When it comes to writing articles, especially knowledge base articles, best practices need to be followed. Applying SEO best practices is essential for writing knowledge base articles to rank highly on search engines. High rankings are important because customers are more likely to ask a search engine their question before they navigate the content on your site for the answers as a first step to solving their problem. So, you need search engine optimized articles.
Here’s more about SEO knowledge base articles best practices.
Understand What Customers Search.
Proper SEO research can help with identifying gaps in support content. By acknowledging these content gaps, a business can write knowledge base content to help reach customers and better address their needs. To do this, utilize an SEO tool to understand what phrases a customer is searching for — and what content the search engine is serving them based on that query. Using keyword research to help create content with targeted keyword phrases gives the content direction and helps discover new content topics. You may even find you have articles that address your customer’s questions but it’s not ranking in the search results. This means you need to tweak your articles to follow more SEO best practices.
Follow On-Page SEO Best Practices.
It’s a good idea for businesses to follow different on-page SEO practices.
Title Tags.
This is what search engines see as the title of your page. SEO title tags are one of the essential pieces of SEO copy. Having a title tag that is relevant, strong, and clickable can improve rankings, overall traffic numbers, and click-through rates. To create an ideal title tag, businesses must keep search engine results pages (SERPS) consistent across the website, reinforce branding, and simplify the processes for content networks and multiple contributors.
Meta Descriptions.
A meta description is a short overview of the content on a specific webpage. It appears on the SERP under the title of the article. A good meta description is important because it explains what the knowledge base article will be about, improves click-through rates, and helps businesses create a good first impression.
Internal Page Linking.
Businesses should focus on linking internal pages to help drive traffic to other website pages and reputable sources. Internal page linking improves usability through anchor text, boosts page views, improves page rank and the time visitors spend on the business’ website.
Make Content Easy to Read.
High-quality content that is easy to read is one factor that sets one business apart from another.
Write for Humans First, Search Engines Second.
One of the best practices for knowledge base writing for humans first and search engines second. Content needs to be concise and easy to read. Target keywords can be included in the content, but make sure the content doesn’t include bad SEO practices, such as keyword stuffing.
Keep the Content Fresh.
Search engines love fresh content. Businesses need to create a content schedule that shows search engines they are creating content regularly. This content schedule can include one or multiple original content pieces that are published weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or anywhere in between, as long as the schedule is consistent.
Optimize for the Web.
Many companies forget to optimize content for the web. Follow these steps to master web optimization.
Formatting Practices.
Formatting is another essential aspect of SEO knowledge base best practices. Proper formatting makes the content skimmable and easier to read by putting text in smaller paragraphs. Using bullet points and images in content helps avoid a wall of text on a website and helps a website maintain visual appeal — two things that both readers and search engines alike.
Mobile SEO: Mobile Responsiveness.
Many companies forget to optimize the website for mobile use. Making a website mobile responsive caters to the millions of individuals who use their phones to browse the web. A mobile-responsive website provides website users with flexibility, increases relevance, and helps companies achieve higher search engine rankings.
Page Load Speed.
Page speed is another important aspect of SEO. When website pages load quickly, they are more efficient, and it helps provide an excellent on-page user experience. Website pages that take longer than three seconds to load can frustrate visitors and cause companies to lose out to the competition. Search engines are putting more weight on this metric because of this.
Benefits of Optimized Knowledge Base Articles.
Knowledge base articles allow businesses to attract new customers who are looking for answers to different questions quickly. These types of articles can also alleviate stress from the customers and customer support teams. Customers receive the information they need without requiring human interaction.
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