How to prime your blog posts for SEO (search engine optimization)

You’ve taken time to write your blog post. Now, how can you make sure it gets read by the maximum number of readers? Make it search engine friendly.

Here are a few SEO tips to get your blog noticed.

Use keywords

What is your blog post about? What keywords are other people using on this topic? Do some online research to see which terms are trending. Once you’ve chosen the most relevant words, place them for maximum visibility for humans and search engines alike. Kelly Thomas Mango (2018) suggests including them in the following places:

• Title
• Subheadings
• Introductory sentence
• Concluding paragraph
• Title tags and meta descriptions

A word of warning – don’t overdo it. Peppering your writing with keywords not only makes it hard going for your reader, but you’ll also get penalised by Google.

Use links

If you’ve already written content relevant to your new post, link to it. Doing this makes your post stronger because you show authority on the subject. Also, if you mention another blogger or article, include the link. As with referencing in academic articles, it is good practice.

Optimize the length of your article

Marieke van de Rakt (2015) recommends that your posts should be from 300 and 700 words. Apparently, Google likes long articles, however, these can scare readers away. Always prioritise your audience – after all, it’s them you want to communicate with. For more on developing a sharp blog writing style, check out this post.

Use social media to promote your posts

Not only can you make your followers aware of what you’re currently working on, but Google may look at social media as a sign of a post’s authority and relevance (Blog Tyrant, 2017). Based on the principle that the more people who share your content, the more likely it’s worth reading. If you use a variety of platforms, free programs like Hootsuite help you to put links to your latest post on all your social media in a few clicks.

What about you? Do you have any hot SEO tricks you’d like to share? If so, post a comment below.

Would you like more tips about blogging? Join the Blog writing group. The next session is on Thursday 7th June, in Room EG01.

To join the mailing list, email daniel.sansome@city.ac.uk and I’ll sign you up.

References

Blog Tyrant (2017) SEO for idiots: The 10 Basics of Blogging Search Engine Optimization. Available at: https://www.blogtyrant.com/beginner-blogging-seo/ (Accessed: 30 April 2018).

Thomas Mango, K. (2018) 6 Ways to Optimize Your Blog Posts for SEO. Available at: http://www.openvine.com/small-business-internet-blog/6-ways-to-optimize-your-blog-posts-for-seo (Accessed: 30 April 2018).

Van de Rakt (2015) 10 tips for an awesome and SEO-friendly blog post. Available at: https://yoast.com/seo-friendly-blog-post/ (Accessed: 30 April 2018).