How to Optimise Blog Posts for SEO (Step-by-Step Guide)

Focus on Your Readers

One of the biggest mistakes many blog writers make is that they are so focused on SEO that they forget about their audiences needs. Content quality is still a major ranking factor. When you focus on writing for your audience, based on their search intent, you keep  your readers engaged, reducing bounce rates, increasing dwell time, and in turn, increasing your ranking in search engine results pages.

Use Online Audits to Guide Your Writing

There are numerous online tools, both paid for and free, that provides valuable SEO insights, helping you streamline your keyword research, along with identifying user intent, competitors, and more. These valuable insights can help you guide your writing, focusing on content your audience are searching for.

For this step, you can use SEMRush and Google Keyword Planner, both highly effective online tools to help guide your blog writing.

Add Links

Every blog you publish should have hyperlinks, both internal and external, directing your readers to other relevant sources.  It's recommended to add internal links on your blog posts, directing readers to the relevant web pages on your website. At the same time, you can add one external link to another website that offers reliable and relevant information. Ensure any external links, also known as backlinks, are only directed to high domain authority websites that Google finds credible, showing the search engine you are directing your readers to a credible source for further information.

Add Alt-Text to Visuals

Blog posts should have supporting media, enhancing user experience and engagement, while helping search engines see you content as valuable. Don't only stick to one media type, consider adding a mix of images, videos, infographics, GIFs, and more, as long as it supports the content you are publishing. Add alt-text with every image or media to help search engines crawlers understand the media, and improve accessibility for readers.

Ensure Seamless Readability

When Google and other search engines rank your blog content, they take engagement into consideration. This includes how long a reader stays on the page, helping the search engine identify the value of the page, along with ranking position. 

When you ensure your blog is easily read, you can keep readers on your blog for longer, keeping them engaged, reducing your bounce rate, which in turn, can help to increase your ranking. This involves clear headings and subheadings, short paragraphs, and no stuffing of keywords.

Add a Call To Action (CTA)

Chances are you are focusing on a blog because you have a goal in mind. This can be to drive quality leads to your website to boosting your online sales. When your blog is written with a set goal in mind, you will want to add a call to action (CTA), telling the reader what action you want them to take next. Ensure when adding a call to action, you make it easy for the reader to follow through, such as adding a link to your contact form or a product page.

Pay Attention to Your Meta Data

This is the last step in optimising your blog post for SEO. In this final step you are going to want to create a meta title and description that will appear with your post on search engine results pages (SERPs). The title tag and description are imperative, as this is what you use to encourage users to click on the link and visit your blog post. Therefore meta titles and descriptions should be eye catching, while using your targeted keyword.

Conclusion

Optimising your blog post following our step by step guide in this blog can help you improve your SEO efforts, reaching your target audience, improving online visibility, and increasing conversions. If you need help with blog optimisation, get in touch with the talented team at Genie Crawl now.