If you’re about to start a blog, you’re probably very excited. Because when you think about all the possibilities and what you can achieve with a powerful platform, you’re probably kicking yourself for not starting one sooner. Well, there’s no better time to start playing than now. And this guide will share some essential SEO tips for bloggers.
That’s right, and you need to be familiar with technical strategies if you want to compete with other blogs in the same niche. Otherwise, you will get lost between the ocean of competition building. And this is the last thing you want to happen, so be aware of these SEO tips all bloggers can take advantage of.
The Difference Between A Blog And Site
Before diving into the good stuff, it is crucial to establish the difference between a website and a blog. For example, a website allows for a lot more tweaking and changing. Whereas blogs are less complicated, and the focus is more on the content as supposed to anything else. So you shouldn’t expect as many options with a blog as you would with a website, but this can also be a good thing.
If you are passionate about your blog and what it will share with the online community, do you want to be distracted by all those small details? Or do you want to write your posts, share them, and focus on the next one? If the latter is more your style, blogging is the right direction.
Now you need to learn how to compete for higher rankings with other blogs. In other words, take plenty of notes and remember, the more strategies you can implement, the better. Even though there are no rules as to which tactics you have to invest in, you only gain more exposure the more you use.
Choose A Good Platform And Domain Name
If you have not yet chosen a platform and domain, take the time to think about it. Because both are very important in terms of the difficulty of getting a better ranking. For example, if you start a blog with WordPress, your head is in the right direction. Since WordPress is the most popular CMS on the Internet, it is also incredibly powerful in search engine optimization.
At the same time, be precise and specific about the domain name. First of all, you want it to be easy to remember. And secondly, you want people to find it quickly enough. So if you were thinking about playing with spelling to get attention, it could be a choice that places your blog at the end of the search engine line.
A Highly Responsive Theme
Depending on the platform you choose for your blog, you will be at liberty to choose from different themes/templates. Alternatively, you can have a professional design the blog for you, but then you need to be very serious about this project. Either way, the design or theme needs to be responsive to different devices.
Keep in mind that mobile devices don’t have the same screen resolutions as laptops, and the software they run on can also become an influential factor. And the moment your blog is unable to provide a good user experience on specific devices, search engines pick up on this and remove the blog from searches for these specific devices altogether.
Now consider that half of online users access the internet via a mobile device. How much traffic do you stand to lose if the theme is not responsive enough?
Focus On Content
Given that you are limited with technical tricks when using a blog, it just means you need to put more effort into what you can control. And the content falls into this department. Blogging is all about sharing quality, entertaining, or informative content users will appreciate in some way or another. Which means you don’t need to reinvent the wheel if you want better rankings.
Just try to provide in-depth articles, along with media and photos that can enhance the overall article. Ultimately, you want as many people as possible to read through till the end, and you want them to share the article with friends and family. But if you fail to deliver where quality and original content is concerned, ranking your blog will become more challenging.
If you put effort into your content, you are going to get better results.
Go The Extra Mile With Keyword Research
What do people use to find sites and blogs? They use keywords and search terms. Some are more popular than others, and if you didn’t know this yet, you should start looking at keyword research software. Because the more popular the keyword, the tougher the competition to rank with it. But at the other end of the spectrum, a lot of people are using these keywords and search terms.
Keyword research software can provide you with valuable info on which keywords you should be focusing on. And even if the keywords aren’t the most popular now, trends change and so do the popularity levels of keywords. If you use the right keywords right now, there is no telling how powerful they can become in the future.
It should be mentioned that the keyword/phrases should be descriptive of the content. Otherwise, users are going to expect something they are not going to get. This results in a high bounce rate and a low ranking.
Try To Motivate Interaction With The Blog
When users spend hours on a blog, it is a positive element search engines pick up on. But sometimes a few articles isn’t enough. Sometimes, you need to get your audience involved. For instance, you can run polls and ask interesting questions with answer visitors can vote on. You aim to get users clicking all over your blog, creating longer periods of user-engagement and to impress search engines.
It might not sound like a valid tactic right now, but user-engagement is a crucial point for search engines. They spend a lot of time and effort fine-tuning their platforms to fit the needs of users. The last thing they want is for their platform to deliver websites that don’t come close to what users are looking for.
Instead, they want users to find the most relevant blog or site on the first page. And if you look at the research, they are getting better and better at it, making it so much harder for you. Because if you don’t get the first-page ranking, you lose out on 70% of organic traffic. Hence the reason why even essential SEO tips for bloggers should be used and implemented.
Build Links To Other Authority Blogs
One of the best things you can do for your blog and how visible it will ultimately be to search engines is to build some backlinks. In other words, you want another blog or site in the same niche to host a link to your site. You also want this to be an authority blog with high rankings.
Unfortunately, building links is much easier said than done. Back in the day, website owners and bloggers exploited link building to a point where search engines cracked down on the strategy. Yes, it is still one of the most effective ways to gain exposure with search engines, but you have to be smart and healthy about it.
A common and safe way to get your link added is by offering to write a guest post for the blog. Of course, you have to consult with the blog owner first, and you need to research the blog first. If you are going to convincingly get another blog to host your link, make sure the guest post adheres to the rules. Every blog owner will have their requirements, so get clarity on this before you start writing.
Utilize Social Media
As a last essential SEO tip for bloggers, utilizing social media is considered another indirect way of establishing an online presence, just like link building. But the approach is very different.
You see, social media users are tricky to engage. Not only do they prefer to follow profiles that have been around for a while, but they need to see interaction from your side. This means commenting on other posts and making some that aren’t always connected to your blog. This is how you build user trust and get them to follow the link back to your blog.
And once again, search engines take notice of this traffic flowing to your blog, resulting in a higher position.
Keep Your Expectations Realistic
Whatever you do, don’t expect success to reach you overnight. Your energy is better spent posting and monitoring the performance of the blog. Because the longer you stick around, the more traffic will come your way. And before you know it, the blog takes off like the best new thing since sliced bread.