Page Headline. Try to include words you would use if you were searching for the information in your article.

Try to use ‘you’ or ‘your’ and include a benefit or question

The headlines which do well on the web usually contain one of the following:

• A number: Numbers work very well because it promises a fixed quantity of information.
• Odd numbers work better than even numbers because readers are suspicious of a neat, even number.
• Address the reader directly: Use ‘you’, ‘your’.
• Show understanding of the readers issues/pain. For example: ‘We are all facing supplier price increases post COVID. Our 9 step strategy mitigates that issue.’

Your intro paragraph strategy is important!

First para (should tell the read what they will learn): Describe the most important benefits the reader will learn. Then follow up with the positive outcome of this information.

For example: After the following Headline:

‘Does your team struggle when re-negotiating contracts with long-standing suppliers? Here are 6 key negotiation strategies that will help your business get better value without alienating your important suppliers’

you could follow on with:

‘Retaining existing suppliers and achieving better terms means you maintain continuity and save significant costs .

The first paragraph is the offer, the second is the direct benefit that it offers your business.

The third para explains the longer lasting positive outcome.

‘Your team will have the tools they need to challenge supplier assumptions and overcome their concerns, resulting in better terms for your business and a healthy and reliable ongoing relationship with your supplier(s)’ 

3 great reasons to use subheads

1. Using subheads regularly throughout your article will help Google understand the page and rank it for related keywords.
2. It breaks up the content into more readable ‘chunks’.
3. It meets the needs of people who ‘skim’ the content.

Subheads are also a great place for keywords. e.g. If your article is about Digitisation, then the subheads could include related keywords such as (keywords in italics) ‘How digital technologies deliver savings’, ‘Information management can reduce overstocking’, ‘The key benefits of Spend Analytics‘. All subheads should contain a keyword where possible.

Include this important subhead strategy:

Use descriptive subheads. So, instead of just ‘Survey Results’ try ‘The Survey revealed several surprising strategies’. Or ask a question ‘How do you reliably measure supplier performance?’ or demonstrate empathy ‘We know it’s hard to monitor real time data. That’s the reason we adopted the following approach.’

Short blocks of text are easier to read

Keeping text to just a few lines increases the likely-hood that it will be read. Short paragraphs are less challenging because there is clearly a lower time commitment. If the subject require a long explanation then it can be ‘chunked’ by using paragraph breaks, bullet points, subheads and graphics.

Everyone loves bullet points

• Bullet points are quick and easy to read.
• Bullet points can be quickly ‘scanned’.
• Bullet points are easy to copy and paste and share.

Google likes links

Each article should contain several links to other content on our site. There should also be some links and references to content on respected and relevant external sites. Google has always believed that websites should be part of the interconnected web, not small islands of content that stand alone.

Long articles can be linked from an index at the top of the page.

Use sticky infographics and graphs

Search engines like charts and graphics. More importantly, people like them. The top 3 ranking factors in Google are Content, Links and RankBrain. Part of the RankBrain algorithm measures ‘bounce rate’. If a user clicks a link in the search results and immediately returns (bounces) back to the search results, then Google demotes that page for that keyword. If the searcher stays on the linked page then Google boosts that page for that keyword next time it is used. For that reason, we want people to be interested enough in our content to stay a while and look. Infographics, animations, videos and charts all help keep people curious and on the page for longer.

‘Definitive’ guides are very popular