5 SEO TIPS FOR BLOGGERS

. 5 TIPS TO BOOST YOUR BLOGS SEO .

SEO is one of those marketing tools which in my opinion is often undervalued, underused and underestimated. I for one can’t say I’ve always been the best at maximising it within my own blog, but it’s something that as part of my job, in an industry where content marketing is becoming the norm, that is ever more important. If you’ve never used SEO before, then now is an important time to start.

Before I upgraded my blog I never really did anything to aid my content’s SEO, I knew of course from my traffic and google analytics that organic search was a big traffic driver for me, and I knew some of the terms that people were searching for, both specific brand terms (media marmalade for example) but also extremely broad terms which captured much more of the long tail (leather topshop shorts was always a big one weirdly). But i didn’t do anything to amplify this, or even support it further, if anything I deliberately ignored best practice in favour of ‘original’ and quirky content titles etc.

But with the support of one of my friends at work, plus a little acceptance that I should know better, I decided it was about time I made my blog content work a little bit harder for me … so I decided to tackle SEO. I don’t have time to trawl through my nearly 1500 posts and edit those, but I made a pact that this year i’d make sure my content had SEO best practice tipped.

Today I thought i’d share the 5 very simple ways you can make your content work harder from you, and boost your own SEO.

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. SET A CORE KEYWORD .

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First of all, ensure your content captures and utilities a core keyword, based on the specific editorial you are writing about. For example today’s feature is about SEO, and so the word ‘SEO’ will be my keyword throughout, everything I write and feature will all link and reference this term, to ensure that when google is sorting through it’s zillions of pages in reaction to someones search, it knows that this feature is all about SEO and might be a relevant result.

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. USE A RELEVANT TITLE .

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This is something I absolutely never did, never ever, in fact if anything I deliberately ignored best practice and always used obscure blog titles which were slightly ambiguous and quirky. Whilst I knew this wasn’t good for SEO, I didn’t really mind all too much … but actually it was a rather silly thing to ignore and a missed opportunity for organic traffic.

Ensuring your blog title captures your core keyword, and actually references the content you’re then going on to talk about really helps reinforce your blogs content and gives searchers or readers a clear idea about what is to come (which is great for SEO). In fact ensuring your feature title is SEO proofed is only really the start, a title can really capture a reader if it’s punchy, specific & relevant. Beyond your main blog title, it’s also worthwhile thinking about sub headlines too, and making sure these emphasise and amplify your blog content.

I’ve been making a more concerted effort to make sure my titles are relevant, concise and most importantly try and capture interest.

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. MAXIMISE YOUR CONTENT .

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Once you’ve decided your punchy and relevant title and of course your content keyword, it’s now time to make your actual editorial content work the hardest it can. If your blog feature is all about the boyfriend jean, then make sure you reference this term throughout your content, once at least, but the more the better from an SEO point of view (obviously without it becoming a boring or disjointed read).

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. INCLUDE LINKS .

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Beyond just referencing your keywords or relevant terms within your content, even better is if you can extend your content by linking either internally to other relevant content features you’ve written or even external articles which your readers might find interesting. I always find in blog posts I end up referencing older content i’ve written, so I always reference back if it’s a similar feature. This only increases the ‘authority’ of your content.

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. ADD ALT TAGS .

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The final SEO tip, is yet another SEO must which for years I totally ignored, but is another critical thing in boosting your blog contents SEO and it’s search ability! And that’s your image naming and of course adding alt tags (the text which sits behind an image explaining what it actually is). This helps your imagery also be ranked by google and of course help build your SEO and organic search rankings. I always try and label my images as something relevant to the content I am writing, but beyond this always add an alt tag describing the content and what the image is about … today the alt tag is SEO TIPS!

WANT MORE ON THE TOPIC? I RECOMMEND THESE …

The Rise Of The Micro Blogger & What It Means For You, What To Include In A Blog Business Pitch, How Successful Bloggers Get Business & Opportunities, What Brands Look For When Working With Bloggers, How To Make A Killer Media Pack, How To Increase Engagement With Your Blog Content, Why Your Blog Is More Important Than Ever

So there you have it, 5 very simple, but very effective way to boost your blog and your blog contents SEO. Make your content work harder and more discoverable and in the long run it’ll only boost your blog traffic and google ranking. It’s the easy wins that make all the difference sometimes!

I’d love to know if you have any other tips to help boost SEO which we should all be thinking about?