It is no secret that digital content has gone from the new kid on the block to everyone’s BFF. The kings and queens of this digital age are the lucky individuals and companies who have produced content that has gone viral.

Having the world at your fingertips can benefit everyone (except maybe the print journalist), so now is the optimal time for businesses to up their digital game before holograms are the new norm.

The SEO experts at Backlinko have researched the best practices for boosting digital content. Below are the top nine facts from this study that are most beneficial for PR practitioners and can be implemented with only minor SEO and/or website training.

1. Oddly enough, odd numbers are in. Headlines that include numbers are two times more likely to generate clicks than “how to” headlines. Using an odd number in your headline will increase the click-through rate by an addition 20 percent.
2. Say goodbye to (parentheses); [brackets] are the way to go. Using a bracket in your headline will increase your click-through rate by 38 percent. However, keep the words in the bracket short, sweet and to the point.
3. Short is the new long. For sentences, I mean. On average, people only read about 28 percent of a blog post. Using short sentences boost readability by nearly 79 percent. Cut the nonsense, and get to the point!
4. Spend the extra money on professional photography. This speaks for itself – professional images receive 121 percent more Facebook engagement than semi-professional images.
5. On the other hand, using any photo is better than the alternative. Including any image in your digital content boosts credibly among readers by 75 percent. Do you think Kid Pix images count?
6. The early bird catches the worm. Publishing content between 8 a.m. and noon is optimal. The majority of social sharing (27 percent) is done at that time.
7. CALLING ALL READERS – SHARE ME PLEASE! Including a call to action at the end of the post is likely to increase shares by 42 percent. However, your post still needs to be personable and worth sharing.
8. Banish long paragraphs and get creative with your look. Using short paragraphs, subheadings and bulleted lists will boost readability by nearly 47 percent. Nobody has time to read your online novel anymore.
9. Pick a favorite image and feature it. When publishing a blog post, make sure to set a featured image if you’d like to get 150 percent more retweets and 53 percent more likes on Facebook when shared. Just sayin’.

These nine tips are easy to implement and can be extremely beneficial. Good luck!

If you found this post interesting, please share with friends! (And, help be part of the statistic.)