Recently, Google has made updates to their algorithm that changes the way people view text. Instead of googling something and clicking open a link to view the top of a webpage, Google will find the most relevant passage within the text and share that first. To learn more about how this update will affect how you structure your blogs, and what you can do to increase your SEO, keep reading.
How is Blog Text Scanned?
Your text is scanned in two different ways. It’s scanned by the reader and by Google and other search engines. Most people scan text by reading it all the way through or skimming for details that are relevant to what they’re looking for. They often do this by looking at headings and subheadings.
Google scans your text in a similar way, by looking at headings, semantic closeness, and clear text structure. They look to see if your text is readable, both when it comes to wording and formatting.
Google uses many tools to ensure that it’s analyzing your content correctly, such as BERT (a Natural Language Processing model that helps Google better understand language in order to provide searchers with more relevant results).
Google’s Text Structure Update
Google’s most recent update, as you may have noticed when skimming articles recently, shows people the most relevant passage in certain texts by highlighting it. Instead of clicking open a link and landing at the top of the page, the reader will instead land at this highlighted passage that Google believes to be relevant.
This highlighted passage often answers a simple question or conveys a simple idea that the reader was looking for. It’s important to keep this in mind as you write. Somewhere in your blog post, you should always feature the answer to the question that’s being asked.
Tips to Improve Text Structure of Blog Posts
To improve the structure of your text for better on-page SEO, you’ll need to pay attention to your first paragraph, the headings of your text, and the first sentence of all of your paragraphs.
Opening Paragraph
In your first paragraph, you should always be clear about what the blog post is about. When writing on the web, there’s no room to start with a teaser or lead-in. You need to state immediately what your post is about so the reader knows that they’ve found the information that they’re looking for.
One style of writing that works really well for the web is the inverted pyramid style. This means that you’ll start the post with a base layer, explaining what you’re going to be writing about and then using your headings and sub-headings to go further into the subject throughout the blog post.
If you start too narrow with your first paragraph, you may turn off people who aren’t looking for that specific information. By including more narrow information later under headings and sub-headings, this information can more easily be skipped by those it doesn’t apply to.
And of course, always make sure that your focus keyword appears in the first paragraph. To figure out what your focus keyword should be, use keyword research software.
Headings
Headings are a great way to build out the structure of your blog posts. They show your readers (and search engines) exactly what your blog posts are about and make them easier to scan and understand. Clear blog content is vital, so make sure you’re always using headings and sub-headings when you write for the web.
People don’t want to read huge blocks of text that don’t have any structure to them, so avoid writing paragraphs that are more than a few lines. A few of your headings and sub-headings should also contain your focus keyword and related keywords.
Sentences
Your core sentences, or the first sentence of each paragraph is the most important one in each section. People will read the first sentence that you write and decide whether or not that paragraph contains information that they’re looking for. Google also pays more attention to these first sentences, so make sure that they’re relevant, informative, and attention-grabbing.
Like with your first paragraph, you don’t want to spend too much time getting to what’s really important. With web content, try not to use fluff or filler to bolster your word count. Focus on what’s really important and what people need to know about the subject to create meaningful blog content.
Also check out: Basics of SEO to Know for 2021
Hire an SEO Agency to Improve Your On-Page SEO
Creating an SEO-friendly blog post may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. With the help of an SEO agency, you’ll be able to turn out impressive, high-ranking content in no time.
Site Social SEO can help you improve your content by implementing on-page SEO, including link building, keyword research, and more. Your blog’s content is an essential part of digital marketing, so don’t neglect it. Contact us online for more information or call us at 407-712-0494.
