Google knows everything. This is why, when most people want to find out about anything, they simply ‘Google it’. If you are a blogger, (or are thinking of getting into blogging), you definitely want a lot of traffic being directed to your blog.
Since almost everybody turns to Google to conduct their searches, being found in there (especially at the top of the search results) will do wonders for your blog’s visibility. SEO, Search Engine Optimization, helps you to optimize your blog, thus increasing your presence and rank in Google (and other) search engine result pages. Here is your non-complex, non-technical guide to SEO for blogging.
Focus on Creating Killer Content
Before you even start thinking about how to leverage SEO for more engagement with your blog, consider what it is that you want to deliver to the people. It should be quality. It should be worth their time. It should be relevant. Killer content is crucial. SEO details. There are so many blogs out there on the web and most do not live through half a year. What is going to make your blogging survive and succeed?
Choose Good Titles for Your Pages and Articles
Come up with relevant titles. SEO is driven by or based on keywords. Carefully pick your keywords and include them in the title. To do this, you can run a keyword search. You can make use of tools like Google Suggestor and Google Adwords. This will show you the terms that people are searching for and the ones that are actually bringing in results. This will help you decide on the best keywords to use.
Pick at least three primary keywords and then have a list of some less competitive terms. Use your keywords in the first paragraph and then mention them a lot (but not too much) throughout the article.
Build Links
Link your keywords to other sites. These should be sites that are ranking high in those same keyword searches. The goal of link building is to get other sites to link to yours. Links are like votes that increase your ranking based on the linked keywords. Also, link to other content within your site. This will assist the search engines to find out more about your site.
Post Frequently and Regularly
When you post articles frequently, search engines will keep coming back to check your pages thus increasing your rankings. Write at least two detailed blogs per week. Be consistent with this. Make your articles the right length. The ideal is 300-500 words although having an average of 1,000 words will also work well.
Make use of a lot of good images. A picture is worth those thousand words. This will attract more readers to your blog. Rename the images so that your keywords are included. Include keywords also in the alternative text and description of the images.
Metadata
Mention your keywords in your site’s meta tags. Search engines see this data but readers do not. Also, include your page title and description. Be sure that you are writing for humans and not computers, though.
Share
Share your articles on social media. They will get attention and probably even some backlinks from other bloggers. For example, Having a strong Facebook presence can make your content go viral. The same can be said for Twitter. Social media can help boost your popularity, which will boost your ranking. Be sure to actively promote your posts.
Finally, try not to overdo any of the above. It may end up looking scammy and Google will find out about it and penalize you for it. Keep it simple and let it all flow naturally. See you at the top.
