I’ve written several articles about SEO, but I haven’t talked much about the copy itself. While it’s still important to have the best content you can muster, when it comes to linking outside of your site, you’ll want to use “inline” links within the body of your copy. Inline links are those links naturally occurring within the text and don’t disrupt the flow. We’ve all seen our share of the overused and tiresome, “click here” link. As far as the search engines are concerned (your readers, too) a “click here” link does nothing to boost your rankings nor will your readers fall for such an obvious attempt at luring them in.
Wouldn’t you rather read great content with a link or two that naturally occur and don’t interrupt your reading? For your inline link, I strongly suggest using anchor text that blends in perfectly with the content. Anchor text is the words you use to create the link. In your descriptive content, you might use a word related to the site your linking to as the anchor text. The proper use of anchor text blends nicely with the content, don’t you think? Another tip is use a keyword as your anchor text, which is a good SEO move and is part of optimization strategy. Speaking of keywords, follow the next few examples to spruce up your content.
Keep it simple and to the point
Just what is it that makes your content a “must read?” It’s the content of course, but it’s also the headings and sub-headings you use. Keep this in mind. Readers are skimmers. No one has time anymore to read far into a piece and realize it’s not what they’re looking for. Why not summarize the entire piece with headings? Imagine the pleasure your readers will experience when they can skim your entire piece and know what to expect only by reading your headings.
Don’t stop with the headings. Keep the content smoothly flowing using short, to the point sentences that directly relate to the heading. This is what catches a reader’s eye, especially during these busy days we all face.
Use keywords as headings
This is very important from a reader’s point of view and it helps your on page SEO. Using a keyword as your heading not only helps your reader understand what your content is about, but also has the added benefit of helping your chances at better rankings with search engines. Keeping your content and headings related will benefit the reader most and may encourage them to share your content, which is an indication to the search engines of the popularity of your website.
