than one content cluster. You will probably want to show your expertise on a few different topics. These clusters will remain part of your content strategy, as you want to update its content and add new pages or posts. For example, when there’s a new trend in your field or when you encounter a new user question on that subject.

Examples of content clusters

Let’s make this concept a bit more tangible. We’ll show you two examples of websites that use content clusters to structure their content. The first example is the ultimate guide to remote work by Zapier. This page is an index for al Zapier’s different remote work content, categorized using subtopics. There isn’t any other content on the page, so it’s focused on giving you an overview of their content on remote work. You can click on the topic you want to know more about.

Screenshot of Zapier’s pillar page on remote work

We’d like to show you another example, as topic clusters come in many forms. This one is a page on fast fashion and why it’s bad by Good on You. This one is different as this website has chosen to already feature the most important content on the page itself. Below that (and throughout the text), they link to other pages where they dive deeper into a subtopic of fast fashion.

example of content cluster by Good on You
Screenshot of Good on You’s pillar page on fast fashion

When should you use content clusters?

As said before, you can use content clusters to structure content. Of course, there are other ways to structure your content that can also be a great choice for your website. So, how do you know if this is the way to go? Topic clusters are a great option for websites that still need building authority in their field. They make it possible to rank for less competitive, more specific keyphrases, also known as long-tail keyphrases. You might be tempted to focus on your main keywords, but these less competitive keyphrases will likely drive some initial traffic to your website.

When you’ve set up your most important content clusters and gained some traffic, probably through your long-tail keyphrases, you will also see your overall rankings increase. As a result, this will help you rank for your main keywords as well. Google is starting to see you as an authority in your field. Which will, in turn, help with the rankings of all your individual pages. In addition, using content clusters makes it easy for Google to understand the hierarchy of your website and how your content is connected.

Google wants you to show off your expertise

Google and other search engines want to provide users with the best content. The content will answer their questions and help them find what they want.

The more quality content you publish on topics in your field, the more different keywords you can be found for. The more content, the more Google can link to each other to understand your website. And the more authority you can build on that those topics. This is becoming more important, with Google focusing on E-E-A-T and helpful content guidelines when they judge website content. This acronym stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness and needs to be part of your content strategy.

How to create content clusters

So, knowing how to get started is good if you consider using content clusters on your website. The first step is figuring out what your pillar pages will be. What are the main topics you want to write about? Where does your expertise lie? To give you an example, at Yoast, our main topics are all in the field of SEO. So, our content clusters could revolve around keyword research, SEO copywriting, technical SEO, e-commerce SEO, and site structure. To name a few. Take the time to figure this out, as this will be an important part of your site structure.

1. It’s time for keyword research

To figure out what your main topics are, we always suggest conducting proper keyword research. What’s great about keyword research is that it will also give you loads of inspiration for the other content in your content clusters, which you will link to from your pillar page. After deciding on your pillar pages, plan for your long-tail keyphrases and add a few to every pillar page.

2. Think about the layout of your pages

An optional step I want to mention here is involving your UX designer when you have a first overview of what you want your pillar pages and other pages to look like. Thinking back to the examples, you can choose many styles for your content clusters. Do you want to create pillar pages that give an overview of all the other content, or do you already want it to show content on the main topic? We would suggest having content on the pillar page as well, as you also want these pages to rank for your main keywords, but of course, that’s up to you. You might have another strategy in mind. Just think about design and UX to make these pages accessible for your site visitors. You’re not just doing this for our good old friend Google.

3. Let’s start writing

When you know what your content clusters will look like, it’s time to start writing. Don’t underestimate this part. Start with your main pillar pages and build from there. Prioritize which content clusters must be set up properly first and take it from there. Unfortunately, there won’t be a moment when you’re done with your content clusters. This will be a continuously evolving part of your website, which calls for regular updates to keep your content fresh and interesting. But there will be a moment when you can take a step back, look at what you have so far, and be proud of the content you’ve created. That shows your expertise on the topics closest to your business.

4. Don’t forget your internal linking

An essential part of this strategy is the internal linking. Internal linking means adding a link to one page on your website to another. This is how you form your content clusters and how Google knows what content is related to each other. Here are a few things you should keep in mind:

  • Always link to your pillar page from the other pages in the content cluster
  • Use the pillar pages to link to the (most important) pages in the content cluster
  • Avoid linking too much to other (pillar) pages outside of the content cluster

Internal linking is how users navigate your content. It’s also how search engines determine what content is related to each other and what the hierarchy is. If you handle this properly, Google will understand the most important content. This can prevent keyword cannibalization and the wrong page ranking for the wrong search terms.

Don’t worry about it too much; most comes down to common sense. Keep the clusters and hierarchy of the content in mind when you decide what pages to link to each other. Your pillar pages should be at the top of the hierarchy in their cluster, which should be reflected in your internal linking. Of course, other content in your cluster can link to each other and even to content in other clusters. Don’t go overboard with this; use it to strengthen your clusters, not link everything to each other.

Are content clusters for you?

That’s it for now! We hope this blog post has given you some insight into what content clusters or topic clusters are. But also whether they’re a good fit for your website and what they can do for your SEO. The main thing to remember is that your content should be structured in a way that’s helpful for your site visitors, and this is another way to help you do that. Are you considering using content clusters on your website? Or are you already using them? Let us know in the comments!



Camille Cunningham

Camille is a content specialist at Yoast. As part of the Search team, she enjoys creating content that helps you master SEO.

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Jan 16 2024
Why you should use a focus keyphrase only once

Your focus keyphrase is the keyword(s) you want your post or page to rank for. If you’re particularly eager to rank for a specific keyword, you’ll probably be tempted to optimize many articles for that keyphrase. But, that’s not what a focus keyphrase is for! You should only use it once. But why? And what if you desperately want to rank for that particular keyphrase? Don’t despair: we’ll tell you all about it in this post.

Table of contents

Having an orange or red light for the previously used keyphrase check in Yoast SEO? Here’s what this check does and how to turn that light green.

Don’t compete with your own articles

Why shouldn’t you use your focus keyphrase more than once? Because you don’t want to compete with yourself for a position in Google. This phenomenon is also called keyword cannibalization. By optimizing two different articles for the same focus keyphrase, you’re telling Google two things: that both are suitable for people searching for that keyphrase, and both should appear in the search results.

While having two articles rank for the same keyphrase isn’t necessarily impossible, you’ll find that it’s still very hard. Your site needs to have a lot of authority, especially if you want your two articles to appear in the top ten search results for the same query.

What if you already rank with one article?

If one of your articles already ranks, you may have enough authority to try and rank with a second one. However, if you’re not already ranking for a focus keyword, never use it twice! Instead, update and improve your original article. Then write another post that covers a slight variation of the keyword.

Do you think you might be cannibalizing your own content? Here’s how to fix keyword cannibalization.

Ranking for your desired keyphrase

What do you do if you want to rank for a particular keyphrase? Imagine you’re starting an online store for horse feed. You probably want to rank for [horse feed]. Seeing as you’re just starting, that’ll be pretty hard. You might think you need to optimize all your posts for [horse feed], but as we’ve just seen, that’s definitely not the case.

So what should you do? Your keyword research will give you some ideas about which other terms to target.

Content for your blog

If you have a blog – which we advise you have! – you could write an awesome, long cornerstone article about all the different aspects of feeding your horse well. Next, you should optimize this article for the term [feeding your horse] using our Yoast SEO plugin, and mark it as cornerstone content in our plugin.

In the Yoast SEO sidebar you can mark your content as cornerstone content

You’ll need to write a lot of posts, each covering a different aspect of your ‘head’ term. For instance, you could write and optimize articles for focus keyphrases like [best type of hay for your horse], [pasture management], [feeding thin horses], [feeding sport horses] and so on. These are called long-tail keywords.

If you link from these long tail articles to your ‘head term’ article about [horse feed], you’ll be telling Google which of your articles is the most important. This will help you with ranking your most valuable article. At the same time, you’ll also be attracting traffic for those long-tail articles.

Content for your store

So, what if you have lots of product pages for a type of horse feed? Let’s say you have a big assortment: feeds for thin horses, fat horses, feeds for sport horses etc. Should you optimize all your product pages with feeds for thin horses for [feeds for thin horses]? Nope. In this case, it makes more sense to optimize your category page for this term instead of all your individual product pages.

Can you use a focus keyphrase more than once?

Of course you can, but in most cases it’s not a good strategy to achieve great rankings for a keyphrase. If you want to rank for a keyphrase, dive a bit deeper into a topic. See what questions people have. Could you write long-tail articles about those questions?

Also, look at the other search results. Who is your competition, and what do they show? How can you distinguish yourself from them? When you’ve written your content, embed your articles in a kickass site structure to increase your chance of ranking!

What does the previously used keyphrase check in Yoast SEO do?

One of the assessments of the SEO analysis in the Yoast SEO plugin is the previously used focus keyphrase check. This assessment checks if words from your keyphrase were previously used in another keyphrase for other posts or pages on your site. If you’ve used it for another post or page, you’ll get a red light. Why? Because you should optimize only one page for a specific keyphrase!

What to do if you already used your keyphrase more than once?

If you click on the link next to the red bullet, it will guide you to the other article you’ve written about it. Take a good look at the articles. Check which one performs best in the search engines, or gets the most traffic. Keep that article, or merge the best aspects of both articles in the one that ranks highest. The free Yoast Duplicate post rewrite and republish feature can help you with that!

If you just found out you’re aiming for the same keyword or keyphrase with multiple articles, it might pay off to audit your content to find possible cannibalization issues. Fortunately, Joost has written a step-by-step guide on how to find and fix keyword cannibalism on your website!

Want to learn how to choose your focus keyphrase well?

A solid keyword strategy is indispensable if you’re aiming for your website to rank high. You should investigate which keywords you’d like to rank for, research what the competition is doing, then write excellent copy about your focus keyword. If you want to learn how to thoroughly perform keyword research for your website, read our ultimate guide to keyword research, or try our keyword research training; it’s one of the many courses you’ll get access to with Yoast SEO Premium!

Read more: Why and how to export your focus keyphrases with Yoast SEO Premium »

Marieke van de Rakt

Marieke was Head of Strategy and former CEO at Yoast. She is no longer part of Yoast, but during her time at our company she wrote a lot. Topics that she loves writing about include SEO copywriting, site structure and readability.

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