The last four weeks, we’ve talked about several blogging topics such as, ways to identify and market to your ideal client, why blogging matters, what evergreen content is, and eight blogging mistakes you could be making. Each of those posts briefly mentioned how important blogging is to your SEO – Search Engine Optimization. Today, we’re going to talk about ways you can optimize blog posts for SEO.
Why SEO is Important
According to Internet Live Stats, there are 3.5 BILLION (yes..with a B) searches on Google a DAY. Read that again. That’s over 1.2 trillion searches a year. When you’re a service based industry, it’s vital in today’s day of age to not only have a website but a well-built, organized, website that Google likes.
When a future client searches for your service, your goal should be that your website ranks on the first page. This goal is a marathon, not a sprint. Having your website ranked in the top 10 for your keyword takes time and lots of patience! There are several ways to help your ranking, and we’ll talk about that soon.
A piece of advice – make sure your website is mobile-friendly, or Google simply won’t display it in search results. You can check that using Google Console. If you site it mobile-friendly, you’ll see a similar message below. There are also more mobile searches than desktop searches – another reason you want a well-built website that is mobile friendly!
5 Ways to Optimize Blog Posts for SEO
So now that you know, it’s important to have a website and have it mobile-friendly let’s talk about your Blog. Your website and Blog are two different things. However, they can be on the same URL. My Blog is directly attached to my website.
The difference between my website and blog is that the content on my blog changes about once a year. I’ll update photos on the website during the off-season when I have no weddings to features. The content on my blog, however, changes daily. Three times a week, I post new content. The website is where clients go to get information about my service. The blog is where I educate my clients.
When you optimize blog posts correctly, you can rank on Google for not only your website but each blog post you publish.
Here are several ways to optimize blog posts for ranking on Google.
1. Do your Research
One of the most important steps to properly optimize blog posts for SEO is to do some research beforehand on the topic. Find out what experts in that field are saying, and then cite the work. (More on this further down.) You want to present the content in a factual matter. This allows your readers to find your credible, therefore, trustworthy. Building trusts with clients and future clients are crucial for successful businesses.
2. Long-tail keywords
When brainstorming blog post topics, take the time to do research on long-tail keywords. Wordtracker.com defines long-tail keywords as three and four keyword phrases which are very, very specific to whatever you are selling, or you in your case, writing about. There are several different ways to finding your keyword, but Backlinko explains one of the easiest ways I have found.
3. Keyword Placement
Now that you have researched and found the best long-tail keyword for your post, to optimize blog posts for SEO effectively, you’ll want to use that keyword in:
- The post title
- URL
- Meta description
- Headers
- Body of text
- Tags
- Alt text on your images in the post
4. Use Outbound Links
Remember above when I said to do your research on topics and then cite the links that you found the information from? Google LOVES seeing multiple outside links in a blog post. This simple tactic takes two extra seconds on your part and gives you a great chance of a higher ranking for your keyword.
5. Promote on Social Media
You want to drive traffic to your blog posts, right? You want your content to be seen, and reshared? The more traffic your driving to your site, the more credible Google finds you, and in return, the higher your ranking will be. When I share new blog posts, everything is scheduled in CoSchedule, and the posts are published automatically at a scheduled time. I can track my analytics, and I can even schedule the posts to be shared at the “best viewing time” thanks to all the research CoSchedule has done.
In conclusion, in addition to making sure that your website is well organized, and mobile friendly, here are the five ways to optimize blog posts for SEO,
- Do your research
- Put thought into your long-tail keyword
- Have correct placement for your keyword
- Used outbound links
- Promote your post on social media.
One final tip before we wrap up today. If your blog is on the WordPress platform, download the YOAST SEO plugin. It will help you optimize blog posts for SEO and hold you accountable. There’s nothing more motivating than turning a red dot into green as you’re rocking out some awesome content!
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