Tips for Writing a Search Engine-Friendly Introductory Paragraph
Your introductory paragraph is the second thing people read in your article, after the title. This intro paragraph, combined with the title, sets the tone of your article and contains the information that will pull readers in or scare them away. Your intro paragraph does so by including descriptive words and phrases that highlight the main points of your article and get the attention of search engines for SEO purposes.
It is important to keep this in mind when blogging, as there is a great deal of content on the web that you are competing with on a regular basis. One way in which to stand a head taller than your competition is to rank higher in search engines, making your content more readily available to more people surfing the web. By utilizing the right mechanisms and writing tools, you can help your article to receive more recognition by search engines, gaining considerable return traffic for your blog.
Keywords are important, as they are the words web surfers use to find content of interest. Placing your keywords in your intro paragraph will aid in your blog’s search engine optimization as these keywords are recognized by the search engines. As I mentioned in an earlier post, a portion of your intro paragraph is often used as the description for your particular search result, in association with your article title.
In many cases, web surfers will look at this portion of your intro paragraph along with your title to determine if they will click through to your blog. Encourage them to do so by making a strong first impression. Here are some quick pointers and benefits for making your intro paragraph more search engine-friendly.
Pointers
Use important keywords in your introductory paragraph. These keywords pertain to the main points of your article.
Avoid the use of vague pronouns. Go ahead and say what you mean. If you are talking about President Obama’s most recent speech, don’t say “his speech.” Write “Obama’s speech” in order to be as specific as possible for search engines to more readily recognize the context of your blog article.
Give readers a run down of the key points of your article, all within your intro paragraph. The provision of this much context within your introductory paragraph will make your content more comprehensive and more attractive for skimmers (readers and search engines alike).
Benefits
Including the important points of your article in your intro paragraph gives readers and search engines the contextual meaning of your article. This helps you better convey the content of your article.
Ranking higher in search engines makes your blog more accessible to readers seeking content covering their areas of interest.
Introductory paragraphs help with branding as you develop your writing style. This is recognizable to readers, and it gives users a familiar voice to identify with as they frequent your blog.
Written by Kristen Nicole from Kristen NicolePosted on November 11th, 2009 and filed under Blogging
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13 Responses to “Tips for Writing a Search Engine-Friendly Introductory Paragraph”
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Good points about the first paragraph. There is an art though to blending SEO tactics and “gripping the reader” in the first paragraph. Do too much of one or the other, and you risk alienating 50% of your goals.
Rob – LexiConn
I’ll be taking this into account also, thx.
Rob has a point. I’ve seen many introductory paragraphs flush with keywords that just turn you off the site. There’s only so much of a keyword you can use for density but there are those with a flair who can pull it off with panache, the art that Rob talks about.
Thanks Kristen for the excellent advice. If you get your introductory paragraph right, a lot can go right your way.
Thanks again Kristen. I just got into blogging and this tip will really help me out (once my site is back online). I’m so glad I read this before I actually wrote many of the post I’m planning to write (just have my topics written down).
Get paid for using Twitter
Great post. Indeed while the title of the post/article helps bring visitors, the first paragraph help convert them into readers. Besides what not get right to the point at the begining of the article beacuse the end-user wants to know if they find that golden nugget right of the bat.
All solid tips. I am still trying to get my keyword placement down. The title and first paragraph are advertisements for the article. You have 1-2 seconds to make an impression.
I agree with you Ryan. If you can craft a sticky title and intro paragraph, you’ve taken the main step in keeping your reader on your page.
Also, the into paragraph should introduce something that requires readers to jump to the next paragraph and next … This will push them go on to the end and fall in love with your great content.
Keywords are also supposed to be spread all across the content, specially at the first paragraph as search engine bots are looking for them.
Good tips. I often forget about the first paragraph
Uh, does Obama have anything to do with blogging?
This is true, Every reader just read the first paragraph to judge is it worth reading whole article. I try to be as specific and clear as possible in starting of the article.great article.
thanks…
I shall have to reread some of my articles. All this search engine friendly and keyword density has caused me to stop thinking about how to write to entice someone to read more.
It’s also an art to keep both man and the machine happy. Let’s not forget that at the end of the day, man is the one who becomes our customer or subscriber. So, the balance between SEO and copywriting is a very crucial technique that we have to master to make sure we are read enthusiastically.
Fine line between making it readable and accomodating the engines. I like how I did it on this post on finding the best checking accounts.