Optimizing Blog Posts

When optimizing blog posts or pages you should start with a Primary Keyword in Mind. Then utilize that keyword throughout your post or page.

Optimizing Blog Posts – 14 tips

Primary Keyword: ___________________________ Post URL: __________________________________
Include keyword in post/page URL. Remove stop keywords such as and, for, to, etc.

Title: _______________________________________
Include keyword in post/page Title. Your Title should be between 40 and 70 characters. You page or post title is generally considered one of the most important SEO elements on you posts/ pages. Be sure to use unique Titles on each post/page.

Meta Description: ____________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________
Your meta-description should be between 120 and 156 characters There is no SEO calue from your meta-description. It should be written to drive more clicks from users searching a keyword.

Keywords: ________________, ________________, ________________, ________________, ________________, _______________, ________________
Use 3 to 7 keywords per post that describe content in post.

Keyword Density: __________
If you write your post/page for your readers then it will naturally have a number of mentions of your primary keyword. A good range to shoot for is between 2% to 5%. The most important aspect is that the copy read naturally and not look SEO’d.

Copy Headings
Copy headings provide structure to your post/pages. A good way to think about them is in terms of a report. If I were to write a report on web design the structure might look like this:

h1: Website Design –This would be your Title Tag
h2: Planning –This would be a Section
h3: Discovery — This would be a Sub-Section
h3: Scheduling

h2: Layout
h3: Wire Frames
h3: Navigation
h3: Scheduling

h2: Typography
h3: Fonts
h3: Styling

h2: Color
h3: Branding
h3: Styling Guide

h2: Design Elements
h3: Consistency
h3: Detail

The most important tag is your Title tag. The value of the remaining tags is questionable from an SEO perspective, but they do provide post/page structure, improving readability.

Primary Keyword in First Paragraph
Integrate your primary keyword naturally in the first paragraph of your post/page.

Primary Keyword in Your Last Paragraph
Integrate your primary keyword naturally in the last paragraph of your post/page.

Primary Keyword Bolded
Bold one instance of your primary keyword

More than 300 Words
Your article or page should contain at least 300 words. There is no maximum but remember people don’t always read long copy. People like to scan a page, so If your copy is long be sure to break it up into digestible sizes.

Image Name (s)
Use your primary keyword in your image name. Image searches have been shown to drive traffic.

Image Alt Tag
Use your primary keyword in your image Alt Tag. Don’t stuff your Alt Tag with keywords. If you have multiple images or decorative image elements don’t use your primary keyword on every image. Use it for the most relevant image, then use descriptive keywords for other images. Ideally the images on your posts/pages relate to your topic and adding secondary keywords is natural.

Interlinking
Add a link or two to a related older post or page. It can help improve your page rank and provides add a anchor text link to older posts.

Outbound Links
Add a link or two to an outside blog or website if it is relevant to your post. Don’t worry about doing this for website pages.

That’s it for optimizing blog posts (and pages). Address each of the items above and your blog posts and websites will be set up to rank higher in search engines for the primary keyword.

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