SEO Tips for Blogs
SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimisation. It basically means making your website, blog or post easy to read by search engines so it shows up higher on the page when certain keywords are searched.
If you want your blog to get more traffic, it’s important you understand SEO and how to change a few things about how you write posts, use images and URLS to drive more search engine traffic to your site. There are tonnes of bloggers out there and with everyone fighting to get to the top, a good understanding of Search Engine Optimisation is a must for getting your blog to the top.
There are many ‘black hat‘ ways to increase your page rank, such as buying links, using fake key words, invisible text, cloaking, etc. Black hat techniques can result in your blog’s rank being reduced, or even eliminated from the search database all together. Let’s stay away from that and talk about some of the honest ways of getting your blog to the top of Google’s search pages!
These tips are written with blogger and blogspot accounts in mind, as that is what I use, but may be tailored to other blog services, such as wordpress.
These tips are written with blogger and blogspot accounts in mind, as that is what I use, but may be tailored to other blog services, such as wordpress.
The Basics of SEO for Blogs.
I’ve always known the basics of SEO, when researching about it these are the things I found time and time again:
- Great Content. Great content keeps people engaged and coming back, also means your readers are more likely to link back to your blog which help your page rank.
- Social Networking. Sharing your own content to social networking sites such as Twitter, Google+ and Facebook can result in more traffic, comments and followers.
- Popular Post Widget. Getting a new visitor on your blog is great, but will they read more posts? Or just the one and leave your site? Having a popular or ‘related posts’ widget on your side bar or at the bottom of your post can mean the reader will read more posts by you, reducing the bounce rate of your blog and increasing the chance of them sharing your content.
- Guest Blogging. Guest blogging on relevant sites is a great way to build links, and also generate new traffic from the followers of the blog. The higher the page rank of the blog you are guest posting on, the more beneficial it will be for your blog. It is much more valuable to have your link on a few high ranking sites, than lots of lower ranking sites.
- Have a Guest Blogger. You can turn guest bloggers around and have guest bloggers on your site – not only does this mean more content, but most bloggers will link the post (your site) on their blog or tweet about their guest post. Just insure the guest post is relevant to your niche and of good quality to keep your readers interested.
- Keywords. Having your keywords in subheadings, bold, italics or underlined is much more powerful to engines than plain keywords.
- Keyword Repetition. Repeating keywords a few times in the post is a way to get it higher on the search engine, but be careful not to over use them as if it looks unnatural, it can ruin your content and put off your audience.
My Favourite Tips.
I have come across a few other tips lately that have REALLY helped me with my blog SEO. These tips are not as commonly shared – but are very effective. To save you time searching for the best way to make your blog search engine friendly, I’ve compiled the most useful ones for you.
1) Alt text in images.
I went almost a year without putting any alt text in the images on my blog. It is very easy to do and means that search engines can tell what your image is about so it will come up in google image searches.
Click on your image and then click ‘properties’.
Simply enter the description into the box.
My photos come up first and third for ‘perfect tartan dress’ in google image search. Before that they were not on there at all.
2) Optimising your URL.
Optimise your URL so that it contains your key words. If you want to write a post about ‘blogging tips’, for example, you should think about what you would search for if you were looking for blogging tips. ‘Check out these cool tips’ might be a cool title, but it won’t rank as high as ‘blogging tips for beginners’ or ‘blogging tips for fashion blogs’. You can ensure your URL contains these words on blogger by making sure they are in your title – as your URL reflects the title of your post. If you want to retain a different, more vague or quirky title, you can always publish your post as the SEO friend title, then a couple of minutes later edit the posts title. This way your URL will stay the same, but your post title will change.
If you look here, my URL is different from my title.
3) Link your old posts in new posts.
When linking old posts in your new blog posts, the key is to make sure they are relevant to your post, and also use key words as the link. This helps your SEO and also helps reduce your bounce rate as readers are more likely to click on the related old posts. If you can’t think of any old posts to link to, don’t force it. If it doesn’t look natural, leave it without.
Do you have any tips that I haven’t mentioned here? Please share them in the comments!
Edited version of my post on Blogger Forums.
Linking up with
i get it,SEO
thank you for sharing this and wish you have a nice day
maybe you can check my new post and share beauty:
http://me-poppy.blogspot.com/2014/01/be-happy-every-day.html
This was very useful, thanks! I forget to put text with my images. I’m going to start adding it. x
Louisa @ My Family & Abruzzo
Brilliant post!
http://www.thefashionstirfry.com
Great tips in the beginning I always added than I totally forgot to do that step until you did this amazing post and remind me now I need to start doing that again thanks doll. Have a great weekend.
http://tifi11.blogspot.com
nice post! 🙂 thanks for sharing!
Visit my blog: I AM JENNIYA
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This us such a useful post, I am going to use the second last one about changing the post title ..
I am inviting you to enter phone covers giveaway
http://www.beingbeautifulandpretty.com/2014/01/spice-up-your-phone-giveaway.html?m=0
Kisses
http://www.beingbeautifulandpretty.com
This is totally new for me. I must learn a lot about how to improve my blog. Thanks for the tips, Corinne. Please, if you know how to add the name of your blog in a commentary with a link I would be very pleased. Thank you. Kisses:)
Use this code :
< a href=”http://petitcolibri.blogspot.co.uk/”>Petit Colibrí< /a>
But with out the spaces after the <. I had to put them in so it showed the code, rather than the link =)
thanks for the tips!
Nameless Fashion Blog
Nameless Fashion Blog Facebook page
Great post!
Have a good weekend!
vgolove1.blogspot.ru
I just realized I dont put any text on the images lol! See, I think I still have too much to learn!:) Your post is very useful Corinne, I never will be good with this stuff!!^^’ Kisses dear! xo
Wow!! Corinne thank you so much for this tutorial. Great post. Helpful post. I didn’t knew half of it. It comes very handy, thank you so much again sweetie.
Happy weekend to you
xox
Lenya
FashionDreams&Lifestyle
I really seek SEO in everything I am gonna post on blog . These tips are easier and helpful . High five , Corinne!
Noor @ Noor’s Place
Thanks for the tips! As a beginner blogger, I’m still trying to get the hang of these things and your advice is super helpful!
I’m glad you found them helpful – good luck with your blog!
It’s very useful information! Thanks for sharing:)
http://fairyland111.blogspot.com/
These are great tips sweetie!! Thank you for sharing!! <3
Diana
http://www.ManhattanImageandStyle.com
New Outfit Post: Winter Red
Great post, very helpful!
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Hope you’ve had a good week. Thanks for the tips. I need all the help I can get x
Saying hi from friday’s fab favorites; thx for the tips; I like the adding text to pictures tip! Xo, Elif
http://theboxqueen.com
Very useful tips! I always rename my photos, it’s so good to do so!
Mademoiselle-Lala.com
Hi Corinne,
This is such a helpful post as I never knew half of these tips, especially about adding alt text in images so will definitely be doing that from now on.
Thanks for the advice!
Lauren x anauburnaccessory.com
Corinne, these were absolutely awesome! I had to learn a lot of these the hard way. LOL No one would explain, which I think was a pity. Awesome ideas, tips & post!
http://www.averysweetblog.com/
nice post!!! xoxo
blythelifestyle.blogspot.com
oh my gosh this is so helpful! Thanks so much for sharing, I’ve bookmarked this page <3
http://www.myladyboudoir.blogspot.co.uk
This was a very useful post,
thank you so much for sharing!
Lot of greetings,
Eva
http://nicovabeauty.blogspot.co.at/
Thanks, Corinne, this is a really helpful post! 🙂
x
Heidi @ Box Of Various
Great tips! We should not ignore the SEO!
http://www.minsbeautyequipment.com
Wow dear this is very nice post!
love you and your blog very much♥
have a nice day 🙂
New post on my blog
http://bfshion.blogspot.co.il/
These are great tips Corinne and a brilliant post. I did not know about the bold italic thing. Thank you for sharing
wow so cool!
maybe we can follow each other? let me know! <3 http://exality.blogspot.com/
I’ll check your blog out!
Corinne I really have to thank you, I didn’t know ANY of these tips!, I’ll start from tomorrow!!!
Don’t Call Me Fashion Blogger
Facebook
Bloglovin’
Great post!
And lovely blog!
If you like,visit mine 🙂
Kiss
Paolo
great tips, Thanks!
http://www.thebeautifulessence.com
Thanks. Great info!
Alessia
THECHILICOOL
FACEBOOK
Kiss
Great post!
kiss
http://piubuonepiubelle.blogspot.it/
these are GREATT tips!! going to have to add a few things to my blog now! haha thanks for sharing!
http://www.thestylebender.com
These are very helpful tips.
Nice blog hun.
Beautetude
Nice tips sweetie.
I love your blog 🙂
Very, very helpful! Bookmarking this for future use. Thank you for these, and for your lovely comment on my blog 😉
Alicia
damn, i needed this! thank you, corinne!! 😀 i’ve been wondering of late about seo and what i need to do if i wanted in on its “magick” …and now i know! you’re TOO awesome.
RC: everything i post is original work unless otherwise stated, babydoll. and wine – red or white? i know it might seem a little weak but i am absolutely in love with muscato!! yum.
those are AWESOME tips! so glad you shared these with us!
I’m glad you shared this! I didn’t know how to alt text in images and now I’m planning on using this in my posts. Thank you!
THANKS FOR THIS.:D
This is so helpful! Thanks so much! I’ve been blogging for years now and still only have 20 followers — it’s not a tragedy, but I would love it if others would peek and my blog and the work I put into it 🙂
I left you a message on your blog about how to build a bit of a follower, I hope it helps! I don’t see why you don’t have more, you have some great blog posts, it’s just about getting seen!
Hello Corinne! Firstly, great post!! Useful, wise and generous! I like the alt text idea for photos! Secondly, NICE tartan dress! I love a bit of tartan, all stems from my red tartan trousers obsession in the 90’s!!!
Regarding getting traffic to my site, I’ve been blogging almost 9 years and I would love other readers BUT I have the dilemma that I am a teacher and I really don’t want my pupils or their parents finding my blog end annoyingly, my blog url is my name!!! Bit thick when I first set it up!!! Could I change my url name to something more anonymous easily within losing my very modest 120 readers or losing my content? Not sure what to do really!!! Lovely to meet you and your blog!! X
I think the best thing to do would be to buy a URL from godaddy, they are really cheep! Mine cost about £4 for the year. Then you add it to your blog. You’ll keep everything on your blog, it’s just that the URL will be different – and even better, when somebody types in the URL you have now, it will automatically redirect them to your new URL!
Brilliant tips, thanks for sharing 🙂
No problem!
I never knew any of this! Thanks so much x
very helpful your tips! I will definetly follow ’em
http://mygenerouslife.blogspot.com/
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yes.I wanted this type blog. Thanks for your blog. I have idea about SEO.High PR Dofollow Social Bookmarking Sites List 2014
Thanks for the tips! I really need to start doing that alt image thing!
Katie 🙂
thesavvystyler1.blogspot.ie
Great tips, I’m definitely gonna start adding text to my images to see if it makes a noticeable difference!!
This is such a helpful post as I never knew half of these tips, especially about adding alt text in images so will definitely be doing that from now on. seo exeter
Thanks for this – so helpful! Now to go back through my posts and actually add some text to my images…oops! 🙂
xx
Really helpful! Thanks so much for the tips!
CassandraMyee | Beauty | Fashion | Life
Just found this 😀 Great tips they will really come in handy 😀 Thank you so much darling! ^_^ xx
I don’t know how I’ve only just found this post but thank you SO much! I didn’t even know what SEO was until tonight and your post has helped so much, so thank you 😀
You’re such a gem for posting this!
Alex xx
Hi Corinne, thank you for your comment on my blog, as it lead my to yours. You have some really interesting posts and I am looking forward to following you in the future. Keep up the good work
-Erin
http://erins-everafter.blogspot.co.uk/
No problem, Erin! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
YAY! I’m so glad someone reminded me that you had done an SEO post. I am definitely going to take note and change the way I do certain things to optimize me ranking!
Thank you
Rebecca xxx
http://www.queenbeady.com
I know this is an old post but I stumbled on it and wanted to say these are really useful tips. I’ve been updating the wrong thing on my photos on blogger hahaha. Plus I never thought to change the url to be so simple, I’ve been using ones similar to the post title! Xxx
I can’t believe I just read this. This is really helpful and clear. Thank you!
V