5 Steps to Creating an SEO-Friendly Blog Post That Attracts More Readers

30 Aug 5 Steps to Creating an SEO-Friendly Blog Post That Attracts More Readers

In today’s world, SEO is more important than ever. Despite this, many bloggers miss out on a lot of potential traffic by neglecting to optimize their blog posts for search engine bots. This is usually because they don’t know how to do it properly, but while there is a lot that goes into search engine optimization, getting started is easy and doesn’t take a lot of time to master.

If you’re not sure how to write search engine optimized blog posts, not to worry. Here are 5 simple steps that will boost your ranking and make your posts more SEO-friendly.

1. Plan out your keywords.

The first step is to figure out what keywords your audience is searching for that would help them find your post. If you’re using WordPress you can use the Yoast SEO plugin to find keywords, but it’s not necessary.

One of the easiest ways to find keywords is to use Google’s autofill to see what people are searching for. For example, if I start typing “how to write SEO,” a dropdown box will come up with options like “how to write SEO copy,” “how to write SEO content,” “how to write SEO keywords,” etc. This gives you an idea of what people are typing into Google to find results, so it’s a good idea to incorporate those keywords into your post.

You should pick one main keyword to refer back to several times throughout your article, then aim to include other related keywords when you can. This lets search engine bots know what your page is about.

2. Write like a human, not a robot.

The thing people get wrong most often about SEO is that they think including as many keywords as possible is the key to increasing their rank. While that may have been right years ago, nowadays search engine algorithms can tell when you’re just stuffing a bunch of keywords into your post.

You have to make your post readable and useful to your audience. This helps your ranking, but also makes your readers more likely to return to your blog or share your post. Use your keywords in your title for sure and your headings if possible, but don’t make it sound unnatural. Then, keep your keywords in mind when writing your post content and incorporate them organically when you have an opportunity.

3. Check your images.

Search engines can’t “see” an image, so they rely on the image name and alt text to understand what it’s a picture of. Be sure to name your images something relevant (for example, “woman-with-laptop” instead of “image009.”) The alt text should be a few words describing the image. This lets the search engine bots know that the image is relevant to the post.

4. Choose your title and headings carefully.

Titles and headings are two great places to put your keywords. In order for search engines to recognize your headers, though, you need to use them correctly. You should only use the H1 tag once on the page (usually to indicate the title of the post.) After that, continue using H2, H3, etc. respectively. This also makes it easier for your readers to navigate the blog post, so it’s really a win-win.

5. Pick a SEO-Friendly URL.

Your post’s URL is one of the fastest ways to let the search engine bots know what your blog post is about. You want it to be relevant to the post itself and for it to include your main keyword. You also want to make sure the words are separated by hyphens and not just smushed together: for example, “www.blog.com/seo-friendly-blog-post” instead of “www.blog.com/seofriendlyblogpost.”

While there’s a lot to learn about how to write SEO content, you don’t have to do it all overnight. Incorporating these five steps into your content moving forward is a great way to start writing SEO-friendly blog posts without the stress.

That’s it for now.

Until next time, stay focused, stay positive and keep writing.