Improve your SEO using active voice

3 Tips to Boost your SEO

Word Choice is a question writers face every time they put pen to paper.  Choosing the right words is the difference between

LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!

and

LET OUR BOXING MATCH COMMENCE MOMENTARILY!

You should consider the words you use every time you write, whether you’re emailing your boss or writing a blog post.  You can use word choice to improve your search engine rankings using these three, simple, yet effective rules.

Use specific, concrete terms.

Which of the following two sentences is more interesting?

A huge crowd turned out last month to watch the boat race.

or

More than 500 people attended the 10th edition of the Phoenix Regatta over Memorial Day weekend.

People and web crawlers value specific information and the more of it you include in your written communication the more valuable it will be and the more eyeballs it will attract.

Choose active voice over passive voice

One of the most common mistakes writers make is overuse of the passive voice.  For example:

The juice was poured into four cups by the waiter.

…is neither direct nor punchy and is too wordy. Make the sentence active and see what happens:

The waiter poured juice into four cups

— Direct, clear, and to the point.

Use only the words you need

Whether online or off people hate waiting and they want to get to the point.  Look through your writing and make sure you are using only the words you need.  Read your sentences out loud–it may seem silly but it works.  You will hear irregularities and oddities in your language when you do.  It helps immensely to read concise well-written articles to observe and absorb the style.  The Economist is one of my favorite sources for clean writing that is free of fluff.