You hear it time and time again: content is king. It’s king because it’s what users want, and it’s king because of SEO. If you were to ask any blogger what the most important thing is when it comes to running a successful blog, chances are their answer would be “good content.”

However, not all content is the same. While it is important to create content that is optimized for SEO, it is also important to keep this content user-friendly.

Here are 5 tips on how to balance SEO and usability in order to create quality content that will get you ranked higher in the search engines:

1. Length of the On-Page Content

In order to be optimized for SEO, the minimum length of page content is 250 words. This applies to inline content only; sidebar content and headers do not count.

Creating content that is longer than the minimum can help the page rank for the specific keywords that it was optimized for. For example, quality content of 1,000 words or more has a great chance of ranking well.

2. Concise Paragraphs

It is important to make sure your 250 words of content on the page are as usable as possible. This can be done by keeping your paragraphs short and straight to the point.

By writing short paragraphs of 2-4 lines, no more than 5 lines, users will be able to scan the content quickly. People will be more likely to absorb the content if it is laid out in a manner that is easy to absorb.

3. Optimizing SEO Friendly Images

Use of images in blog posts is quite common, and almost all of us use them every now and then to make the posts more sticky and readable. If you are using images in your posts, making them more SEO friendly can help gain extra traffic when found on Google Image Search.

4. Avoid Keyword Stuffing

Over stuffing of keywords in content is an outdated practice followed by many, expecting to rank higher in search engine results page. But this practice is more harmful than beneficial and should be avoided at any cost. Over usage of keyword stuffing practices may even get your site banned by search engines.

5. Proper Usage of Lists and Bullets

The usage of list and bullets in your content enhances the overall user experience and is highly recommended. If your content needs to state certain points, then it is always better to use list and bulleting instead of writing the content in a bulky way.

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What other SEO tips would you suggest to help create user-friendly blog content? Leave a comment below!

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Erica (@ericadobson) is the PR/Communications Manager at Formstack. She helps with the planning and execution of many of Formstack’s marketing efforts. Prior to her arrival at Formstack, she worked in marketing for an HVAC manufacturing company and at a small business marketing firm. Erica earned her degree from the University of Indianapolis. When not in the office working away, you can find her spending time with her husband, taking a nice long walk or reading a good book. On Sundays, you can find her in front of a television rooting for the Colts.
This entry was posted on Thursday, June 2nd, 2011 at 9:24 am and is filed under Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.