6 Tips to Optimize Your Blog Posts for SEO
You may have one of the most informative and beautifully written blogs on the internet, but if your blog posts aren’t near the top of search results, the size of your audience will remain limited. There are many techniques you can use to get your blog on the first page of search results, and below are a few tried and true methods that work like a charm.
Today’s the day you escape the echo chamber!
- Keyword research is the first step to SEO success. Don’t guess when it comes to which keywords will get your blog seen. Content creators and SEO experts do extensive research using search engine data to figure out which topics are currently attractive to people. Once you’ve identified popular or trending keywords, you’ll have an easier time creating topics that interest more than just a few readers.
- Not your mother’s search engine. Identifying popular keywords is a good start, but it might not be enough to get your website to the top of search results considering the intelligent capabilities of today’s search engines. Once you’ve done your research and have selected a few promising keywords, choose the one with the highest search volume and the lowest competition. This is the keyword that deserves your focus, which you will then use to figure out the Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) Keywords. Simply put, these are the keywords search engines use to deeply understand a webpage’s content by determining its overall topic. For example, if your article is about how to feed parrots a proper diet, using keywords such as “fruit”, “pellets”, “macaw”, and “portions” in your blog post will help the search engine conclude immediately that the piece is about feeding parrots, so it will be one of the first results when someone performs a search for “how to feed a parrot”. If you need more guidance in discovering LSI Keywords, enter your focus keyword into Google, then scroll to the bottom of the results where ‘related searches’ are listed. These will be your LSI Keywords.
- A simple, straightforward title will hit the mark every time. Write a blog post title that clearly states what your article is about. Doing this will make it most relevant to the search query and entices people to click on it. Be sure to use your focus keyword in the title for optimum visibility.
- Loop them in with internal linking. Once you have at least five blog posts, you can start embedding links to your previous blogs within the text of your latest blog. Doing this will convert a casual visitor into a loyal follower because you are establishing yourself as an expert. Readers will appreciate your level of knowledge and dedication to the subject matter. Don’t forget to keep things fresh by revisiting your old blog posts and editing in links to your newest posts. Using this type of “circular” logic is the best way to make sure your on-page SEO is good
- A graphic is worth a thousand clicks! You’ve heard the expression ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ and in the world of SEO, including images and videos in your blog works the same way. When you include such content, search engines will rank your article near the top because visual images are more engaging, so it will receive more respect from search engines due to its higher quality. Avoid using images that have a copyright by pulling from websites that supply royalty free images such as Public Domain Pictures, Stock Snap, Pixabay, and PDpics.
- Don’t overlook readability. When your blog is easy to read, it will rise to the top of search results, and you’ll hook more loyal followers. Most visitors scan articles to decide if they want to stay on a page or leave to find another source, and they make this determination within a few seconds. To successfully convert chance visitors into devoted readers, your blogs should be composed of short sentences, small paragraphs, headings, and bulleted lists. Make an even deeper impact by using white space around text and adding images to ease the strain on a reader’s eyes.
The above techniques will work for any search engine, but if you’re striving to achieve a premier position in Google’s search results (aka the Featured Snippet), check out my blog post about getting found on Google. Although this article is directed at local businesses, it discusses a few tips and tricks that will work for most anyone.
If you’re ready to optimize your blog posts for SEO, Higgins Marketing Group can help. Contact us for a pressure-free chat about the techniques that will put your business ahead of the rest. Not sure yet? Check out our work and let us know when you’re ready.
