How to SEO Your Blog Posts
If you want your blog posts to rank higher in search engines it’s essential they are search engine optimized. I’ll be honest, when I first heard the words search engine optimization and SEO, it was like hearing a foreign language but I was determined to learn as much as I could for my website and my clients.
We all want our website to show up as the top result on Google but it takes work and dedication to rank well in SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). I’m going to be doing a mini series on SEO in the next few months and go into more details about each step but I want to start with these 10 steps to SEO your blog posts so you can make sure you’re doing it all now.
These steps will help your blog posts rank higher in search engines which will ultimately lead to more pageviews.
10 Steps to SEO Your Blog Posts
Step 1: Determine Your Keywords
This is the most important step. Determine what you want your keywords to be for your post before you start writing anything.
Step 2: Use Your Keywords in Your Title
Start with the title. When I first started blogging, I used clever sayings and funny blog titles without including any information about what my post was about. Big mistake! Make sure your title has your keyword in the title.
Step 3: First Paragraph
The first paragraph of your blog post also needs to include your keywords.
Step 4: Include Headings
Headings aren’t just used to divide your blog posts into sections. Headings tell search engines what your content is about. In wordpress there are six headings. Heading 1 is your post title so it isn’t recommended adding to your blog post. Google recommends including a heading 2 within your blog post at least once.
Step 5: Give your images a Title and Alt Tag
Make sure that all your images have a title and alt tag that include the keywords you want to rank for.
Step 6: Interlink Your Content
Interlinking means linking to related content within your post. This is important for both SEO and bounce rate. Keep your readers on your website!
Step 7: Meta Description
Make sure to add a short meta description with every blog posts and that includes your keywords.
Step 8: Install an SEO Plugin
Using an SEO Plugin like Yoast will make sure each blog post gets the green light for SEO.
Step 9: Size Your Photos Correctly
Images help readers better understand your article but it’s important to resize these images before uploading them to your website. Images that you’re adding to your website should not be larger than the width of your blog post or webpage.
Step 10: Make sure your site is mobile friendly
This is huge! Make sure your site is mobile friendly. Click here to test out your website on Google’s Mobile Friendly Tool.
And, a little bonus step – check your site speed. your site speed can impact SEO and your reader’s experience. If your site doesn’t load fast enough, most readers will just go to another website to find the information they need. There are multiple websites that will check site speed and give you tips to increase it.
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