Blogging is one of the most common methods of content creation that has both obvious and hidden benefits. With planning and strategic use, marketers and companies, in general, can use a blog site to leverage the exposure of their products and services. Ultimately, they can gain better brand awareness on the world-wide-web with a well-managed and actively-promoted blog.
But before you go on and convince a link building agency that your company’s blog is something that is worth their link-building plans and marketing campaign, you might want to check first if your blog is indeed ready for an increased web traffic. In short, if your site shows signs of search engine optimization (SEO) -readiness, it will be easier to attract users who will be flocking to your blog in no time.
You do not, however, need to wait for your newly hired link building company to do an outstanding job when it comes to achieving your planned metrics and site goals. On the onset, you can make your blog and its content optimized for search engines, through the following ways:
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Show relevance.
Search engines exist primarily to direct users and online searchers towards the best possible website that they can visit for their query-related needs. It goes then without saying that the more relevant your blog is to a user’s search, the higher it can rank on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Search engine bots commence the SEO ranking process by combing through several thousands of web pages upon a user’s mere click of the search button. Based on relevance, the blogs and pages that establish a clear connection to the search query input will be among the ones to be prioritized for indexing. If your blog is lucky enough to be indexed under a certain search parameter, then you have more chances of appearing in the top results.
Apparently, you need more than luck to get to the top spot. Hard work and a blog content that gives search engine crawlers the impression that it is indeed relevant, will play a crucial role in determining your ranking.
When it comes to relevance, search engines examine blog content based on several standards. Keyword usage is perhaps a number one consideration. The search engine’s trusty web crawlers scan and pore over each content generated in your blog to ensure that its target keywords are a match to user’s search intent. With careful and thorough keyword research, you can figure out which ones are often used and searched for in your chosen niche. Use these common ranking keywords to make your blog gain the attention of web crawlers that in turn direct the search engine results towards your blog’s way. The position of your keywords also affects your blog content’s SEO rankings. Ideally, you need to make the best use of your headings, title tags, and metadata to make sure that they also include the keywords that you want your blog to rank for.
Next to keywords, search engines also gauge relevance on a site’s blog content by checking if it is up to date. While the common interpretation for this may be to publish new content on a daily basis, others simply fill their blogs with recent changes (e.g. a few tweaks on the font and layout). Even small changes like these can signal to the search bots that your blog continues to exist and is, therefore, a logical page to lead more users to.
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Remain responsive.
Search engines also expect blogs of today to be responsive enough for display on any device and for use by any site visitor. The first parameter points out to mobile-friendliness and voice search as huge driving factors in terms of SEO rankings. These days, if you want more site visits to your blog, you need to make its content ready for viewing on mobile. Aside from a generally mobile-friendly layout, your blog content must also be able to answer queries transmitted through voice search. This means that when a user dictates a long-tail keyword or question to Siri, your blog must have relevant content that can be quickly scanned and read by this AI-powered entity.
Ease of navigation on a mobile device also plays a role in your blog’s SEO ranking potential. A quick loading time and a user-friendly blog interface may get incentivized by the search engine bots with higher rank as compared to stagnant and unresponsive ones. In the same manner, you can also optimize your blog content through the images you upload and their corresponding text description or file name (alt text). Doing this helps optimize your site in two ways. First, you can strategically place your target keywords in the alt text of your images, attracting search bots to crawl on them for added SEO-impact. Second, providing a readable alt text to your blog’s image content also adds to the user experience. This is because the alt text tags also serve the purpose of being read aloud by accessibility programs (such as onscreen readers for the differently-abled).
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Get ready to be shared.
The online realm is filled with connections and if you want your blog to thrive in this environment, you need to get its content ready for sharing in almost every platform. You can do this in several ways. First, make sure that your URL contains keywords that are relevant and coherent as some users still opt to copy the URL link and paste it for sharing to the next person. The more reader-friendly and easy to decode your URL description is, the more likely it can be shared with another person on the web. The same applies to your blog’s title and metadata description. These parts of your blog exist to inform prospective readers about the content they are about to view. Logically, users veer away from vague titles and descriptions. And the search engine bots will take note of this.
Lastly, if you have not yet added them, make space for the social media/email/app sharing icons.
They are not so hard to embed and can work wonders for your content. This is because when users find your blog and its content interesting, they do not hesitate to click that share button and inform their online friends about it. And while social signals are not regarded to be entirely SEO ranking factors, you can nevertheless leverage these signals as in the case of social media marketing to boost your SEO campaign. So take time to add them to your interface. Those small logos are more powerful than you think.
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Be worth the visit.
Time and time again it has been reiterated that content will always be king and in the world of ever-changing SEO royal standards, this is perhaps one of the few that stood the test of time. If you want your blog content to be optimized for search engine rankings, make sure that it contains articles and posts that are of high quality. This does not mean however that you should stick to plain old text. With the plethora of media available to users these days, you can choose from many different forms of content that can be used to make your blog attractive to different kinds of online visitors. If you have the photography skills, add images that can catch the user’s attention. On the other hand, if your strength lies in creating audio-visual media, you can create interesting podcasts and video clips for your intended target audience.
But the search engine optimization does not end there. Part of user navigation and experience is clicking on the links which your content is anchored to. Needless to say, if the user clicks on an external link that is of high authority and credibility, you also get to be viewed as a credible source of information. Additionally, if you direct the user to links within your site that can serve as additional resources, this also adds as a point for improved user experience.
In a nutshell, when it comes to search engine optimization, you need to use your blog content to capture the user’s attention and maintain optimal levels of user satisfaction. To do this, you have to show, first and foremost, that your content is relevant to what the user is looking for.
Strategic keyword usage and having an up-to-date content tells the search engine bots that your blog content is ready to appear in the engine’s list of relevant sources.
Responsiveness and accessibility of the blog and its content also play a role in your SEO rankings. Adapting to the fast pace of technology includes coping with the demands of mobile-performed searches, such as being responsive to voice search queries and ensuring a mobile-friendly interface.
In the same manner, you can use social media shares and other online platforms to boost your SEO rankings. Just make sure you have uncomplicated URL, title, and metadata. It also helps that your blog content houses the clickable platform logos, for faster sharing.
Finally, make sure that your blog is worth the user’s time and attention by providing well-researched and credible content, in an interesting and diverse format.