Basic, But Remarkably Important SEO for Bloggers

Blogging often involves many different elements that boost a site’s success, such as implementing SEO strategies that improve visibility and readership.

It’s probably safe to say that if you blog, you’ve likely heard of Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO. This refers to a variety of approaches and processes that help to advance and improve your website and blog content and increase its ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). The goal of SEO is to attract more organic (non-paid) traffic to your blog by ensuring that your content is easily discoverable by search engine users.

Depending on the reasons behind launching and running your own site, SEO may hold differing levels of importance. If you’re a hobby blogger or your website is not monetized, for example, your focus may be more on sharing your passions, creative expression, and/or community engagement. For those using it as a side hustle or for business purposes that generate revenue, the need to attract a wider audience and/or drive sales is likely key to what you implement.

While basic SEO practices can enhance visibility for everyone, it’s perfectly okay to find fulfilment in organic growth and niche communities rather than obsessing over search rankings. Ultimately, the SEO practices outlined in this article are not a magic formula for instant blogging success, but they can support building improvements in reach, web page rankings, SEO marketing, and engagement. Whatever SEO you choose to apply to your site, if done consistently, it will eventually bring the results you may be seeking.

9 Useful SEO Strategies To Improve Your Blog

In an ever-expanding blogosphere, mastering search engine optimisation remains a valuable tool for bloggers aiming to reach and enhance their target audience. Hobby bloggers, those looking for potential monetization opportunities, or established business blogs can all benefit from making use of SEO strategies, such as:

Quality Content Creation

Search engines look to highlight and recommend blog posts that are informative, engaging, and well-written. Being able to regularly produce quality content is vital for SEO as it engages readers, builds credibility, and encourages backlinks. It also enriches the user experience, increases site traffic, and amplifies search engine rankings effectively.

To achieve this:

• Produce well-researched, instructive, and inviting content that addresses the needs and interests of your target audience.

• Use selected keywords naturally and include them in headings, subheadings, and throughout the blog post itself—but be careful to avoid keyword stuffing.

• Aim for originality and uniqueness to stand out from competitors and provide value to your readers.

Keyword Research

Keyword research is the process of identifying popular and relevant words and phrases that your target audience is likely to use when searching for information online. Keywords help to advance your content by making it more easily categorised and identifiable as a source of suitable information that search engines can recommend. Making use of the right keywords can significantly improve a website’s ranking, driving more organic traffic.

To achieve this:

• Identify relevant words and phrases related to your blog’s topic using tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, or WordStream.

• Focus on long-tail keywords (phrases with three or more words) that have a decent search volume and lower competition.

• Consider user intent to ensure your content aligns with what searchers are looking for.

On-Page Optimisation

Enhancing the on-page elements of your blog involves refining a post’s content, structure, and HTML to increase its visibility and ranking on search engines. Doing so makes your site more accessible and relevant to users’ queries, as well as directly influencing a blog’s search performance.

To achieve this:

• Include relevant keywords that accurately describe the content of your blog post in all title tags, image and meta descriptions, and URL structures.

• Use descriptive and compelling titles and headers that entice users to click through to your blog from search engine results pages. 

• Structure your content with headers (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to improve readability and help search engines understand the grouping and order of your information.

Internal Linking

When writing a blog post, it’s a good idea to link to other posts or pages within your own site to assist search engines with better understanding the structure and hierarchy of your content and improve navigation for readers. Internal linking boosts the authority of important pages, enhances user engagement, and increases the likelihood of higher rankings in search results.

To achieve this:

• Link to other relevant blog posts and pages within your own website to improve navigation and distribute link equity.

• Use anchor text that contains relevant keywords to provide context to both users and search engines.

• Avoid having your internal links open up in a new tab, as this disrupts the navigational flow within your blog, potentially inhibiting search engine crawlers from identifying and indexing supplementary content.

External Link Building

Acquiring backlinks (links from other websites to yours) from reputable sources within your niche is a great way to reinforce your site’s authority and credibility. Search engines consider backlinks as indicators of confidence in your content that, in return, enhance web page rankings, drive organic traffic, and boost overall site visibility.

To achieve this:

• Focus on acquiring high-quality backlinks from trustworthy sources, as they can significantly impact your blog’s online search rankings.

• Earn backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites within your industry or niche through strategies like guest blogging, outreach, and content promotion.

Mobile-Friendliness

Making sure your website is easily accessible and usable on mobile devices is essential, as search engines prioritise mobile-friendly websites in their rankings—the prevalence of internet browsing on phones is undeniable. Mobile optimisation involves ensuring your blog has a responsive design, fast loading times, and intuitive navigation. 

To achieve this:

• Ensure your blog’s design adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes and resolutions, providing a consistent and user-friendly experience across all devices.

• Minimise unnecessary plugins and avoid excessive pop-ups and ads; keep menus, homepages, and post information simple and uncluttered.

• Make sure you optimise images on your site by compressing their file size (they load faster) and using relevant, descriptive keywords in file names and alt-text so that search engines can gain useful context about the content of your post and accurately index images.

User Experience

Whether visitors interact with your website via a desktop or mobile device, they want a positive and responsive overall encounter. Making sure your blog offers a good user experience that includes clear navigation menus, fast load speed, readability, and accessibility enhances engagement, reduces bounce rates, and increases dwell time.

To achieve this:

• Use legible fonts, appropriate font sizes, and sufficient contrast to enhance readability, especially on mobile devices.

• Organise content logically with simple menus and clear headers and titles to make it easy for users to find what they’re looking for.

• Limit the use of GIFS, pop-ups, ads, and unnecessary plugins.

• Ensure fast page loading times by optimising images, cutting down on HTTP requests, and utilising browser caching. *How to do this will differ depending on your blog host. If you’re not sure what all this means, a quick search online will help. Alternatively, you can make use of a professional to guide you through any issues.

Regular Updates and Maintenance

Consistently updating your blog and performing maintenance is vital for SEO, as it signals to search engines that your site is active and relevant. Fresh content attracts search engine crawlers, encourages indexing, and improves rankings in search results. Additionally, maintenance ensures optimal site performance, enhancing user experience and engagement.

To achieve this:

• Keep abreast of changes in search engine algorithms and industry best practices to ensure your SEO efforts remain effective.

• Regularly check for security vulnerabilities, install updates, and implement security measures to protect your blog from cyber threats.

• Schedule regular backups of your blog’s data to ensure that you can quickly restore it in case of data loss or website issues.

• Refresh existing posts by adding new images, improving formatting, or revising outdated content.

• Respond to blog post comments (if enabled), interact with your audience on social media, and incorporate feedback to foster a sense of community and keep readers engaged.

Monitor Performance and Analytics

By analysing metrics like page views, bounce rates, and click-through rates, you can gain insights into user behaviour, traffic sources, and content performance. Focusing on these from time-to-time can help identify areas for improvement that optimise content and build overall website visibility and ranking.

To achieve this:

• Pay attention to the built-in analytics features of your blog hosting service to track page views, traffic sources, engagement metrics, user demographics, behaviour flow, conversion rates, and other performance indicators. Similarly, you can also use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to do this. 

• Check keyword rankings, backlinks, and overall site health with SEO tools like SEMrush, Moz, or Ahrefs.

In Summary

It’s clear that search engine optimisation remains a cornerstone of blogging, especially for those looking to amplify their online presence and attract a larger audience. By implementing the SEO strategies outlined above, any content creator can carve out long-term success in an ever-increasingly competitive online world.

Effectively achieving specific blogging goals does not solely come down to understanding and embracing basic yet key SEO principles, but it can certainly help. The actionable steps included in this article, from mastering keyword research and developing on-page elements to building quality backlinks and prioritising mobile device accessibility, will hopefully support anyone aiming to upgrade their blog. 

How do you make use of SEO on your site? What elements of SEO do you like to focus on?

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Further Info:

The Latest Blogging Trends and Statistics for 2024 (and Beyond) – Blog Tyrant

Best Blogging Platforms of 2024 – Forbes