Your content ranks on the first page of Google’s search results. You receive tons of organic traffic to your site every month. And your engagement and conversion rates are through the roof! It sounds like a dream, right? Well, it could be your reality with the help of some blog optimization.
By optimizing your blog posts, you take an ordinary piece of content and enhance it. Then Google is more inclined to show it folks searching for the content you offer. In turn, you’ll gain more exposure and see a boost in traffic. You do this all while satisfying the readers looking for content in your niche. It doesn’t hurt that Google stays happy as well.
This might sound like a lot of time-consuming work, but it’s not as daunting as it seems. And with the ROI you’re likely to see, the undertaking is worth it.
You still might be wondering what blog optimization is. In this guide, you’ll learn techniques that are essential to optimizing your blog posts for massive rewards.
Table of Contents: The Ultimate Guide to Blog Optimization for SEO and Conversions
To simplify the process, we’ve broken it down into four key areas. Here’s an overview:
Before Writing the Blog: 4 Steps to Prep for Blog Optimization
Although it may be tempting to dive right in and start crafting content, you’d be missing a crucial first step: blog optimization prep. This stage requires you to research, then outline and draft your content. While this takes additional time and effort, you’ll have already made your job easier when it comes time to write.
1. For SEO Rankings: Conduct Keyword Research
It’s impossible to optimize your blog without first doing keyword research. Selecting the right focus keyword for your content is imperative if you want to rank higher in Google’s search results and ultimately generate more traffic for your website. But if you’re not sure how to optimize blog posts for SEO, you likely need some tips for conducting proper keyword research.
After all, 68% of online experiences begin with the user searching via a search engine. That means they’re typing in a specific phrase or keyword they want more information about. And as the creator, you should ensure your content provides helpful guidance on the topic they’re searching for.
No matter what industry or niche you’re in, the tips that follow will assist you in finding high-ROI keyword opportunities. This way, you’ll increase your chances of ranking and getting traffic.
- Start with broad, general seed keywords, also known as “root keywords,” related to your industry or the products and services you offer.
- Example: If your business sells car parts, you might want to start your search with a no-brainer root keyword, such as “car parts.”
- Plug that keyword into your preferred keyword research tool. There are tons of options to assist in keyword research, with free and paid tools available. The strategists Express Writers consider Semrush one of our favorites. You can also check out Mangools or Moz’s Keyword Explorer.
- Example: If you plug “car parts” into Keyword Tool, a list of long-tail keyword variations that can be researched further will pop up. This search, for instance, shows options such as “euro car parts” and “car parts near me.”
Image: Screenshot of Keyword Tool keyword variation suggestions.
- Search for a long-tail keyword that expands on your root keyword, but hits that sweet spot, meaning it has low competition, high search volume, and a low difficulty score. This will be the ideal focus keyword for your content because you’ll stand a better chance of climbing to the top of the SERPs.
2. For Your Audience: Do Topic Research
Once you have some keyword ideas for your content, you’ll want to brainstorm potential topics. Topic research is an essential element of the blog optimization process that ensures you create interesting content for your target audience. If you write content they’re not searching for, they won’t discover or be interested in it.
You should always consider what your audience finds important. What is going to grab their attention? What kind of content is going to address their biggest pain points? Your reader is always wondering what’s in it for them, so you need to provide tremendous value every single time.
So, how do you find those hot blog topics that people want to read? There are a few tried-and-true methods perfect for getting the creative juices flowing.
1. Scope Out the Competition
Odds are, you already know who the biggest competitors are within your industry. And you’ve probably had your eye on them for a while. But what you likely haven’t been doing is using them as a source of inspiration for your content. In reality, your competitors hold a wealth of knowledge.
Take some time to browse their content and note the topics they cover. Then, ask yourself a few key questions to determine if it’s worthwhile for you to cover as well:
- Can I put my spin on the topic in question? You never want to blatantly copy someone because it won’t be a positive reflection on your brand. Instead, you want to draw inspiration from and add your unique perspective to the topic. Then you differentiate it from things already published.
- Can I write a better blog post on this topic? Whatever your competitors are doing, you want to do it better. Find opportunities to be the best and improve on the content that’s out there. This could look like conducting more thorough research, higher quality writing, or incorporating more visuals into your content.
- Can I go more in-depth on a broader topic? If your competitors tend to be very broad with their content, that’s your sign to dig deeper. Dig into a topic and provide insights into a particular facet of it. If you provide more specialized content, folks are more likely to engage with it.
2. Use BuzzSumo
With the help of BuzzSumo, a simple search will allow you to see what’s popular with readers now. All you need to do is search a keyword or domain to get started. By searching a specific keyword, you’ll discover the top content that’s relevant to that topic of interest. Or you can choose to search your competitor’s domain to see which of their content pieces garner the most attention.
Image: Screenshot of BuzzSumo search.
The content is ranked by engagement. You’ll see the number of social media shares a piece of content received, broken down by platform. This is a helpful indicator of popularity. By default, BuzzSumo ranks content based on results from the past six months, but you can change that if you want to see more recent hot topics. It will help you see the trends in your industry.
Covering the topics that are getting a lot of social shares increases your chances of getting discovered and generating brand awareness. You can miss out on entire people groups if you don’t write things that interest them, and you risk your brand growing stagnant.
3. Do a Good Old Fashioned Google Search
Sometimes a Google search is exactly what you need to spark some creativity. Getting started is as easy as entering a keyword into the Google search bar. You’ll notice a box will pop up underneath with a list of keyword variations. Use this information to help generate blog post ideas.
If a particular keyword variation catches your eye, search it. See what kind of content others in your industry have published using that keyword. Again, you don’t want to copy anyone directly. But rather, you want to use this as inspiration that kick-starts new ideas all your own.
3. For Better Content: Outline Your Blog
One of the most helpful elements of blog optimization prep is taking a few moments to outline your blog post ahead of time. Unfortunately, it’s one of the steps people most frequently skip, choosing to go straight into writing instead. However, there are some key benefits of writing that initial outline first:
- It gives your blog post direction, ensuring you write with purpose and avoid rambling or going off on tangents. When your content has a clear focus, your reader has a better experience.
- It assists you in planning headers and sub-headers that have been keyword-optimized for SEO.
- And it’ll also boost your writing speed because you know what you’re writing about ahead of time, cutting down on writer’s block.
The best part about writing an outline for your blog post is that it can be as simple or as detailed as you’d like. It all depends on what works best for you! It’s meant to be a tool to organize your thoughts.
If you’d like to go more in-depth, HubSpot has a helpful article on writing a blog post outline.
4. For High-ROI Blog Optimization: Write Powerful Headlines
If you want to ensure your blog post generates clicks, traffic, and shares, you cannot slack on the headline writing. This short snippet of copy is arguably one of the most important elements of your entire blog post and can make or break its success.
That’s because 8 out of 10 people will read the headline itself. However, only 2 out of 10 will read the rest of the post. So, you need to craft a headline that grabs attention right off the bat. It should be compelling enough that the reader is intrigued and click through to read your post.
Here are some tips to remember whenever you write a headline:
1. Include Your Focus Keyword Near the Beginning of the Headline
Unfortunately, Google doesn’t put your entire headline on display in its search results. Instead, it gets cut off around 50-60 characters. This is why you want your focus keyword front and center, so it’s visible in search results. Then, a potential reader will see the headline and view your content as relevant.
2. Keep Your Headline Between 8-14 Words
Keep in mind that Google will cut off your headline anyway, so avoid spending time writing an extremely long headline for your blog post. It’s better to keep it short and sweet, using just 8-14 words to communicate the main idea of your content.
Image: Content title length vs. social shares graph.
Research from HubSpot found that 8-12 word blog headlines received the most shares on Twitter. Meanwhile, blogs with headlines between 12-14 words generated the most Facebook likes.
3. Write with the Reader in Mind
As with anything in the world of content creation, it always goes back to your reader. Your headline should clearly state what your reader can expect from your blog post. However, aim to do it enticingly. What’s going to get them to immediately click through to your site?
For one, you can use different headline formulas that are both persuasive and intriguing. You can even use a tool like CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer to determine how effective your headlines are. Consider implementing these tips:
- Use numbers to communicate how many tips a reader will discover in your post. For example, “10 Easy Tips for Optimizing Your Blog Posts.”
- Address the reader by using words such as “You” and “Your.” For example, “You Need These 10 Blog Post Optimization Tips.”
- Start with “How to” in order to plainly state what a reader will learn. For example, “How to Successfully Optimize Your Blog Post to Increase Rankings.”
4. Use Words that Evoke Emotions
Finally, a great headline incorporates strong verbs and adjectives that are powerful enough to evoke the reader’s emotions. You want to push their buttons, address their pain points, and show you offer a solution to their biggest struggles. Using the Headline Analyzer mentioned above you can tweak your headline to match its suggestions. This will allow you to optimize your headline for length, character count, and more.
How to Write Your Blog (and Optimize it Correctly) in 5 Steps
Now you have completed your blog optimization prep. You have a list of keywords and blog topics on hand. You’ve even written an amazing headline and an outline to accompany it. So, the next logical step is to start writing the body of your blog post. If you love to write, this is probably the most exciting part. If you find writing to be more daunting, this could feel stressful. Either way, these next five steps will help you tackle the writing process (and optimize) with ease.
1. Use Your Focus Keyword Properly Throughout Your Blog Post
We’ve already established that it’s crucial to incorporate keywords into your blog posts if you want to rank higher in Google’s SERPs and drive more traffic to your site. However, when learning how to optimize blog posts for SEO, there are often a couple of questions that content creators have.
How do you use keywords in your content? And where do they go?
There are a few strategic ways to use your focus keyword so that search engines can quickly crawl your page and understand how relevant it’ll be to searchers. Here’s what you need to know:
Your Keyword Usage Checklist
- Use your focus keyword once in the title tag, which is your headline.
- Incorporate the keyword in the opening paragraph of your blog post, ideally within the first 100 words.
- Use the keyword in subheadings (H2s) where it’s applicable.
- If possible, incorporate the keyword into a few sub-subheadings (H3s).
- Include the keyword throughout the body copy of your blog post. Just be sure to do this in a way that feels natural, never forced. And don’t go overboard. Reading your copy aloud will help you catch places your copy might sound cumbersome.
- Finally, add the keyword once in the closing paragraph (or conclusion).
By following these tips, you’ll be able to effectively use keywords for blog optimization without going overboard. It’ll take the guesswork out and ensure you avoid keyword stuffing.
2. Keep Blog Post Length Standards in Mind
The next important element of blog optimization that will come into play as you write is the length of your content. This brings us to the all-important question – how long should a blog post be?
Many bloggers have this question, but it does not necessarily have a perfect answer. According to data gathered by HubSpot, the ideal blog post length for SEO is between 2,100-2,400 words. On the other hand, Google’s John Mueller has previously said, “Word count is not indicative of quality.”
So, what’s a content creator to do? Well, the length of your post depends on the subject matter and the searcher’s intent. Not every blog post needs to be over 2,000 words. Sometimes you can communicate your point more concisely, while others need a higher word count. Consider the word count that will best cover your topic first. Then, think about your reader and their preferences. At the end of the day, it’s more about the quality rather than the number of words.
3. Don’t Forget Images and Keyword-Rich Alt Text
Images are a fantastic way to get your point across to readers. They’re also helpful for visual learners since they can break down more complex topics in a way that’s easy to understand. As you do this, you’ll want to add alt text to every single image.
Alt text (alternative text) is a description of your image. The description you write is displayed if your image doesn’t load for any reason. The vision-impaired and others who use screen readers will also know the gist of the image because their reader can decipher it. Additionally, you can get a bump in Google image search rankings by including your blog post’s focus keyword in your alt text.
4. Know How to Properly Format Your Blog Post
Did you know that formatting plays a role in the blog optimization process as well? If a reader visits your website and gets slammed with a gigantic block of text, they likely won’t stick around. Instead, they’ll leave your site immediately, which will send your bounce rate soaring. If you want to keep people on your site for a while, your content needs to be welcoming. Here’s how to do that:
- Keep your paragraphs short and sweet because it’s easier on the eyes.
- Use headers and subheads to organize your content and make it easier for readers to scan.
- Where applicable, incorporate bulleted or numbered lists.
5. Incorporate Conversion Techniques to Generate Clicks
There’s one final step to optimizing blog posts for SEO. And that is to wrap everything up with a powerful call to action (CTA). A CTA tells your reader what to do next now that they’ve finished reading your blog post.
Whenever possible, tie your CTA to the topic of the blog post. For example, a blog post that walks the reader through the process of starting an email list could feature a freebie with a few ideas of what to send for their first email.
You also want to take it up a notch and make your CTA as powerful as possible. Don’t just say, “Subscribe to my list for a freebie.” You want to tell them exactly what they’re getting when they join. Show them the benefit of being a subscriber – you want to make it sound irresistible.
2 Final Blog Optimization Steps Before Hitting Publish
Now that your blog post is written, you’re probably eager to hit that publish button and share your amazing work with the world. Before you do that, there are two things you want to make sure you’ve done to take your blog optimization to the next level.
1. Write Your Meta Description
You don’t want to overlook the all-important meta description. Because this is often one of the last pieces of the puzzle, it is easy to forget sometimes. If you’re not familiar with a meta description, here’s what you need to know:
- It contains the meta title, which is the main headline of your blog.
- And it features a short summary of your blog (within 320 characters). This summary is shown in Google’s SERPs to give people an overview of your blog post.
Writing a great meta description is simple since you’re just giving a quick explanation of your blog’s content. However, you want to make sure your meta features the focus keyword from your blog post since it’s an important ranking factor. Aim to naturally integrate your secondary keyword if you’ve chosen to use one.
2. For WordPress Users, Use Yoast SEO to Optimize
One of our favorite WordPress plugins at Express Writers is Yoast SEO. It’s become one of the top SEO plugins because it makes it incredibly easy to optimize your blog posts and web pages before you publish them. Yoast will rank your content based on technical SEO standards and show areas where you can make improvements. Meaning it’s easy to make changes that will increase ranking positions.
Its analysis looks for keywords in the title, outbound and internal links, images, keywords in the introduction, keyword density, keywords in the meta description, and more. Taking the extra few minutes to review Yoast’s suggestions could make or break the success of your blog post.
After the Post is Live (What to Do for Blog Optimization)
Keep in mind that even once the blog post is live, the work isn’t done. Instead of sitting back and obsessively checking your analytics, you need to be proactive about sending as much traffic to your brand new post as possible. While Google can certainly send a ton of people your way, you can implement some low-cost content promotion tactics that will attract even more readers.
Promoting Your Blog Post Without Breaking the Bank
Never be ashamed to promote your blog content. You’ve worked hard to create that content, and it deserves to be seen by its intended audience. If you want to drive traffic, consider promoting the post you’ve just carefully optimized through email marketing and your social media channels.
Send an Email Promoting Your Newest Blog Post
If you’ve already built an email list, then you’re in the perfect position to implement this tactic. Your subscribers are your ideal audience because they’ve already engaged with your brand by joining your list. Once they’ve signed up, you simply need to keep your list “warm” by sending out content regularly.
The easiest way is to promote each of your new blog posts after they’ve been published. The email itself doesn’t have to be long or overly complicated. It can be a simple summary with a link to the post. It’s enough to entice them and leave them wanting more. To make sure your email marketing efforts are effective, keep these best practices in mind:
- Use CoSchedule’s Email Subject Line Tester so you can generate a higher open rate.
- Summarize what the blog post is about and focus on the benefits your audience will receive from reading your post in its entirety. How will it solve their pain points? What are the main takeaways?
- Stick to the same schedule. By sending your emails on the same day and at the same time, it creates consistency for both you and your subscribers. Choose a time after your blog post has been published, then ensure your emails go out at that time each week.
Post about your new blog on social media
You likely have several social channels. Crossing posting about your blog on these channels can bring in a variety of new traffic. Especially if you’re switching up the posts for different platforms to meet your audiences where they’re at.
For example, you have limited characters on Twitter, so talk about your post quickly and then link to the blog. Or, if you have a large following on Facebook, be aware of how many words your audience can see on their timeline.
Don’t forget graphics. Images are more likely to catch your readers’ attention and pull them in. When used effectively during social media promotion, graphics can help you skyrocket your impressions.
What to Do Next for Your Blog Optimization
Blog optimization is critical for getting yourself recognized in the SERPs. By following the steps above and committing to a strategy that prioritizes your readers, you’ll have a stellar blog to help rake in organic traffic.
If content creation and blog optimization aren’t your strong suit or the time commitment seems like too much, don’t worry. You don’t have to manage it all alone. As a content writing agency, Express Writers is ready to help you outsource your content. Our experienced experts craft high-quality, valuable content to attract new readers and nurture the audience you’ve already grown. We understand SEO and blog optimization, so leave the heavy lifting to us.
To learn more about what we do, get in touch with our team today.
