That's why we should have a checklist with all the points that need to be worked on so that the content performs well. This list is essential in the creation process, but you can always go back and improve old articles.
In this content, we will list SEO tips for blogs that should help you optimize your content. Follow along!
How to apply SEO to your blog and optimize content
Blog SEO is important because it helps increase your website traffic . And the best part is, you don’t have to pay anything extra for it!
There are many things you can do to optimize your blog posts for SEO. But what’s the best way to do this and get your blog to appear in search engines?
You'll see for yourself right now with our complete list of items that need attention in each post.
URL
The page address is the starting point for optimizing your content and making search engines position it well.
There, you must perform two actions:
create a friendly link: it must be short and direct, separating words with hyphens;
include your main keyword: the ideal is to focus only on it to form your URL.
This is how search engines understand what your page represents, which is why it is an important ranking factor.
Always customize your URL before publishing. If your content is about women’s casual shoes, your UR
Title tag
The title tag is one of the items that should appear at the beginning of your HTML code. It represents exactly the title of your post that will be displayed in search engine results. Therefore, it is another extremely important item for having a good performance in the rankings.
A good title tag makes your article more relevant to searches and encourages users to click on it when they look at search results.
You should also make this title more user-friendly by using the main keyword and respecting the 60-character limit (a title tag longer than this will be cut off when appearing in the results).
In addition to adding your keyword, it’s important to make your title catchy and click-worthy. This is because click-through rate plays a significant role in SEO.
Meta description
A meta description is an HTML code that you should add to australia business fax list any page. Its purpose is to provide a brief description of your article for search engines. It is what appears just below the title in search results.
Since people will be reading your meta descriptions, make sure they are actually useful. You should still mention your keywords at least once in your descriptions to help with blog SEO.
Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn also display these descriptions when your articles are shared on them.
Remember that there is a 160-character limit for the meta description. Try to stay within it to ensure that readers get a complete summary of the content.
Title
One of the most important parts of any page is the title that appears at the top of the content. This space is an opportunity for you to communicate the topic it covers.
Here, you don't have to worry about meeting a specific character limit. So, use the title of the content itself to convey more information than in the title tag. But be careful: don't overdo it! Create something just right to grab the attention of those who access the page.
It’s also important to include your keyword here. Luckily, since your post will be covering specific topics on a given topic, it won’t be hard to find a natural way to include your main term.
Subtitles
The subtitles of your page are another part that search engines consider to understand what it represents and whether it really has quality content.
This means that you need to look for opportunities to include your keywords in the other headings on the page in a natural way. In practice, this division is done with the subheadings indicated by the tags <h2>, <h3>, <h4> and so on, always thinking about blog SEO.
Subheadings are often a good place to include any secondary keywords you may have planned, as it doesn't make sense to use your main keyword in all of them.
Each subtitle must be followed by a text of up to 300 words, in order to show search engines that the content in question is easy to read, as we will see below.
Paragraphs
Readability is a factor that search engines consider and is therefore essential when it comes to blog SEO. Articles that are easier to read generally rank higher than those that are not.
Therefore, it is necessary to follow two fundamental rules:
create short paragraphs, averaging three to five lines;
avoid long sentences, keeping an average limit of 20 words.
By improving the readability of paragraphs, you increase the chances of the reader staying longer on your content.
You can still add white space around text, use images to make it look easier, and insert lists wherever possible.
In addition to this point, we need to talk about two types of paragraphs in particular: introductory and concluding paragraphs.
Introductory : the first paragraph of a content is essential for SEO, since its function is to provide a summary of what will come next. It has the role of capturing the reader's attention, since the visitor can decide whether or not to continue reading in a short time;
conclusive : the last paragraph, which brings the conclusion, also plays a fundamental role in the positioning of the content. It is where you close the reasoning of the text and make room for a call to action. We will talk more about this later.
Speaking of the content as a whole, joining the paragraphs, there are recommendations on the number of words to be used.
For publications made on the Wordpress platform, which has the Yoast SEO plugin, a warning always appears stating that the minimum expected amount is 400 words.
Currently, the average recommendation is 1890 words, based on an analysis of the content of websites that reached the first page of Google results.
Keywords
Once you've done your keyword research and come up with term ideas, you need to choose one that has high search volume and low competition to get the best SEO performance for your blog.
This will be your main keyword. It’s the phrase your users are most likely to use to search for you in search engines.
The easiest way to find them is to simply type the keyword into Google and scroll down to the bottom of the results page. There, you will find a list of related searches that can guide you in choosing a specific piece of content.
Another way is to use tools like Google Trends , SEMrush , Ubersuggest , Majestic and Keyword Tool , which offer comprehensive reports on the terms used by users for searches on search engines.
The tip is to choose long keywords whenever possible. After all, keywords with one or two words are usually highly sought after and difficult to rank well in search results.
But where should you use keywords? To improve your blog’s SEO performance, there are some specific areas of your content that should include them. The main ones are:
title tag;
meta description;
title;
first paragraph;
subtitles (preferably more than one, but without exaggeration);
conclusion;
body of the text.
So, always ensure that your content has the keywords in these spaces.
Internal and external links
The use of links is essential in SEO for blogs. It is through them that a page makes a reference and gives relevance to another. In this way, we can use both internal links, leading to pages on the site itself, and external links, which direct the reader to other sites.
With internal linking, you can send new readers to the most relevant posts on topics mentioned throughout your content. This internal linking is a great way to develop a contextual relationship between your new and old posts. It also allows you to pass on relevance to your older articles.
It is also important to include at least one external link to show that you care about indicating the best content, even if it is on another website.
CTA
Call To Action or CTA is the term used to refer to the call to action that usually appears at the end of a piece of content. It indicates the next step the reader should take, so it is a good idea to include a link that leads to social media, other blog content or a conversion page.
This specific area does not have a direct impact on your positioning, from the SEO point of view for blogs. But, in practice, it is from this that you will be able to generate important results, such as increasing likes on social media, optimizing traffic on your website or generating new leads .
