Anyone can write a blog, to help provide valuable information to readers about a particular topic. Or you could be writing guest content to drive valuable backlinks to a client’s website, with the goal of increasing their organic traffic for the target landing page. When you are writing guest post content, it’s important to structure the blog in a way Google can effectively crawl and index the content, to ensure it can be as visible as possible for readers in the SERPs.

Ideally, the guest post needs to be around 500 words (or more) in length. This not only allows for the blog to contain enough information to be valuable for the reader, but it also increases the likelihood of your guest post being accepted by publications and PR-friendly websites, which often have a minimum word count and guidelines.

1 – Main Title: Use a H1 and include your keyword

The first step is choosing your blog title. Choosing a H1 helps Google to understand the page and know what the content is about, ensuring it shows up on correct search engine results pages. It’s also important to include your keyword, further ensuring that your content is picked up. Keyword research helps you to find keywords that you want to rank for, as well as an insight into what your target audience may be searching for.

As you write the first paragraph, ensure it includes snappy language that draws in the reader. Perhaps include some data if it’s relevant to your topic, which brings authority to your content. You can also add a hyperlink that is embedded into the text, with the correct anchor text and landing page.

You can also include a second paragraph, which breaks up the text, which is also good for SEO. End the content with a phrase that follows through to the rest of the content, such as “take a look at our top tips for great SEO”.

Keep on reading to learn more about how to structure guest post content.

2 – H2’s: Secondary title linking to the content

The next step is to include an H2 title that links to the guest post topic. This helps to break up the text and can include a list of bullet points or a stand-alone paragraph. You can include a second link to a third party relevant website, as long as it has good authority.

3 – H3’s for the rest of the content

For the rest of the piece, you can use H3s to structure the rest of your content, further breaking up the text. You can use as many of these as you like, with a minimum of 2. At the end of the piece, include a call to action directing your readers to a relevant website.

Other tips and tricks:

As well as the SEO benefit, it’s important to consider a few tips and tricks to ensure the guest post is picked up by relevant publications and is valuable for the reader. Some further tips include:

• Include the relevant anchor text and landing page to your client’s website or a relevant authoritative website.

• Develop a relationship with the publication. This will increase the likelihood of your content being posted on their website.

• Try ghostwriting the content. This helps the piece to not sound too salesy, whilst increasing brand awareness through the backlinks.

• Consider a second internal link in the content with a high Domain Authority. 20 and above is often a good metric to consider.

• Ensure the content is valuable to the reader.

If you would like to learn more about guest posting and how it can benefit your offsite SEO strategy, get in touch with us today.

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