Bloggers, new and old, have to compete in an over saturated space. Everyone with a computer and an idea can keep a blog with varying amount of success. The key to making your blog outshine the competition is by utilizing smart SEO tips that will make your content stand out in search engine results. Blog SEO is not a matter of utilizing one great SEO tip. Instead, utilizing a wide variety of SEO tips for blogs in synergy with each other is the best way to have success. Start with these four tips for optimizing your site.
1. Quality, Engaging Content
The key to any blog is the writing. Raleigh Leslie writes in the article “Balancing Quantity and Quality in Content Marketing”on pageladder.com that “quality content is important to hold the attention of the user. Quantity is important to search engines…” He further explains that quantity incorporating quality is the best way to increase search engine notice while avoiding being put on the ban list for traffic mining. Having a blog which is consistent in its tone and quality, Raleigh writes, is what keeps people coming back for more helpings of your blog.
2. Understand Keywords and How to Use Them
Keywords are what web surfers use to search for content. In everyday speech somebody might ask, “what’s the difference between shortcake and a biscuit?” When they search for the answer to that question in a search engine they are likely to use the keywords “difference shortcake biscuit”. Those three words are the keywords that a blogger running a site about southern cooking will want to work into their posts. By using keyword tools offered around the web, bloggers can get an idea of popular keywords, and they can work them into their posts in organic densities. Less is more here. Too much keywording ruins otherwise good writing.
3. Interact with Others
Blogging is social by its nature. By taking the time to read other blogs, leaving a response, and leaving a link to your site you are likely to gain more readers. Sharing your links through social media is also a free, effective way to get your content in front of more people. Danielle Cormiere of Constant Contact writes that hashtagging tools available in many social networks can be key in spreading your brand. For instance, tweets using hashtags receive twice as many views.
4. Optimize All of Your Content
A mistake many bloggers make is thinking they should only optimize their text for website cataloging. However, Ankit Kumar Singla of BloggerTipsTricks writes that optimizing your images is also a powerful tool in web search recognition. By using keywords in image names and attaching an alt tag you make those images more appealing to the big search engines like Google.
The fact is blogging is not just about putting the proverbial pen to paper. If you want to get your content in front of people, utilizing these four SEO tips is a great way to improve your reach in web searches and social media.