Optimizing blog posts for Google search has only become more important in the last few years, as more and more sites are added to the web. In 2017, Google accounted for over 79% of all global desktop search traffic, and receives over 63,000 searches per second on any given day. In order to be found by your target audience, it is crucial to structure every blog post in a way that will make it easier to find for curious viewers and therefore be ranked higher by Google. Read on for the most important SEO practices to boost your blog’s online visibility!
Focus on 1–2 long-tail keywords
Stuffing your blog posts with tons of keywords may actually hurt your SEO rankings. Instead, try to choosing one or two long-tail keywords that your ideal reader would search for in that particular post. A long-tail keyword is not just one word, but a phrase (often question based) that directs the focus of your blog post. For example, you could use “How to teach kids to clean up” as your long-tail keyword.
Include keywords in headers, body, URL, and metadescription
Include your chosen keywords in your blog post’s title tag, headers & body, URL, and meta description to boost your standing on Google. Including your keywords in all these places let’s Google know that your post is helpful and relevant and readers are getting exactly what they were looking for.
Optimize your blog for mobile
Since nearly 60% of web searches are now conducted on mobile devices, it is important to ensure your site functions quickly and effectively on mobile. Use sites such as Mobi Ready and Google Search Console to test your website’s speed on mobile. Once you’ve tested your site’s mobile speed, you’ll want to ensure your site is using “responsive design.” Responsive design means your mobile site uses the same URL, but is able to convert to the size of any device that is viewing your site. Since it only uses one URL instead of two, your SEO ranking will be higher since clicks to your site won’t be split up.
Link internally
This is one of the easier steps to do when optimizing your site. On every blog post you write, include links to some of your relevant articles to keep the reader on your site longer. This will boost your SEO ranking by showing Google how relevant your content is to readers if they click through to more of your posts.
Optimize the meta description
The meta description is the text under the title tag on the SERP (search engine results page). You should use all the characters you can for this description, as well as include your long-tail keywords, as 50% of search queries are four words or longer. This means that at least half of searches are specific phrases (usually a question) and this is where your site comes in to help answer that question. Ensure that your description is clear and detailed for the best chance of readers clicking through to your site.
