Search engine optimization (SEO) gives your blog posts an effective boost and a chance to earn a place on the first pages of popular search engines like Google or Bing.
SEO acts as a business card: It gives search engines information about the particular page’s content, showing that the page is up to date, taken care of and that the owner has tried to make it relevant and useful for any visitor who clicks through to it.
As you can imagine, SEO is vital for your blog posts’ success. In this article, we explore what steps you can perform to create an irresistible SEO post on your blog.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the 10 things that you can do to make your post an SEO success story.
1. Conduct Thorough Keyword Research
The first step in every SEO process is keyword research. These keywords are indicators telling search engines about the page’s content, and they make it possible for your blog post to get a spot on the first page for the terms you target.
It’s actually quite easy to gather keywords related to your page: You need to create a list of possible keywords you want, evaluate their value for your post and look at how your competitors have implemented their own keywords. (We usually use Keyword Planner by Google for this task since it is free and easy to use.)
After this analysis, you should gather a shortlist of 6-10 keywords (depending on the length of your article), and we advise you to use every one of them at least twice throughout the text.
2. Create a Cohesive and Clear Structure for Your Post
It may seem unimportant but creating the best structure for every one of your blog posts is essential for the simple reason that both people and search engines love structured articles.
We suggest you use a standard blog post template, where every post follows this simple structure:
- An introduction: It can be a small or medium-sized paragraph explaining what this article is about without revealing all the secrets of the post.
- The body of an article: It is the main part of an article and consists of all the essential content of the piece.
- Conclusion: Here, you summarize your post and give some last-minute advice or wish the best to your reader.
3. Use Paragraphs, Bullet Points and Headings
Creating a structure and using the right keywords works wonders for your article. But if your post is very long, it is better to separate big chunks of text with paragraphs, bullet points and, most importantly, headings.
It is so much easier for a reader to scan several small chunks of relevant text than sift through one long wall of text because, as with food, smaller bites are much easier to digest. Similarly, search engine spiders look at your H-tags to determine what your content is about.
4. Choose the Perfect Length for Your Article
Length is important, but bear in mind that longer is not always better.
When you decide how long your article should be, you need to consider two factors. First, an article’s standard length should be 500-1,500 words depending on the page because it is the optimal length for Google’s bot to crawl and analyze.
The second factor is your competitors. If you see that posts similar to yours at the top of Google’s search results are around 2,000 words, consider staying within this range – this may mean Google prefers longer articles on the topic in question.
So, to reiterate, the rule of the thumb here is: try for 500-1,500 words but look at competitors.
5. Use Apps for Better Writing
It is not necessarily critical for SEO content, but apps like Hemingway App and Grammarly have proven invaluable for any writer. Hemingway helps you keep your writing simple and to the point rather than creating uninteresting, flowery texts that waste your audience’s time – especially if they’re turning to you for quick tips and answers.
Meanwhile, Grammarly is a grammar-checking tool. We love it because it’s highly intuitive and helps writers catch both major and minor errors.
6. Add Links to Your Relevant Existing Content
Adding internal linking shows search engines content related to an article and what else a user can find on your website to answer their specific search request.
It’s also a good idea to boost internal linking with your guest post strategy and not just use this tactic for your main pages.
7. Use External Links
Besides internal linking, we advise you also to add some external links to your text to back up the statements you have in your post with other trusted sources.
Always check websites that you add to your posts and never use unreliable sources because they can prove detrimental to your authority and ranking.
8. Add Unique Visual Content
Consider using stock photos – the right image can be an awesome addition to any content piece. But for your posts, why not use something slightly different to spice up your visual content?
For example, you can create an exciting slideshow or presentation for your post or compile infographics with your photo editor. The key here is to be creative and create something worth sharing!
9. Make Visual Content Look Good
As a follow-up to the previous point, be sure to work on your visual content as hard as you work on your text.
Don’t just make any old video with your video maker. Try to add unusual editing, create interesting transitions, use filters, etc. The same is true of photos: Polish them with your photo editor until they are absolutely perfect – nothing less should work for you!
10. Update Your Content Regularly
The last thing we want to add to your SEO strategy for blog posts is updating.
If you have several posts on your blog, the chance is that some of them are not relevant now, but they still can be interesting to your audience. When you update old content, you give search engines a sign that you’re putting effort into your website and you care about quality – and it works! Google will always reward current content with better rankings.
Conclusion
Now you know what it takes to create the best SEO copy of your life.
All you have to do is write a blog post following these steps, and you will get an absolutely bulletproof SEO-friendly article. Good luck!