How to build a page for SEO

Written by Lex

A lot of people think you either have to build a page for a person or a search engine but…

There are two main areas that you want to focus on to ensure your page fits both of these criteria:

Wordcount
Page Structure

Wordcount

There is a myth that pages with higher word counts rank higher and, quite like the myths of the Minotaur, this is not entirely the truth.

Looking at the average word count of a Google top 10 result it comes out to around 1447 words per top-ranking page but correlation does not equal causation so let’s make like a 1972 Lancia Beta and break down why this is actually happening.

First thing’s first, the quality vs quantity question must be answered. Yes, these top ranking pages may have 1447 words but it’s not the fact there are this many words that causes them to be high ranking, it’s what exactly those words are. If you have 1447 words that are totally useless to the reader but are appealing to a search engine, you may score well on your keywords but the backlinks and engagement won’t even register and so your page will not rank very well.

However, if you write a page of equal length that provides a lot of value to the reader and also contains plenty of keywords to please a search engine, you’re going to rank higher because of a very specific chain of events.

Let’s say our page is full of content that readers absolutely love and find incredibly useful. This increases the chance that the page will receive a backlink and, as those SEO-ists among you may know, this will improve your ranking as Google loves backlinks. So using the equation below you can increase your rankings not by using a lot of words, but using the right words.

Page Structure

Another incredibly important aspect to ensure you rank highly is ensuring the structure of your page is optimal for a search engine and a user. It’s all well and good having an article that is expertly written to be engaging and interesting to read but if your page is laid out terribly, nobody is going to read it.

Using this layout will ensure your page is easy to read for both a person and a search engine meaning you have the highest possible chance of getting a high ranking (If you look at this page you may, hopefully, see some similarities between it and the structure we’ve outlined above).

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: How long should a blog post be for SEO?

A: It is the quality of the content, not the quantity of words that matter!

Q: How to write a good blog post for SEO?

A: Write blog posts for people, not search engines. The engagement you get will push you higher than any keyword ever will.

Q: Are images good for SEO?

A: Both directly and indirectly. Directly as long as you add alt text. Indirectly as it will make your pages easier to read and more likely to receive backlinks.

Conclusions

So if you’re looking to get your pages ranking as high as possible then bear in mind these three things:

Create content that provides a lot of value
Include keywords in a way that does not detract from the content
Lay your pages out in a simple and attractive way

If you want some great examples to base your pages on then take a look at one of these four articles:

Author

Lex

When the team are feeling shy or simply want to post as a collective, the Brand Ambition Team author profile is activated. Same Great Content, No Judgement.
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