Even if you're the best blogger in the world, you can't just click "publish" and expect the world to find you. You need to get your content seen or, at the very least, improve your blog’s SEO.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) makes your blog posts easier for search engines to see and display to people looking for what you’ve got to say (or sell). It's a great way to market your blog without ads.
Learning SEO is not as complicated as you think, either. And by learning how to write content for SEO, you can gain traffic and even sales. Keep reading to learn my SEO content tips for bloggers just like you.
How SEO Works For Blogs
The goal of writing blog posts for SEO is to get your blog pages to the top of the organic search results on the first page of the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). That gets you the best opportunities to reach your readers and gain traffic.
Here’s an example of a SERP for the search query “blogs about personal goal setting ”:
The top three spots are where you want your blog page to rank. And to get one of those spots, your website and blog content need to be uber-optimized.
How Important Is SEO For Blogs?
SEO is paramount to a blog’s success. Without good SEO standings, you’re not going to rank well. And if you don’t rank well, your blog won’t get the organic traffic it deserves.
At the same time, content is just as important for SEO. Content is one of the most important SEO ranking factors. So, if you have good blog content, ranking is going to be much easier once you optimize it.
How To Write Blog Posts For SEO: My Top 6 Tips
From years of honing SEO and blog writing, I’ve learned a lot of things about writing blog posts for SEO. Here are my top 6 tips.
1) Find The Right Keywords For Your Blog Posts
My first tip is to find the best keywords for your blog posts to rank for. Keywords in SEO content should be relevant not only to your topic but to your blog as a whole. They also need to be specific to your ideal audience.
Long-tail keywords are always the best way to get specific. These are key phrases that match up with the search queries better than a single word. You should also choose keywords and phrases with a high search volume but a low competition rate. This will ensure much better success in ranking for a specific keyword.
Use these free keyword research tools to find the best keywords for your blog posts:
2) Put Your Keywords In The Right Places
The next tip is to use the keywords in the right way. If you're wondering how many keywords to use, 1-2 is generally good enough when writing SEO blog posts. Using more may put you at risk of over-optimization, which will only have negative results.
Where To Put Your Keywords:
· URL
· Title Tag
· Meta Description
· A few times throughout the body text (Not too many times.)
· Subheadings
· Internal Links
· Image Names and Alt-Texts
3) Don't JUST Write Blog Posts For SEO
It can be really tempting to write just for SEO so you can promote your blog, but that's not the way it works. Just like overusing keywords, a search engine will notice if keywords are stuffed into content without thought.
Good blog post content should be:
Relevant: Make sure your blog post is extremely relevant to the search query, the keyword you're trying to rank for and your blog as a whole.
Genuine and Authentic: Create unique blog content. Everyone can put out facts and stuff, but put your spin on things to give it make it 100% yours.
High Quality: If your writing is weak, you won't rank well, even with all the right SEO practices. So, if you can't produce high-quality blog content, you'll need to hire an SEO blog content writer who can.
After all, you're not just writing to get seen. You have to think about the people reading your content, too. Make your SEO content read as naturally as if you were saying it aloud to someone. This way, viewers will read your articles all the way and then maybe browse around, shop, or contact you.
4) Organize Your Blog Posts For SEO
SEO isn't all about keywords. You've also got to make your content easy to scan. Not just for Google but for your readers as well. Split your content up into headings and subheads within those headings.
That way, your writing is super-organized, and it's easy to find the information your readers want immediately. Also, don't beat around the bush or rant on forever. The best way to keep your blog writing organized is by creating an outline.
Be direct with your writing, and never go off-topic. It's best to use short, straightforward sentences. Of course, there are cases where you can let longer sentences slide but keep it to a minimum.
5) Use Link Building Strategies For Your Blogs
Backlinks are links on other websites that link back to your content. They are very important in establishing domain authority, making them one of the top SEO ranking factors. You can't just pay for any old backlinks, though. People should link to you because your content is good, not for money.
You can use guest blogging or broken link-building to get good backlinks, get some publicity, and improve your blog's SEO efforts.
6) Use Local SEO To Your Advantage
The last of my SEO blog writing tips is to use local SEO strategies, too. If you're a local business and you aren't creating content using local SEO efforts, you're really missing out! You can vastly improve your SEO efforts by targeting the audience right in your own backyard.
Local SEO is targeted to a specific audience relative to distance and other ranking factors that are different from regular SEO. Use specifically local keywords, and make locally relevant blog posts. It will go a long way, trust me!
Don't Settle For Tips! Hire An SEO & Content Expert For Reliable Success!
These are my top SEO blogging tips for improving your blog’s search engine visibility. But I'm not going to lie to you. If you want to write blog posts for SEO and rank number one on Google, hiring a professional SEO expert or professional is always your best bet.
If you don't have the budget to hire one, you can still take these SEO blogging tips and gain more traffic. But, if you want to start making money through your content, a content writer is an investment you'll want to make.
Ready to improve your blog's SEO? Take a look at my SEO Blog Writing portfolio, and let's chat!
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