So you have a blog – excellent! But how do you ensure that it get lots of traffic and interests the best audiences for your business? One answer lies in getting it to place high in search rankings through search engine optimisation (SEO).

Whether you are just starting out with a new blog, or have been blogging for years, these tips will help you boost your SEO game.

#1. Blog frequently

The biggest SEO mistake is simply not to publish – and then share – blog posts frequently. Google likes fresh content so write as often as you can (ideally weekly) to keep your site rank high.

#2. Use subheadings

Writing for the web is different than writing for print. Users don’t like big chunks of text. By utilising bolded subheadings you let your readers sift through your post with more ease, and help search engines know what each part of the text is about.

Headings are a great place to insert some targeted keywords – but keep it natural!

#3. Do some keyword research

One of the secrets of ranking well is to embed appropriate keywords within your blog’s text. How do you know what is an appropriate keyword though?

An appropriate keyword is one that your potential clients use when they type search queries into Google. Often a query is comprised of a product or service, plus geographical location. For example, ‘pet store in Adelaide’ or ‘buy ceiling insulation Fremantle’.

Once you have found relevant search queries, make sure to use them in a natural non-spammy-sounding way in your blog posts.

#4. Use internal links

For maximum SEO gain, each blog post should also link to other pages on your site or older blog posts. Links are great for SEO and they also help to keep readers on your site for longer, which improves conversions into sales.

Don’t be afraid to include a call to action at the bottom of each post, such as ‘contact us for more information’ or ‘sign up to our newsletter’.

#5. Submit your blog to search engines and blog directories

A great way to improve traffic and get your blog found is to submit your site directly to Google and Bing, as well as list it in popular blog directories or feeds. Some examples of these popular feeds are:

• Bloglovin’
• Best of the Web Blogs
• Spillbean
• Ontoplist

#6. Install SEO plugins on your blog

Some bloggers who are less familiar with SEO might benefit from installing a search engine optimisatin plugin such as Yoast on their blog. Plugins like Yoast run a general page analysis of any new blog post before you hit publish, which will help catch SEO pitfalls like poorly crafted title tags, weak meta descriptions or missing calls to action (CTA) and headers.

They will then provide general suggestions on how to improve.

#7. Label images with alt text

Images are a great way to boost your SEO ratings.

Most people simply upload their photos and save them with generic auto-generated file names like ‘img87645.jpg’. This is a wasted opportunity.

Instead, by labelling images with alt tags, you get to give your visitors a description of the image and include keywords which help search engines index your site better.

A wonderful bonus to alt text is that they provide helpful and inclusive descriptions for users who use screen readers for accessibility.

This post was originally published in 2016 and has been updated for 2022.

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