As we head into 2022, 93% of all online purchases start with a search engine, and 92.04% of users have Google as their preferred search engine. For many content creators, blog SEO can seem incredibly daunting. It’s easy to think that no list of blog SEO strategies will ever be able to deliver tangible benefits. Others view Google as the grim philippines b2b leads
reaper, choosing which blogs to keep alive and which ones to strip of precious organic search traffic . Six years ago, when I was just starting out learning how to start a blog , I felt that way too – completely overwhelmed and unsure of which blog SEO strategies would actually work and which ones would just waste my precious time. But as I grew my blog to millions of readers per year, I realized that Google isn’t out to get you . In fact, the search giant wants you . They crave fresh, high-quality content that gives their users the best possible answers to the questions they’re asking. That’s what blog SEO is all about . It’s connecting your blog content to the solutions people are searching for and allowing search engines to recognize your relevant , quality content . So what if you’re doing exactly that… but your blog still isn’t getting traffic ? Apply these 10 blog SEO strategies and you’ll get it going . These are the exact blogging strategies, principles, and tips I used to grow this blog from zero to 584,958 monthly readers, and I’m going to show you that blog SEO isn’t some mysterious, untamable beast.
Contents hide
1 Conduct keyword research
2 Focus on user intent (not search engine intent)
3 Take your time to write SEO-friendly blog titles
4 Use the correct heading tags
5 Optimize your page URL
6 Be strategic about your link choices
7 Write an attractive meta description
8 Optimize your images
9 Make your site mobile-friendly and reduce page load times
10 Promote your content
11 When It Comes to SEO Blogging, You Have to Be in It for the Long Haul
11.1 Related publications:
Conduct keyword research
The most fundamental element of all SEO strategies starts with learning how to do keyword research and find great opportunities to rank for keywords . If you use too many keywords, at best your content will sound like it was written by R2-D2. At worst, Google will think you’re keyword stuffing and will penalize your site. Not good. New blogs also have lower domain authority (when you first create a site ) and therefore don’t carry the same weight as older, more authoritative sites . As a result, ranking for more competitive keywords can be challenging, and your blog promotion efforts will take longer to pay off. If you’re a new blogger , your best bets are to try ranking for keywords like:
Low difficulty
Large volume
High click through rate
The goal is to find three to five keywords (one- to three-word phrases) and one to two long-tail keywords (whole phrases that people are searching for). Long-tail keywords have lower traffic and competition, but are no less valuable. You should choose terms that are in the same niche. This is something Google highlighted as important in its recent Useful Content update. So how do you find those elusive, high-value long-tail keywords ? Twinword Ideas is a (currently) free tool you can use. Enter a keyword phrase you want to rank for. Then see how much search volume there is and how competitive it is to rank for that phrase. Best of all, these blogging tools give you additional keyword research ideas .
Since Keywords Everywhere is a browser plugin , its advantage is that it provides you with related keywords and suggestions that people are searching for, straight from the Google search results page ( SERP ). If you want to really up your keyword game , Ahrefs and SEMrush will take your SEO game out of this world. These are two super popular SEO analysis tools , and you’ll be in good hands with either one. The most significant difference between the two tools is that while both are great keyword researchers, Ahrefs has the edge if you want to analyze what backlinks your competitors have. This will come in handy when you’re looking for mentions of your competitors, and you’ll be able to do the same!
Focus on user intent (not search engine intent)
Gone are the days when mentioning a keyword as many times as possible would result in a higher ranking . Google’s algorithms have gotten smarter, and today it’s all about quality content and understanding user intent – what people want to find when they type a word or phrase into the search engine. Luckily, we don’t need the powers of Spock to figure out what people are actually looking for when they search. Google has it figured out. Type your keyword into the search bar and look at the “People Also Ask” and “Related Searches” sections. When you click on a website and then hit the back button in your browser, you may also sometimes see a “People Also Search” box under the site you clicked on. These are all questions and problems that people are asking, and you can answer them in your post. While you’re in the SERPs, take a moment to consider how your competitors are responding to user intent. Aim to better solve the reader’s problems and make your post an even more useful guide for them .
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Let's consider:
How long is your competitor's post? Your blog article should be at least that long.
What resources can you add? Think videos, helpful websites, downloadable templates (like my blog post templates ).
What concepts can you explain better or expand on?
If you were a reader, what would make this post more useful to you?
Writing a 10,000-word rambling blog post just because you think it’s the right thing to do won’t improve your SEO. But creating a targeted article that is a one-stop guide to finding the exact answers to your target audience’s questions will definitely improve your SEO. Answer your readers’ questions correctly, and you might even land that coveted #0 spot in Google’s “featured snippet.” Here are two of my featured snippets to give you an idea of how they show up and what Google likes to see. First, here’s my guide to starting a freelance business: