Article Writing | Text Seo

These are the basic considerations when attempting to do text seo on a website.   Here are some empirical observations on what is working within the Noomle system. For the most place this article writing seo information applies to the Google search engine.  Techniques for Yahoo and MSN are different.   This article is specific to the Noomle site building engine, although many of these observations apply to other site building formats as well.

Font Size      
The paragraph titles should be about two or three sizes bigger than the body of the text.  I find that the default (size 2) or three makes a good basis.   A slightly larger font has the practical usa of being easier to read for many people.  Fonts of size four and larger are usually treated as emphasized text by many engines and can easily be overdone.   They also tend to make the page look garish.  For practical purposes font sizes are useful to help identify which parts of the page are important and to organize articles into sections. 

Consider your readers

Font size four can work in combination with a size 6 font.  One advantage of a size 4 base is that it is usually readable for a person with a degree of far-sightedness, as the letters are easier on the eyes.   If your base font size is 5 or higher, you are pretty much "padding" and your site will take on the visual appearance of a hype sales letter.

Keywords

Anything which is in a strong tag or header tag (look at the html button to see these) is generally considered a keyword.

Placement

Keywords generally do best when used as headers and followed by relevant text, using the words in context is a good idea, but don't overdo it.  Keywords contextualized in this way do not need to be emphasized, that may be pushing it.

Keywords used in the context of a paragraph can be worked in, if used sparingly and you are not using a lot of headers.  I've had mixed results with this.   Open the html button and create a strong tag.  Not sure how to put in here but the thing inside the arrow sets should say [B]strong[/B].  Boldface may do this by default.  

Some search engines will also recognize bold tags, and emphasis (italics) tags.   This is depreciated, and no longer recognized by some engines.

Keyword density

Very short articles can get away with higher keyword density (up to 4-7% sometimes) although this level of density is way too high for a typical article and is dangerous even for a short piece. 

Optimal density for the targeted keywords is in the 1% to 2% range.  Usually if you are writing an article without considering search engines then the most common phrases will appear between 1.2% and 1.4% , step too far from that boundary and the more sophisticated engines will likely consider your usage as over aggressive.  It is important to know which phrases actually fall within the sweet spot as these have the highest probability of getting picked up in any determination of page relevance.

Keyword density is established by using the phrase repeatedly in your article.   If you are talking about a subject this often happens naturally.   Longer articles need to lower this somewhat I think.  Use them in ways that make them fit into the natural language, engines are getting smarter and better at spotting keyword stuffing attempts.

You can safely use on in every 150 words or so, I think, in its emphasized state.  Long articles can get away with a more keywords than a shorter article.

Long Tail Keywords

Long tail phrases seem to pick up best at about the 1%-1.4% density level.  These can be very useful to getting your site picked up for secondary content.   You can try to do this organically or plan it.  Paragraph headers are good places to give this a bit of a push.   A long tail keyword is a multi-word phrase designed to specifically trigger a desired search.   These can be useful for both getting indexed in obscure areas with low search but limited competition, and for triggering very specific advertisements.   

For triggering ads, the long tail must happen to match a specific phrase.  Usually the phrase is found by doing adwords research or looking for high value words.   

When the intent of the long tail keyword is to help your site be found, many times the operative phrase is determined by having the component words all with high relevance.   For example, your article may have 4 words in the 1.2 to 1.6% sweet spot of keyword density.   A phrase that is made of those four words may give your site a result in that search even if it was not planned.  

By knowing what your sweet spot keywords are, you can give them a bit of extra push by emphasizing them and looking for a specific high paying phrase that uses various combinations of those words.   Be careful not to inflate your keyword percentages too much when adding in specific trigger phrases.   Advanced search engines are very sensitive to grammatical structure, so the word has to sensibly fit within the context of what you are presenting.   If you can't make the phrase fit into a sentance, don't use it, or use it as a section title that covers related information, instead.

Choosing long tail keywords

The google adwords keyword tool can be useful.  This is the easiest method, although you may want to try Noomle's keyword suggestion tool and throw Eric a couple of bucks if you think it is helpful.   Other commercial tools are also evailable for doing keyword research.      

Sanaz Ahari of Bing, who has the data to know, says about 20 percent of all searches are catagorized and that Bing is intending to deepen that experience.  Recent tools released by google present information in a navigatable heirarchy.   More and more users are learning to use long tail seraches to find the information they are seeking.  

Keyword Selection
Sometimes you want a keyword to help get indexed.  Sometimes you want good ads to show up on your site.  Generally things at the top of your page are more likely to trigger this result.   Look for high paying phrases that are in your subject matter and experiment with treating them as keywords.

As a general rule, if a word or phrase has a lot of ads show up when you search it in google, it is going to pay well.   If there is a link for "more advertisers" at the bottom of the list, you can click it.  For very good phrases there may be several hundred people bidding on the keyword.  This is not always true, but it makes a good rule of thumb.

Understanding keywords will help maximize your seo and revenue potentials.

Content

Ultimately, you are writing for your readers, at least if you expect them to return.   Attention to keyword densities, trigger phrases, structure and long tail keywords is all well and good, but if your readers don't find your content interesting and useful they are unlikely to return.    Original quality content is the stated goal of Google, in selecting pages.  You can't go wrong there.   If your page is well written, it will attract social bookmarkers, return visitors and will tend to be viewed favorably by the search engines.    While SEO can give you an edge in getting your page noticed, if you can't hold your visitors on the page, then you have defeated the purpose of getting them to visit your site to begin with.   So always remember the goal is to provide good content for the reader, above and beyond all other considerations.
  

Writing

Writing good text is a huge part of getting your site noticed..  The Tatu system explores seo from a number of different angles.  While we have examined the raw form of the composition, it is appropriate to consider the impact that words have on your design.

The text that you employ in your site has a number of implications.   The content itself provides context with which visitors can evaluate your site.  How that content is presented is as important as the content itself.   Well presented content can attract a viewers interest long enough to decide if they want to look at your site in more depth.   The best sites are structurally organized and easy to navigate.   This is important to both your users, and the search engines which evaluate your content.

Composition | Words are like Lyrics

Words themselves are like music, they leap off of the page and appear in a stylistic rhythm.  They tattoo the senses with a blend of shapes and sizes and meanings.   This mix creates meaning to the viewer and holds their interest.   Varying the length of paragraphs and the tempo of the words creates a musical composition of visual forms.  In doing this you create a masterpiece of rhythm and tempo which draws your viewer along with each word.

By varying the visual appearance, a melodic sensation overcomes you and your viewer enters a form of hypnotic trance.  Short arrangements of words create a faster pace, while longer words in longer sentences create a more contemplative ambience.

Style | Natural writing Styles

Following a natural writing form can bring the article along in the eyes of the person reading the article.   It also generates a specific tempo that can be used to your advantage.  By navigating the page, your viewer is drawn into the story you tell as the eyes find a visually pleasing arrangement.  

In much the same way that music captures the senses, your words become the lyrics, and the shapes of those words become the cues to keep the eyes moving forward.    

Rhythm | The flow of the article

Just as music varies by providing a wide ranging blend of sounds, so should your writing change in rhythm and form.   While music often makes use of repetitious sequences, visual appearances work somewhat differently.   The more sophisticated engines prefer the use of synonyms and related words to repetition of the same words to gain emphasis.   However, tastes vary, and the best approach is a mix of repetitive phrases and imagery that is related.   In music, this approach is known as a refrain.   While a refrain may be repeated throughout a song at regular intervals, in writing the concept must be broadened a bit to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

Encore | Wrapping up the Article

As with all good songs, the story should reach a conclusion.  The last bit should summarize what has been presented.   Many search engines put extra emphasis on content that is at the bottom of the page, just as the ending of a song may stay in the audiences mind for a long time to come.  It is useful to provide an encore that sums up the high points of the article.   Keywords in this section should be relevant to the entire article, and often form the basis of ad selections.  

SEO

Take the stage and enjoy the applause.   If you follow these article writing tips you can make some great things happen