September 10, 2021

I’m not sure if it’s because I started working on SEO 15 years ago or if it’s because old habits die hard, but I’m still a firm believer that the best way to increase the search engine rank position (SERP) of your website is with backlinks. Over the past 5-6 years though, I can honestly say that I’ve come around to the fact that adding fresh content to your website via a blog is a very close second. In fact, one of my favourite SEO Follows has ranked “Consistent Publication of Engaging Content” as his #1 Google Algorithm Ranking Factor for the past 3 years.

So what does that mean? Basically it means that if you don’t regularly update your website with fresh, engaging and useful content, chances are your website won’t rank very well on search engines. How often to update your blog, how long each blog needs to be and the best topics are always up for debate, but there are some surefire ways to optimize your blogs for search engines.

1. Use Proper Headings

Proper headings and sub-headings help your readers understand what the next portion of your blog is about. It also allows people who “skim” through blogs a way to scroll to a portion they’re interested in and quickly get the information they need. Ideally headings would use proper HTML heading format, have a Bold font weight and possibly use a different font family to stand out.

2. Customize Your Title & META Description Tags

You might consider this one a “no-brainer” but be sure to optimize your Title and META description tags for each blog post. If your website is built using the content management system WordPress, there are a couple of great plugins out there which make this incredibly simple. Yoast SEO and All-In-One SEO plugins are the best of the bunch I’ve used.

3. Add Photos to Break Up Content

See what I did there? Not only are photos a good way to give the reader a break from line after line of text but you can also optimize them for search using the “alt” or alternative text tag. Whether you’re using alt text for SEO purposes or web accessibility it’s a great way to create a better user experience for your visitors.

4. Include Keywords in Headings & Text

Always include the “focus keyword or keyphrase” of the blog in your headings and paragraph text when possible and appropriate. For example, the focus keyphrase of this blog is “optimizing blogs for search engines” so I’ve done my best to work that or a variation of that within the content of the blog. Be sure not to force or overdo it though as it could actually hurt your search rankings.

5. Backlink to Previous Blogs or Web Pages

While this particular strategy may not directly help the search engine ranking of the blog you’re currently working on, it will help past blogs. This linking strategy is called “internal linking” and not only do search engines like it but readers will as well. Search engines like it because it helps them better categorize what topics previous blogs covered. Readers like it because it’s a quick link to additional information about a topic they may already be interested in. Similar to the “include keywords” strategy above, try not to overdo it. A 300-500 word blog shouldn’t include more than 8-10 links.