In SEO, it is an absolute necessity to have high quality content and copy. It is one the more important factors when a search engine ranks a website. But it is also one of the most difficult to implement so in this article are guidelines and tips for the people who handle the content.

The design team and developers have it easy because they already have a clear-cut set of tasks in the SEO management of the site. Writers on the other hand always need to be at their best shape mentally to create quality content. Below are the guidelines to consider for writers.

1. Include the main topic/person in the headline. Well, let’s get elephant in the room out first. This is an extremely important aspect which should never (never ever!) be disregarded. There are still some supposed writers out there who disregard this. Come on!
2. Mention the main topic/person in the first paragraph. This is an important rule for writers especially those who write for content. The main topic or person should always be included in the first paragraph.
3. Write good headlines. There is no clear-cut definition of a good headline because every case is different but a descriptive headline is a good way to go. Describe your article in a way such that the readers should already know what they would get when they read your article. It is also a good idea to put a benefit in your headline. What would people get if they read your headline? E.g. “30 Tips to Better Speak in Public.”
4. Include any links in the article itself. When you have a need to put a link to your article, do not simply write “click here for more information”. Rather, include the links in the text of your article. Write descriptive texts in parts of the article that you can use for the links.
5. Don’t worry about text wrapping. Don’t shorten headlines just for the sake of getting your headlines to fit in one line instead of two. This is the general rule because search engines still will still see it as a complete sentence. However, refrain from purposely creating very long headlines.
6. Use complete names. When mentioning a person’s or company’s name for the first or second time, make sure that you use the full complete name. This will give search engines better understanding of your article.
7. Link to your past articles. If you’ve already written a similar article to the one you’re writing, it is a good idea to link to that article. Just mention it in your article and create a text link.
8. Properly resize images. If you plan on inserting images in your article, make sure to properly resize the images in an image editor. Consider the size because page load speed is also a factor in SEO.
9. Write Alt tags for images. Make use of the alt tag property of images to help search engines understand what your image is about.
10. Write captions for your images. When writing captions for your images, make sure that it is relevant to the article. This also helps search engines decide on the relevance of the image to the article. A relevant image will help an article’s quality.

One aspect black-hat SEOs used to take advantage of is the keywords. Keyword density, though an integral factor, should be utilised with care. It is all about your readers. Do not annoy them with nonsensical gibberish that is only meant for search engines because ultimately, it’s all about your readers. You should write for your readers, not search engines.