For those of us who like to write and share new information, blogging is not only a breeze, it’s also a fun way for us to express our thoughts to the world. Even when we’re writing professionally for blogs, or producing marketing content, it’s still something we enjoy to do.
But, when it comes to the technical side of things, like making sure our blog posts are optimized and visible on Google, we’re not always as savvy and confident.
Knowing how to optimize your page content and make it visible to search engines is the most important part of blogging and marketing content! Without it, your audience may not even be able to find your posts and your site's traffic will suffer significantly.
If this sounds like something you’re struggling with, here are 5 easy back-end optimizations for your blog posts you can use to improve your page views and site ratings.
1. Identify & Use SEO Keywords Throughout The Blog
So, what is search engine optimization, or SEO? To put it simply, SEO is what search engines like Google use to determine your organic search rankings — aka, where your site appears within the search results for a given Google search (i.e. if I’m a healthcare marketing agency in Tampa and someone types “healthcare marketing in Tampa” into Google, will my company’s website show up on the first page of the Google results?).
Think of an SEO keyword as a question or a Google search and ask yourself “What is my audience looking for?”, then analyze what your actual post is about and determine whether that keyword is also relevant to the post itself. Certain keywords are more common than others in searches, and you’ll want to target these higher volume keywords within your blog posts. Sites like SEMrush will be able to help you determine what the monthly search volume (i.e. how frequently people are searching with that particular term on Google) for your keyword is. Finding the right keywords for your blog is about identifying those terms that are highly relevant to your post and have high search volumes as well.
So, for example, if your post is about blog optimizations, you might look at keyword research on terms like “optimizations for your blog,” “back-end optimizations,” or “how to market your blog.” If these keywords (choose about 3) have relatively high search volume, you’ll want to use them throughout your blog post whenever applicable. Remember, you don’t want to make your keywords seem forced, just be sure to include them when and where you can!
2. Craft A Blog Title With SEO Keywords
Just like how the body of your blog should include SEO keywords to help make it easier for search engines to locate and more relevant to audience searches/questions, having a well-optimized title/headline is equally important. Besides having a title/headline that encapsulates the main idea of your blog, you should also be including a keyword or two in it for search ranking optimization.
3. Use Personalized Meta Descriptions With SEO
More likely than not, your publishing source (Wordpress, Squarespace, etc.) has an option for you to include a meta description — aka, a summary! One of the basic foundations of successful blogging is always creating a customized meta description for your posts. Your meta description plays a huge role in telling Google exactly what your blog is about, which directly impacts whether or not your post shows up organically when related search queries are typed in. A good meta description should briefly summarize what your blog is about and how it’s being discussed. Use this space to include 1 or 2 of the keywords you’re using throughout your blog post to improve your organic search ranking.
4. Make Use Of Image Alt Tags
Alternate tags are like keywords in that they include queries people are searching for. Tags can be individual words or they can be related keywords. For example, instead of “how to market your blog” it could be “marketing your blog,” or “market your blog.”
Alternate tags are a way to cover all your grounds. They allow you to include other ways your audience may be typing in their searches without having to try to stuff are those keyword variations into the body of your blog. Instead of cramming them in, you can “hide them” by using them as your image alt tags. Image tags are another place search engines crawl in order to rank your site. Your readers won’t technically see them, but Google still takes them into account when crawling your site and they contribute to your overall organic ranking.
5. Always Link Your Keywords
Another good way for you to optimize your post is by linking your top keywords internally to other pages within your blog or website, or by adding external links to other websites that provide valuable content for your readers. Adding internal links will help direct your viewers to other related pages on your blog and will increase the amount of time they spend on your site.
Linking to the keywords that you’ve selected and placed throughout your text will also boost your search engine rankings as links allow for informational hierarchy and help spread ranking power between websites.
Knowing how to market your blog is just as important as writing an awesome blog post. After all, we write in order to reach others. Why not make sure that your blog has got everything it needs in order to do that? A blog that’s poorly optimized is a waste of time and resources. Make sure that you’re following SEO optimization basics when crafting your healthcare blog, or invest in a marketing company that specializes in search engine optimization to do it for you!