Learn the 5 Keys to Decoding a WYSIWYG Editor

With its incredible SEO power, your business blog may be missing a few of the ingredients needed to get the most search engine boost for your website. This How-to Guide for SEO blogging decodes the WYSIWYG Editor, the key to enhancing your blog posts and achieving a higher search engine ranking.

If you haven’t started a blog for your business yet, see our step-by-step guide on how to blog like an expert in 3 easy steps to get started.

What is a WYSIWYG editor?

The WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Editor is used on most blogging platforms to create a post. This example is used on most ROAR! Internet Marketing clients’ sites (pictured). 

By learning to use these five functions listed as icons at the top, you can increase the SEO value of your post:

SEO Key #1: Internal and External Linking

Linking to pages within your own site (internal) or to another site (external) helps Google determine what content is the most valuable. If a website page has many other pages throughout the Web linking to it, it must be more valuable information. Also, it creates a better user experience for visitors.

To create a SEO link, highlight the text you wish to link and click the Hyperlink Manager icon:  Then paste the website address into the URL field. To open the link in a new tab (recommended for external linking), select New Window from the Target menu. Click OK.

For added value, make sure the words you choose to hyperlink aptly describe the information on the link. For instance, instead of using "Click Here," use targeted keywords to describe the content to follow.

SEO Key #2: Paragraph Styles

Search engines use a page’s HTML format as a roadmap our outline to determine the most important ideas on the page. A headline (< h1 >), subheadline (< h2 >) or bolded sentence (< strong >) carries more weight than a regular paragraph. While the blogging platform uses the title of the blog as the headline, you can add subheadlines throughout the copy for emphasis.

To correctly create a subheadline that carries SEO value, highlight the text you wish to make a subheadline. Then select Heading 2 for a subheadline or Heading 3 for a smaller subheadline from the Paragraph Styles menu.

SEO Key #3: Adding Pictures

While pictures themselves do not carry SEO value, the meta tags or picture’s title helps reinforce the page’s SEO value. It also creates a better user experience for visitors.

To add a picture, put your cursor where you would like the picture to appear among the text. Then click the Image Manager icon: . Select Upload to search your computer for the photo. Once you select the photo, click the Properties tab. Here you can size the photo, add a border or color and choose the alignment (left, right or center justified). To add SEO value to your page, enter a short, keyword-rich Alt Text and Long Description for the photo. This can be read by the Search Engines, but not by your visitors. Click Insert.

SEO Key #4: Link to Documents and .PDFs

Now easily read by search engines, .PDF documents or brochures give your readers more information and act as bonus searchable content on your website.

To upload and link to a .PDF brochure, highlight the key-word rich text you would like to use as a hyperlink. Then click the Document Manager icon: . Click Upload to search your computer for the document. Once you select the document, choose New Window from the Target drop-down menu to ensure it opens in a new tab. Click Insert.

SEO Key #5: Spell Check

It would be a shame to write keyword-rich, SEO-friendly content in your blog post, just to lose all the SEO value with a misspelling. Believe it or not, the difference in the search value of "web development service" and "web development services" can make or break the success of an online marketing campaign. If the addition of an "s" has such an impact, imagine the difference a missing letter or a misspelling will make.

The answer? Proofread. Proofread. Proofread. Then, use the built-in spell check functionality in the WYSIWYG to proofread. To use the spell check, simply click the AJAX Spellchecker icon: .

These are only five of the functions that help create SEO-friendly blog posts, boosting your sites’ organic and paid search rankings. Find out more by contacting us directly!