Writing blog posts to feature on your own website is a critical activity in SEO.
This is because it adds value to your website, with highly relevant information that your audience can engage with and enjoy.
Not only that, but it helps Google identify what it is that you do – and demonstrates that you are an authority in your field.
The question is, how can you write awesome, SEO-friendly blog posts that your audience will love?
In this article, we’ll share 10 quick tips that can help you perfect your blogging game…
1. Utilize Your HTML Headers Properly
Utilise the (H1, H2, H3, etc.) headers in your blog posts accordingly. This means implementing high-intent keywords that clearly define each section of the blog post.
Not only does this make it easier for Google to crawl your content, but (more importantly) it helps your readers skim your content and identify the key information they need.
If you have a massive block of text without any headers, you’ll turn a lot of people off.
2. Write Your Content With ‘Featured Snippets’ In Mind
The featured snippets in a Google SERP (search engine results page) are the most concise and direct answers to search queries.
So, the overall aim is to keep your definitions short, sweet, and to the point. That way, you’ll significantly increase the likelihood of Google choosing you to feature in their snippets.
They are essentially the ‘best answers’.
3. Write For People First
Google’s recent ‘helpful content update’ is all about putting their user first.
Gone are the days of creating content solely for pleasing Google. Instead. Every piece you produce must have a very clear intention: serving your audience with high-value information.
That is the key to creating kick-ass blog posts: let Google be an afterthought and instead focus on making your content the best that it can be.
4. Add Alt Text To Imagery
Google isn’t as good at identifying imagery as human’s are. Which means when you add alt text to an image in your blog post (e.g., a clear identifying description of what the image is), it makes it much, much easier for Google to crawl and process accordingly.
It should be highly descriptive, including your focus keyword as necessary.
5. Always Begin With Keyword Research
Don’t start writing your blog post without having done any keyword research beforehand.
Obviously you’ll already have an idea of the subject matter you wish to cover, but before you start, head over to your keyword research tool and look at your options.
Sites like Ahrefs and Google Keyword Planner are excellent tools that will provide you with some valuable insights in this regard.
How competitive are the search queries? How many times are they searched each month on average? How relevant are they to your business?
You can also Google search the various keywords you come up with and see what content is ranking – and then aim to make yours better, with a more comprehensive blog post.
6. Don’t Keyword Stuff!
A common mistake that people make when writing blog posts is stuffing their focus keywords into the content for the sake of pleasing Google.
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t please Google at all. All it does is make the content read poorly which will ultimately put your readers off.
The aim is to include your keywords as naturally as possible. If a sentence ends up making very little sense because of an awkward keyword placement, rewrite it.
Clarity above all.
7. Write A Meta Description Including Your Keywords
When you type a keyword into Google and you are given a list of potential websites in a SERP, each link will be accompanied by a title and a block of text.
The descriptive text is the meta description. This is your opportunity to include your focus keyword and signal to your potential readers what they can expect to find when clicking on your link.
The better the meta description, the higher your click-through rate will be.
And of course, the more people who click on your link and enjoy the content within, the higher your blog post will invariably climb in the rankings.
Set expectations and then exceed them.
Always be adding value! This means whenever you cite a statistic to reference a study in your blog posts, you should link to the appropriate resources.
Find relevant, high-authority websites and hyperlink to them as necessary.
This not only provides your readers with even more information to read and expand their knowledge, but it also demonstrates to Google that you have done your research and regularly cite your sources.
The goal is to create a blog post so awesome – that other businesses and marketers link back to your blog post, thus increasing your backlink profile as well.
9. Link Internally To Other Blog Posts On Your Website
Just as you should hyperlink to external, high-authority websites, it’s also good practice to link internally.
Whenever you mention something that has been covered in greater depth in a different blog post – link to it.
Ideally, you should have dozens of blog posts that each link to one another, creating an intuitive web of inter-connected content.
This is great for recommending even more reading material for your audience, while also helping Google to better crawl and index your entire website.
Fail to link internally and you run the risk of creating orphaned content, which isn’t ideal.
10. Compress Your Imagery For A Faster Page Load Speed
All of the images in your blog post must be high-resolution, but you also want to compress them.
This means finding the perfect balance between size and quality, without compromising on either.
The smaller the image files, the faster your blog post will invariably load – which is an important ranking factor in Google.
Put it this way, if you click on a link to a blog post in a Google SERP and you are sat staring at a blank screen while it takes forever to load, how likely are you to stick around and wait?
The likelihood is that you will abandon the search and click on the next link. Your readers will do the same – which means ending up on competitor websites.
Compress your imagery and make your page load speed as optimal as possible for the best results.
Conclusion: Put Your Best Foot Forward
Don’t churn out blog posts as quickly as possible for the sake of pleasing the search engine gods. Your readers must be your number one priority.
If you keep this in mind, writing in-depth, comprehensive, and high-value blog posts will be significantly easier.
Yes, make the necessary SEO optimizations to keep Google sweet, but above all, you must make sure that every decision you make has your readers and their user experience at the forefront.
Understandably, not every business owner has the time or desire to spend so much time writing thousands of words each week.
You may well be an expert in your field, but putting it down on paper while trying to manage and run a business is a whole other kettle of fish.
Which is where this SEO consultant on the Gold Coast comes in; hire a professional SEO agency with a wealth of experience in the industry and let them manage your blog for you. High-value content, consistently, without ever having to lift a finger.
Not bad, eh?
