Article Marketing SEO: Writing Your First Paragraph

The Article Marketing SEO Series
Part III – First Things First! Writing Your First Paragraph

When the search engines decide how to rank content they look at many factors. While there are many small hidden factors on analyzing content that search engine developers will never reveal – many of us interested in article marketing SEO have at least got the basics down. So far we know that the content whose keywords are found in the domain name rank well. We discussed that in detail in part 1 of this series. We also understand that article titles are extremely critical to ranking high in the search engines as well. Okay we’ve got that down. Now I want to talk to you about another often overlooked element of an article that ranks well and that’s your first paragraph.

There are some marketers who already know that the first paragraph is pretty important but do some janky stuff like stuff those first paragraphs with keywords. That’s a big no-no and very obvious to the search engines. Yet it’s critical that the search engines see that your title reflects what you are going to discuss in the article. So…

1. Unlike articles for print media, you cannot waste 100 words creating “build up” to your topic. Online media is different. You need to get straight to the point, and you do that in the first paragraph.

2. Your main keyword needs to be naturally placed in your first paragraph. You really only need to write it once there though because you will also naturally mention it again throughout the body of your article.

3. If you have a related keyword or keyword phrase then you can add it to the first paragraph as well.

4. The search engines like when you link out to a resource related to your article’s topic. While many article directories prohibit this because they do not want directory visitors to click off their websites — it is actually a best kept SEO secret that one-way linking (in and out) is quite favored by the search engines. One link in the first paragraph is a great start. Especially if it is linked with keyword rich anchor text.