3 Simple SEO Tips for Bloggers

Writing a blog post for good SEO (search engine optimization) requires that you pay attention to multiple components to increase the chances of your post being read and shared. Readability, search engine optimization, and reader engagement, are just a few that can greatly improve your odds of driving traffic back to your website.

Keeping the reader interested is the goal and structuring your text and writing in an accessible style will accomplish this. Help your readers consume your content effectively – and search engines to rank your post higher – by:

Using headings and subheadings
Writing concise paragraphs
Utilizing an SEO plugin

Remember readers are much more likely to share, like, and link to your post if they can understand it quickly. All of which will increase your page rankings!

Use Headings

Headings provide structure to your writing, but also a framework that readers use to quickly scan the post. They also contribute to readability, which is the (measurable) element that is most responsible for engaging and retaining your readership.

Additionally, headings help search engines to understand the topic of a post and that also contributes to your page ranking. Using subheadings is another element that helps with both readability and search rankings.

Try and place your keywords in the headings and subheadings, but don’t go crazy with this as it will greatly diminish readability and appear 'spammy'. Click To Tweet

Concise Paragraphs

The length of your post is important for scoring well with the search engines. The minimum is around 300 words and though search engines generally like long articles (they show that you’re putting in the effort), too long can scare away readers. If you do have a really long post consider breaking it into a series. Having multiple posts released days or weeks apart will give you better SEO value as well.

Another rule of thumb is to put your target search terms into roughly 1.5 percent of your text. So an article with 300 words will have the search terms mentioned approximately 4-5 times.

Use an SEO Plugin

A plugin for your website that specifically addresses search engine optimization will, by definition, improve readability and increase reader engagement.

At AllProactive Communication, we install the Yoast SEO plugin as standard procedure.

This plugin helps you to write the most search engine-friendly blog post possible. You simply start by choosing a focus keyword and entering it into the plugin interface (the focus keyword is the most important word or search term you want people to find within your post and should be contained in the article title). The plugin will measure many aspects of the text you are writing and guide you with suggestions for making it better for search. Some of these are:

Help you formulate the meta description (the short description under your website URL that is displayed on a search results page)
Analyzes readability by calculating a Flesch reading ease score (for example, length of sentences and complexity of vocabulary)
Placement of keywords within the structure
Type of hyperlinks and graphics and how to optimize them

Writing a blog post that scores well with the search engines should, first and foremost, be relevant to the needs of your target audience. So begin with this in mind. Use the techniques for improving SEO after you’ve gotten close to a final draft.

Over time, integrating the three core elements of readability, search engine optimization, and reader engagement in your writing will be completely natural.