Here at onefoursix, we want to give you a 2020 guide on how to SEO a blog using three simple steps. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. In simple terms, this is how high up a website appears on Google. It is a marketing technique that drives traffic onto your site, improving its visibility on search engines like Google. Therefore, it is important if you want to make your blog a successful one. 

Having spent hours writing and refining a blog, you want it to stand out and be the first blog at the top of a search. This will only happen if you use the correct key search phrases. If used correctly, SEO can drive a 14.6% conversion rate, as opposed to other traditional strategies like print ads and direct mail, with a 1.7% average conversion rate.

Overview

Today, we will be focusing on organic SEO. Scroll down to read our tips and tricks to help successfully SEO your blog.

On page SEO

On page SEO is the content you choose to put onto a website or in a blog. Generally speaking, you have control over what information is provided here. This may include your page / blog title, written content, address and contact information or a list of services. Within all this information, you will need to ensure there is a consistent use of relevant language that will appear in the search.

Off page SEO

Off page SEO are factors that help the ranking of your website but aren’t visible on the site. This can include keywords, meta description and the number of links within your site. There are many tools that can help to monitor these factors such as Moz.com. 

Now for 3 simple steps to SEO your blog…

Step 1 : Keyword research

If you pick the wrong keywords or search phrases, you will attract little to no traffic onto your blog. You need to ensure all your keywords are relevant to what a person will search to find your blog. For example, if you want to find out what SEO is, keywords may include SEO, meta tags, image alt text etc. You want to use the most relevant keywords that will drive traffic to your page.

During your keyword research, aim to find about 100 keywords and phrases. However, we recommend only using around 10 keywords per web page. Therefore, you will need to refine the most important and most commonly used to ensure maximum success of your blog. This avoids any clogging or penalising for using too many.

Step 2 : Writing the content

By now, you should have a refined list of 10 relevant keywords and search phrases. 

Now it’s time to write your blog.

You want to create a blog with good, long content. We would aim to write 500 – 1000 words. You want to embed your keywords, naturally placing them within your blog and not seem deliberately placed. Make sure your sentences still flow. You want to distribute your keywords across several sentences, aiming to use each one 2/3 times. If you get this right, search engines will rank it well because it contains the right keywords. 

Structuring your blog is important too. Make sure you use headers (H1, H2, H3 etc.) We recommend only using 3 types of headers per blog. Secondly, use internal and external linking. This may be a link to another page on the same website or a link to a different website. Always input your alt text to support any images in the blog. This describes the function of the image as search engines can’t read images. 

A few things to remember before your blog goes live…

• Keep your URLs short – Google prefers shorter URLs.
• Include your main keyword in your title – this will help you rank higher.
• Include your 3 main keywords in your meta tags and description.

Step 3 : Promoting your blog

You should now have finished writing your blog. Take a moment. Doesn’t it look pretty. 

Now, are you ready to promote it so that it ranks well on Google?

There are many ways you can promote your blog. First, you need to get social shares, and then you need to get backlinks. The more traffic you get to your blog, the more likely you are to get backlinks. Sharing your blog on social media will increase its presence and encourage others who have similar interests to share it. By using the correct hashtags or tagging relevant people in your posts, this will reach your target audience most effectively. Similarly, if you have mentioned any particular sites or people in your blog, dropping them an email and asking them to share it will help you gain backlinks.

Providing social media buttons on your blog will also drive people directly onto your social platforms, encouraging an increase of following. This means promoting your blog will be easier next time because people will see it straight away on your social media.

Once you’ve driven more eyes onto your blog, you need to provide a sign-up box at the bottom of your page to build up a list of subscribers. This will result in building a mailing list. It means people want to see your future blogs and will make your email marketing twice as effective in the future. Email campaigns are one of the most powerful and cost-effective promotional methods. In the UK, the average ROI for email campaigns is £38 for every £1. However, you can’t use email marketing without a mailing list! 

Conclusion

Now you have all the steps on how to SEO a blog. onefoursix also offer SEO services to help you achieve top spots on Google. Or for more tips around SEO, go check out our blog on meta descriptions.