This second post about SEO for startups is all about the importance of a first paragraph of your content. Now there are many factors in SEO that determine your position in search engines on certain queries but the first paragraph is probably the second most important after the title of your post.
The first paragraph of this post might sound a little bit redundant since the title is already clear on the fact that the first paragraph of a post is important but it immediately illustrates the point of this post. Obviously this SEO post is not only intended for startups but using by using “SEO for startups” I want to improve my #5 Google ranking (mirror) for this search query.
Often many people, including myself, make the mistake of writing a (long) non relevant introduction before coming to the point of a post. Though in the writers mind it makes sense it doesn’t in the “mind” of Google and in fact it’s also not favored by readers. Especially on the web people are looking for quick confirmation they’ve found the right content, if the first paragraph doesn’t confirm this changes are they leave your page or site.
Newspapers already know this for ages, almost every article starts with a summary of the whole article followed by telling a more detailed story. In terms of SEO and rankings Google favors this approach and puts the most weight on the content it finds first and much less weight on the content in the bottom. So besides a short title that covers the content using the right keywords you need to make sure the first paragraph is to the point and contains your keywords.
One common mistake is the overuse of your target keywords. This post is basically targeting “SEO for startups” and “First Paragraph” but after the second paragraph I mostly stayed away from using these. Overdoing it won’t convince Google your post is really really important for these keywords, Google will get it after one paragraph, if done right.
Don’t forget to check SEO For Startups # 1 about performance and avoiding 404 and 500 errors.