Successful blogging isn’t just stringing a bunch of sentences together. In fact, 91% of web content gets absolutely no traffic from Google, suggesting that engaging, well-written content alone is not enough to bring visitors to your site.
So, how do you blog properly? Well, if you want to rank in search engine results, you need to focus on SEO-driven writing and keyword-focused content that attracts the right kind of traffic for your website.
Keep reading for essential tips for creating SEO-friendly blog posts (that will actually be read!)
Why Blog in the First Place?
Whether you write the content yourself or hire a writer, the intention of blogging is not only to showcase your expertise in an industry, but also to fill your site with SEO-rich content which will boost your Google ranking. A powerful marketing tool, blogging has the ability to further engage your audience and promote brand loyalty. Particularly if you provide backlinks, visitors are likely to browse other pages on your site and convert into customers.
Tips on How to Blog
1) Identify Keywords
How will potential customers find your content when Google handles a staggering 40,000 search queries a second? The key to outranking your competitors is by targeting specific keywords and phrases customers are searching. To do this, some research is required.
Consider what keywords your competitor’s are currently ranking for. If they’re relevant to your business, why not use them? Another great way to find relatable keywords to your business is through the keyword research tool, ubersuggest.com. Be sure to focus on keywords that are high in search volume but low in competition, as it will be easier to rank with these words.
Finally, bear in mind that as trends shift over time, so will your keywords. That’s why it’s important to conduct keyword research periodically to make sure you’re not missing out on any opportunities or using irrelevant keywords.
2) Write Blog Post Around These Keywords
Once you’ve identified your list of keywords, it’s time to naturally integrate these keywords into a blog post centered on one of these words. Brainstorm on topics that will capture and engage your target audience. A good topic is one that will resonate with a potential client based on their interests, needs, challenges, or desires.
3) Add Keywords to Blog Post
While your secondary keywords should be added 1-2 times throughout the post, your primary keyword should appear in key places. Think of your primary keyword as the most important word in your article. It should appear in the following:
- Title
- First sentence/paragraph
- Heading and subheadings
- Meta Description
- URL
- Image alt text
- 2-3 times throughout the text
However, take care to avoid overusing keywords. This is known as “keyword stuffing” and can actually lead to your website being penalized or banned from search engine results either temporarily or permanently. What’s more, if your keyword appears too often or feels forced, you sacrifice a reader’s experience and compromise your blog’s quality.
4) Get Backlinks
Backlinks are one of the most important parts to Google’s algorithm. In fact, backlinks are just as critical as having high-quality content. This involves linking your blog to another high-quality website - one that Google trusts.
The proof is in the numbers: 99.2% of all top 50 results in the SERPs (search engine results page) have at least one external link pointing to them. In short, if your site is virtually connected to another trusty website, Google will view your website as trustworthy and in turn, you can rank higher in search engine results.
