Ranking your blog posts higher on Google can be a tricky process.
Not only do you have to deal with getting traffic from search engines, but you also need to get the right people to read your content.
If you want more visitors, you need to ensure that your website is being ranked high on the search engine results pages (SERPs). This is where SEO comes into play, and it’s one of the most important aspects of online marketing.
But what exactly is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your website to appear at the top of search results, to bring more traffic to your site.
For example, if someone types in “how do I become an accountant” into Google, they would expect to see an article titled “How do I become an accountant?” appear at the top of their results page.
Is your blog ranking in Google? If not, you may be missing out on the most important traffic source for your business.
There are a lot of ranking factors that influence the position of your website on Google. Unfortunately, many of them are beyond your control, but there’s one thing you can do to get better rankings: write more quality content.
Even writing quality blog posts doesn’t always guarantee higher rankings. That’s why it’s important to focus on SEO right from the beginning.
But, what can you do to optimize your blog content and rank better?
Well, in this blog post, I’m going to share with you some tips on how to improve your blog posts for higher SEO rank on Google.
So, let’s get started:
1. Do Keyword Research
Keyword research is the first step in optimizing your blog posts rank higher on search engines like Google and get more targeted traffic.
But, what is keyword research?
Keyword research is the process of figuring out what people are searching for when they look for information online. Before you write a blog post, you should know what topics will attract traffic from specific audiences by identifying the best keywords and long-tail phrases for each topic.
Keyword research can be time-consuming.
But, there are many keyword tools available to help you make things easier.
Here is one of the best resources:
SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool
Developed by SEMrush, Keyword Magic tool allows you to find the right keywords for your blog posts. And, it also provides valuable insights into each keyword and phrases and the websites ranked for those keywords. You can see how difficult it will be to rank for each keyword.
Click here to try Keyword Magic Tool
Apart from the Magic Tool, there are other tools available in the market like Ahrefs, Moz Keyword Explorer and Google AdWords Keyword Planner.
You can also take advantage of Google Trends.
Google Trends: This tool shows you how popular certain search terms have been over a specific period. This can give you an idea if something has become more or less popular in recent months or years and how specific phrases vary in popularity depending on where they’re searched.
Once you’ve identified the right keywords, the next step is to use them in your blog posts and use them strategically.
But, where should you use them?
Here are some places where you can use keywords to optimize your blog content for higher SEO rank on Google and other search engines:
- Post title
- Beginning of the post
- Meta description
- End of the post
- Anchor text
- Image file name and alt text
- In blog post URL
- Social media updates
Now that you know how important it is to do keyword research and where to use keywords in your blog posts, let’s move on to the next tip.
Read – Slaying SEO: The Ultimate Toolset for Success
2. Write Unique Meta Details
If you want your blog to appear in the top search results, you have to write a unique meta title and description for each post. Make sure it’s relevant to your blog post and best summarize its content.
Observing the specified character limits is crucial while writing meta titles and descriptions. According to Moz, the limit for meta titles is 60 characters. It means you should avoid writing titles above that limit.
Likewise, the limit for meta description is 160 characters. If you write more than that, Google will truncate the extra text. Users may not understand what you try to convey to them through metadata if this happens.
Use a word counter to meet the word and character limit
Using the online word counter can help you stay on top of these limits. There are a number of word counters available but you should consider the top recommended online word counter. Online word counters are the most used tools because you don’t have to install anything to use this tool.
Simply copy and paste the text into the assigned area. Alternatively, you can also type text directly in the blank space. The word counter will show the number of words, characters (with and without space), sentences, and pages.
You need to consider characters with space (all characters) while writing a meta title or description. This is what needs to be under 60 and 160 characters for meta title and description, respectively.
Other useful features of a word counter that you can benefit from include auto save, grammar checker, clear text, font style, text size, and case selector. Furthermore, you can also check the word density.
3. Get More Backlinks and Social Signals
Have you ever wondered why most blogs are listed at the bottom of Google search results? Many people might think that it is because their blogs are not as relevant or authoritative as other sites. But this is not entirely true.
One of the primary ranking factors is the number of backlinks a blog has. Backlinks are basically incoming links to your blog from other websites. Google sees these links as votes. The more votes your blog has, the more popular it is. Consequently, your blog will rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Similarly, social signals are also important. Google uses these signals to determine the popularity of your blog. Social signals include the number and quality of social media interactions such as likes, shares, comments, and tweets.
To increase the number of backlinks and social signals, you need to promote your blog content on social media platforms and other websites. You can also guest post on popular blogs in your niche.
You can also create infographics. You can also reach out to other bloggers and ask them to link to your blog post in their next blog post.
Basically, you can do anything to get quality backlinks.
The bottom line is that If you want to get better rankings for your blog, then you must focus on getting more backlinks and social signals. The more backlinks and social signals you have, the better your blog will rank.
Check out Fatjoe to get more backlinks from authority sites
4. Use H2 Subheadings
Your blog post will be easier to digest if you use a well-organized structure. One of the best ways to organize your blog post is Subheadings. These are the headings you use throughout your blog post to break up the text.
The use of subheadings also makes your blog post more scannable. People tend to scan blog posts rather than read them word for word. As a result, you should use subheadings to make your blog post more scannable.
You should also use keywords in your subheadings.
This will help you rank for those keywords.
Make sure your H2 subheadings have specific, not vague, titles that clearly describe what they’re about and where they fit within the context of your post.
For example: “How to Write a Blog Post,” “4 Easy Ways to Start Writing More Often,” or “9 Steps to Make Sure Your Blog Posts Are Effective.”
You don’t want your content to look like it’s been smushed together like a dense brick of text. But it also shouldn’t look like an endless stream of paragraphs with no clear purpose (unless that’s what you’re going for).
So, what should you do?
Simple. You should break up long paragraphs into smaller chunks by using sub headers when appropriate – and make sure each header has its purpose in making sense of your writing as a whole.
5. Add Images Tags and Captions
Alt tags are alternative text for images.
They help people who are visually impaired understand the content of an image. They also help search engines understand what’s on a page and can be used as “snippets” when your post appears in search results.
For example, if you have a photo of a person holding up their ID card and it says “Hi! My name is John Doe,” it’s helpful if you also add alt text that says something like “John Doe, holding his ID card.”
This lets people see this image even if they cannot load or read the caption or other text around it. For search engines, these tags are very helpful in understanding what’s on pages because frequently, they can’t access any other form of content such as links or headings.
Captions describe the image and add context. So readers know why they’re looking at what they’re looking at. Quite simple to understand, right?
6. Use Outbound Links
Now that you know the basics of link building let’s talk about why it’s so important to have other links on your blog.
Linking out is one of the easiest ways to show Google that your content is relevant and authoritative. For example, when you link out to other relevant websites in your blog posts, it shows Google that those sites have content related to yours (which means more people might click on them).
By linking back as often as possible, you’re also saying thanks for allowing visitors from other sites to visit yours. So this form of reciprocal linking can be an excellent form of social proof.
When you’re looking for places to link back to, always make sure they’re high-quality websites that are relevant to your niche.
The last thing you want to do is link back to a site that’s full of spam or doesn’t have any content related to yours.
Relevancy and quality are key!
Linking to spammy websites doesn’t help. In fact, it can actually hurt your SEO because Google may think you’re associated with them.
And, as always, make sure your outbound links open in a new window so people don’t have to leave your site to visit the other one.
7. Get More Inbound Links
Every piece of content you create should have many people linking to it because that’s how Google determines what’s good and what isn’t.
Create a great piece of content.
You can’t expect to get people to link to your blog post if it’s not good enough for them to want to share. So put some effort into creating great, useful pieces of content that readers will love and share with others.
Contact other bloggers and ask them if they’d be interested in linking back. This is probably the easiest way – send an email asking if they’d like to feature your post on their blog/website, mentioning why you think it would be relevant for their audience (and including what kind of traffic this could generate).
See who replies favorably so you can start building relationships with others in your industry who are willing or interested in helping promote each other’s work.
8. Write for Real People
One of the best ways to make sure your blog posts are engaging is to write with real people in mind. Think about what kind of reader you want to attract and write for that person. It’s important to know your audience because this will help you determine the tone, style, and overall approach of your blog content.
Are you writing for stay-at-home moms? Then you’ll want to use a more conversational tone and write about topics that are relevant to them. Are you writing for small business owners? Then you’ll want to focus on more practical tips and advice that they can use in their businesses.
No matter who you’re writing for, make sure your content is interesting, useful, and easy to read. No one wants to slog through a dense, boring blog post. So keep things light and make sure your content is engaging enough.
If you want to get a lot of clicks on your site, then think about how you would draw people in if it were a conversation.
What does this mean?
It means writing exactly how you would talk to someone interested in the topic at hand. That doesn’t mean putting on airs or acting as an expert – it just means being yourself and being helpful in a way that’s relatable.
If someone has a question, answer it; if they need advice, give them some; if they have an issue that can be solved by reading a piece of content, provide that solution and let them know where they can find out more.
You can also link to other resources, like other blog posts or website pages, that might be helpful for them. The goal is to be as helpful as possible while also providing value so that people want to keep coming back for more.
Don’t just entirely focus on SEO.
Instead, take care of readers who come to visit your blog. Make sure every visitor coming to your blog should get some value, or else they will go elsewhere to find the right information that they might be looking for.
9. Use Bullet Points Where Possible
Bullet points are easier to read than long blocks of text. They’re also more engaging, which means your audience will be more likely to read them (and share them). I personally love bullet points because they help me break down complex topics into smaller, more manageable chunks.
When you’re writing blog posts, think about how you can use bullet points to break down your content and make it easier to digest. It’s also a good idea to use them when you’re listing tips, advice, or any kind of information.
People love lists because they’re easy to read and share.
Bullet points work best when you’re trying to communicate an idea in a concise and easy-to-grasp manner. If it’s just one sentence or two, consider using bullet points instead of a paragraph. This will bring in more traffic and eventually more SEO juice.
However, it is crucial to use bullet points only where they make sense. You are not supposed to use them unnecessarily. Readers want to get value from your text and if you provide just filler text, then it won’t attract them at all. As a result, you will lose readers as well as search engine rankings.
Make sure the essence of the topic is highlighted in bullet points, no matter what topic you choose to write about.
These should be the points of interest for visitors.
Studies have shown that blog posts that contain a reasonable amount of bullet points are likely to rank higher on search engines.
This is the reason why most blog posts that appear in top results of SERPs have bullet points alongside a good blog structure.
10. Promote on Social Media
Social media is a great way to get more traffic to your site. If you are not already promoting your blog posts on social media, you need to start now.
When you promote the blog posts, you should look at all the social channels as one network and don’t ignore any of them. Don’t underestimate social platforms as all of them can play a critical role in boosting your blog rankings.
Most people just focus on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok. However, there are many other channels that are worth giving attention to.
Your followers on Twitter, for example, are probably different from those on Facebook or Instagram. As a result, they will be interested in different kinds of content, so make sure that whatever type of content you’re posting is something that would resonate with each audience and be interesting for them.
If this sounds daunting because of the time required to manage multiple accounts, then don’t worry – there are tools available that can help make this process easier. Hootsuite is one of the best social media management tools that allows you to manage all your social media accounts in one place.
By promoting your blog posts on social media, you can increase your traffic and get more people to read your content. This can help you rank higher in search engines and get more organic traffic to your site.
Alternatively, you can take advantage of social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Digg, and Tumblr. Submitting your blog posts to these sites can help you get more exposure and traffic back to your website.
These are just some of the ways you can optimize your blog content for SEO. By following these tips, you can improve your chances of ranking higher in search engines and getting more organic traffic to your site.
Final Thoughts on Optimization
SEO is not a piece of cake: it’s a series of processes that you need to carry out to push your blog posts to top search results.
There are many critical things that an SEO expert needs to take into account while trying to rank a blog post higher. Google uses over 200 ranking factors to rank sites, and it’s impossible to optimize for all of them.
You need to focus on the most important ranking factors that will have the biggest impact on your blog post’s ranking.
The good news is that you don’t need to become an SEO expert.
By following the tips in this article, you can make sure that your blog posts are optimized for the most important ranking factors. This will help you improve your chances of ranking higher in search engines.
So, in this blog post, we’ve looked at some of the most important things that you need to do to optimize your blog content for SEO.
I hope you found this post helpful.
The above suggestions can help take your blog posts to the higher rankings if you learn and implement them in the right way.
If you are new to SEO, it may be a little bit challenging. However, you should get used to it after implementing these tips a few times. And lastly, don’t forget to have patience as SEO takes time to show results.
Did you find this post helpful?
Please share this article. It can help other people who are new to SEO and looking for tips to optimize their blog content. Thank you!
If you want to start a blog that makes money and don’t know where to start, I strongly recommend Blogging from ZERO, a complete guide that can help you start a blog from scratch. This guide covers everything from choosing a niche to creating content, promoting your blog to making your first $1000 from your blog.
You can get the guide by clicking here.
