visit5 Easy Blog SEO Tips
- December 15th, 2008
For those of you that follow my blog on a daily basis, you know that SEO (search engine optimization) isn’t my main focus. I’m a firm believer in writing quality posts for people, not for search engines. In light of this fact, it would be foolish to completely ignore SEO. Content should be first, with SEO second. Below are 5 easy tips to you shouldn’t overlook when writing quality posts.
- One Click Wonder - it amazes me how many times I come across an article that has a ton of valuable content but lacks basic SEO. The most obvious blunder I see is not having Permalinks enabled on your blog. Permalinks will allow the title of your blog post to flow through to the URL for that post. As an example, look at your address bar and the title of this post…./5-easy-blog-seo-tips. Without permalinks enacted it would look something like this…./post#9999. Search engines do place weigh this in the url of the blog post.
- Tip Top Titles - If you’re anything like me, you can spend up to a couple of hours writing and perfecting a blog post. Don’t let all of that hard work go to waste by skimping on the title. Put a little thought into the title of your posts. Not only will the article look more appealing to readers, but if you do a little keyword research and placement you can give your article a nice search engine boost.
- Don’t Hibernate - Search engines love fresh content. Taking a 2 week hiatus from your blog typically isn’t a good thing for both content value and SEO. I know it can be easier said than done, but staying consistent and posting frequently will bring your blog more credibility and offer another boost to your rankings. If you’re having trouble coming up new topics, take a look these tips for blog writers block.
- Keep It Focused - when writing a blog post I try to keep each article focused on a specific topic or point. The main reason I do this is that I find it easier to write and easier for my site visitors to read. Trying to implement numerous things at once is never a good thing, be it in life or blogging. Search Engines tend to think this way as well.
- Plug-In Some SEO - I use a simple plug-in for my blogs that allows for fast and easy keyword entry, title optimization, and description insertion. The plug-in is called All-in-one-seo-pack. There’s probably other plug-ins available, however I’ve used this one since beginning my blogging career and found it very beneficial thus far.
At the sake of sounding redundant, don’t lose sight of why you blog. In my opinion you should always write with your readers in mind and never strictly for search engines. These 5 tips alone won’t bring you to the top page of the search engines, but they will help bring you one step closer.
If you have any SEO tips you’d like to share, please let us know in the Comment below. We’d love to hear them!
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Good tips for sure - this is definitely one thing I took away from reading JOhn Chow’s book on making money online. The only reason people come to blogs is for good content, not because they’re search engine optimized.
Hi Rachel,
Great tips, and something I probably don’t focus enough on. Although I think a lot of this happens for me, it’s all happens pretty haphazardly. So, this reminds me I should put a little more conscious thought into SEO. Thanks!
Could have not said it better Rachel, Very good solid points.
Agreed that “content should be first, with SEO second. ” However, once the writing is done, the work can begin. Return to the post and see if some paragraph/section headings may be in order. The fact that these could be tags make the insertion more search engine obvious. Use keywords in headings just like a title.
I totally agree BusinessX… I love writing and posting relevant stories. The “work” begins after that point. For me, it’s imperative to stay in the blogging community. We all benefit from this posture. I’ve heard this all over, but ProBlogger sticks out in my mind when one of the contributors said how important it is to write for the true desire to write; otherwise, you’re not achieving the ultimate goal.
While fresh content is important, bloggers must know that each time their is content is changed their ranking on google changes as well. So keyword density is also quite important but my advice is never neglect your readers as well..
Do you know about twitter?
Is it useful for seo?
Permalinks are really important. I’m always surprised when I come across a blog that uses the default ones. I used to write titles that I thought were funny for my articles. I stopped doing that (mostly) and now try to write a title that tells exactly what the article is about.
I am new to blogging and reading your list of tips does help. a lot of this is similar to online stores, however, blogging has its own tricks.
AG i recommend you try out Platinum SEO Pack. Its awesome, better then all in one SEO. Has more options too.
It has been amazing to grow any business on the Internet, I need to market strategically to my customers, using a range for tools from content sharing to email marketing, search engine optimization, co-branding, ad buys, and more, to reach your target audience.
I am wanting to start blogging full-time, in order to drive traffic to my website, however am stuck with how to optimize and increase my blog search traffic! What are the best SEO, traffic and exposure tips for bloggers, and are there any online companies that specialise in offering search marketing solutions to bloggers? I’m especially wanting to save time and money (in order to concentrate on my blogging and not my blog marketing!). I would appreciate any opinion or response! Cheers