There are no absolute truths in search engine optimisation. Despite the claims of some less-than-reputable advisers, there are no sure-fire equations for keyword density, no hidden secrets to success and no guaranteed boosts to the top of the SERPs. The search engines do their best to hide the details of their algorithms from the rest of the world, and so what the SEO community knows is mainly based on their experience.

That said, there are some things that are very strongly suspected, much in the way that the operation of gravity is very strongly suspected. The principles of SEO are built on these strong suspicions, which are the result of in-depth research and observation. This has led to a series of thoughts which inform how a website should be built and maintained in order to attract search engine attention. As you can tell, this has led to a number of standard techniques. Take, for example, the average SEO article.

Every article has some things in common, regardless of whether it’s in print or online. There will be a title and a number of paragraphs of text following it. There will be an opening, hopefully a catchy one, and a conclusion. Unlike print articles, however, an SEO article needs a particular structure to appeal to both users and search engines.

• Title: The title is the first thing a user’s eye is drawn to, so it needs to come in with a bang. A good SEO title will feature the page’s keywords as far to the left as possible. Titles are usually between three and seven words long, with a piece of information and a hook. An example of this could be ‘Headlines: punch, catch and sell’. Titles can be tricky even for professionals to compose. It can help to seek expert advice, and you can talk to our experts at SEO Consult about content provision

• Subheadings: These have proven effect for web content as they break up a piece into easy, bite-sized chunks for your users. If you pull out your title and subheadings and string them together, they should effectively summarise your article’s content. Subheadings are also a good place to feature keywords, but don’t push keywords into every subheading as it looks spammy

• Introduction: Your intro may be your first paragraph, or a separate paragraph pulled out from the text and featured just below the title. This is a secondary hook for users after they read the title

• Highlighted text: Pulling out further key terms with bold, italics and hypertext allows your users to further digest your content when they scan. Hypertext presents an opportunity to boost the SEO of your other pages

As a last, optional point, it is possible to suggest a graphic. Some SEO experts swear by the use of an image below the title to back up the article’s message. The effectiveness of this will really depend on your audience, and in truth images are a little over-used for web articles. Design should be a consideration, however, when it comes to posting your article on your site.

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