Getting a high rank on search engines through user keyword searches
can be difficult, but with proper focus on writing your blog posts for
search engine optimization (SEO), you can boost your rank for specific
keyword searches and your blog’s traffic. Follow these tips to get the
biggest results.
1. Check the Popularity of Keywords
In order to obtain traffic from keyword searches on the major search
engines like Google and Yahoo!, you need to be writing about a topic
that people want to read about and are actively looking for information
about. One of the easiest ways to get a basic idea of what people are
looking for online is to check the popularity of keyword searches on
websites like Wordtracker, Google AdWords, Google Trends or the Yahoo! Buzz Index. Each of these sites provides a snapshot of keyword popularity at any given time.
2. Select Specific and Relevant Keywords
A good rule to go by is to select one keyword phrase per page then
optimize that page to that keyword phrase. Keywords should be relevant
to the overall content of your page. Furthermore, choose specific
keywords that are more likely to give you a better search results
ranking than a broad term would. For example, consider how many sites
use the keyword phrase of “punk music.” The competition for ranking
using that keyword is likely to be tough. If you choose a more specific
keyword like “Green Day concert,” the competition is a lot easier.
3. Select a Keyword Phrase of 2 or 3 Words
Statistics show that nearly 60% of keyword searches include 2 or 3
keywords. With that in mind, try to optimize your pages for searches on
keyword phrases of 2 or 3 words to drive the biggest results.
4. Use Your Keyword Phrase in Your Title
Once you select the keyword phrase you plan to optimize your page
for, make sure you use that phrase in the title of your blog post (or
page).
5. Use Your Keyword Phrase in Your Subtitle and Headlines
Breaking blog posts up using subtitles and section headlines not only
makes them more visually appealing on a text heavy computer screen, but
it also gives you additional opportunities to use your keyword phrase.
6. Use Your Keyword Phrase in the Body of Your Content
It’s important that you use your keyword phrase in the body of your
blog post. A good goal to try to achieve is to use your keyword phrase
at least twice in the first paragraph of your post and as many times as
you can (without keyword stuffing – see #10 below) within the first 200
(alternatively, the first 1,000) words of your post.
7. Use Your Keyword Phrase in and Around Your Links
Search engines count links higher than plain text in their search
algorithms, so try to create links that use your keyword phrase. Avoid
using links that simply say, “click here” or “more information” as these
links will do nothing to help you with your search engine optimization.
Leverage the power of links in SEO by including your keyword phrase in
them whenever possible. The text surrounding links is typically weighted
more heavily by search engines than other text on your page as well. If
you can’t include your keyword phrase in your link text, try to include
it around your link text.
8. Use Your Keyword Phrase in Images
Many bloggers see a large amount of traffic sent to their blogs from
image searches on search engines. Make the images you use in your blog
work for you in terms of SEO. Make sure your image filenames and
captions include your keyword phrase.
9. Avoid Block Quotes
There are differing opinions on this issue with one group of people
saying that Google and other search engines ignore the text included in
the HTML block quote tag when crawling a web page. Therefore, the text
within the block quote tag won’t be included in terms of SEO. Until a
more definitive answer can be determined to this issue, it’s a good idea
to keep it in mind and use the block quote tag cautiously.
10. Don’t Keyword Stuff
Search engines penalize sites that stuff pages full of keywords
simply to increase their rankings through keyword searches. Some sites
are even banned from inclusion in search engine results because of
keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing is considered a form of spamming, and
search engines have zero tolerance for it. Keep this in mind as you
optimize your blog posts for search engines using your specific keyword
phrase.