There are two steps to writing an article that can rank on the front page of Google:
1. Write the best article on the internet.
2. Optimize the article using technical SEO.
This tutorial will cover the first point in detail.
How to Write the Best Article on the Internet
As a search engine, it is Google’s job to provide the most helpful article possible to someone who is searching for a certain keyword.
As a writer, it is your goal to create the most helpful article possible about that keyword. You can do this by following a simple two-step process:
1. Write an article that is a combination of the current top results.
Suppose I am interested in writing an article about the keyword “real life examples of ANOVA” for Statology.
Before I begin writing the article, the first thing I’ll do is search for that phrase in Google and take a look at the current top results.
These top results are literally Google telling you: “Hey, we think these articles are the most useful ones on the internet for answering your question.”
Thus, the way to write an article that is even better than the current top result is to write a comprehensive article about the keyword that includes all of the topics already discussed in the top results.
For example, I’ll click on the first four or five results for “real life examples of ANOVA” and briefly skim each article. From doing so, I can tell that the following topics are discussed in these articles:
- A definition of an ANOVA
- Examples of real-life applications of ANOVA
- A caution that ANOVA applications vary depending on the industry they’re used in
Thus, when I wrote my article I organized it in the following manner:
First, I provided a quick intro to draw the reader in.
Next, I provided a definition of an ANOVA, including images.
Then, I provided four real life examples of ANOVA:
Lastly, I concluded by stating that the applications of an ANOVA can vary depending on the industry:
Thus, I included all of the topics discussed in the top results in one big article. By doing this, it meant that my article was likely to be the most useful to a reader because all of the information contained in the other top results was already contained in mine, which means a reader wouldn’t need to read any other article to get their query answered.
Note: I didn’t plagiarize any of the text from the current top results; I simply made sure to write about each of the topics discussed in the top results. Don’t ever copy and paste text from the top results because Google will catch on and penalize your site heavily.
2. Make your article as user-friendly as possible.
Lastly, once you’ve written a comprehensive article about a particular keyword, you want to make sure that the layout of the article is as user-friendly as possible by implementing the following tactics:
- Use short paragraphs (2-3 sentences)
- Break up the paragraphs with headers
- Use relevant images if possible
- Make the text highly readable (dark color and medium-to-large font)
- Use bullet points to enhance readability
- Use bold and italic text to enhance readability
For example, consider how user-friendly this layout is:
I use short paragraphs, bold text when necessary, and an image to help readers visualize the point I’m trying to make. Now contrast that with this layout:
The paragraph looks like a wall of text. There are no italics, no bolded words, and no images. This is dreadful for a reader to look at.
So, make sure your articles are user-friendly. The more user-friendly and readable your article, the more likely the reader is to stay on your page and continue to read through your content. This is a good thing because in Google’s eyes, one of the most important ranking factors is time spent on page.
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