How to Make My Blog Post More SEO Friendly

Search Engine Optimization sounds daunting but with a few simple tricks, you can transform your blog posts into SEO-friendly masterpieces. In this guide, you’ll discover practical strategies to enhance your blog’s visibility and attract the right audience. These tips on ‘how to make my blog post more SEO friendly’ will help you craft content that resonates with search engines and engages readers.

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1. Captivating Titles

Your blog post’s title is like a first impression – it sets the tone and entices readers to take a closer look. The title should be catchy and intriguing to draw in readers.

You want them to click on your blog post, NOT someone else’s.

Compelling Headlines: Make it count by crafting headlines that are clear, concise, compelling, and packed with intrigue.

For example, instead of a bland title like “Tips for Baking,” grab their attention with “10 Secret Baking Tricks That Make You a Pastry Pro.”

See how this reflects the content of the blog post but also piques the curiosity of potential readers.

One excellent blog post title format is Best X for Y.

For example, Best Paris Hotels for Romantics. Best Cancun Resorts for Families. These titles target specific audiences and this improves your sales conversions.

2. Search Intent

Search intent for SEO is “the purpose or intent of a user when scrolling through the web. Your job is to connect your target keywords to the user intent”. So your audience finds you and you help them!

There are 4 types of search intent:

Informational: The user is seeking information to learn about a topic, answer a question, or solve a problem. E.g. how to run a marathon

Navigational: The user is trying to find a specific website or webpage. E.g. Wikipedia

Commercial: The user is researching products or services with the intent to purchase something. E.g. laptops under $500

Transactional: The user is ready to make a purchase or take a specific action. E.g. Book Volcano Hawaii Vacation.

So it’s important you do your keyword research and craft your content with this specific search intent in mind.

Are you crafting a ‘How to’ post, a ‘Why…’ post, a ‘Best List’, or a transactional ‘Buy…’ post?

See more here about keywords: How do I find Popular Keywords that are easy to rank?

Content Quality

Identify your target audience and what they need help with. Check if the content is informative, well-researched, and provides value to the reader.

To Do: Look at social media and forums to research your audience.

Within your content use keywords naturally and write for your readers. Read your article out loud – how does it sound?

3. People Also Ask

Google your keywords then look at ‘People Also Ask’ and ‘Related Searches’.

To Do: Then include at least 2 of these results within your content.

For example, when I google the keywords for this post I found ‘how can I make my blog more searchable’ and ‘SEO content writing for beginners.’ Then I can add these to this post.

4. Structure Your Content

A well-structured blog post is like a well-organized house – easy to navigate and full of valuable information.

Structure & Flow: The post should be well-organized to improve readability with

Clear headings, H1, H2, H3, etc
Subheadings
Bullet points
Short paragraphs

The headings and subheadings break up your text into digestible chunks, so it’s easier for readers to scan and find the information they need.

How to Make My Blog Post More SEO Friendly

5. SEO Optimization

To Do: add the following to your blog post

Meta description, with keywords
Slug, with keywords
Alt-text for images
H1, H2, H3 etc
Add categories, tags, and a featured image

Include your keyword in the first 200 words, naturally throughout your text, and in a H2 heading,

6. Add Images and a Video

Images are like visual storytelling tools that enhance your blog post and make it more appealing to readers.

Use high-quality, relevant images, infographics, and videos that complement your content and provide visual breaks from text.

To Do: Include a YouTube video in your blog post.

Make sure the images are compressed and optimized, so not too big which slows down your site.

Compression Plug-ins for WordPress include

Smush
Ewww Image Optimizer
ShortPixel Image Optimizer
TinyPNG

Video: The Complete Guide to SEO

7. Link Internally

Internal linking is another SEO trick that involves linking to other relevant blog posts on your own website.

This helps search engines understand the structure of your site and increases the chances of your blog posts appearing in related searches.

To Do: Add three internal links to your blog post. Once the blog post is published, link from older posts to this newer one.

The anchor text is the clickable text that appears within a link. For example, instead of using generic text like “click here,” consider using descriptive anchor text like ‘learn more about blogging’.

8. External Links

While internal links help users navigate your blog, external links to reputable sources (e.g. Wikipedia) enhance your credibility.

To Do: Add 1-2 external links from your blog post to high-ranking and relevant sites.

9. Call to Action (CTA)

The post should have a clear CTA telling the reader what to do next.

For example, add a link to an affiliate link, add links to similar posts, add a link to a landing page on your blog with your affiliate offer.

10. Mobile Optimization

Ensure the blog post is well-formatted and easy to read on a mobile device. I find paragraphs that look the right size on my laptop can look too big on mobile. 1-2 sentence paragraphs look great on mobile.

Blog post comments and social share buttons can increase engagement. So as soon as it’s published head to social media and tell the world with a link to your post.

For example, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest. With Pinterest, you can wait a week and create another pin pointing to the same blog post.

Hidden Gems

Answer questions and help people on Quora in your niche topic. Google loves personal stories, called Hidden Gems, and your Quora answer (with your Bio link) could appear on page 1 of a Google Search for those keywords.

12. Google and Bing

Add your blog post website address to Google’s and Bing’s URL Inspection tools. This tells them to crawl your blog post.

Key Takeaway: How to Make My Blog Post More SEO Friendly

By following these simple SEO tips, you’ll transform your blog posts into magnets for readers, propelling your blog to new heights of success.

Remember, SEO is an ongoing process, so keep learning, experimenting, and refining your strategies. And most importantly, have fun with it! After all, blogging should be an enjoyable and rewarding experience.