SEO For Bloggers: How To Write Blog Posts That Will Boost Your Search Rankings
If you are reading this, chances are you are looking for an SEO for Bloggers guide that will help your blog posts start ranking on search engines.
SEO is the dominant source of trackable website traffic. That means search engine optimization is growing in importance.
All the information on the internet about SEO can be very overwhelming if you are a beginner.
How do you find a focus keyword for each blog post you publish on your website?
Do you just put a bunch of keywords in every piece of content (keyword stuffing)?
How do you optimize your blog posts to show up on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)?
Can blog SEO bring in targeted traffic to your blog?
What SEO tools can you use to improve your search engine rankings and skyrocket your organic traffic?
In this post, I’ll discuss blog SEO strategies, SEO tools you can use to get your blog content ranking on search engines, on-page and off-page SEO, and everything else you need to know about search engine optimization.
Ready? Let’s dive in!
Disclaimer: If you choose to buy something using the links in this article, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Know that I only promote stuff that I use and trust for my readers and the reputation of this site.
How Do Search Engines Work?
Before you learn how to make your web pages appear on search rankings, you must first understand how search engines work.
A search engine like Google “crawls” through your web pages using “spiders” or “Google bots,” as they are called. Once complete, Google decides the search rankings for your pages based on their search engine algorithms.
Google bots consider hundreds of factors that help decide which pages are relevant to show on the search engine results pages.
The bots crawl through each relevant page, searching for the search term keywords, latent semantic indexing (LSI) keywords, internal and external links, and other factors before they display the final result as the search rankings – all in a matter of seconds!
Here is a video that explains how Google works:
If you have optimized your web pages and blog posts for SEO, you will rank well, and visitors will land on your pages through organic search!
Why You Need SEO for Your Blog
-Drive more traffic:
The higher your blog ranks in search engine results pages (SERPs), the more likely people will click through to your site.
-Get found by the right people:
Optimizing your blog posts for specific keywords can ensure readers looking for what you have to say will find you.
-Build credibility and authority:
When your blog posts rank highly for relevant keywords, this informs Google that your website is an authoritative source of information on specific subjects. Over time, this can help you build authority and credibility, leading to even higher rankings.
What Are Some Factors That Affect Blog SEO?
Dwell Time:
The amount of time a user spends on your site can affect your rankings. For example, if a reader visits your website and immediately leaves, Google will know that your content wasn’t what they were looking for. But, on the other side, if they stay for a while, it means they value the information you have to provide.
Relevancy:
Of course, the keywords you want to rank for must be related to your content. But it also needs to be relevant to your audience. So ranking for a term that doesn’t serve the demands of your readers is pointless.
Keyword Placement:
Your keywords must be placed strategically in your content to have the most impact. That includes the title, headings, and the body of your text.
Title Tags and Meta Descriptions:
Your title is displayed in the search results under the title tag, and the meta description is the short blurb beneath it. Both need to be optimized for your keywords and should give readers a good idea of what they can expect from your post.
Image Optimisation:
Images can also help your blog posts rank higher in the search results. Whenever you upload a photo, include keywords in the file name and fill out the alternate text field with a brief image description.
Page Speed:
A fast website is a good user experience, and Google knows it. They’ve stated that page speed is a ranking factor.
Mobile-Friendliness:
You must adapt your website for mobile users as more and more people use the internet through mobile devices. You may use Google’s “Mobile-Friendly” test to see whether your website satisfies its requirements.
External Links:
When other websites link to your blog post, it’s a sign to Google that your content is high-quality and worth ranking.
By keeping these things in mind, you can create optimized blog entries for readers and search engines. As a result, you’ll see an increase in your traffic and your search engine rankings.
SEO For Bloggers: How To Do On-page SEO Optimization For Your Blog Posts
If you’re wondering how you can write SEO-friendly blog posts, then I’ve got you covered.
You can do different things as a blogger to make your blog entries more search-engine friendly. It is easy for you if your search ranks are better for making money from your blog, especially if you are doing affiliate marketing.
In this section, I’ve included a checklist for you to tick off when writing your blog posts.
Make sure you take care of the following points when you write and optimize your blog posts:
1. Identify The Target Audience For Your Blog:
When creating blog content, it’s essential to keep your target audience in mind. To whom are you addressing this? What kind of information are they seeking?
By providing answers to these questions, you can steer the content of your blog articles and make sure that your visitors will find them interesting.
2. Do Focus Keyword Research:
You should conduct keyword research as one of your first tasks before you begin creating your blog entries. Determine the keywords you want your blog entries to rank first.
Keyword research, although not to be taken lightly, is pretty straightforward.
Once you’ve decided what blog topics you want to write about, you need to narrow down the focus keyword/ keywords you want to target for that post.
The foundation of SEO for bloggers is that you must not just write your blog content to rank on the search engine results pages but mainly to help some people search for that specific keyword.
When you do proper keyword research, you can figure out what people are looking for when they search on Google, and you can craft your blog post accordingly.
The more relevant your blog topics are, the higher your chances of ranking on the search engine results page.
To find your main keywords, you may utilize programs like Surfer SEO and ahrefs. These tools will show you how many people are typing in a specific keyword or key phrase in Google.
You can also use Google to understand what people seek clearly. Here are some ways you can do that:
Tip 1: Look at the suggestions in the search box
When you start typing in a search term in Google, you will see suggestions below. Try to incorporate these suggestions ad subheadings in your blog post.
Tip 2: Take ideas from the “People Also Ask” section
If you scroll through the results on the search results pages, you will see a People Also Ask section that looks like this:
You can incorporate these questions as subheadings in your blog post or add a “Frequently Asked Questions” section in your post and answer them there briefly.
Tip 3: Related Searches
At the bottom of the results page of Google, you will also see a “Related Searches” section. It shows you what other keywords people are typing in the search box related to your entered keyword.
Incorporating all these key phrases and questions in your article will make it more helpful for your readers, and eventually, your post will rank higher on the search engine results pages.
3. Incorporate Your Keywords in Specific Places in Your Blog Posts
To optimize your blog posts for SEO, you need to include your keywords in certain important places.
Make sure your use of keywords is not excessive, as you may be penalized for keyword stuffing by Google.
The main places your keywords should appear are:
- The Title Tag of Your Post
- The Subheadings
- The Body of Your Post
- Alt Text of Your Images
- The Meta Description of Your Post
- The URL
Using WordPress as your CMS (Content Management System), use plugins like Yoast SEO to ensure your content is suited for the keywords you want to rank.
Go to your WordPress dashboard > Plugins > Add New
Enter “Yoast SEO” in the search bar, and you will see the plugin that looks like the below:
Click “Install” and then “Activate.” When you make a new post, Yoast SEO will instantly display and be ready to use.
You can enter the focus keyword or keyphrase you want to rank for in the section as shown below, and Yoast SEO will tell you how well your content is optimized for it:
Optimizing your title and subheadings will significantly improve your click-through rate (CTR), as searchers will easily understand your post.
4. Use Schema Markup to Optimize Your Blog Posts For Rich Snippets
Some search results have additional features that stand out from other results. Here’s an example:
It is called a rich snippet, and you can get one, too, for your blog through something known as schema markup.
Schema markup is structured data coding that you can add at the backend of your website. This coding helps search bots crawl, index, and display your content more easily.
For each page on your site, you may add schema markup using a tool like Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper.
Schema markup is not as complex as it may seem, and it will help you stand out from other websites in your competition.
Here is a video that explains what schema markup is and how you can use it to improve the search engine optimization of your blog posts:
5. Optimize Your Post URLs
Your post URL is another important factor that helps search engines understand your page. Some SEO tips to help you optimize your URLs for SEO:
Tip 1: Keep your URLs short and descriptive
Tip 2: Use the keyword or keyphrase in your URL
Tip 3: Keep the URL path (the number of times the user has to click through from the main page to get to your blog post) short
If you have installed and activated Yost SEO, you can change your URL in WordPress by scrolling down the editor till you see this:
Enter the keyword or keyphrase with short hyphens as separators between words. For example, the slug for this blog post is “SEO-for-bloggers.”
6. Optimize Your Images And Add Alt Text
22.6% of web searches took place on Google Images, according to this study. Google search also incorporates images and multimedia in its web search results pages.
It’s safe to say that adding images, videos, and other forms of multimedia is a great SEO tactic that helps your blog posts rank higher in the SERPs.
Here are some SEO tips for using images and multimedia in your blog posts:
Tip 1: Compress large images before you upload them on your site. This feature will prevent your site from slowing down.
Tip 2: Use original images for a better impact – and a higher click-through rate.
Tip 3: Cite the source of images you have obtained from other websites to avoid copyright issues.
Tip 4: Create SEO-friendly alt text for your images by describing the picture and why it is relevant to your post.
7. Create Comprehensive And Useful Content
Hundreds and thousands of blogs compete for your niche’s exact keywords.
So how do you get to the results page of Google so that people can find your articles when they look for a blog topic?
One way to make sure your content starts ranking on search engines is to create comprehensive content covering all possible questions people have on their minds when they look for a topic.
Remember when we spoke about focus keyword research? Research all related topics and questions your audience is looking for and create helpful content that outshines your competitors’ articles.
When Google starts noticing people spending more time on your site, it will automatically consider your website as a reputable source of information that people find helpful. This aspect will help you go up the search rankings.
8. Links, Links, Links!
The internet is called the web for a good reason. It is a collection of information that is, in most cases, linked to other sources of data on the internet.
There are three types of links you need to keep in mind when optimizing a new blog post:
1. Link Building
Along with other on-page SEO techniques, link building plays a crucial role in your SEO content strategy. Link building, in simple terms, is an SEO strategy that involves obtaining links from other websites to your site.
Building links from more significant sites in your niche tells Google that your site can be considered a reputable source of information.
2. Internal Links
Internal links are links that link pages on a website.
It helps you show search engines how the information contained in your website is related to each other.
Whenever you write a blog post, remember to do internal linking to other related blog posts or web pages on your website. It helps to use keywords as the anchor text when linking to different blog posts so that Google understands its relevance.
3. External Links
External links link other sites from within your blog posts.
You can link to more prominent, reputable websites to show your audience statistics, images, quotes, and other information on other sites.
Besides being useful for visitors, external links tell search engines what topics you write about as they relate to the other pages.
9. Spend Time Writing Headlines For Your Blog Posts
We’ve covered why you need to add keywords and optimize your Title Tags and Headings for search engines.
Did you know that other factors related to your blog post title and headings help Google rank you on the results page?
Some of these factors are the length of your title, its readability, and its relevance to the blog post.
You can use an application like CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer to show you how your headings are performing so you can optimize them for search traffic. Here’s an example:
10. Be Wary Of Page Loading Times
Page loading time is the time it takes for your page to load entirely on a browser.
Although Google has around 200 factors that it considers while ranking pages, page loading time is one of the most important ones.
The faster your page loading times, the higher the chances your blog pages rank in the search engine results pages.
You can read this post to find ways to improve your page loading times and boost your SEO.
11. Make Your Website Responsive
Responsive web design means coding your website so that it appears flawless no matter which device you access it on – mobile, tablet, or desktop.
When your website is responsive, any screen size may be accommodated, providing the optimum user experience regardless of where users are accessing your website.
12. Add Visual Elements
Adding visual elements is one of the best ways to make your content more engaging—and thus, more likely to rank highly in search engines. Videos, infographics, and images are all excellent methods to add interest and break up the text. They can boost the visual attraction of your article, but they can also help explain complex concepts and make your posts more shareable on social media.
13. Include an Enticing CTA
If you want readers of your blog article to take action after reading it (such as downloading a free resource or subscribing to your email), make sure to include a clear and concise call-to-action (CTA). It would be best if you displayed your CTA at the conclusion of your article, and it should be obvious what the reader should do next. For example, if you’re offering a free ebook, your CTA might say, “Click here to download your free ebook.”
14. Focus on The Reader’s Experience
A critical point to keep in mind while creating blog articles is that the reader experience should be the primary emphasis of your writing, not search engines. This emphasis means that your posts should be well-written, informative, and enjoyable to read—in other words, they should value the reader.
15. Add Rich Media to Your Content
Make sure your blog posts are engaging and visually appealing by adding images, infographics, and videos. Not only can this improve reader enjoyment of your writing, but it will also help it rank higher in search engines.
16. Optimize Your Content for Voice Search
It’s imperative to voice search-optimize your material with the increasing popularity of voice-activated devices. Consumers are more likely to employ natural language and long-tail keywords by speaking into a device.
Using the advice in this paragraph, you may create blog entries that are both reader- and search-engine-friendly. As a result, you can boost your blog’s traffic and improve your search engine rankings by providing value to your readers and optimizing your content for the right keywords.
Basic SEO Terminology
–On-page SEO: the process of developing a website so that it appears higher in search results
–Off-page SEO: the process of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results
–Keyword: a word or phrase that is used to match a search query
–Search engine: a software system that is used to search for and index web pages
–Webpage: a document that is typically hosted on a web server and accessible via a web browser
–Backlinks: links from other websites to your website
–Black Hat SEO: the practice of using techniques that are intended to manipulate search engine results
–White Hat SEO: the practice of using techniques that are intended to improve search engine results
Why is Link Building Important?
Link building is obtaining backlinks to your website from other websites. Backlinks are a search engine’s most essential ranking factor and can also help increase website traffic.
Link building is critical as it raises the visibility of your website in search engine results. As a result, your website will rank higher in search engine results(SERPs) when other websites connect to it, demonstrating its relevance and reliability.
Additionally, link building will aid in boosting the volume of visitors your website receives.
What Are Do-Follow Links and No-Follow Links?
Regarding SEO, you need to be aware of two types of links: do-follow links and no-follow links.
Do-follow links are just links that search engines consider when deciding how to rank your website. In other words, if you have a lot of high-quality do-follow links pointing to your website, it is more likely that your website will appear higher in the search results.
On the other hand, no-follow links are the links that search engines don’t consider when determining your website’s ranking. Therefore, your website’s search engine rating won’t be significantly affected if there are many no-follow links leading to it.
So why would you want to have any no-follow links pointing to your website?
Well, there are a few reasons.
First of all, no-follow links can still send traffic to your website. So even though they don’t have any SEO value, people can still click on them and land on your website.
Second of all, no-follow links can help to improve the overall appearance of your link profile. If all of the links pointing to your website are do-follow links, it looks a bit suspicious to search engines. A mix of do-follow and no-follow links make your link profile look more natural, which can help improve your SEO.
Finally, no-follow links can be an excellent way to build relationships with other website owners. For example, if you’re regularly leaving comments on other people’s blogs with your website’s URL, there’s a good chance that some website owners will return the favor by linking to your website in their own blog posts.
And even though those links will be no-follow, they’ll still help to send traffic your way and improve the overall appearance of your link profile.
How to Build Quality Links
Guest Posts:
One reliable way to get quality links is to write guest posts on other people’s own blogs. When you do this, you’re providing valuable content to another site while getting a link back to your blog. Make sure your guest post is of a good caliber and that the website on which you are writing it is pertinent to your niche. Otherwise, it will have the opposite effect.
Press & Media Features:
If you’re running a business, press and media features are a great way to get quality links. These are essentially articles written about your business by third-party sources. These can be extremely valuable because they show that you’re an authority in your field. To get these features, you must ensure that you’re actively pursuing press opportunities and that your business is newsworthy.
Collaboration Posts:
Collaboration posts are similar to guest posts but involve two or more bloggers writing together.
Resource Pages:
Resource pages are a great way to get quality links because they provide valuable information to readers. These pages typically list resources relevant to a particular topic, such as tools, books, and websites.
Contact the site owner and let them know if you have something that would be a valuable addition to a resource page.
Broken Link Building:
Broken link building is finding broken links on other websites and replacing them with your own. Because it enables you to collaborate with other bloggers in your industry, this is a terrific approach to earning quality links.
Allowing you to interact with other bloggers will also enable you to expand your audience. This approach is a clever method for obtaining high-quality connections because it benefits the website owner while providing a link to your website.
To do this, you can use a tool like BuzzSumo to find broken links. Afterward, get in touch with the site’s owner and inform them.
Infographics:
Infographics are a great way to get quality links because they’re highly shareable and informative. If you produce an infographic related to your industry, there’s a good chance that other bloggers will share it.
To make your infographic more likely to be shared, ensure it’s well-designed and informative.
Link Roundups:
Link roundups are weekly or monthly series where a blogger curates a list of links to the best content they’ve found. This aspect is brilliant for getting quality links because getting your content in front of a new audience is easy.
To find link roundups, you can use a tool like Google Alerts.
Q&A Sites:
Q&A sites like Quora and Yahoo! Answers are a great way to get quality links. These sites allow you to answer questions and searches related to your niche.
You will likely get a link to your site if you provide a helpful and informative answer.
Forum Signatures:
You can use your signature to promote your website if you’re active on forums related to your niche. This feature is brilliant for getting quality links because it allows you to reach a new audience.
Make sure that your signature is relevant to the discussion and that you’re not being spammy.
Directories:
Several online directories, such as Yelp and Angie’s List, allow you to list your business. This aspect is a brilliant way to get quality links because it helps you reach a new audience. Make sure that you’re listed in relevant directories and that you provide accurate information.
HARO Interview Link Building:
HARO is a great option to get quality links from high-authority websites. This platform allows you to connect with journalists looking for sources for their stories. You’ll get a link to your WordPress site if you’re selected as a source.
Social Media Marketing:
Using social media marketing to build quality links is highly recommended. This aspect involves promoting your content on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
If you create shareable content, you’re likely to get links from other users who share it.
Spying on your Competition:
One of the best ways to discover where your competitors are getting their links is to spy on them. For example, you can use a tool like BuzzSumo to see what content is popular for a particular keyword.
This feature offers you a concept of the kind of material you ought to produce to obtain connections from related websites.
How to Track Your Blog’s SEO Growth: The Best Tools for Blog SEO
1. Google Keyword Planner:
Google Keyword Planner is an unpaid tool that allows you to research keywords and their search volume. This tool is valuable for blog SEO because it helps you find keywords that are relevant to your topic.
Then, you may use these keywords in your content to raise its search engine positioning.
2. Google Analytics:
Google Analytics is an unpaid tool that allows you to track your website’s traffic. This tool is valuable for blog SEO because it lets you see how your content performs.
Afterward, you make changes to your content based on the data you see in Google Analytics.
3. Google Search Console:
You may monitor the search engine rankings for your website using Google Search Console, a free service. This tool is valuable for blog SEO because it will enable you to see how your content performs in search engines.
Afterward, you can make changes to your content based on the data you see in Google Search Console.
4. Yoast SEO:
Yoast SEO is an entirely free WordPress plugin that you can use to enhance the SEO of your website. This tool is valuable for blog SEO because it will enable you to optimize your content for search engines.
Following that, you may modify your content following Yoast SEO’s suggestions.
5. Ahrefs:
Ahrefs is a paid tool that allows you to research your website’s backlinks. This tool is valuable for blog SEO because it lets you see which websites link to your content.
After that, you can change your content based on the data you see in Ahrefs.
6. SurferSEO:
SurferSEO is a paid tool that allows you to improve your website’s SEO. This tool is valuable for blog SEO because it will enable you to optimize your content for search engines.
After which, you can make changes to your content based on the recommendations of SurferSEO.
7. Moz:
You may monitor the SEO of your website with the help of the premium tool Moz. This tool is valuable for blog SEO because it will enable you to see how your content performs in search engines.
After that, you can change your content based on the data you see in Moz.
8. SEMrush:
SEMrush is a paid application that enables you to monitor the SEO of your website. This tool is valuable for blog SEO because it will allow you to see how your content performs in search engines.
Based on the information you see in SEMrush, you can then make modifications to your content.
9. BuzzSumo:
Using the free application BuzzSumo, you may monitor the social media activity on your website. This tool is valuable for blog SEO because it will enable you to see how your content is performing on social media.
Then, you may modify your content based on what you see in BuzzSumo.
Are You Doing Enough For Your Blog’s SEO?
So, there you have it.
These are a few of the most crucial aspects of your blog’s SEO that you can optimize for search engines.
Remember that you are writing to help people in your niche – not just for the search engines. So find ways to balance writing for people as well as writing for search engines.
When you reach that sweet spot and stay consistent, you will be able to see a boost in your search engine rankings.
Got any more blog SEO tips? Please post them in the comments section below, and let’s help each other! 🙂
