When it comes to internet search engines, Google is by far the most popular choice.
Understandably, Google would like to keep it that way.
To make sure it stays on top, Google's primary objective is to provide a great user experience every time a person uses its search engine.
Which means it must deliver the best answers possible whenever someone does a query on Google Search.
You may have noticed that in the past few years, Google has been getting better and better at finding the best results for what users are searching for in the hope they will continue to use it when looking for answers.
As bloggers, we want to ensure we are providing valuable information in the hopes our content will figure on the first page of Google results and bring visitors to our website.
In this article, I will give you 8 quick blogger SEO tips that can help your blog posts climb Google's search engine ranking positions and help you reach your audience.
Blogger SEO Tip #1: Write for Your Audience
Do you want visitors to your website? Write with your audience in mind. If your blog is about vegan recipes, it might not interest your audience to hear about your shoe collections. Finding topics related to your niche that will please your reader is super important. Especially at the beginning when you are trying to gain visibility online.
By staying on topics related to your niche, your audience will know what to expect when visiting your site and will visit regularly to see what's new on your blog.
Blogger SEO Tip #2: Use Long Tail Keywords
The best way to find subjects your readers will love is to do a keyword research (or search intent research).
It will help you find topics your audience is actually searching for.
In return, it will increase your chance of being found on Google because you know what type of information your audience is looking for and you are providing them with answers within your blog posts or articles.
Using long tail keywords with low competition will also help you get more visitors to your blog since fewer people are competing for those keywords.
For example, there is less competition for 'healthy chicken broccoli rice casserole' than 'chicken and broccoli recipe'.
Even though fewer people are searching for 'healthy chicken broccoli rice casserole', there is also less competition which will increase your chance of ranking higher on Google search results.
Blogger SEO Tip #3: Optimize Your Blog Post Images
Optimizing your images will help Google understand what your blog post is about.
To do so, make sure to include your keyword(s) in the:
Image file name (healthy-chicken-broccoli-rice-casserole.jpg)
Alt text (healthy chicken broccoli rice casserole)
Title tag (healthy chicken broccoli rice casserole)
Also, reduce the images size.
It can significantly improve your blog loading page speed which is an important Google ranking factor. I use TinyPNG to quickly reduce the size of all my blog post image files.
Blogger SEO Tip #4: Add Related Links to Your Blog Post
Whenever possible, link to other articles on your blog that are relevant to your blog posts. It will provide more information to your audience and keep them longer on your site which signals Google that you have good relevant information on your blog.
Blogger SEO Tip #5: Add Your Keyword to the Url, Page Title and Meta Description
The most important tip is to write content that is relevant to your audience.
Secondly, is to let Google know what your blog post is all about. We already talked about optimizing your images, but there are other places you can add keyword(s) to help Google understand the information that is included in your post.
These relevant places are:
URL (www.yourdomainname.com/healthy-chicken-broccoli-rice-casserole)
Page title (Best healthy chicken broccoli rice casserole recipe)
Meta Description (Try our easy to make healthy chicken broccoli rice casserole recipe tonight, your family will love it!)
Blogger SEO Tip #6: Insert Keyword(S) Throughout Your Content
You should also sprinkle your keyword(s) throughout your content as well.
But be careful to only insert them in a natural easy to read way.
Remember that you are writing first and foremost for your audience, not Google and that's the way Google wants it as well.
Keep your keyword density to no more than 3-5% of your total blog post content.
Blogger SEO Tip #7: Add External Links
It's always a good idea to add a few relevant links to authority sites related to your topic. It signals Google that your post must contain great information and give again a good idea about your topic.
Blogger SEO Tip #8: Blog Consistently
Google wants to see activity on your blog and website to ensure that it's giving info to its users that is relevant.
If you decided to blog once a week, try as much as possible to keep up your weekly blogging to show Google that you are active and update your website regularly.
If you wrote a great blog post that is relevant to a Google query, but you haven't written an article for the past six months or haven't been active on your website, Google might decide to rank someone's blog post that has been blogging more regularly than you.
That you choose to blog once a week or twice a month, make sure that you keep up with your scheduling plan.
Ranking high on Google first page of result takes works and doesn't happen overnight.
Especially if you are new to blogging, you can expect it to take six months to a year to rank high on Google with a well-optimized blog post.
But don't get discouraged! If you published regularly and follow the tips above you will eventually start seeing your blog posts on Google's first page top results!
Thank you to our newest team member, Nicole Pilon of Pilon VA Solutions for providing her SEO expertise with us! If you’re in need of a little blog support - just give us a call!
