Creating a blog post, doing the research, and crafting that witty first opening line is only half the battle. Optimizing your perfected blog post for SEO is the other half and is the key to having your content read.
Here is the how-to guide to making sure that Google shows your content on the search page you want.
Determine what the best content to write about
Create a niche of your own that aligns with your brand.
For example, “using weights to build muscle in 3 easy moves” is a niche topic that is specific to the fitness industry and workout gurus. If your brand caters to fitness junkies who are always looking for new tips and tricks this would align with what your audience wants to hear.
Make sure that your topic has the potential to compete! Think about your biggest competitors and type your topic into google, do your competitors pop up on the first page? If yes then think about those content pieces are missing and fill in the blanks.
Make a list of subtopics that you can cover as well that relate to your larger topic of “three moves to build muscle”
- Why building muscle is better through weights is better than cardio
- How to optimize your time in the gym
- Using heavier weights to target your fatty areas
Make sure your post is answering your reader’s questions and are of course providing the most value you can!
We like to use Quora and see what questions people are asking. That will give you an idea of what people are struggling with and you can provide solutions.
Identify a topic that will do well with keyword research
We like using Moz Keyword Explorer or Spyfu to make sure that we are using the most effective keywords in our blog posts.
It is the best way to understand the search volume, how much competition you have, and what keywords have the best potential.
Here is a Guideline for keywords that work well:
-Has at least 50-100 or more monthly searches.
-Difficulty score below 50
-Higher opportunity score, aim for 70 or above.
-Priority scores that are higher than 40.
Search for your target keyword on Google and see what comes up in Google auto-complete, then look at related searches for more ideas to see what’s popular.
We have also come up with a worksheet for you track keywords in order to make sure you are using the best ones for your content.
Make sure it’s long enough
Google does like to rank longer, in-depth post higher but typically 1,500 words is the shortest your article should be. But lots of people recommend shooting for 2,000 – 3,000 words.
Link your post to other sites
Outlinking is the best way to rank higher on google as well as get noticed. Backlinks are the key to good SEO. Mor internal links = more reach. Each blog post should include at least 2-3 links to other pages. Links can both to your own articles, statistics, or solutions that you provide.
Benefits of linking to your other posts on your site helps readers find more about you and in turn will boost your credibility on search engines.
Make sure you are linking to other authoritative sites – google sees your page as a full area of resources.
Easy Share Links
Put in “Click to Tweet” the plugin that allows readers to easily share your important stats and quotable information. Sharing the quickest way to have your content be more visible but also lets Google know that you are a resource that people want to share.
Using pictures is also one of the best ways to encourage people to share your posts. Use graphics, infographics, and videos with captions underneath to entice people to share.
When you use photos, make sure you have an Alt Text that is relevant to the photo. Alt Text is how Google is able to understand what an image is about. Google ranks on all aspects of your post, including the photos. You don’t want to have “screenshot34452” pop up on your search, do you?
Lable your sections clearly
Have clear headlines that highlight your key takeaways from each paragraph. You want your post to be easy to skim. Your paragraphs should be no longer than 4 sentences. People don’t want to reach big blocks of text, break up your paragraphs. We like to use Neil Patel format for our blog post writing.
One important section that you can’t forget is the conclusion. It summarizes the key takeaways and maybe people read it to see if they want to read the whole article.
Don’t overlook it!
Use Google Seach Console
This allows your posts to get indexed so people can find them later. Google doesn’t automatically index your latest posts. Keep in mind that if you update any old posts or add new content after you have clicked publish, you should ALWAYS reindex your page.
The best way to find your search console,
- Go to crawl
- Fetch as Google
- Fetch
- Put in the URL of the post you want to index
- Hit “request indexing”
- Select “crawl only this UR:” and hit Go.
Simple as that but oh so effective!
Use the Topics Cluster Model
Use the Topics Clusters Model to organize multiple posts as it will help Google index your content and understand how different pieces are related.
In this cluster model, a single “pillar” page acts as the main hub of content for an overarching topic and multiple content pages that are related to the same topic link back to the pillar page and to each other.
By linking all internal content within that topic to a pillar page, search engines can easily scan all the content and understand there is a semantic relationship between the pages’ content. This setup also signals to search engines that there is real breadth and depth in the content, which gives the pillar page more authority on the topic.
Follow this standard content template to consistently produce high-quality work and create each article faster. Outline to follow
- Headline: make sure it’s attention-grabbing
- Hook/lead: Paragraph(s) to get reader interested and build anticipation with an attractive angle
- Problem/Context: Fill readers in on the problem and what issues it can cause
- Solution: Give a solution (or multiple ones) to fix the problem
- Conclusion/wrap up – summarize the key points, add a CTA
Edit your Meta-Description
Google automatically pulls in the first 1-2 sentences of your article. But you can specify what you want to do and override the default.
To fix the meta-description, go to Theme SEO Settings (this is a box that sits underneath the text editor of each post). Give the post the Document Title and Meta Description you want search engines to display. Specify meta keywords – or the target keyword for this article.
Make sure you take advantage of SEO and get your posts seen. These small changes can take your blog post views from small to viral posts that get shared and increase your overall interaction with your brand.
What do tips or guide do you use to make sure your blog posts are searchable? We would love to hear so comment below and share with us. If you like our tips and tricks make sure you subscribe to our newsletter and hear from us every week directly to your inbox.
