When it comes to running a website, there are a lot of things you can’t predict or even plan in advance. While sometimes even the most well-organized web content decisions may take a wrong turn, other times completely spontaneous moves can end up being great decisions.
However, when it comes to SEO content, not many things can be left to chance. That doesn’t mean you can fully foretell each and every outcome, but at least there’s a set of recommended guidelines and tips that can steer you in the right direction.
For today’s post, we’ve decided to give you an overview of the top SEO content tips in a playful manner—we’ll use Joseph Haslam’s fun approach to presenting SEO, known as “FISHIES”.
What is “FISHIES”?
“FISHIES” is an acronym made up of words commonly associated with SEO. It stands for:
- F = Frequency
- I = Interesting
- S = Structure
- H = Headings
- I = Inbound links
- E = Engagement
- S = Sitemap
These are some of the most important aspects of high-quality SEO content. Incorporating them in your content marketing strategy can drastically improve not only your search engine ranking, but the way users perceive your content in general.
Frequency
What’s better than high-quality content published once in a blue moon? High-quality content published frequently, of course.
Even though the frequency of your posts isn’t directly connected to SEO, search engines will start to index your posts faster, and the more they do that, the more trust your site gains. The same goes for your readers. The more fresh content you produce, the better your chances that new audiences will find your posts in search engines.
Your content establishes your digital presence, so you should also regularly go through older posts and update them.
Let’s say you wrote a post titled “Best Free WordPress Plugins for Backup” and you published this in 2017. However, three years later, it’s 2020, and there are many more backup plugins on the market. Do your research, update your content, and check what your competitors wrote as well.
Interesting
Writing content that piques the interest of your readers is what will encourage them to stay longer on your website. This will decrease your bounce rate, which ultimately affects your ranking—the lower the bounce rate, the higher the ranking.
However, interesting content doesn’t only entail textual content. Incorporating imagery can do wonders for your content. Plus, did you know that 32% of marketers claim that visuals are the most important form of content for their business?
Visual content is much more appealing to the eye and highlights the most important information. Try using a variety of visual content such as videos, images, GIFs, infographics, and so on.
Also, if you use a lot of images, don’t forget to optimize them for better user experience. Image optimization affects your website speed, so the faster your website, the lower your bounce rates. Additionally, this helps heighten your SEO.
Basic image optimization includes compressing your images and making sure you add image alt tags that contain keywords so that search engines know what your image is about.
Structure
Is your content split into paragraphs? Does it have between 1000 to 2000 words divided properly in adequate sections (introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion)? Is it easy to read?
Your content should be structured in such a way as to always convey the necessary message and idea in a comprehensible way.
You really want to take every detail into consideration because when you do, and users click on your posts, this says to Google: “Hey, Google, this a nicely structured post! It’s useful, relevant, and its layout makes it easy to follow.” In Google language, this sounds like this: “A-ha, this content has the potential to rank on the first page.”
Headings
Headings are useful because they assist readers in navigating their way through a piece of content. It’s like coming across a sign on the highway telling you where you are at the moment. They show readers what to expect in a passage or paragraph.
Use H1, H2, and H3 to indicate consecutive heading levels. Here’s an example:
H1: How to Choose the Best Hosting Option
H2: Types of Web Hosting
H3: Shared Hosting
H3: Managed/Dedicated Hosting
H3: VPS Hosting
H3: Cloud Hosting
You’ll notice we’ve also used the actual heading formatting to illustrate this. Headings make your content look organized and concise, and using them indirectly impacts your SEO, so make sure they’re keyword-rich.
Inbound Links
Inbound links build your backlink profile, and that’s a major ranking factor. There are several techniques you can use to actively strengthen your backlink profile:
Find which link-building strategy works best for your website. For example, if you’re selling cosmetics, find the appropriate influencers and explain how you’d like them to promote your product and incorporate your website link into their content. Or if you’re planning on building a PBN, consider the option of finding an adequate PBN hosting provider like Bulk Buy Hosting that’ll offer you safety.
Engagement
Increasing user engagement decreases your bounce rate, encourages your visitors to return, and converts visitors into customers. While, again, these are not direct ranking factors, search engines like Google take heed of user engagement via metrics such as bounce rate.
Answer possible queries your visitors might have, ask them to tag you on Instagram if they purchased a product from you, and share some of their posts on your accounts as well.
Also, make sure you install neat-looking social media buttons on your website (for example, you can use a plugin such as Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons) to make your content more shareable.
Sitemap
The list of your pages on your website is known as a sitemap. Sitemaps inform search engines about the content you publish on your website, and this enables them to identify your website structure, crawl it, and index it more easily.
Sitemaps make sure websites are ranked properly on a search engine results page.
Final Words
Ultimately, we hope you enjoyed the “FISHIES” approach to SEO. They’ll certainly give depth to your content, as well as make you (re)consider the ways you’ve approached your content so far.
Finally, don’t feel as if SEO content is something you can instantly learn by heart or a concept you have to master somehow. This requires time, experience, detailed strategies, and even learning from trial and error.