Looking for a way to optimise SEO on your site while engaging your audience? In this post for digital marketers and blog publishers we share all of Google’s top secrets into how they rank blog pages based on the optimisation of your website. Read on to see what improvements you can make to your blog.
SEO Keyword Research for High SERP Ranking
When writing a blog many users tend to write the content first and make adjustments once they have the main block of text. For efficient and optimised blog content, however, you may want to use a keyword search volume tool to first see which keywords are searched for on Google the most. If your blog contains keywords with a high search volume, this means that it is more likely to appear higher ranked when users search for this term.
Some of our top picks for free search volume tools include Ahrefs and Wordstream:
As shown in the example above, you can simply enter your keyword, we chose “SEO” for this example. Then input your location and you will be shown the most searched for relating keywords.
It is also important to include both long tail and short tail keywords when writing your blog.
A short tail keyword should be something that is widely searched for and is no longer than 3 words. For example: SEO marketing.
A long tail keyword should be something that isn’t as widely searched for so that it is less of a competitive keyword to rank for on SERPs. For example: SEO agencies in London.
However Google de-ranks sites for “keyword stuffing” their sites. This generally means writing lots of keywords on a page without them making sense in a grammatical sentence structure. Or this can also mean overusing the same keyword too many times.
Keep your Target Audience in Mind
Writing to fit your target audience is a key factor in determining how many users visit your site. It also helps determine how many users stay on the page for the estimated length of the blog, and how many users go on to interact with your site and visit other pages.
Here are some of the main things to consider when identifying your target audience:
Are they professionals or consumers?
When writing for readers who may be professionals or work in your industry you can use vocabulary that is standard for the industry. You may also want to keep a more formal tone with this type of reader. In comparison to consumers, studies show consumers tend to prefer a more personal, informal tone. It is also beneficial to keep the wording fairly simplistic and the sentences short so that it is easy to read.
What is the majority demographic for your audience?
It is important to keep in mind whether the majority of your audience is male or female. This is so that you can adjust your tone of voice in your writing to suit either audience. Another factor to look out for are age groups. If the majority of your audience is 18-25 you may want to ensure your content is very up to date and includes topics that interest the younger generation. Whereas if your target age group is around 45-60+ you may choose to write about more throwback type topics to encourage a sense of nostalgia.
What are your audience’s interests?
You may find that if you work for a specific company that you customers will have a primary interest in your product but may have other interests that relate to what you are selling.
For example the company below sells a range of lighting products to consumers but publishes blogs on interior design trends. This is so that they can potentially expand their reach to a wider audience and recapture the attention of their existing audience.
Internal Links and Call to Actions
For digital marketers and bloggers alike, the main goal when writing site content is to keep the reader browsing on your site and to direct them to other pages on your site. This can be achieved through call to actions and internal linking.
A good example of this in an SEO context might be:
Click the link below and check out another one of our other digital marketing blogs for more information –
3 Quick SEO Tips to Supercharge Your Digital Marketing in 2021
Images and Alt Text
When selecting imagery for your blog it’s important to note that Google crawls new and original content before re-looking over older content. This will allow you to rank in SERPs faster if you constantly upload new imagery each time you post a new blog.
Original and high quality imagery is ranked highest by Google. Here are our top tips for keeping your imagery to a good standard when saving and editing them without slowing down the speed of your site:
- Size: 1000 x 1000 pixels
- Resolution: 72 DPI (dots per inch)
- Colour profile : sRGB
Alt text is also important for SERPs, the key words you include here can help your site rank on SERPs when users search for the similar term. Alt text is a description of the image which can be used by audio readers for users with impaired visibility, or for users who can’t see the image as it hasn’t loaded for them.
Here’s an example of alt text we used in this blog:
Is your blog SEO ready?
We hope we’ve helped get your blog SEO ready to rank at the top of SERPs like Google with all of our top tips. Make sure to follow us on Twitter for regular updates on new blogs we publish, with all the latest in the digital marketing world.
Alternatively if you’re looking for more helpful insights into the world of social media marketing instead of web marketing, check out one of our other articles: