If you are trying to get more eyes on your blog, search engine optimization (SEO) can be a great method to draw organic users to your content. There are many different aspects to SEO, but the main advantage is that it will help you rank higher in Google and other search engine results for various keywords. Check out a few of our tips for implementing proper SEO on your blog below.
Research your keywords before you write.
SEO helps you gain organic traffic from your target audience by optimizing your webpage for specific keywords that they may be searching for. In order to use SEO most effectively on your blog posts, we recommend you research and determine the keyword(s) that will most effectively target your audience before you begin writing your blog post. This way, you are always writing blog posts that are relevant to your audience and what they are searching for. There are multiple keyword research tools available online to help you find relevant keywords, including Google’s Keyword Planner.
Make sure your blog post title is relevant.
Search engines prioritize content they believe is the most relevant for a given search term. They check multiple aspects of your webpage to determine its relevancy, but one of the most important components is your blog post title. It should clearly tell both the search engine and your potential readers what your blog post is about. The keyword(s) you chose before you started writing should always be included in the first sixty characters of your title, as this is the length that Google displays in its search engine results.
Always write original content.
Your blog posts should always be original and never be copied from other sources, including your own website. Search engines will recognize duplicate text, consider it plagiarized, and rank it poorly. Make sure that each line of text is unique by using an online tool to verify.
Use internal linking to create relationships.
We recommend adding at least one internal link to each of your blog posts. This means linking to another page or blog post within your blog. Not only can this help your users navigate your website more easily, but it also creates links between related content. This helps search engine crawlers understand how your website is organized and which content may be complementary.
In addition, an internal link will provide a link back to your website if your blog post happens to get shared on another site. The more your content is shared, the more traffic you will receive back to your website!
Prioritize readability in your content.
Search engines take the readability of your content seriously because it can significantly impact the user’s experience (and remember, search engines always want to prioritize the most relevant and high-quality content). To ensure your content is easy to read and understand, use short sentences and paragraphs, proper punctuation, and headings. Use bullet points and lists when relevant to your content.
While some content management systems will handle this for you, it is essential that your headings use the proper hierarchy so that search engines understand how your content is organized. Your blog post title should always have an H1 tag, with subheadings following H2, H3, etc.
Track your analytics.
After writing a blog post targeting a specific keyword, you probably want to know how effective it was. This can help you learn which techniques are working and identify areas for improvement. You can track the analytics for your blog posts for free with a tool like Google Analytics. It will provide you with information on how many users are visiting your site, how long they are staying there, and where they are coming from. It can show you which blog posts generate the most organic traffic and have the highest bounce rate. With all of this helpful data, you can make adjustments and further optimize your blog posts for search engine traffic.
