When you first start blogging, SEO is often the last thing on your mind, but as you progress you realise how essential it is.
SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is important as it can drive people to your blog. Here’s a beginners guide to SEO for those just starting to learn about it.
Have you ever seen website owners and bloggers talking about doing keyword research? This is what they are talking about. You need to do the research on which keywords will work best for you. Make a list of potential keywords and then use a keyword research tool to identify new ones that may work for you. Google Keyword planner is one that is free. You will end up with a group of keywords that are very similar in meaning that you can utilise to make your content as SEO friendly as possible. You will want to check out their search volumes and work out which ones are a priority.
So what do you need to know as a beginner to SEO?
Use Relevant Keywords - Do Some Research
Have you ever seen website owners and bloggers talking about doing keyword research? This is what they are talking about. You need to do the research on which keywords will work best for you. Make a list of potential keywords and then use a keyword research tool to identify new ones that may work for you. Google Keyword planner is one that is free. You will end up with a group of keywords that are very similar in meaning that you can utilise to make your content as SEO friendly as possible. You will want to check out their search volumes and work out which ones are a priority.
Optimise Your Content
You will also want to use headings and subheadings, images with alt text. Make sure they are optimised completely to ensure you are getting the best from your SEO efforts.
Build Some Links
A great way to build links is to utilise stuff like business directories - getting your company listed on these with relevant keywords is great for helping you to rank highly on search engines. It may also be worth speaking to those you already have existing working relationships with - they may be able to offer you a quality link, perhaps in the form of a testimonial on their site. Naturally linking to other bloggers can help build your link profile too and producing great quality content people will naturally link to cannot be overlooked.
These are just a few things I have learned along the way when it comes to SEO. I find that Search Engine Optimisation is something you are always learning as things can change so quickly. It is important to keep yourself abreast of any updates. As I mentioned, I’m always learning so I’ve asked some of my favourite bloggers to share their SEO tips too - did you know any of these? If you own a business and want to improve your websites SEO, then it’s useful to research agencies like click.co.uk, so you can gain expert advice.
Here are some SEO tips from bloggers
Tina Bailey - Girl Gospel
Download Yoast to Wordpress and don’t publish a post until both lights are green! It’ll remind you to do all the stuff you forget. (Like alt tagging images, internal links, using enough keywords etc). https://www.girlsgospel.com
Kacie Morgan - The Rare Welsh Bit
Clean your broken links. Use a broken link checker like www.brokenlinkcheck.com to search for broken links on your website, and then correct each link manually. Nobody likes a bad website experience and your blog will perform much better in search results if you don't have any broken links.
- www.therarewelshbit.com
Erica Knight - The Incidental Parent
- www.therarewelshbit.com
Erica Knight - The Incidental Parent
Make sure you use alt tags on your photos
www.theincidentalparent.com
Emma Reed - Emma Reed.net
www.theincidentalparent.com
Emma Reed - Emma Reed.net
Include internal links on every blog post in order to keep the reader on your website. https://emmareed.net
Jade Lloyd - The Parenting Jungle
Jade Lloyd - The Parenting Jungle
Use a Keyword research tool like KeySearch when picking your Keyword, and don’t forget to fill out the Metadata description, it pays to take your time and do it when you first publish a post rather than having to go back over things at a later date. and don’t forget the content! Write your own unique posts and don’t cut and copy information. www.theparentingjungle.com
The Halcyon Years
Make sure you use headings such as H2, H3 or H4 for the titles within your post as this will help Google identify keywords when it's crawling your page Emma www.thehalcyonyears.com
Christy Bruckner- Welshmum
The Halcyon Years
Make sure you use headings such as H2, H3 or H4 for the titles within your post as this will help Google identify keywords when it's crawling your page Emma www.thehalcyonyears.com
Christy Bruckner- Welshmum
Periodically going back and updating your older work is great for SEO. Google likes things to be up to date and relevant. Make sure you add a line to the copy saying "Updated on a date". www.welshmum.co.uk
So here is a beginner's guide to SEO. I hope these tips help you improve your SEO skills.
*Collaborative post
I need to dedicate a weekend to clean up all my broken lists, I have a few hundred now which really need to be cleaned up.
ReplyDeleteI need to start looking at key words as its something I haven't bothered with before. Its hard to find the time to do everything
ReplyDeleteI had no idea about SEO whe I started and as such my early posts are apalling. One day I need to find the time to go through all 2000 posts. Mich x
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ReplyDeleteI've book marked your post as I need all the SEO help that I can get, its not my strongest subject for sure xxx
ReplyDeleteSuch a fab guide regrading seo, I need to take time to look at mine and see what I can do xx
ReplyDeleteThis is a great guide! Yoast would be my top tip for helping with SEO. I wish I had known about it sooner though, I still need to make time to go through my older posts and sort them out.
ReplyDeleteI need this guide at the moment. Thanks so much for sharing
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