10 Tips for an SEO-Friendly Blog Post

Writing blog posts requires skill. To keep readers interested, you should think about the structure of your content and keep it enjoyable. Because if people like and understand your blog post, they’re much more likely going to share it with others – and that will increase your rankings. So, if you want to improve your writing skills and your rankings, start with these tips on how to write an SEO-friendly blog post!

It might sound like writing for SEO and writing to attract and engage your audience are two conflicting goals. But that’s actually not true. Sure, if you want to write an SEO-friendly post, you should feature the words you want to be found in a prominent place. But over-using keywords severely damages the readability of your text. In fact, a high keyphrase density can even be a signal to Google that you might be stuffing keywords in your text, which can negatively affect your rankings.

This post provides tips on writing blog posts that are SEO-friendly and readable. These two goals should always go hand in hand. Because we believe that writing in understandable language gets you more visitors and keeps them on your site!

Before you start: do keyword research

Before you start writing, you have to do keyword research. If you want to dominate the search results, you’ll have to figure out which words your audience actually searches for. These are the topics you should write about and the keywords you should use in your text.

When you’ve done your keyword research and have a list of focus keywords to write about, it’s time to get on with writing. Here are 10 tips to help you end up with an awesome blog post!

Writing tips for SEO-friendly blog posts

Above all, your blog post has to be a good piece of writing. When starting a new post, many bloggers just start writing. While this may work for some people, others need more guidance. Personally, I always follow these ‘rules’ when I write a new blog.

1. Think before you write!

Before you start, think carefully about the message of your piece. It helps to answer the following questions:

  • What do you want to tell your readers, or which central question do you want to answer?
  • What’s the purpose of your article?
  • What do you want your readers to do at the end of the page?

It’s also good to think about the search intent someone may have. An easy way to get an insight into this is by looking at the search results for the search term you want to rank with.

2. Devise a structure for your post

To write a readable and SEO-friendly blog post, you need to create a clear structure. This means that every post should have:

  • some sort of introduction (in which you introduce your topic).
  • a body (in which the main message is written).
  • a conclusion (in which you summarize the main ideas or draw a conclusion).

In a few sentences, write down what you want to say in all three sections. You’ve now created a summary of your post. This will help you create a structured and readable blog post. Now the real writing can begin.

3. Use paragraphs and headings

Everybody uses paragraphs, but not everybody uses them well. For example, it might be tempting to start each new sentence on a new line because it looks nice. But you shouldn’t do that! You also shouldn’t make your paragraphs too lengthy, as each paragraph should have its own idea or subject. So, ask yourself what the main idea of each paragraph is. You should be able to summarize that main idea in one sentence. If that’s not possible and you need more sentences to explain the main idea, you simply need to use more paragraphs.

Proper headings also help your readers understand what a specific part of your text is about. If you want people to find their way through your articles, use subheadings to lead them. Subheadings help readers scan your page, and clarify the structure of your articles. They’re not just important for readability, but for SEO as well. That’s why we also advise to use your keyword in some of your subheadings. Don’t use your keyword in every heading! It will make your text read clunky and unnatural. Plus, it will put people off from reading further.

4. Use transition words

Transition words help people scan through your text and understand the relationship between sentences and paragraphs. For example, let’s say there are three reasons for people to buy your product. You should use signal words like: ‘first of all’; ‘secondly’ and ‘finally’. Also, words like ‘however’, ‘similarly’ and ‘for example’ give a clear signal to your readers. Readers will instantly get that a conclusion will follow after words like ‘to sum up’ or ‘in short’. Transition words are therefore very important to add structure to your text.

5. Use related keywords

Stuffing your article with your focus keyword makes it less attractive to read, and it can hurt your rankings. Google is getting smarter, after all. It wants you to write content that users will love. It doesn’t want you to use your focus keyword in every other sentence, because Google now has other ways to analyze what your text is about. For example, one of the ways Google understands the topic of your text is by recognizing synonyms and other keywords that are related to your focus keyphrase. That’s why you should use synonyms and related keywords throughout your copy.

6. Optimize the length of your article

Make sure your blog posts have a minimum of 300 words but keep the length of your article balanced. Google likes long articles. However, if your article is too long, you might scare users away. So, what should you do? Our advice is to write short to medium-length articles. When you know you’re a skilled writer, you can also try your hand at longer articles. Check out this article if you’re not quite sure how long a blog post should be.

And remember to keep using your focus keyphrase throughout your text to make sure you end up with an SEO-friendly blog post!

9. Add content regularly

Regularly adding new blog posts to your website tells Google that your website is alive. This is important! Because if your site isn’t active, Google will crawl it less often and this might negatively affect your rankings. But don’t just post for the sake of posting. Make sure that everything you post is high-quality content: informative, well-written articles that entertain readers and fit their search intent.

If you have difficulty posting on a regular basis, it might be a great idea to create an editorial calendar for your blog. This allows you to structure the process in a way that fits you and your team. It’s also a good idea to update your old blog posts once in a while to avoid them getting stale.

10. Use Yoast SEO plugin

The analysis tool in our Yoast SEO plugin helps you write readable and SEO-friendly blog posts. Start by choosing the most important search term you want people to find this particular page for. This will be your focus key phrase. After you fill this in, our plugin runs all kinds of checks to see whether your post is optimized or still needs improving. Such as:

  • Our plugin checks your post to see whether you’ve used the keyphrase in the right places, like your copy, SEO title, meta description, alt text and URL. Yoast SEO Premium also recognizes different word forms of your keyphrase.
  • It gives you suggestions for related keyphrases that you can add to boost the quality and relevance of your content.
  • It checks the readability of your text: Are your sentences or paragraphs too long? Do you use transition words?
  • It checks the internal and external links in your article. Yoast SEO Premium even provides suggestions for links to related articles on your site.
  • It calculates how often you use your keyphrase throughout your text: not enough or too often? When you have Premium it also checks if you’ve distributed your keyphrase evenly throughout your post.
  • It checks if you’ve used potentially non-inclusive words or phrases, so you can make your content relatable for everyone.

Analysis results as shown in the Yoast SEO sidebar

Kind of a cool way to get feedback on your content, right?

The bottom line

The days when a few SEO tricks were enough to get your website to rank well in Google are long gone. Nowadays, quality content is king. And good content also leads to more links, shares, tweets and returning visitors to your website. Of course, there are always other things you can do to maximize the SEO friendliness of your post, but the most important thing is to just write very, very good posts! 

Beginners Guide To SEO

What Exactly Is SEO?

SEO is an abbreviation for search engine marketing. SEO is the method of improving the ranking of a webpage or piece of information on Search. The primary distinction between SEO company Chicago and PPC marketing is that SEO entails “organic” placement, which implies you do not spend to appear in that spot.

To put it simply, search optimization refers to improving an item of internet content so that search engines such as google display it toward the top of the results page whenever anyone looks at something. Nowadays, most internet inquiries start with a search engine, with Google alone being the starting point for 74% of those queries.

The main purpose of this article is to help you grasp the intricacies of Search so that you may improve your material to rank better on Google and attract more readers. It should be mentioned that you can find SEO services in many cities like Miami, Austin, and Dallas.

Off-page SEO refers to improvement outside your website, such as acquiring hyperlinks. This portion of the equation is developing connections and producing content that individuals want to share. Though it requires significant effort, it is critical to a guide to SEO performance.

SEO Techniques: Black Hat vs. White Hat

Some folks would much rather accept the fast benefits and carry on.

Aiming for rapid advantages in SEO is generally thought of as “black cap SEO.” To rank rapidly, those who utilize black hat SEO strategies such as relevant keywords and backlink scraping.

It may be effective for a short time to drive visitors to your site, but after a period, Google penalizes and even blacklists your site, making it impossible that you can rank.

White hat SEO, on the contrary hand, is the only method to create a long-term internet brand. This kind of SEO focuses on your broad range of consumers. You’ll aim to provide them with the greatest material available while also making it widely available by following the search engine guidelines.

Let us delve further into the subject and see what the differentiating factors are:

  • Identical content: Whenever anyone seeks to promote a keyword phrase, they may replicate material on their website to get that term in their text many times. Websites that use this are penalized by Google.
  • Years back, a black hat method was to put a good amount of key phrases at the bottom of the posts but give them the same coloring as the backdrop. This method will eventually get you banned. The same is true for pushing keywords into places where they do not belong.
  • Disguising and rerouting: There are correct and incorrect ways to do redirection. The incorrect method is to purchase many keyphrase sites and drive all attention to a specific website.
  • Poor citing practices: Buying a Fiverr deal that promises you 3,000 backlinks daily is not the best approach to generating links. You must obtain backlinks from relevant material and websites.

Because Google discourages websites that engage in these practices, you’ll solely hear me discuss white-hat SEO.

However, there is a thing called gray hat SEO. That is, it isn’t as clean or harmless as the purest of white hats, but it’s not as blatantly exploitative as black hat approaches may be. You’re not attempting to deceive people or purposefully manipulate the systems with a gray hat. On the other hand, you are attempting to gain a definite edge.

SEO Marketing Fundamentals: A Comprehensive Overview

And it is now time to begin learning about Seo services. Knowing it is one issue, SEO takes significant activity and effort. This isn’t something that can be adopted today, and expect to see benefits the next day. SEO involves regular activities to achieve long-term effectiveness.

Content Elements

There are over a million factors that contribute to producing high-quality material; here are some of the favorites:

Qualities

It used to be the norm to upload a piece of information with several key phrases. If you were producing high-quality material that genuinely answered someone’s issue, you were a leader, making it simple to rank.

Content is considerably better nowadays, and many internet companies have websites that they utilize to add worth to their website and position higher in Google searches.

Creating amazing content is difficult, but the best part is that you don’t necessarily have to start from the start. You may build on the work of others but add additional worth and offer your piece of material more in-depth.

The bottom line is that your material must solve an issue or provide an answer to whatever drew the visitor to your article in the first place. When it doesn’t, they’ll rapidly leave your website, alerting Google that your piece of information isn’t helping anybody.

Freshness

HubSpot established a standard demonstrating that regular blogging improves Google results. However, providing new information is merely one way for Google to convey its freshness. You may do several things with previously published information to bring it up to date.

Going over and upgrading your material for correctness, repairing any redirects, and renewing old data with newer, more relevant information are all strategies to demonstrate to Google that your marketing is still worthy of a place on page one.

Wrapping Up

A great deal of search engine optimization (SEO) is about making small adjustments and modifications to parts of your website and overall digital campaign to optimize its reach and performance.

While your platform may be smaller than many of your competitors out there, it can still have the same market penetration and outreach as the rest of the platforms out there, if not more. It comes down to how well-tuned your website is and its ability to be picked up by the algorithms that search engines operate on.

There aren’t any shortcuts or magical steps that you can take to cut through the competition. But using some of the best practices listed here and making incremental changes to your digital campaign by incorporating better SEO, you can definitely take your business on an upward trajectory.

How to Find the Right SEO Agency

If your business lives online, you’ll know the value of working with an experienced digital marketing company with the right SEO agency.While traditional marketing practices, such as magazine ads or commercials, remain valuable, digital marketing is increasingly becoming essential to find success in the competitive online world. Without digital marketing and SEO as part of your strategy, your website can easily be lost in the vast sea of online information. 

So, how exactly can you make your website more visible? Most search queries begin and end on the first page of Google—making this the most valuable real estate in the digital marketplace. Effective SEO can help your website rank higher and potentially land on Google’s top search engine results page (SERP). Here, we’re taking a closer look into the world of SEO and determining how to find the right SEO agency for your business and website. By following some of these tips, you’ll save on both time—and even money—on your quest for SEO success.

WHAT IS SEO?

Generally, SEO is divided into two sides: on-page optimization and off-page optimization. On-page optimization refers to all the things you do to your actual website to align with Google’s quality standards, such as improving your page speed, enhancing security, and publishing high-quality content with the right keywords.

This type of SEO, in fact, accomplishes two goals: not only will your ranking improve, but the overall quality of your site will also be improved. This “big picture” approach to web design and digital marketing is one of the many reasons why SEO is so important.

Off-page optimization, on the other hand, references strategies and tools that occur off your page but can also enhance your ranking. Examples of off-page optimization include guest authoring blog posts, interacting in forums, brand mentions and comments, and taking advantage of influencer outreach. Social media can also be an effective way to enhance your SEO—just make sure you’re using professional accounts dedicated to your business.

WHAT DOES AN SEO AGENCY DO?

A full-service SEO agency can tackle a variety of digital marketing strategies. SEO will always be their bread and butter, but many of these agencies also offer web design and development services, content marketing, and can help you manage your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, such as AdWords.

HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT SEO AGENCY

Finding the right SEO agency for your company is an important move and it’s one you shouldn’t rush into. With careful planning, open communication, and a little good old-fashioned research, you’ll be able to be matched with an SEO agency ideally fit for your market, needs, and digital marketing goals.

But that doesn’t mean it’s obvious to know which SEO agency is right for you and your business. Before you begin the hunt, here are a few tips to keep in mind to help you find the right SEO agency.

·                      Do your research: like any other professional relationship, it’s smart to first do your research before signing up with any one agency. Spend some time on their website and look at some of the top competitors in the same market. What sets this company apart from the competitors? Do they specialize in your field? Have they partnered with similar businesses?

·                      Case studies: any SEO agency should be willing, if not eager, to share examples of their past success with future clients.

·                      Watch out for promises and guarantees: if it sounds too good to be true, there’s definitely a good chance that it is. Be wary of any SEO agency that promises they’ll have your site on page one of Google in a month. In many ways, SEO is more of a marathon, not a sprint, so immediate results like this just aren’t realistic.

·                      Open communication: make sure you find yourself with an SEO team that caters to your communication needs. Some clients may want to be more hands-off while others prefer to stay informed on relevant details. There isn’t necessarily one correct way to develop this relationship, but communication strategies should be discussed early on. And even if they’re a larger SEO firm, they should always have time for you as a client.

·                      Plan a visit: if you’re looking into local SEO companies, one of the final steps should be planning a visit to their actual office. This provides you with a chance to see them in action and learn more about the company, and more importantly, the people.

CONCLUSION – HOW TO FIND THE RIGHT SEO AGENCY

Every year, e-commerce becomes a bigger and bigger factor in the US economy. Since you can now buy practically anything online, consumers realize they don’t even have to leave the comfort of their homes when they need a product or service. However, if you’re looking to grow your business online, you should be aware of how competitive this new digital marketplace has already become. To gain visibility and reach more potential customers, you need a digital marketing team with experience in SEO.

If you need a more comprehensive approach to digital marketing, consider working with an SEO agency. These SEO experts can optimize your site and boost your online search rankings. By developing high-quality content, improving page speed, performing keyword research, and more, an SEO agency can not only improve your ranking on SERPs but even improve the overall quality of your site. Take control of your search rankings by working with a team of SEO experts.

How will you get optimum returns from SEO?

If you are an online entrepreneur, SEO or search engine optimization is one thing that you cannot do without. The companies that have followed the rules of SEO are on the top now. And if you make sure that your team focuses on the same, you are sure to reach your optimum returns zenith too! However, an important aspect that you must keep in mind is that there are no shortcuts in search engine optimization.

In the paragraphs that follow, let us find out what efforts you will have to put in to get optimum results?

  1. Title and heading optimization

It goes without saying that the title tag is one of the most crucial in SEO. As such, it is a wise move if you include the title in the main heading. By doing so, your visitors will be able to locate your content better.

If you are targeting more than one keyword, the one that is most searched must be present at the beginning of the initial paragraphs.

For clarity and easy readability, it is best to use H1, H2, and H3 subheadings and so on as you require for your content.

  • How easy is the navigation?

If you expect your visitors to waste time looking for the right buttons to click on to go to the next relevant page, it is a half battle lost already. The buttons on the pages must be designed and placed in such a way so that the reader understands it well that where he has to click to go to the next relevant page or the information, he is looking for.

  • Cover SEO topics extensively

Your readers will also include the ones that want to make it big in the virtual world. It is quite likely that they are looking for something like where to find SEO Company near me, or how to apply SEO strategies for online marketing, and many such queries. As such, make sure that you cover such basic questions for beginners too.

Regardless of whether you are trying to get feedback from your readers in the form of comments or interaction through live chat, keep provision for those users that want to leave an offline message when you are not around. Most importantly, keep track of your web traffic and also of the keywords that are bringing you the most traffic to your website.

In this way, you will be able to make changes for the better according to the feedback the users leave. Accordingly, you can rework your SEO strategies and marketing techniques.

  • SSL Certificate

It is important that you allow others to know that your website is secured and that it has SSL certification. In fact, this is one of the vital factors that help in ranking, not just late but since the year 2014.

In this way, you will be able to keep at bay unwanted spam and fraudulent activities, which is a great assurance for the visitors that come to your website.