Basic rules for writing posts

Here are a few basic rules for adding posts to your website.

1. Write original articles.

Do not copy articles verbatim from other websites. It’s plagiarism and can hurt your search rankings. Google will see the articles as duplicates and ignore them. You can reference or summarize other articles, but you must put them in your own words.

2. Stay on topic.

Write the majority of your blog posts about the topics you want to rank for or about the products and services you sell. For example, if you’re a real estate company write about the real estate market, new properties, or buying and selling homes. You can write about your favorite sports team or a local event, but that won’t help rankings for your target keywords; and it can confuse Google as to what your website is really about.

3. Strategically target your top keywords.

Think about the keywords you want to rank for in the search engines and use those words in your post. Just don’t repeat the keywords needlessly. All text should read naturally.

4. Choose categories and tags wisely

You should choose an appropriate Category and two or three Tags for each post.

Categories are a general classification that help users navigate the topics. Good examples of categories might include: News, Photos, Videos, Specials, Job Listings, Product Reviews, Glossary, FAQs, etc.

Tags are a little confusing at first, but if you learn to use them properly they can really help your search rankings. A Tag is simply a keyword phrase that describes the post topic. Because Tags are listed on each post, they increase the number of times you can include important keyword phrases without artificially stuffing the keywords into the page text.

Good examples of Tags might include: vacation rentals on the beach in Destin, new home construction Panama City Beach, seafood restaurants Destin, best fishing charters Panama City, etc.

• Categories and Tags should not overlap — Categories are a general classification and Tags are more specific. You should never have the exact same prhases in both Categories and Tags.
• Don’t use the same Tags on every post; mix it up. It is encouraged, however, to reuse Tags where applicable. (Each tag gets its own page on the site and will list all the posts assigned that tag. These Tag pages often rank high in search results.)
• Only use two or three RELATED Tags per post. (Tags should always pertain to the articles they are assigned to.)

4. Misc Tips

• Write compelling titles that spark interest. Titles on posts can be six to 12 words long. If possible, include a focus keyword phrase related to your main site topic in the title (a keyword you want to rank for in the search engines).
• Include subheadings to break up long blocks of text and make articles easy to skim. If your title is set as H1 (the first heading), do not use additional H1s in your content area. There should be only one H1 per page. So you will probably set your first subheading as H2. The next subheading can be another H2 or an H3. Do not skip heading levels!
• If possible, add a featured image and at least one image in the page content area.
• Add “alternate text” for each image — just a short description of what is in the image.
• Use our Blog Post Worksheet below for additional tips.

Blog Post Worksheet

Some people find it helpful to use a worksheet when writing blog posts. This post on our website has more information on Writing Great Website Content.