Do you know what transition words are? They smooth out the text, making it easier to understand and continue reading. Additionally, they greatly improve the user experience.

However, like any SEO resource, it is important to use them carefully when producing text.

In this article, I will explain what they are, their importance, and how to use them to improve the SEO of your content. Keep reading!

What are transition words?

Transition words are intended to connect phrases, allowing the reader to attribute meaning to the information.

In other words, they are one of the resources that show the user the relationship between phrases or paragraphs.

Thus, the method directly impacts the user experience.

What are they for?

If you’ve ever used Yoast – a plugin that checks a text’s performance before publishing it on WordPress – you’ve probably noticed that it has a criterion called transition words.

This is one of the SEO criteria to improve content, making it more fluid and helping the reader not to lose momentum while reading. Therefore, transition words serve to enrich content, being a strategic element.

Benefits of this strategy for SEO

As we have seen, transition words are very important in content construction and for the user experience. But what about SEO?

Next, see the benefits of this feature for SEO:

Scannability

Scannability Online reading is different from reading printed materials. According to a study by Nielsen Norman Group, only 16% of people read word for word. Meanwhile, 79% use the “scanner” pattern.

That is, much written information is ignored during reading. This is because reading on a screen requires more effort.

In this sense, transition words are useful for facilitating this type of “scanner” reading.

Metrics

If your text is not easy to read, with disconnected phrases and long sentences, hardly anyone will read it to the end.

And this directly affects your site’s metrics. After all, time on page and bounce rate are very important.

Therefore, using this strategy is essential for your content to be of quality and make people read it to the end.

Cohesion

Transition words function as textual cohesion elements, linking ideas and producing new meanings.

Without the connecting terms between sentences, reading would be much more complicated and frustrate the user who is looking for answers.

Ranking

Every day, Google’s robots analyze indexed pages to check if they meet SEO practices.

However, if there is content that does not meet expectations, it loses positions in the SERP to other content that is of better quality.

Therefore, it is worth optimizing your article for better reading and good information.

Transition Words for SEO

There are various transition words, and each group has a different meaning, depending on the relationship between the sentences.

Here are some SEO transition words:

Continuation Idea

  • Even more
  • On the other hand
  • Likewise
  • Together with

Time

  • Soon after
  • Immediately
  • Frequently
  • At the same time
  • Subsequently
  • Meanwhile
  • Simultaneously

Conclusion

  • Finally
  • In summary
  • In short
  • Definitely
  • After all
  • In this way
  • Thus
  • Soon
  • In conclusion

Beginning, Introduction

  • In advance
  • First and foremost
  • At first
  • Beforehand
  • At first glance
  • From now on
  • Firstly

Similarity, Conformity

  • In the same way
  • According to
  • Equally
  • Secondly
  • From the same point of view
  • Likewise
  • Emphasis
  • Absolutely
  • Above all
  • Even more
  • First and foremost
  • Certainly
  • In fact
  • Definitely
  • In any case
  • Emphatically
  • Undeniably
  • Never
  • The most important thing
  • Really
  • Undoubtedly
  • Without reservations
  • Always
  • Especially
  • Surprisingly

Transition Words with One Word

  • Moreover
  • After all
  • Incidentally
  • Previously
  • Thus; certainly
  • According to
  • Although
  • However
  • Certainly
  • Although
  • Meanwhile
  • Then
  • Eventually
  • Undeniably
  • Unexpectedly
  • But
  • Also
  • Therefore
  • Since
  • Why
  • Therefore
  • Afterwards
  • Firstly
  • Primarily
  • Especially
  • Above all
  • Except
  • Especially
  • Surprisingly

Tips for Including Transition Words in Your Text

To use transition words in your content, it is important to understand the tone of voice of your audience.

After all, it doesn’t make sense to use serious expressions if your company is younger and more informal.

Here are some tips to help you use transition words in your text.

Think about the reading experience

User experience is one of the things that Google considers the most. Therefore, do not use transition words out of context, as it may affect the user’s reading.

Include the words naturally and where relevant.

Seek good references

A good tip is to search for references in other content. This way, you will understand how other websites use transition words and be able to use them correctly in your text.

Use Plugins

If you don’t want to overdo it with transition words, know that it’s possible to use plugins in WordPress.

This way, it will show you if there are missing words or if too many have been used, allowing you to edit the text before publishing.

Use naturally

The main goal of using this SEO strategy is to make the text more fluid and easy to understand. Therefore, it’s very important that you be as natural as possible.

To do this, use transition words only when they really make sense.

In conclusion…

Transition words help the user in reading and understanding the content.

This is very important for improving the SEO of your website, for Google, and consequently making your site relevant.

Was this article helpful to you? Then take advantage and keep learning about SEO with us!