A great blog post isn’t just informative, it’s structured to perform. To rank well and keep readers engaged, you need more than solid writing. You need a smart structure that’s easy for readers to follow and optimized for search engines to crawl.
A well-organized post keeps visitors on the page longer, guides them through your message, and boosts the chances they’ll explore more of your site.
It also lets you naturally place keywords, signaling to search engines what the post is about and what search intent it matches.
In this post, I’ll show you how to structure your blog content to improve readability, streamline your writing, and climb the SERPs with confidence.
What you will learn
- How to write headlines that grab attention and rank
- How to structure introductions, subheadings, and body text for readability
- SEO elements that improve discoverability
- The importance of visual assets, external links, and optional extras
- How to craft a human-centric yet optimized conclusion
1. Use a headline that hooks and ranks
Modern attention spans are incredibly short. If you want people to stick around on your own blog, you must immediately capture their interest. This starts with a compelling headline that quickly conveys your main points.
To grab readers attention and rank on Google, the first thing you should consider when writing headlines are keywords. Before beginning to write, you should conduct keyword research and settle on a primary keyword that will be the focus of the page.
In addition to being used throughout the post's content, it is vital that this word or phrase appears in the primary headline of your blog post, as this is what will show in SERPs alongside your meta descriptions.
Consider the example below from NerdWallet.
As you can see, the use of target keyword “Early Retirement” makes it instantly clear to both humans and search engines what the blog post topic is, so reader can determine information about the blog post and its content at a glance.
It captures and conveys the spirit of the content without unnecessary wordplay or other distractions.
It’s also successful because it drives engagement. People who are dreaming of early retirement are inspired to click the link to read the step-by-step guide and use the calculator to determine if they are on track to achieve this goal.
Good headlines inspire reactions and emotions, which helps encourage visitors to read the blog post, as well as share it with others.
Considering employing the following techniques the next time you write a blog post title:
- Using numbers – Specific numbers are more compelling than vague statements. e.g., “10 Tips for Drinking More Water” or “7 Ways to Improve Your Golf Game.”
- How-to – Similar to using numbers, presenting your post as an instructional guide encourages clicks. e.g., “How to Turn Your Basement into a Man Cave” or “A Step by Step Guide to Getting More Social Media Followers.”
- Adding brackets – Using brackets or parenthesis adds specificity and can help your title stand out and improve clickthrough rate. e.g., “Why Drinking Wine is Good for You [Infographic]” or “Drop 5 Pounds in 3 Days (Advice From a Nutritionist).”
- Using power adjectives – Words like “proven,” “best” and “essential” add emotional pull to your headers. e.g., “The Best Milkshake Ever” or “Guaranteed Ways to Save More Money.”
For best SEO results, make sure to follow Google’s formatting best practices. That is, make sure every page has a specified title that uses the primary keyword in the <title> bracket.
Keep your headlines descriptive and precise. Remember, Google’s desktop display will truncate headlines after 60-70 characters, so aim for titles around that length.
To ensure your keyword isn’t cut off by length limits, you should front-load your keywords. In the NerdWallet example from above, the keyword “Early Retirement” is at the very front. This makes sure it will be displayed, even on smaller screens.
2. Write an opening that builds curiosity
The most compelling stories won't be read if you don't grab the reader. Your blog post structure should start with a strong and powerful hook to attract attention and keep the reader from navigating away.
There are a number of ways you can accomplish this, including by
- asking a question “Why do some artists seem to have better luck?,”
- sharing a statistic, “Up to 75% of new mothers aren’t treated for postpartum depression,”
- or by telling a quick anecdote related to the topic,
For example a food blog might open with a story about baking a cake with your 90-year-old grandmother.
Another successful tactic is to use a second-person point of view to make the intro feel personal and conversational.
By using the word “you,” you make the reader feel like you’re speaking directly to them. For example, "I'm going to show YOU how to make a cherry pie from scratch."
As you near the end of your 150-word intro, offer some foreshadowing of what is to come further down the page. Offer a preview of the blog post structure or the journey the piece will take the reader on.
Whichever opening you choose, your opening must identify the reader’s problems and desires, and then clearly state how the article will solve them within the first 150 words.
A punchy tone and use of emotionally engaging language is another great way to captivate visitors and keep them reading.
Short, impactful phrases with strong verbs and concise language is more compelling than dry, academic prose.
In the example below, Wait But Why uses an engaging and quirky opener that inspires curiosity and pulls the reader into the post.
The reader is instantly intrigued by the unlikely situation and their curiosity is piqued to learn more. The tone is conversational and easily readable, which helps keep you intrigued.
3. Use subheadings to structure your content
A good blog post structure is easy for readers to scan through and absorb the main ideas. To improve readability, break your content into distinctive sections by using descriptive, keyword-rich <h2> sections.
Each subhead should explain the content of its section, so avoid using vague headers like “Conclusion” or “Next Steps.”
Depending on the length and depth of your article, you may also choose to employ <h3> subheads underneath an <h2> to highlight steps, specific grouped items, or to better organize lists and deeper explanations.
For better user experiences, use formatting tools like bolded headers, bullet points and spacing to make it easy for skimming.
Short paragraphs, between 2-3 sentences, tend to be better, so avoid large blocks of text that are hard to read. This is especially important on a long post, where the reader's eyes may get fatigued.
Many writers start their blog post outline by specifying each <h2> and <h3> tag.
This can help you visualize the full blog structure before writing, which can keep your own ideas orderly and make the writing process easier.
Take a look at the example below for an idea of how this works:
The major point of the page is made immediately clear by the headline, while various subtopics are neatly organized underneath to make it easy for a visitor to find specific information.
4. Write body copy that balances SEO and readability
Content readability and SEO can sometimes seem to be at odds with one another. The SEO side wants to include as many secondary keywords as possible to improve SERP rankings, but keyword stuffing makes copy difficult to read and often sounds unnatural – not to mention potentially causing penalties.
For best content optimization results, you must find a balance of content that is easily understandable by both humans and search engines. If the two are ever in conflict, prioritize the human reader.
Start by writing paragraphs that are focused around a single idea. If necessary, break long sections into smaller chunks to maintain reader engagement.
Spread your keywords naturally throughout the copy – don’t just force them in wherever you can.
Adding keywords at the cost of flow and cohesion is unlikely to reap SEO rewards, so be sure to incorporate them only where they fit.
This also applies to secondary keywords and entities. If you need help discovering which secondary keywords to include, tools like Surfer are extremely useful.
Be sure to add internal links to other blog posts site to help both humans and search spiders navigate your site.
Use anchor text to make a clickable link feel like a natural extension of the paragraph. This will also encourage clicks by implying that more in-depth information is available via the internal link.
When writing blog copy, it is usually best to use a conversational tone and active voice. This enhances readability and eliminates distractions, which keeps people on the page.
It's also important to avoid using industry jargon or complex technical terms unless you are writing for a specialist audience. If you blog post is aimed at a layperson, you risk turning them off if you use niche language too much.
For an example of body content that successfully balances readability and SEO best practices, consider the example below.
As you can see, the content of this blog post includes organic uses of the primary and secondary keywords, making it easy for human visitors to read and clearly relaying the focus of the page to Google.
5. Use writing formulas
Determining blog post structure for your content can be a challenge for some people. If you’re one of them, consider using a copywriting formula.
A mixture of art and science, these flexible formulas are a content-creation hack that leverages the power of psychology to drive action.
Commonly used by professional writers, they provide a you a framework to work within to make blog post content more impactful.
Once you master them, you will find yourself using them all over the place, including to make your CTAs more impactful, to maintain brand voice consistency and to save time in the blog post writing process.
Some of the most common writing formulas professional writers use include:
1. AIDA (Attention-Interest-Desire-Action)
This formula models blog post structure on the stages of the customer’s journey.
It begins by capturing the customer’s attention and then piquing their interests. Once it has captured attention, it strives to create a strong desire that ultimately encourages action.
Let’s look at a real work example. In this blog post from Mark Manson, he grabs the reader right out of the gate with the title “3 Simple Explanations for Why You’re Still Single.”
From there, it immediately goes into pulling the reader in with a realistic and familiar scenario encountered in the dating world, in this case, a familiar narrative in which a dater thinks they did everything right, but somehow it didn’t work out.
This creates the desire to fix the problem, which he claims he can help you do if you sign up for his newsletter – the action.
2. PAS (Problem-Agitate-Solution)
This form of persuasive content begins a blog post by highlighting an issue and then taking it to its logical extreme.
Then your solution is presented as the best way to remedy the problem, which highlights its benefits and value.
For an example of this, consider this landing page from MD Hair Labs.
It speaks to men who are losing their hair (the problem), before agitating it to play on the target’s insecurity about their looks before presenting MD Hair Labs as the solution.
3. BAB (Before-After-Bridge)
Commonly used in email marketing, though useful for a blog post as well, this formula describes a situation with a pain point and then encourages the reader to imagine what it would be like if it was solved. The product or service is then presented as the solution that turns the “before” into the “after.”
For a real-world example of this, consider this page from Bryte mattresses. Assuming the visitor has at least some problem with insomnia, the copy encourages you to imagine better sleep. Bryte is the presented as the bridge that can make the before turn into the after.
4. FAB (Features-Advantages-Benefits)
A common sales and marketing technique, this framework starts a blog post the characteristics of a solution. It then shows how these features are advantageous to the customer, before pointing out the positive results of using this particular solution.
It seeks to answer the question customers may have of “what’s in it for me?”
Cottonique provides a good example of this is use. Its website highlights 100% organic cotton as a feature, which has the advantage of being hypoallergenic. The benefit of this is greater comfort.
6. Add examples, visuals and external sources
You have probably noticed the use of examples in this piece. This is an effective strategy for any blog because it helps visitors understand what you’re saying and relate it to the real-world, driving the main points home.
To maximize the impact of your content, include one or two examples or case studies under each main section. This not only serves to facilitate comprehension, but it also adds to your site’s authority and relevance scores.
And don’t forget there is more to a good blog structure than just the text you use. Keep in mind that that people want something that’s both interesting to look at and informative.
They want to skim content, which means they’re unlikely to spend long on pages that are text only.
To help keep people interested and spice up your content, add images. In addition to breaking up text, gifs, videos and infographics are a good way to share quickly share information. Videos and gifs in particularly are useful for adding motion to a page or explaining processes.
Visuals also make it easier to browse the contents of a page and read all the way through, which in turn leads to higher user experience scores and longer dwell time.
On top of that, the strategic use of visuals can help further engage visitors and highlight key messages, which can improve conversions. They’re also useful for explaining complex topics.
Make sure to add meaningful alt text to all visuals, both for accessibility and image SEO.
In the example below, Toptal’s article simplifies a technical concept with an infographic.
Because credibility is an important factor in SEO, if possible, try to use 1-3 authoritative external sources.
Statistics, quotes and studies are useful for building a the case you’re making because they direct readers to supporting evidence. Just don’t forget to explain why this source is valid and matters to the reader.
Going back to the Total article mentioned above, if you scroll through the post, you’ll find numerous links to reputable outside sources, including a computer science study from Cornell University, an explanation of a term using information from Amazon, and a piece on fine-tuning models from Encord, an AI management and annotation provider.
7. Use a strong, action-oriented conclusion
If you’ve been able to convince your readers to stick around all the way to the end of your blog post, you’ve found someone who is more likely to engage with your brand. This makes the ending a vital part of any blog post structure.
Make the most of this and close out your blog post by tying everything you have covered together.
Summarize your key ideas down to two or three bullet points or a final paragraph that refreshes the reader’s memory.
The goal of your conclusion is to reinforce the value you have just provided and the problem your blog post can help them overcome.
This is NOT the place for introducing new concepts. If you feel like you have missed something important, go back and find a way to include it into your outline before this point or create another blog post on the subject entirely.
Focus on delivering closure and end this wrap-up with a strong call to action. This could be encouraging them to make a purchase, subscribe to your mailing list for more tips, attend an event, share the post with others or read a related article.
A short personal touch or message of encouragement can help establish a sense of rapport with your readers, as well as leave a lasting impression.
For an example of this in action, consider the following CTA from Bon Appetit:
Bon Appetit asks visitors who have made it to the bottom of its pancake recipe to sign up for a free trial for unlimited access to all the magazine’s articles and recipes.
8. End with optional extras that keep people engaged
Getting people to visit your site is one of the most challenging parts of SEO. If you’ve already accomplished that, don’t let them get away without encouraging them to visit other pages.
Add a “Related Reading” or “What to Read Next” section with links to other blog posts that the visitor may also be interested in.
If you’re looking to increase dwell time and page engagement, consider adding a poll, quiz or other element that will encourage interaction.
Encourage shares on social media platforms by including buttons alongside a call-to-share message.
Adding a short author biography with a photo will not only help you establish authority in the eyes of search engines, but it can also encourage visitors to visit more articles and/or follow the writer on social accounts.
Consider the following example from Get Rich Slowly for a good illustration of the use of calls-to-action and emotional reinforcement, as well as an invitation to get more information.
Playing upon the emotions of the reader, who is likely struggling with debt, it reinforces the strategies presented earlier in the article and how they can help get spiraling debt back under control.
It also includes links to related blogs from Get Rich Slowly that the reader of the initial article may find useful, as well as social share buttons and a brief bio of the author.
Key takeaways
The structure of your blog posts plays an important role in their success.
Using a logical and proven format can help you not only attract and retain visitors, but it can even help you rank higher in Google and other search engines.
Using the tips and examples presented here, you can create a blog structure that will:
- Hook visitors and rank for relevant search queries.
- Organize your blog’s content in a manner that is both compelling and user friendly.
- Find the perfect balance between readability and SEO.
- Streamline your writing process to create better content faster.
- Effectively employ visual elements to add interest and break up walls of text.
- Use links to build authoritativeness.
- Encourage visitors to take action and visit other pages on your site.
Don’t let a blank page deter you – using the knowledge you’ve gained here, you’re now ready to create well-structured blogs that generate real results – and show up in SERPs.
.avif)
