Write well for the web - 11 tips (short version)

There's a difference between writing text for print media and for websites. Because text is not just text. At least not if you want to be visible to search engines and at the same time deliver good content for digital readers. Here are my top tips for what you should consider when writing for the web.

Who am I to tell you what works online?

Before we get started: My name is Julia Edin and I'm writing this. I work at Dekode as a marketing manager. Throughout my years as a content producer, I've been to many conferences and seminars on writing well. There you often get advice to create large and complex strategies. Focus on the long term and measurability. And of course that's both right and important. But still:

However, I'm not an SEO expert, so the tips you get here are about writing well for digital platforms. My focus is on good communication, while always keeping the search engines in mind while writing. 

If you want to know more about how we work with SEO at Dekode , I recommend that you read the post "How do we approach SEO at Dekode?" by Suganthan Mohanadasan.

1. Who do you write for?

Start by thinking about who you are writing for. Is it for colleagues who want to feel a sense of belonging in a text with technical terms and technical terms? Or is the goal to reach out to new people clients , members or users? Adapt the language so that the reader does not fall off the load, but easily understands what you want to say.  

When writing for the web, keep the following in mind: 

• Know who you're writing for and what information they're looking for.
• Choose the right tone of voice or verbal identity
• Avoid complicated words, jargon and terminology

2. Structure your content

If you're writing for a newspaper, a magazine or a book, you can take into account that the reader has plenty of time.
If you're writing for the web, you need to take into account that the reader will skim the text.

When writing for the web, you should therefore keep that in mind:

• The reader rarely reads everything you write
• The reader often jumps in the text
• Use headings and subheadings
• The most important thing must always come first
• Remember the preamble or introduction
• Conclusion or reflection that summarizes and clarifies
• Call to action (CTA) - end with a link to what you want users to do

3. Use KeyWords/keywords/trigger words

Think about what words or phrases people use when they search on Google and should end up on your page. Use the words and phrases you know and assume the user is searching for.

4. How long should you write?

Many people believe that you should write short texts online, and this is true to a certain extent. Readers are usually on your website to find information or get answers to their questions. Therefore, only include what is necessary in your text and give your readers what they want straight away. 

At the same time, it's important not to write too briefly. Search engines like Google like you to use a lot of words, but there's a big difference between writing for a front page or an archive page on a website, a product description for an online store and writing a blog article. 

Here's Yoast's suggestion for the recommended word count: 

• Archive pages: >250 words
• Regular blog posts or pages: >300 words
• Cornerstone content page/ Kjernesider: >900 words

Fewer words than this will give Yoast a "red light" and the text itself will not be indexed optimally. 

5. Headings

It's always important to be clear with headlines, especially on websites. Create a simple and descriptive headline that tells you about the information you'll find on that particular page/subpage, and preferably who the sender is. 

Remember that you should always include the keyword in the main headline. 

6. Ingress

If you're writing a news story, article or blog post, you should always include a short preamble. A preamble should answer the questions "who, what, when, how and why" when relevant. You can also use the preamble to tease the content and/or to introduce the author of the story. 

7. Subheadings

Using subheadings makes it easier for both users and search engine bots to navigate the text and jump to relevant sections. This in turn can affect your ranking in search engines. Always use headings so that it can be read by visually impaired people. Don't use bold, it won't be read as a headline.

8. Images

Remember that images must have an alt caption and can have a caption underneath.

For the best SEO, alt captions should contain your keyword, but it's also important to remember that it should be a natural and understandable sentence in terms of accessibility.

It's also an advantage if the file name of the image contains keywords and important attributes of an image.

9. Handlebars

For the best SEO, you should have at least one internal link (content from your own website) and one external link (content from someone else's website) in the text. 

Links in text should be easy to see and there should be self-explanatory descriptions of where the link leads. Feel free to link up several words and use active language. Write "Fill in the form", not "Form about..."

10. CTA - call to action

Always end your story with a call to action button. When the reader has actually taken the time to get to the bottom of the story, you don't want to lose them, do you? What do you want the next step to be? 

Create a clickable element at the bottom of the case.

11. Make your content shareable!

Sharing your content is today the alpha and omega of reaching new target groups, potential clients and to get more visits and backlinks. Therefore, make sure that your content is best adapted for sharing on social media.

My recommendations :

• Yoast.
  Download the Yoast plug-in and use this tool actively with WordPress. Yoast is available in both a free version where you can enter one trigger word, and in a subscription version where you can add synonyms to the trigger word, as well as many more features. Yoast operates with a traffic light system for how SEO-friendly your text is, so you can change from red to green before publishing.
• Read the book "Write for the web" from Text Doctor Christine Calvert 
• Follow us on the blog moz.com/blog where SEO experts share their best tips