Search engine optimization (SEO) is what separates top-performing bloggers from the crowd of less successful authors, but it’s not as difficult as it may seem at first. You don’t need to be an optimization expert to learn and apply a few practical tricks and make your blog easily discoverable.
This is very important because 93% of all traffic comes from a search engine, whereas 60% of clicks go to the top three websites. So how exactly do you improve the SEO strategy? Here are eight simple blog SEO tips to create a post-Google and readers will love.
1. It all begins with keywords
Keywords represent a fundamental aspect of SEO, so the first tip is to find the most relevant phrases and search terms for each article. You should go for it all – keywords, synonyms, longtail keywords, and all the other solutions that guarantee a higher ranking. Always use research tools such as Google Keyword Planner to identify the best options and analyze the following features:
- Difficulty score
- Keyword length
- Search volume
For instance, Dissertation Today and custom essay know they need to use keywords like “essay papers” or “dissertation writing” to approach their target audience. You have to know the search intent of your target audience as well in order to find the right keywords.
2. Use meta tags cleverly
Meta tags are short previews of the original post that describe the purpose and the content of a given page. They are visible to search engines and serve as one of the most influential ranking factors. Here’s what you need to pay attention to:
- Title tag: It appears at the top of the browser
- Meta keywords: These are the keywords you are targeting
- Meta description: It’s a brief description of your post
3. Write attractive headlines
Do you know that 80% of readers never make it past the headline? It’s a mind-blowing figure that proves the importance of writing a perfect headline for each blog post. Your job is to come up with a title that is humorous, thought-provoking, intriguing, or simply interesting.
Another very common solution is to write up-to-the-point headlines that clearly show what the post is all about. Most people love listicles, so don’t hesitate to use numbers in your headlines as well.
4. Write standout articles
SEO is a rather technical process designed primarily for search engines, but don’t forget that you are writing for real people. Google and other engines will always appreciate high-quality articles that really inspire readers and solve practical problems, so you better make sure to combine the two principles all the time – quality writing and content optimization.
5. Mind the structure
This tip goes hand in hand with the previous one. Namely, even the best article will look strange and silly if you don’t structure it properly. It means you ought to use a heading hierarchy with lots of different chapters. How come?
Well, the idea is to create a structure that is easy to skim and scan. Most readers will run through the text quickly, so you definitely want to highlight the most important messages using headings, subheadings, whitespace, bolded keywords, and similar.
6. Add internal links
Bloggers tend to neglect this SEO tactic gets way too frequently, but you don’t want to make the same mistake. Relevant internal links will support your statements and encourage visitors to spend more time on your website.
7. Write a good alt text for images
According to the report by academic writers online from research paper writing service, images are returned for 34% of search results. A lot of people will search for images and end up finding your blog post, but it can happen only if you write a proper alt text for your photos. In other words, you should write a description that clearly explains the content of the image and use keywords to solidify the alt text.
8. Increase page load speed
The last tip on our list is to make your site super-fast. The worst thing you can do is to let visitors wait for your pages to load for too long, so it’s crucial to increase the technical capabilities of your blog. A tool that can help you solve the issue is Pingdom, a simple platform with powerful page speed monitoring.
Up to You!
SEO is a complex concept, but all it takes is to use a few basic rules to make your articles stand out. We showed you eight simple blog SEO tips to create a post-Google and readers will love. Now it’s up to you to make a move and earn your post the first page in search engine ranking!