SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION FOR BLOGGING
Search engine optimization or SEO is a truly important tool for marketers with respect to achieving high rankings on the search engine result pages. An SEO specialist tries to make your website pages (Including blog pages) visible on the internet ( Google’s search results page- SERP) .
It is generally believed blog pages work as a magnet for attracting organic traffic. But what amount of truth does this information have?
In this article you are about to find out the importance of blogging in generating organic traffic and how to do search engine optimization for your blog.
Blogs contribute in SEO
It has been tested and proven that Blogs do contribute to the entire process of search engine optimization of a website and help in achieving some organic traffic.
But, independent blog sites or blogs in general also require to be well optimized in order to do its work completely. There are numerous factors that affect the SEO efforts of a blog. Some of these factors have been there for the longest of time and are still relevant whereas some of the factors have become obsolete or say less effective with the due course of time and advancing technologies
Factors affecting Blog SEO
Let’s take up all the relevant factors one at a time because every factor has its own importance making it crucial to understand each of it and its working properly
- TIME SPENT
Having said ‘Time spent’ we don’t mean the time used in writing the blog or optimizing it. It is the duration of time that a user/ reader spends on your blog site.This factor is directly related to the user experience which has a huge impact on google algorithms.
When users spend more time on your blog site it indicates to the search engine that your content is relevant and engaging. This will have a positive impact on your search engine rankings. - SPEED
I am sure as a user even you can relate to the frustration of the slow loading website. Excessive pictures, unnecessary codes, too many plugins can lead to the slack movement of your website .
It’s important to run regular and timely check on your website and remove junk codes, unessential plugin and unoptimized large size photos and videos . - RESPONSIVENESS
Responsiveness for mobile simply means that your website should be designed in a way that the design does not break even when your website is opened on the phone and not laptop or desktop .As a rule of thumb ensure to optimise a website for mobile.
INDEX DATE
Search engines are designed to provide search accurate and relevant information. To be able to reach the most accurate content search engines uses a process called indexing. This means google crawlers find a page and add it to their index. Later, the page is retrieved and displayed on the search results page .
For the purpose of indexing, google uses an index date. Which may or may not be similar to the publishing date. For example, you created a post today, published it then archived it and republished it. In that case the post was published on the first date itself .
- RECENT DATA
This helps you to keep up with the pace of time and stay meaningful and relevant. Use recent examples in your blog posts, link blogs to some credible and updated website .This way not only will your blog earn credibility but will make you worthy in the eyes of your readers and search engines
How to Optimize Blog Content for Search Engines
Now that you are well versed with all the factors that can affect your blog SEO. It’s time to learn how exactly to optimize your blog site so that search engines love them.
- Find right target audience for you
To be able to ace the game of optimizing your website for SEO, it is absolutely essential to identify the right target audience for you. People have different personas depending upon their demographics, culture, ethnicity, gender and age.
Identify your audience and choose to write in a manner that will satisfy that selected target audience. This will increase your stakes at recurring readership and flowing traffic . - Comprehensive Keyword research
We can’t emphasize enough to explain the importance of right keywords In the SEO process. Study your buyer’s persona, understand what they are looking for and try to rank your blog for those keywords .
Mix and match short and long tail keywords, take help of some keyword research tool and put your best foot forward . - Visually appealing experience
Not just your page but your visuals, graphics and videos also appear on the search results page. Go ahead and make some fun and engaging visual content and optimize Alt text .
This will not only help in making your blog site look visually appealing but would also help you with search engine ranking . - Snappy title
A good catchy title is indispensable to your blog. It is the first piece of the blog that actually interacts with the readers. First impression is the last impression. Make a title so informative or interesting that the readers are compelled to read your blog .
The title should be persuasive enough for the reader to actually click upon it and g to your blog page - Inducing CTA
A blog is incomplete without a CTA. This simply means that the readers have come to your blog page and done only half good to you. Make sure to write a catchy title and related blog content. Include information about your product to service and add a link or button leading to your ultimate goal .
Add a subscribe/ wishlist/ buy button in clear visible sight with your blog content. Or add a link to your products page, let’s say.
This will increase your chance at high conversions .
ESSENTIAL TIPS FOR BLOG SEO
These are some bonus and essential things that you should definitely take into consideration while doing search engine optimization for your blog .
- Long tail keywords
As mentioned above as well, your keywords should include 1-2 long tail keywords. They are precise and have good search volume. Hence, the rate of conversion is generally higher . - Optimize meta description
Meta description is the brief summary of your entire blog page that is visible on the search engine results page long with a meta title. It should be engaging and inclusive of a keyword . - Customized URL
Before publishing your blog include user friendly URL structures. Oftentimes default URLs are long and filled with unnecessary words, numbers and symbols. These kind of URLs shouts of unprofessionalism .
Customize your URL to make it easier for your users to make sense of it.
USER FRIENDLY SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISED BLOG
With these tips and tricks you are good to go with a high ranking website. Your main task is to be organised and relevant at all times. Clutter free and engaging content goes a long way .