What Is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization. Search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others have specific algorithms that they use to decide which website or company will appear at the top of the page when searched. For example, Google has a crawler that will gather information and build an index which is then used to sort all the data. They are then able to use their algorithm to match websites with the search.
People are able to optimize their content and websites in order to align with the search engine’s algorithm. This can be done by adding keywords, title tags, image alt tags, meta descriptions, and internal links.
Optimizing Blogs for SEO
In order to get a blog to rank in search and be found on Google, it is important to update the blog with relevant keywords that users are searching for. Doing keyword research will give you insight on what people are searching for. It is important to add the keyword and topic to the main header of the blog, which we refer to as an H1 as well as the SEO title tag. These are two easy places that you can easily implement the keyword to optimize your blog. It is also important to add an image and update the alt tag of the image to include a keyword. SEMrush, is just one example of a tool that can be used for keyword research.
Be sure to keep your blog up to date. People are always searching for the most current and relevant information and having an outdated blog may make people skeptical. Search engines like Google want to deliver fresh and trustworthy content to their users. Also, adding new blogs will ensure Googlebot (what we refer to Google’s crawler as) to come back to crawl your website frequently to crawl it.
Another way that blogging can help with SEO is because it can drive more traffic to other parts of your website. If someone clicks on your blog, they are taken to your website where they can see your other services and may be more inclined to use them. Internal links are a great way to bring people to other sections of your site. By a simple click on a word in your article, they are taken to a new page where they will be able to see more about you as a company and what you have to offer.
Having a relevant blog will also keep people on your website longer. This benefits your SEO because it will let the search engine know that your website provided an adequate answer to the question. If someone clicks on a page then immediately leaves, it tells the search engine that the information was either not relevant or lacked quality. This is also good to review if you are tracking website traffic with Google Analytics. A high bounce rate may indicate that the blog is not what the user is looking for.
Your Checklist for Optimizing Your Blog for SEO
Now that you know the basics to optimizing your blog, here is an easy checklist to make sure that you implemented all the important optimization pieces to your blog.
- Make sure the blog is easy to read and access. Making your blog viewable on mobile phones as well as desktop will increase the quality of the blog. This is something that search engines will look for.
- Include keywords. Keywords help search engines and searchers see if your post is relevant and on topic. Be aware that using too many keywords, called keyword stuffing, can harm your SEO.
- Include a keyword in the SEO title tag. A title tag is the title or headline that will show up on the search engine results page. Using a keyword here will help people determine the relevancy of the blog. It is important to keep it short because search engines like Google will cut it off after 60 or so characters, which could cause vital information to go unseen.
- Add an image to the blog and update the alt tag to include the keyword.
- Include a custom meta description. This is also a good place to write a short explanation of the blog using a keyword. This is an opportunity to make what the blog is about even more clear.
- Include internal links. Adding internal links will send people to different parts of your website and keep them on longer. It will also allow search engines to crawl through other relevant pages.
- Track traffic to your blog and make sure to update the content within it every so often to keep it up to date and relevant to the user.
By making these small changes to your blog, you’ll be well on your way to improving the SEO and getting your blog to rank well on Google.