SEO can either make or break your blog. Why is SEO so important? Here’s an example. Bad SEO? Low rankings on Google, low or no pageviews, and no growth. Great SEO? Higher rankings on Google, higher pageviews, increased growth, and following. Um, sounds awesome!
SEO can increase your exposure so more people know who you are and what content you have to offer. Great SEO also has the potential to increase your affiliate sales and reader trust, making readers more likely to come back to your website again and again!
You want to write for your reader and for Google. If you’re just writing for the reader, you might find a few loyal people to read your posts each week, but they won’t pick up in Google and new readers will be hard to find. If you’re only writing for Google, you might sound like you’re writing to a bot. Great SEO is done when you have a perfect balance of both. So how do you improve your SEO?
- Keyword Research
- Great SEO doesn’t come without some research! Keyword research is the first step in improving your ranking in Google. There are many different keyword planners and tools you can use to speed this process up. For all the ins and outs of keyword research and a list of keyword planners to help you along the way, check out “How to Use Keywords for SEO to Increase Blog Traffic.”
- Alt Text
- Adding alt text to any photos embedded in your blog can help improve your SEO as well. This will help you rank higher in Google photos and even Pinterest! To learn more about ranking higher in Pinterest, check out this post!
- Anchor Text Links
- Anchor text links are links that relate to the subject you’re talking about and can keep your readers interested. These links do not have to be linked to your own website! They can go to any website, as long as they relate to a similar topic that you’re discussing and will further help your reader understand the topic. If you want to learn more about anchor text links, check this out. (See what we did there?)
- Headings
- When you think about headings it’s not just the title of your blog post. You want to strategically use “H2,” “H3,” etc, throughout your blog posts. The first reason is you want to break up your copy to make it super easy for your audience to read. The second reason is for SEO of course! Headings will help Google bots grab the main topics in your blog post, and if you use them strategically, it will improve your Google rankings.
- So, be sure to use headings, break up your paragraphs with helpful information in headings so if someone is skimming your article, something will easily catch their attention. Always remember though, it needs to make sense to the human eye. Strategically write your content so it speaks to your audience, as well as helping your Google ranking.
- Use keywords throughout your blog post
- Use keywords throughout your blog post. This is where the research comes in handy. All the terms you found that are ranking in relation to your topic can be dispersed throughout your post so those terms show up on Google as well.
- Share on social media
- Gain more authority by having your name and blog posts circulating throughout the internet. Post about your blog on any of your platforms so people can find your posts from multiple sources.
- It also helps if you’re on a strategic posting schedule so your audience can expect to have a post from you on, for example, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Having a solid posting schedule can bring consistency to your social media and gain your following.
- Link internally when possible
- Linking internally can help lower your bounce rate (meaning people will stay on your website longer!). Meaning… you got it! Higher rankings in Google and more pageviews on your blog. Linking within your own website can show readers your expertise and authority on the subject and keep them around.
- For example, we’ve linked internally within this post a few times, showing you that we have authority when it comes to blogging and influencing!
- Optimize your meta description and use all the space
- Your meta description is the little blurb that shows up below your link on Google. This gives readers a little preview of what they’re about to click on before they do. Use all of this space with strategic use of keywords to boost your SEO even more. We love the Yoast SEO plugin for helping us here!
- Make sure your website is mobile-friendly
- Having a mobile-friendly website is a MUST these days. Make sure your website is accessible through mobile devices and looks great so readers can access your content wherever they’re at.
- This is great when you have a link in your bio or a swipe up on your stories on social media. Readers can go straight to your website from their phone, so make sure it looks awesome and is accessible through this medium.
SEO can look like a lot at first, especially when you’re just learning the ropes. But once you get everything set up correctly and have a strategic plan of keyword research for every post, SEO will become your best friend! If you still aren’t seeing the results you want, check out Why you aren’t seeing results for some assistance!
