Struggling with getting better SEO for your blog? Don’t stress! These SEO Secrets will help you unlock the potential of your blog.
*this post contains affiliate links to products I love and use every day*
One of the biggest struggles that most bloggers encounter is understanding SEO. It’s almost like a foreign language and someone else has the key – and you just can’t crack the code. But you want to know a secret? SEO is easy if you write properly.
My first Fundamentals of Blogging Post explained the best writing practices – so today we’re solely going to focus on SEO secrets.
Google (and other search engines) have one simple goal: pair their consumers (that’s people using their sites) with the very best content to serve their needs. This is where you come in. You have things on your site that people WANT to know. But you’ve written it in a way that Google has no idea what you’re talking about.
You have to learn to speak the same language. Which is why you need to know how to optimize your SEO so your blog can get more of that beloved search engine traffic.
So how do you learn to communicate with Google so they know you’re the go-to girl (or guy) for the subjects you teach? By properly adding in the correct key words.
Before you sit down to write the first sentence, you need to do two things: Find the best SEO keywords and then you should Create a Compelling Headline. I could write an entire book on just those two topics and how I do it – but instead I shared all my best tips recently on my Facebook Page. In this video I share how to use the Keyword Finder Tool & the Headline Analyzer Tool.
Once you have a solid lead for a headline, use it as your springboard to start your post. Your headline (aka title) sets up the feel of the content and gives a promise to those who click through. You’re telling them: “Hey, I have the info you need!” So make sure you give it to them.
After you have your headline in place, the next thing to do (if you’re on WordPress), is to go down into the keyword settings area of Yoast (below your composition box) and fill out the meta description for the post that Google will pull from. Think of it as an elevator pitch for your post. You have 2-3 short sentences to explain your post in a way that will stand out.
Why do this next? Because if you can create a simple statement on what you want to write about – then you’ll be more focused when creating the content. (This is one of the biggest SEO secrets: stay focused on the subject.)
Now copy the meta description and put it at the very top of your post. This will tell Google your subject is on point.
Once you have the headline and snippet in place, then begin to write your post. I’m not going to tell you how to write (because it is your blog after all), but there are a few SEO secrets that will help you explain to Google that you’re on track.
- Use the keywords throughout the post – sprinkled around and not 15 times in two paragraphs. Touch on it at the beginning, in the middle a few times, and again at the end.
- Name all of your photos and graphics with your keyword (and variations) so that each of them help convey that you’re talking about the subject at hand. *And also, Google can’t see photos – it only knows that they are what you tell them they are. So if you name a photo “white table” it can see that. Google can’t see a table in the name IMG_243*
- Once your photos are uploaded, be sure to fill out the alt tag of the photo with 2-3 sentences describing the post with the keywords.
- Do NOT copy and paste the same alt tag description for every photo. This is another chance to show diversity and knowledge of the subject.
- Create a subheading using the keywords. Also subheadings break up the monotony of long posts to help keep your readers focused.
- Lists and bullet points are helpful – they demonstrate authority on the subject.
- Ensure that the URL contains your keywords.
- Find an easy way to relate back to some of your old content. Multiple posts with relating content also show authority.
- Link to sites that relate to your content without competing. (In this post I linked to my Facebook group. It gives you a solid resource you might find useful, however the link doesn’t compete with my information on the page.)
- If you use Yoast (and you should) then remember it’s a GUIDELINE – it’s not 100% certain on unlocking the SEO secrets of the web. It’s about giving you a checklist – and if you intentionally write your headline without the keywords at the beginning – it’s ok.
Hopefully these SEO secrets will help you feel more confident when writing (or rewriting) your next post. Just remember that ranking in search engines usually takes 3-4 months (if not longer) so it’s definitely a long game and not a short turn-around event like social media. Just do the work, keep at it – and you’ll see improvements in no time.
