How To Structure Content

How To Structure Content in SEO?

Let’s cut to the chase; writing your shopping list does not mean you can write; understanding grammar and having an extraordinary lexicon of words also does not mean you can write. To write is to understand the structure, flow and tone. Regardless of what you are writing, a well-written piece will benefit the content, even if you are writing with the purpose of optimising your content through SEO. SEO will get your potential customers to the page, but you must engage with valuable content to keep them there. 

That white, blinking screen can be daunting when it is staring back at you, waiting, lingering for you to offer some words, but once you’ve broken down your content into five key questions, your screen won’t seem so demanding.

The Five Questions, All The Right Answers

What is it?

Open up your content by answering your potential customers and explaining the product/service; this saves any confusion and removes any chances of your reader becoming frustrated. If they found your writing through SEO tools, they most likely started by searching for a solution to the problem via Google. 

Why is it important?

Now your reader knows what the product is; you can lead them to learn about the value of your product/service. What value is added to their lives if they purchase from your company? We are curious beings, and knowing the why is fundamental to any decision-making, so before your potential customer can decide on moving forward with you, they need a why.

Why does your potential customer need it?

This goes back to the paragraph because, ultimately, your customer is searching for two whys: why this product/service?’ and ‘why do I need it?’. These two whys need to be the bulk of your content because if this is done correctly, you will be to answer all your customers’ queries. So, why should your customer need this or choose you as their provider? Are you more cost-effective than your competitors? Does your service offer a higher quality product? Just think, why, why, why, why, why? 

How does your business provide that service/product?

Answering the how is the ideal ending to your writing, leaving the reader with a clear idea of who and what your business is. If we are being honest, we are selling products and services that multiple companies can provide half the time, so you must delve into the how. How does your company deliver this product and service, and what makes your business vary from the vast range of other companies?

SEO Content Recap

1. Use a clear and descriptive headline (H1) that includes your primary keyword.
2. Break up your content into subheadings (H2, H3) and use keywords in them as well.
3. Use alt text to describe images so search engines can understand the content of the images.
4. Use internal linking to link to other relevant pages on your website.
5. Use external linking to link to credible sources to back up any claims made in the content.
6. Optimise your URLs by including keywords and keeping them short and descriptive.
7. Use meta tags to provide a brief description of the page’s content, which is often used by search engines as the snippet that appears in the search results.
8. Make sure your website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly, as this can affect your search engine rankings.
9. Last but not least, write high-quality content that is valuable and informative for your readers.

While we can’t guarantee that your content will become an overnight success and appear in the likes of New Yorker, we do hope that the blank screen does fill you with doom!