Proper Article Formatting Basics

Ord Allenbea · 02-02-2012, 12:03 AM

While there are many that talk about getting backlinks to your content and articles, very few talk about the quality of that content. Fresh high quality content has always been the top reasons for search rankings and indexing.

This has not changed over the years except for the search engines getting more strict on wanting that fresh quality content. First and foremost the search engines want to provide to their users high quality results.

In my opinion this is one of the most left out concepts in marketing. Many just want to distribute or syndicate their content across the web with mass submission methods. They never think about the quality of that content or how it effects their business.

I have heard many times from article marketers that they do not care as long as they get those backlinks. What these marketers do not realize is that content is ignored and no credit given due to the lack of quality.

In this post we will discuss some of the basics of article formatting, there are more formatting option you should consider but I am only covering the first basics. We will cover some very important steps that many are leaving out. Below you will discover how to properly format your articles and content to get the most out of your article marketing efforts.

Creating Bite Sized Content

Reading the above you will notice I use short paragraphs. There is a great deal of value in bite sized content as it is easier for the human brain to process. It is very difficult to focus on the content when it is written with large amounts of text.

It is human nature for a reader to be able to digest small amounts of text at a time. This helps encourage greater response from the reader as they will not get lost in the words of your content. Obviously your reader is very important as they are the ones that will take action.

Bite sized content also has other benefits that can help you maximize your results. Search engine spiders are designed to seek well written and formatted content. Following the guidelines that the search engines has set is a vital factor in your rankings.

Distributing Proper Anchor Text Links

Your normal 500 word articles should contain at least 6 keywords, this number can vary depending upon the length of your content. 3 of these keywords should be turned into anchor text links. This is not counting your resource box but only the content of the article itself.

I know you are thinking that article directories do not allow that many links. For the most part this is true which is why you should be distributing your content to places that do allow several links in the body of your articles.

Your anchor text links should be inserted as follows:

- One keyword anchor text within the first sentence of the article
- One keyword anchor text in the middle of the article
- One keyword anchor text at the end of the article

Do not just add a keyword anchor text at the beginning of your article. Add it into a sentence as close to the beginning as possible so it reads properly. You are after quality content here and not just links, the higher quality the better opportunity to rank for your chosen keywords.

This linking structure reasoning is because search engine spiders read your content from top to bottom. They do not stop at a certain density and then move on, this thinking comes from a popular myth about having keywords at a certain percentage.

Because search engine spiders read a page from the very top to the very bottom it is vital that you show your links throughout the content. This is done for the readers of your content at the same time. Many of the clicks come from middle content links due to readers seeing it as a more info link, while the bottom link is normally seen as a sales link.