When journalism and SEO join forces, they explode into a mix that blows away the competition.
Journalism tactics can help your writing while simultaneously fueling Google’s E-A-T guidelines (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).
Below are a few journalism tactics to boost your ranking in the search engine results pages. The first one is a concept that every journalist learns about:
The inverted pyramid
You start with what’s most important to the article in the first paragraphs, then structure the content from most to least important.
You can provide the most crucial information first within an engaging lede, followed by a body of info that supports that information.
SEO benefit
This helps to hook the reader from the first moment and keep them engaged for the rest of the article.
Answer the 5Ws and 1H
Who, what, when, where, why, and how. Answering the who, what, when, and where within the lede will increase engagement. Then through the body, address the how and why.
SEO benefit
You’ll be frontloading some vital keywords that search engines may see as important.
Engaging lead
Attention is precious these days. There’s so much other content you’re out there competing against.
And the first step to keep the attention of the reader is writing an engaging lead.
The goal of your opening lines is to heighten the interest of the reader, emotionally and intellectually. Here’s how to accomplish this:
- Provide a unique fact that triggers curiosity.
- Show don’t tell: paint a picture in their mind.
- Create an open loop so the reader wants to keep reading.
SEO benefit
When the reader clicks on your article, reads the first paragraph and then goes back to the Google search, the higher bounce rate is sending bad signals to Google (often called pogo-sticking).
But when you hook them, so they consume your whole article and it satisfies their search, Google will send you more traffic to your site.
