Those of us in the SEO world are all about optimization. We’re constantly on the lookout for the latest Google algorithm updates and trying to stay ahead of our client’s competitors by any means necessary (with the exception of Black Hat SEO tactics, which is a no-no). Yet while we’re all caught up in optimizing our site’s pages, images, and even our social media accounts, there is one major aspect of a website that often gets overlooked: a simple blog post.
Why It’s Important To Optimize Blog Posts
First of all, if your website does not have an onsite blog, it’s important to install one as soon as possible. A blog gives you the perfect opportunity to generate new content for both your site’s users as well as bots who crawl your site for new content and links. While many people believe that writing a quick blog and publishing it to the site is good enough, they may not be seeing the best results when it comes to improved traffic to the site.
Optimizing your blog posts is important when it comes to reaching more users in a particular industry. More users mean more traffic and hopefully more conversions on your website. Websites with optimized blogs will also benefit from seeing higher rankings either for that particular blog post or their website as a whole. If the content is unique and original, chances are search engines such as Google will reward you by showing the page higher in search results under the topic you’ve written about.
How To Optimize Your Blog Post
Add internal links
Internal links are links found in your blog post that direct a user to another page on your website when they click on it. These links help strengthen the relevance of each blog post as well as help explain what you are referring to in your post. Having a user click these links will also improve the average time users spend on your site.
Add metadata
Metadata refers to Page Titles and Meta Descriptions. If you have a WordPress site, you can quickly install an SEO plugin such as All In One SEO that allows you to add this metadata easily. Metadata is what tells both users and search engines what a particular post is about, and it’s important to include keywords or phrases in these sections in order to improve search results rankings.
Add pictures & Alt Text
Pictures are a fun way to break up text in a blog post, especially if the post is lengthy. If the topic of discussion is difficult for users to understand, a graph or visual of some sort will help users better connect with what you’re saying. However, don’t forget that with every picture you should include Alt Text. This text isn’t visible to users but it helps search engines understand what a picture is about. Google and other search engines can’t look at images like we can, which is why we need to add Alt Text.
Add H-Tags
H-tags are a great way to structure the content on your blog posts. There are 6 different levels of H-tags, H1 being the most important, H6 is the lowest order of structure. Search engines and users both view H-tags as an organizational tool and it helps both understand the content and the structure of a page. Be sure to include keywords in your H-tag titles as a way to further boost SEO for each blog post. For example “How to optimize your blog post” was written with an H2 tag, whereas the title of this blog is written with an H1 tag.
Add keywords
One of the most important aspects of ensuring that your blog is fully optimized is by including keywords. Be sure you have a list of keywords you’d like to target first, then sprinkle them throughout the content you write. Keep in mind that the use of these keywords must be natural — this means no keyword stuffing or other Black Hat SEO tactics that will end up putting you in the dog house for good. Also make sure that your keywords are relevant to that specific blog topic; don’t talk about “pet boarding in Boston” if your topic is actually “dog training in Boston.”
Contact Boston Web Marketing
Not sure if you’re optimizing your posts correctly? Don’t have time to optimize your posts or your website? It’s best to contact a full-service SEO company instead to help you get back on track and get you to the top of search results! Give us a call today at 857-526-0096 or fill out a contact form and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.