Search engine optimization(SEO) can be an intimidating word for new bloggers and small businesses. Sometimes it feels like there is so much you have to be looking at to improve your search rankings.
Here’s what you should know, SEO isn’t that hard, you just need to know how to use it. If you understand a few basics, you can improve your search results with good and informative content. Here are a few ways to optimize your content and improve your position in Google’s search results.
How To Optimize Your Content For Better Search Ranking?
Research Your Keywords
Before you start writing your posts, start with a plan. What are you going to write on? Niche down to a specific topic. Now do some research.
Here comes the tricky part.
What is your audience in that specific niche looking for? Look at what other bloggers in your niche are writing. What topics are they writing that you can write better?
Find out if these topics are trending with your target audience. Go to keyword research tools like keywords.io, uber suggest, keyword shitter. Other places you can do some research is Google search and Pinterest.
Create an excel sheet listing out the most common topics. Start with a broad topic. For instance, if you have chosen the finance niche, some topics could be banking, investing, credit, loans, debts, etc. List the broad topics, and niche down further within these topics. For instance, with finance, you can go further with cryptocurrency, credit score, angel investors, etc. These can be your long-tail keywords.
Create a list of at least 50 keywords (both focus and long-tail). That’s your post planning sorted.
Using That Keyword
Using your keyword in the right way can help you with your SEO. One mistake many writers make is overstuffing the content with their focus keyword. Don’t do that.
Here are some places you should be using your keywords:
- Headings: Use your keyword in H1, H2, and at least one H3.
- Introduction: Use your keyword at least once in the first 150 words of your blog post
- SEO Title: Opt to have the focus keyword at the beginning of the title
- Meta-description: That’s the summary of your post that your readers will see when they see your post on Google search.
- Alt Tags: Alt tags is a short description of the photos in your post. When you upload a picture on your media library in WordPress, you will see the option of entering the alt tag. Include your keyword in the alt tag.
- URL: That is your blog’s web address.
Create a Catchy Headline
That’s the first thing your readers will see when they come across your blog post. Bring them in with a good headline. Most good headlines have one of these common themes:
- They answer a big question: How to _____
- They ask a question: Are you still using linktree?
- Case Studies: How I made $XXX in one month by making this simple change
- Ultimate Guides: The Ultimate Guide to Pinterest Growth
- List Posts: 51 Business Ideas for Stay at home parents
Create your headline around these themes. Offer a personal connection. Be specific. Once you are done writing your headline, analyze the website using a headline analyzer.
Bonus Tip: Write your headline to include both a focus and the long tail keyword.
Write Great Content
Blog posts have multiplied at a great extent in the last few years. They are posts on all kinds of topics. If you want to rank high with your content, then write content people will want to read. A few tips on writing SEO friendly content:
- Aim for at least 1000 words with your content. 600-750 words are also good, but I would suggest writing more than 1000 words.
- Do your research. Google doesn’t like copied content and will penalize you for doing so. Write original well-research content.
- Install a readability checker on your website to make sure your blog reads well. I personally love Grammarly.
- Inserts your keywords throughout your content. Do not overdo, but your keyword density should be around 0.5%.
Install Plugins
Plugins have made life so much easier for writing posts. You can find plugins for everything nowadays. Some plugins to consider installing to improve your blog’s search ranking are:
- Yoast. This is one of the best plugins out there. Every good blog has one. It not just shows you how to improve your SEO score, but also your readability score so that your blog reads well.
- Smush Image Compression. You shouldn’t be installing high-resolution images on your website. They slow down your website’s speed and Google doesn’t like slow websites. This plugin will automatically decrease the size of all images on your website, thus improving site speed.
- W3 Total Cache. This plugin also increases your website’s speed by reducing the load time.
- Broken Link Checker. Broken links could result in poor user experience and increase your website’s bounce rate. This website checks and identifies broken links on your website.
- Askimet. All the spam comments that you get on your blog posts aren’t good for your website. This plugin detects and deletes spam comments.
Though there are many ways to improve your rankings, these are the best tips to help you optimize your content for better organic search rankings.