How to Optimize Your Blog: Part 2 of ?
Last time, we talked about how to optimize your blog without sounding weird. Writing that one turned into such a long piece of content I decided to break it up! In this article, we’ll focus on some more optimization techniques to help your blog’s performance improve.
If you remember, one of the things I suggested was to use your keyword in the first paragraph. Think you figured out this post’s keyword? Drop it in the comments! *HINT - I had to ignore a Grammarly prompt to keep it in there* 👀
But let’s put that treasure hunt aside. Onward!
Optimizing Your Blog for Search Intent
If we’re going to get beyond the basics of optimizing your blog, we’ve got to touch on “search intent.” This dives into the psychology of your intended audience. You need to know where they’re at on the buyer’s journey (in the marketing funnel, etc…) and write to that state of mind.
There are 4 basic categories for keywords. Knowing them will help you know what to write about. You need to know what they’re looking for if you want to give it to them, right?
Informational
These readers need to be educated about the things they’re searching for. Queries like “how to camp in the desert” are informational, and you can answer their question by optimizing for keywords that fit the intent. Your blog is a great way to capture informational searches and become a trusted educational source.
Navigational
These readers already know where they’re headed but aren’t typing the website name into the navigational bar. Instead, they’re typing “Instagram” into the search engine to get them where they want to go. If they know your name and search for it, being optimized for your name will get you clicks. These keywords aren’t ones for your blog.
Commercial
These readers are looking for something to buy. Keywords that are trying to snag this audience are generally high competition and used for product pages, landing pages, etc… and less likely to perform well in a blog post. BUT… publishing lots of blogs that answer questions ABOUT a product can help improve your product page’s ranking.
Transactional
These readers are ready to make a transaction. Queries that include words like “cheap” or “order” indicate a likelihood of completing a purchase. Optimizing landing pages for these types of keywords can be an affective way to increase your bottom line.
Your blog will generally target the first type of keywords. It’s your way to capture leads from informational searches by dispensing information. You can, however, use your blog to target the other types of searches with a little creativity. Product round-up articles and a blog post that answers brand-specific questions, like your return policy, come to mind.
Using tools like Answer The Public can get you started in the right direction. Chasing those rabbit trails with SEO research software like MOZ or Ubersuggest will show you if you’re on the right path.
Use Keywords Naturally for Seamless Optimization
Some sources say you should shoot for a keyword density of 2%-3% for the best post performance. Is that true? Honestly, the days of strict SEO guidelines seem dead and gone.
In the past, businesses would take the rules of keyword placements and density to the extreme, trying to use the bots’ programming in their favor. The results were stiff, unnatural-sounding posts that didn’t even address the topic very well.
With the improvement of artificial intelligence and seemingly continual updates to how Google chooses to rank sources, a new guiding philosophy has emerged.
“Just give the reader what they want.”
This guideline keeps the basics of SEO keyword research, placement, and density back-of-mind, emphasizing serving the people instead. It offers freedom and flexibility to sound natural by not penalizing the rephrasing of longtail keywords. It’s one I’m much happier to follow.
Optimizing Your Blog Images
An often overlooked part of blog optimization is image optimization. I’ll be the first to admit that, when I’m rushed for time in my own posts, this is the corner I cut.
However, I know that optimizing my images’ captions and alt text is great for my over-arching SEO strategy. Why?
Optimizing images can capture new leads for people searching under the “Images” tab on Google. Product placements and info graphics are great for this.
It’s an accessibility issue, which is something Google cares about, even if you’re an old fart who doesn’t. *Sorry, not sorry*
If you can naturally use your keyword, it’s another great spot to communicate with bots. Just remember that screen-reader users will have their devices reading the alt-text, so be mindful in your wording.
So, how do you do it? Well, each blog’s platform will have editing capabilities in different locations. But at some point in your blog editing journey, you added an image. Clicking on “Edit” for that image should yield text fields for “Caption” and “Alt Text.” Those two places are where you briefly describe the image.
Another point that’s not SEO-specific is that file size makes a difference in your website’s performance. You need your page to load quickly. Re-sizing images can be one way to increase load speed, which will make it more user-friendly and reduce your bounce rate.
Address Searchers' Questions Thoroughly
If you want to sound like an expert (you do), you need to be thorough in answering searchers questions. That might take some research, depending on how much of an industry expert you already are.
Something I come across in blogs a lot is cross-referencing other blogs as a source. Please. For the love of all things good, don’t do that. UNLESS that blog has sourced cited, it’s not a good practice. If it DOES have sources cited, explore whether you can cite that source as well. Another pet peeve I have is using resources that are outdate.
Don’t quote a study from 20 years ago to speak to an issue your industry is facing today! If you can’t find a recent study to back up your claim, it might be best not to publish it. If you choose to, word it carefully and ensure readers understand you don’t have a source to back up your hunch.
Good rules of thumb are to use peer-reviewed, recent, and professional sources.
You want these sources so you can answer your reader’s most profound questions. If they want to know about “bear attack statistics”, you’re going to comb through the data and package it into an easily digestible blog. This article (Bear Attack Statistics - BearVault) involved hours of reading scientific studies to consolidate the information for my client’s readers.
It’s turned out to be their best-performing blog, earning powerful backlinks, millions of impressions, and thousands of clicks, and helping improve their domain authority.
Optimizing Your Blog is Key to Success as a Small Business
Mastering the art of SEO content writing is essential for maximizing the visibility and reach of your blog posts. Structure your content for readability, remember image optimization, and provide thorough information. You can climb the ranks of search engine results pages and attract organic traffic to your blog, even as a small business!
