Lucas Miller — November 8, 2016 Follow @EchelonCopy
If you’re anything like me, you’re a writer—not one of those tech-savvy Internet people who seem to know anything and everything about the World Wide Web.
Fortunately, my work as a freelance blogger rarely requires that I know the difference between a “relational database” and a “drive-by download.”
That said, there is one sector of the tech world with which bloggers would be wise to familiarize themselves—search engine optimization (SEO). Don’t get me wrong—to maintain professional integrity, I make it abundantly clear to my blogging clients that I’m not an SEO specialist.
Still, seeing as how search is the most common way people discover new content, it’s important that the bloggers who produce much of it have an idea of what they can do to help out.
To begin doing this, I recommend downloading an on-site SEO checklist or two for personal use.
From there, if you’re still struggling to make sense of things, the below tips will be simple enough to have you immediately producing more SEO-friendly blog posts:
1) Consider the ‘Write Like You Talk’ Method
I’ve always branded myself as a “Write Like You Talk” copywriter, and with good reason—not only do people enjoy reading blog posts that sound like they’re written by a close friend or family member, but search engines do, too.
Almost seems too simple to be truth, doesn’t it?
Here’s the thing—readability greatly affects bounce rates and the amount of time a visitor spends on your (or a client’s) blog. “Sticky” content is approachable.
Instead of trying to sound like an insider or an expert, write in a way that will most closely resonate with your audience. In the long run, it will build rapport with search engines, as well.
2) Headlines (and Subheadings) Are Huge—Make the Most of Them
Widely considered the “Father of Advertising,” David Ogilvy once famously said, “On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
What Ogilvy was getting at is simple—as a blogger, you need to spend some serious time on your headlines. While the formulas on how to craft a compelling headline abound, what’s most important is that you think about how people will respond to it.
Will it cause them click, share and read? If so, and you’ve taken into consideration any suggested keywords, you’re likely sitting on a winner.
3) Outbound and Inbound Links
Links—now we’re getting to the good stuff, right?
After all, SEO experts are always talking about them.
While you might not understand entirely the importance of links, for your blog posts to attract the attention of search engines, you’ll want to include two kinds within the body of every blog post you write:
- Internal Links to ‘Deep’ Content – Usually, on a blog or website, there will be certain long-form, high-quality blog posts which most accurately represent a publisher’s core message. Though not always appropriate, try to frequently link back to these posts.
- External Links to Authoritative Content – As strange as it might seem to send readers to other websites, when writing a blog post, be sure to link to other authoritative sources on the subject. By so doing, search engines will see your post as an authoritative resource, too.
* Note: For an example of the latter, take a look at the links I’ve embedded in this post.
4) Write Consistently
Whether blogging for yourself or for others, try and post at least two to three times a week on your blog. While this can be difficult, as time goes on, do your best to make a habit of consistent publishing.
The reason?
Search engines rank websites based on how frequently they’re updated.
Because of this, an active one is better than a static one. There’s no need to get extreme with this, but the more regularly you publish, the more SEO value your blog will provide.
5) Quality Content Trounces All
And it’s true—though you might not understand (or care to understand) most of what it takes to build a robust, on-site SEO strategy, know now that you’re in sole control of the most effective, tried-and-true SEO technique on the Internet—quality content.
No matter what Google, Bing or any other search engine decides to do in the future, when you put a great deal of time and energy into creating blog content that genuinely teaches, informs or entertains, there will always be a place for it.
Conclusion
Not too confusing, right?
Listen, by no means does the above information contain the entirety (or even close to it) of what’s needed to create on-site SEO mastery, but for a blogger, it’s an excellent start.
Seriously, by simply making a conscious effort to cling to each of the above points, you’ll find your blog’s on-site optimization performing considerably better than most of the 150+ million blogs on the World Wide Web—that’s a promise.
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