Blogging, we do for earning and sharing knowledge with others. Most of the bloggers do blogging with a willing mind to share the knowledge. They don't target to earn money. When they do their sincere work, their hand will be filled with money. Some people have made their full time job as Blogging and live with the money they earn with it. For those people, I really do salute them because, they must have put lot of hard work in it. You must consider certain SEO things before posting a blog post. Successful blogger tell that they should not follow other successful bloggers. A beginner in blogging must always have an unique way. They're true in their statement. The post or content you publish on your blog is the king. Google prioritizes your content with the keywords when a user provide while he searches.
It's better to know ways to create a quality and SEO friendly article. Bloggers whose blog is powered by WordPress.org is very lucky because they have lots and lots of plugins for SEO. Other platform users like Blogger, Tumblr might find difficult to have a better Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I would like to share some tips so that you can have a good and better SEO. This can make you to get high ranking when a user searches for something on Google.
You've been seen that I have said Google as an example of search engine because, it's the only search engine which is used by most of the people in the world. Next, the credit goes to Bing. But, as far my blog is concerned, I receive lots of visitors from Google. I could see hits only a few from Bing and other search engines. Google uses a lot of techniques to rank a blog in the search results. The result is more instant and contains more results than other search engines.
The thing you need to check before posting an article on your blog is as follows. This really enhance your Search Engine Optimization.
- Post Title
- Meta Description
- Readability
- Word count
- Keywords
- Post URL
- Categories
- Outbound links
- Internal Links
- Image SEO
#1 Post Title:
Before posting a blog post, it's a must that you have to consider post title as the first one. A title of your post must be keyword based and fully related to the content you've wrote. This is because, when user search with your keyword, and when your article's title contains that keyword, search engine can bring your article to the front page of the search results. Make your SEO title or Post title to be limited to 70 characters because, a search engine can display only the first 70 characters of the post title on the search results page. So, it's better to have a good title to your article which is limited to 70 characters.
#2 Meta Description:
Most of the people ignore this but the power of Meta description on SEO is high. Meta description is a way to describe your content briefly in the search results. Meta description of your post is limited to 156 characters in the search results page. Beyond that, search engines won't show up any Meta description characters. While creating Meta Description, make a wish that your Meta description too contains keywords of your article and title.
#3 Readability:
Always make sure that you have written an article which is readable by every age group. Usage of complex English words in your article doesn't mean that your article is a high quality one. The content must be readable to everyone. Usage of simple English always works better on all age groups. Group your paragraphs correctly. You might need to express lot of things through blogging but your mind might arise a question that will people read the whole article if they write a huge article. Absolutely, some might and some may not. People skim your article and they should be able to get the idea of your article if your article is large. It's better to bold and italicize the important words to make them to get idea of your content.
#4 Word Count:
The minimum number of words in the article should be 300 words. This is a mimnimum requirement for better SEO. But, to cover your keywords to the most, you may create an article with at least 500 words.
#5 Keywords:
Make sure that your article contains the keyword at most of the places. Make the keyword on your article to appear at most of the places as possible so that keyword density on your article increases.
#6 Post URL or Slug:
The URL of the post you make must also be keyword based. Make your slug or Post URL to be smaller than your title of your post. You'll get better ranking in the search results when your slug or Post URL is short.
#7 Categories:
I know, you might be having a big dilemma between tags and Categories. I've already made a post regarding this. Categories or Tags, which will impact more on SEO? Just, I recommend you to read this article.
#8 Outbound Links:
It's a good habit to give a dofollow outbound link in the article. But, always see that any outbound links you give must be reliable one. Provide link for the right keyword. When people search for some related things, search engine might show up your blog assuming that your article is something related to the site that you have linked. If the link is not reliable, you may use rel=”nofollow” attribute in the anchor tag. If the post is a Guest post, the Guest bloggers will always expect a dofollow link, as giving a credit to them. Do not add rel=”nofollow” attribute for Guest Posts.
#9 Internal Links:
Internal Links are the best way to decrease your bounce rate. It is much necessary for Search Engine Optimization. Linking your own contents is much necessary.
#10 Image SEO:
Some of my friends who are bloggers tell me that they receive traffic from Google Search but they don't see any image traffic on their blog. I studied on this later when they reported to me. There should be at least one image for SEO. This, not only makes your to get better SEO, but also your article looks neat and attractive. The best thing is, make your image unique than others. It's better to have your own image created on your blog post. Watermark on your image that you have created so that your picture becomes yours wherever it goes.
Basically, when you insert an image in your blog post, it is better to have that in a position that it has keyword rich paragraphs around the image. An image title is compulsory and it's recommended to have Alt Text. Give your image a title like iphone-5-model-blogname.jpg. An Alt Text must be containing keywords related to the paragraphs around the image and must also be related to the image. Give a short description of the image. Search engines might push down your blog if the description is too long.
So, now it's turn for you to make your blog a better one in SEO and make your blog to come in first page of the search results. Share your comments below.