It’s not enough to write content for the web – you need to make sure that content is easily readable and skimmable. You also need to ensure the content will rank well.

There are only 10 spots on the first page of Google for any target keyword, and competition can be fierce. Getting into one of the top spots isn’t always easy, but if you play your cards right, it is doable.

Did you know that 55 percent of pageviews get only 15 seconds of attention? People have very short attention spans online, which is why it is so essential to make your content readable and skimmable.

Today, I will go over seven tips that can help you make your content both readable and rankable. Let us get into it.

1. Target the Right Keywords

Too many websites are getting much less traffic than they could be getting. By targeting the right keywords, you can significantly increase your traffic volume.

There are two main things you want to look for in a keyword:

• High traffic volume
• Low competition/easy ranking score

A keyword might be easy to rank for, but if it is only getting 50 searches a month, it’s usually not worth your time ranking for it (though that depends on buyer intent, conversion rates, and profit per acquisition).

However, just because a keyword gets a lot of traffic, that does not mean you should target it. If the competition is too high, you might be wasting your time.

There are a number of ways to estimate the competitiveness of a keyword. Many keyword tools will help you by giving you a difficulty score, which is calculated by taking into account the number of websites competing for that keyword and the Domain Authority of each of those websites. For example, if the top websites ranking for a keyword are sites like Amazon, CDC, or other major authoritative sites, you are going to have a tough time ranking for that keyword.

2. Write an Interesting Title

The title is perhaps the most critical part of your article. As I mentioned already, most pageviews don’t last more than 15 seconds. However, if your title makes people curious enough, they might linger longer on the page, eager to learn more.

A title should be exciting and only give readers part of the story. It should hint that there is a lot more to learn; it should create mystery and suspense. It shouldn’t be too long, and it shouldn’t be clickbaity either. It shouldn’t use complex words, but it should include target keywords, so you have a better chance of ranking for them.

Make sure to optimize your meta title – that’s the title that will appear in the Google search result snippet. It shouldn’t be more than 60 characters, or it might get cut off.

3. Break Down Your Post Into Multiple Subheadings

Your blog is not going to be studied by college professors or even college students. It is a blog, after all; most people don’t look at more than 20 percent of the text on a page. If people see a large block of text, they usually won’t bother reading it because it is not skimmable.

To make your blogs easier to digest, make sure to break your posts into multiple paragraphs and to separate sections of your article with subheadings. Generally, my advice is this: People should be able to understand the gist of the article by reading the subheadings only. That’s actually pretty easy to do if you are writing a list article.

Use different sizes of headings. For example, you can separate sections with H2 tag subheadings and subsections with H3 tag subheadings. Doing this will help the flow of your article and make it easier to skim through. In addition, using target keywords in your subheadings can make your article rank better. Google also likes when you break your piece into subheadings, as they know it makes it easier to read.

4. Write for Humans, Not Bots

Google’s algorithm is more intelligent than you think. While stuffing your articles with keywords would help them rank back in the early days of the internet, that is no longer the case. Google has become pretty good at detecting content that was written for bots, and they actually demote those articles.

Google can detect natural language using latent semantic indexing. This means that using natural words instead of focusing on specific keywords will actually help your article rank. For example, Google knows that “coronavirus” and “Covid-19” are usually synonymous and used interchangeably. Using words that have a similar meaning can help you rank for your original target keyword – using “Covid-19” can help you rank for “coronavirus,” for example.

While it is essential to target specific keywords and use them, don’t be afraid to write naturally. It won’t hurt you – in fact, it will do the opposite and help you rank.

5. Actually Write a High-Quality Article`

This needs to be stressed because too many people get caught up with details like keyword targeting, competition, backlinks, meta tags, alt tags, and various other on-page and off-page SEO techniques. However, the most important thing will always be writing a high-quality article, so make that your priority. Low-quality articles don’t tend to rank well, regardless of which keyword you target or whether or not you use alt tags.

Above all, focus on producing high-quality content. Use high-quality images, not stock photos you got off Pixabay for free. Use infographics or tables when possible to make the data you present easier to digest. Break your article up into parts and make it skimmable. Embed a video if possible.

6. Use Internal and External Links`

Both internal and external links can help boost your rankings. Internal links are essential because they help Google understand the context of your articles and what each one is about. It also shows Google that your content is valuable – if you never value your own content enough to link to it, why should Google value it?

External links can boost your rankings too, but they need to be done wisely. Always link to a high-quality site that is an authority in your niche. For example, if you are writing about SEO, you might link to Moz. Sites like Forbes are also good. Linking to a high-quality site when appropriate can help your rankings.

However, don’t link out too much. That will make your page look like a bridge page – a page set up for the purpose of creating backlinks. If you are linking out a lot, or if you are linking to a low-quality website or page, consider marking the link as nofollow. This tells Google not to crawl or pay attention to that link and to disregard it.

Using internal and external links is also helpful to your readers. For example, a topic might be too well-known to explain fully, but you might still want to provide a link to those who are not knowledgeable in the matter. You might also want to touch upon topics briefly and give an opportunity for people to learn more if they are interested, but dwelling on the subject in the article itself might be going off on a tangent.

7. Give Preference to Longform Content

Longform content ranks best. While you should not be using fluff to inflate the word count of your articles, you should try to make your articles longer. Fluff doesn’t work because Google is pretty good at telling what is fluff content and will rank your pages accordingly. If you can, however, find a way to add more valuable information to the article.

You might add a subsection explaining a specific topic touched upon in the article in depth. Or, you might add a section on a related issue if it ties into the article and is relevant. You need to make sure you include only helpful information, not fluff.

How long should your articles be? I would recommend 1,000 words at the minimum, but articles that provide quality information can be as low as 500 words and still rank. It also depends on the competition – if the competition for your target keyword is non-existent or inadequate, a few hundred words can be enough. For more competitive niches and keywords, a few thousand words would be a better goal to aim for.

Always remember to focus on quality over quantity. Quantity is necessary, but it is not the end-all, and Google always values quality information at the end of the day.

Conclusion

So, there you have it: 7 ways to make your content more readable and rankable. Here they are, to summarize:

1. Target high-volume, low-competition keywords.
2. Write an eye-catching title that includes your target keyword with an optimized meta title.
3. Use headings and subheadings to break up your posts.
4. Write for humans using natural language.
5. Write a high-quality article that provides valuable information and advice.
6. Insert internal links and external links to high-quality blogs.
7. Write longer articles with high-quality content.

By following these seven tips, you can expect your rankings to go up and the length of visitor sessions to increase.