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6 ways to optimize your content for search engines
1. Focus on 1 or 2 long-tail keywords.
Do a keyword search and focus on 1 or 2 long-tail keywords that match your reader's search intent.
Optimizing your blog posts isn't just about putting as many keywords into the post as possible (this can actually hurt your SEO). It's about writing for humans first, and then for search engines.
Including one or two long-tail keywords that you'd like to be ranked for helps create solid content that doesn't feel artificial or forced. You should also focus on these long-tail keywords as they are longer, offer more user search intent, and are generally less competitive.
Be sure to check out various SEO tools to see the keyword's “difficulty” score and the level of competition for that keyword. If you have a new blog and you are just starting, search for long-range keywords in the 200-2,000 searches per month range with a difficulty score of less than 0.2.
2. Include these 1 or 2 target keywords in specific areas of your message
Now that you've finished your keyword research and picked 1 or 2 good keywords that you'd like your blog post to rank for, it's time to put them in your post.
Where are the best places to add these keywords so that your search engine rankings are as high as possible? There are four main locations, described below:
1. Title tag
The title (headline) of your blog posts will appear on the search engine results page (SERP) and will be the first element used by search engines to determine the relevance of your content.
You should include your target keywords in the first 60 characters of the title, and ensure that they are at the beginning so as not to be cut (the optimal title length is 50 to 60 characters).
2. Your URL
Search engines always consider your URL to determine what your blog post is about. It's a good idea to optimize your URLs for each post you post, as each blog post will have its own unique URL.
3. Your headers and body text
Mention your target keywords in the header and body of your blog post. You should stick to a natural pace and not overdo it.
For example, your main keywords should appear in your H2 headers in the form of a question.
“What are the best SEO tips for blogging?”
Then, your answers to these questions should be in numbered H3 headers.
Ultimately, you should write according to the reader's intention. So when writing an article, focus first on what matters most to your audience, not on how many times a keyword is on the page.
4. Your meta description
This is the description that appears under the title of your page in the SERPs and is very important for the click rate.
The keywords in the meta description aren't as important as the keywords in the title tag, but a clear description that matches the intent of your readers is a good starting point.
3. Quality content is king
Google's latest algorithms reward long, content-rich articles that include things like videos, images, and infographics.
Aim for 2,500 words or more, as the average score on the first page contains 1,890 words. Remember that content quality and relevance play an important role in page rankings. Creating a long blog post won't help you rank if the content isn't relevant to the user query.
4. Blogging link building strategies
Link building is one of the most important and difficult parts of SEO for blogging. Google considers links to your blog to be an indication of the authority of your site.
Each link signals to the search engine that your website is of quality and authoritative, allowing you to rank higher. Remember, the first key to getting more inbound links is to create content that others will actually want to share.
Here are four more link building ideas for your blog:
1. Writing guest articles
A guest post is a post that you write for another person's blog and that's useful to their audience. You can reach out to similar bloggers in your niche.
An easy way to do this is to send an email or simply check Facebook. Just ask them if they accept guest posts on their blog, create a plan for them, and write the content.
Be sure to include one or two relevant links to your site, and only mention your brand when it makes sense, so as not to give the impression of being a spammer. Writing guest posts takes a lot of work, but it's a great way to build links to your site.
2. Create a statistics infographic
Blog writers love statistics. If you can gather a large number of statistics in an easily accessible format, you provide value to writers who are looking for that information.
If you give this content away for free, many users will put it on their site or simply link to your site as the original source of the content.
3. Don't forget internal links
Links to other content on your site help users navigate the site and can also contribute to SEO success.
Be sure to identify the most important pages on your site, be strategic with your anchor text, and link to only relevant content.
4. Build relationships with other bloggers
Real relationships are an important part of creating relationships. People are much more likely to help someone they know and trust than a stranger they have never interacted with before.
Always think about the goals of other bloggers and be sure to share their content, comment on their posts, retweet them, and find other ways to collaborate.
5. Give readers the option to subscribe
Include prominent links that allow readers to subscribe to your mailing list. This allows you to engage with your audience regularly and maximize the impact of your blog.
I currently use OptinMonster to collect emails on my blog sidebar, in the articles themselves, and at the exit. Offering a free offer also encourages users to subscribe - and it doesn't have to be something very thorough. A simple one-page checklist is all you need.
Also, be sure to include social sharing options so readers can post to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and other networks.
6. Optimize your images with Alt Text tags
Each time you upload a photo to your blog, be sure to include keywords in the file name and fill in the alternative field with a short, keyword-rich description of the photo.
Since search engines cannot “see” images, you need to tell them what they are using alternative text. The addition of this Alt text to your images will improve the SEO of your blog.
What is SEO?
SEO is the acronym for “search engine optimization.”
SEO consists of applying specific optimizations to web pages in order to target specific queries on search engines.
SEO is a simple concept: the aim is to appear higher in search results compared to competitors for specific queries.
By appearing higher in the search results, you will get more clicks and therefore more customers.
In the context of website optimization, SEO is based on three main pillars, which are:
- On-page SEO
- Technical SEO
- Off-page SEO
If you want to know more about the details of what SEO is, I invite you to read this article: What is SEO?
I'm going to cover all three of these concepts in this step-by-step guide.
First, let's dig a bit deeper into the process of appearing a web page in a search engine to see it more clearly.
Summary - SEO for blogging
I don't expect you to immediately incorporate each of these SEO best practices into your blog strategy. But as your website grows, you should take inspiration from these SEO tips to help you get a better organic ranking and, ultimately, monetize your blog.
