Did you know that 91% of web content does not receive traffic from Google? While creative marketing tactics, such as blogging, increase brand awareness and show that you have experience in the industry, incorrectly writing a post for SEO leads to traffic loss.
Numbers don't lie. If you want to go to the top of the search results page (SERPs), well-written and interesting content may not help. You should also focus on writing SEO-based, keyword-oriented content that drives traffic.
We share six important tips for creating SEO-friendly blog posts without sacrificing user experience and engagement, tips you can start using today:
How to write blog posts for SEO
1. Identify high-performance keywords when searching for ideas for a post.
Google processes more than 40,000 searches per second. Stuns, right? If you want to reduce clutter in search results and get ahead of competitors, you need to focus on specific keywords and phrases that your potential customers are looking for. How else will they find your content and website?
To identify these hot keywords, go to social platforms that target users frequently visit and see what's popular in them. Pay particular attention to the exact phrases that they use, and follow popular terms and topics in the industry.
Google Trends can also give you an idea of which keywords are popular at any given time. If you see that the number of search queries for a specific keyword decreases steadily over time, you know that this is probably not the keyword that you should be targeting for your marketing, and vice versa, to increase trends.
If you lack the ideas of keywords, take inspiration from competitors. Use the tools to see which keywords they currently rank for - if these keywords are relevant to your business, consider using them!
Keep in mind that the most obvious keywords are not always the best.
Long keywords make up 70% of all search traffic and can open the way to successful SEO.
Since you are facing stiff competition for shorter and more general keywords, you are often more likely to rank for long keywords. And the long-tail keywords let you focus on better website traffic — on people who know what they are looking for.
Remember that your keywords will evolve over time as trends change, terminology changes, or your product / service line changes. Periodically conduct keyword research to make sure that you are still focused on the right keywords for your target audience and do not miss the vital ranking opportunities.
2. Naturally integrate these keywords into your posts.
Once you have decided on a list of targeted keywords, it's time to write a blog post about one of these keywords. Discuss blog topics with your team and determine a topic that will attract your target audience.
Remember about your customers, their motives, problems, interests, etc. Throughout the process of brainstorming. Choose a topic that will emotionally resonate with your potential customers and their needs, desires or difficulties.
When you write your blog, your keywords and natural variations should be interspersed regularly throughout your post. Your primary keyword should appear in the following key locations:
• Headings and subheadings
• URL if possible
• Image alternate text (search engines cannot read images)
• Meta description
• For all content
Remember that you write for people, not for search engines. Focus on attracting readers with a natural writing style that takes into account their needs and interests.
Be sure to avoid overuse of any keyword at all costs. Filling with keywords may result in the site being penalized or blocked on search engine results pages temporarily or permanently. But more importantly, if your keyword appears too often, you compromise the quality of the article. Give readers no reason to press the "Back" button and go to a competitor's blog for answers.
3. Link to influential sites.
When you create your blog, do not be afraid to link to other articles or blogs.
References to applicable and reputable websites not only offer blog readers additional reading material to expand their knowledge, but also show that Google and other search engines have conducted research.
Nothing reinforces a blog post more than hard to compete statistics based on research from influential websites. Convincing statistics will help you build a more convincing and specific argument that will make your readers think.
4. Aim for scanned, longer messages.
