10 tips for an awesome and SEO-friendly blog post
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the process of improving your site to increase its visibility when people search for products or services related to your business in Google (and other search engines).
Not only is it important to ensure that your website is optimised for SEO, but it’s also important to make sure your blog posts are too.
Blogging helps boost SEO as it is a way of pushing new and relevant content onto your website (which Google loves). Using a range of SEO tactics within your blog posts, you can maximise your opportunities to rank in search results, which could increase site traffic.
Here are our top ten tips for an SEO-friendly blog post.
TIP 1: Structure your blog post
Not only does this make for a smoother writing process, but it will also provide a more enjoyable read for your audience, which makes it more likely that they will read it to the end, and then share it with others (which is good for SEO).
Here’s a simple blog structure you can follow:
- Choose a relevant topic to write about
- Decide on a punchy headline
- Open your blog with an enticing first paragraph
- Get into the ‘nitty gritty’ of your blog during the next two or three paragraphs
- Summarise your blog with a conclusion
- End your blog with a call to action.
In addition to this, Google likes a range of H1, H2, H3, H4 and paragraph text on a website so be sure to use a variety of these in your blog post.
TIP 2: Consider the tone of voice and language
The vocabulary you use determines how engaged your readers will be, how educated they become or how motivated they get to take any action. Your tone of voice should encapsulate all that you would like to convey in your message. It is also imperative that you have an adaptable and flexible approach to your writing style depending on your audience and the topic at hand; this shows versatility, which is an essential sought-after professional trait.
TIP 3: Research, research, research
This can help you become more confident in what you’re writing about, leading you to come across more informed. Research is also essential for developing a cohesive content strategy, as it can help you find a range of topics to write about and, as a result, help you reach out to a broader audience. A deeper level of understanding regarding research will not only polish up your expertise but will also help you expand your knowledge.
Remember, the aim of the game with a blog post is to get someone to read it all the way through and then either complete the necessary call to action or share it on their social media – all things that will help your SEO.
What should you research and why?
Other bloggers – It is useful to keep tabs on your peers’ and their writing styles, as it gives you the chance to learn from them and gain further insights. Looking out for keywords and opinions in their comment sections by readers on social media helps you know how to write better blogs because you already know from this secondary research what peoples’ feedback is in relation to specific topics; meaning you will be able to format your article in a better way to make it easier to read. Reviewing other writers’ work will enable you to form your own viewpoints, which you can implement into your work; therefore, offering readers a broader perspective and various solutions.
Your audience – When you tap into your audience, you can better understand their requirements to cater to them exactly.
The statistics - In this era that we’re in of fake news, as a writer, you want to steer away from that as much as possible by making sure you always triple check your facts. A good way to do this is by ensuring you don’t rely on just one source of information; if you can’t supply various reputable sources, it’s essential to let readers know that the subject is not well researched. Using reputable sources is also an important aspect to consider concerning statistics – a vital element of this is checking each author’s credentials. This helps build your credibility and improves your researching and writing skills – it also proves that you are knowledgeable.
TIP 4: Use synonyms
Always think or find replacement words that can further engage readers with your topic. The benefits of using synonyms are that they help provide various word choices with more specific and detailed meanings.
TIP 5: Post regularly
Staying consistent with your blog posting helps to attract and retain readers to your site. Not only this, but Google loves it! Updating your site regularly with new content is one of Google’s ranking factors.
TIP 6: Consider the length of your post
Make sure that your blog post is at least 300 words long. This gives you enough writing space to get to the point and provide all the information needed. If you are skilled at writing, we recommend regularly throwing in a 1200 word piece too as Google loves long content.
TIP 7: Proofreading
Make second person checking and Grammarly your best friend.
Proofreading allows you to make sure you’ve included everything you wanted to convey throughout your work. It brings to your attention any inconsistencies, words or sentences that are redundant and helps you work towards fixing sentences that require better structures and enabling you to remove unwanted points that you feel may divert readers from the topic at hand. Having a second option on your work is essential as others may notice things you don’t or even give you different perspectives regarding your writing piece.
What should you look out for when proofreading?
- Typos
- Choice of words
- Spelling errors
- Grammatical errors
- Structure of the blog
- Clearer sentences
- Rewriting where necessary.
TIP 8: Link to existing content
If you have other blog posts on the same topic as your current post, link to and from these posts. This will make your new and existing posts stronger because you’re showing authority on the subject you have written about.
TIP 9: Include images and videos
Content with videos and images are much more popular than those without. By ensuring you use alt text (descriptive text attached to your media) also increases your chances of appearing in image and video searches too.
TIP 10: Make keywords your best friend
Using relevant keywords is so important as it will maximise your chances of appearing in search results. Carry out keyword research before you start writing and be sure to include long-tail keywords too.
BONUS TIP! Use an SEO plugin
We love using Yoast. Yoast is an SEO plugin that helps you to write readable and SEO-friendly blog posts by ‘scoring’ your content with a traffic light system and suggesting better alternatives.
So, now you know all there is to know about writing an SEO friendly blog post!
Happy blogging!
