This SEO task is all about the readability of your posts.
How text is read on a screen is very different than on paper.
Time to proof and edit your copy to make it accessible for your reader so they stay on your posts longer and they explore your site.
Table of contents
Readability
Reading on a screen is very different to book and paper.
Most people skim read on mobile (remember that 52% number of the percentage of searches on mobile).
Are you making it easy for them?
To do so, you need to make your content:
- Short and concise
- With headings and subheadings
- Featuring bullets and breaks
- Including font treatments like strong/bold, colour and italic
- Using images
Your 30-minute Action Plan is all about improving readability. This keeps your follower on your site longer, has them reading more and getting the information they need.
Your 30-minute Action Plan
The longer a user stays on your page the better. Make it easy for them to read and scroll with these 30-minute actions on your posts.
Step 1: Check your post on mobile
You want to be able to skim read it. Do your main points stand out or is it just a jumble of text that someone could struggle to read? If so, use these steps below to improve it. Doing these things can help the look and sense of your content in unexpected ways.
Step 2: Break up your paragraphs
Paragraphs should have one to two short sentences each. YOAST flags if you have over 25% of your sentences over 20 words. We realise that this may be different if you writing a ‘long read’ but in general, shorter is better.
Step 3: Give it bullets
Use bullet points if you can. They are a scroll stopper. They organise information succinctly and can be scanned quickly.
Step 4: Use headings
Headings and subheadings break up your ideas and can act as a little fish hook, pulling your reader along. Plus, headers are read by search engines to help them understand what your content is about.
Your H1 header is your post title. H2 headers are like chapters in a book and a great place to put secondary keywords. H3 subheaders delve down even more, and should act as subsections of your H3 sections.
For example a H2 in a recipe could be Ingredients for x recipe, the H3 subheadings maybe Ingredients for the cake and Ingredients for the buttercream. They are important for search and by using alternate keywords you are likely to rank for longer keywords and more variations of them.
Step 5: Style your text
Use bold and italic, highlight key phrases, pull text out in blockquotes or colour blocks. They become more eye-catching and get your points across more easily for the reader.
Step 6: Use colour, especially for links
Blue and underlined for clickable links is an industry standard that tells people ‘click for something helpful’ — use that expectation. Red text is for warnings and scroll stoppers. Colour your calls to action to get people to stay on your posts and explore your site.
That will show the value of your site, meaning people who find you via a search won’t click back and keep looking — an action that tells search engines you didn’t give them what they wanted.
Your 30-minute Action Plan can be done regularly after the 5- and 15-minute ones or one its own whenever you have half an hour for some quick and effective SEO improvements.
