How to Use Basic SEO for your Blog

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) isn't just for business sites and professional bloggers anymore. Learn how a few simple techniques can increase the traffic, and income potential, for your personal blog.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Before beginning to use basic SEO to improve your blog's page rank, you should first understand why it is a good thing to do. How high your blog ranks for search engines determines how easy it will be for new readers to find your blog by using a search engine. For example, if you are blogging about dirt bikes, you want people searching for "dirt bikes" or "dirt bike blog" to be able to find your blog. That will only happen if your page is search engine optimized, and has a high rank.

2. To use basic search engine optimization for your blog, you must first have an idea of who is reading your blog currently, and who you would like to eventually read your blog. Knowing your audience is an important step. You will need to know what your audience is looking for. For example, if you blog about food, your audience may be looking for recipes, product reviews, and stories about cooking.

3. Once you know what your audience is looking for, it is time to pick out your keywords. Keywords are what people type into search engines, such as Yahoo or Google, when they are looking for something. If someone is looking for a blog about a mom who works at home and has three kids, they might search for "mommy blog" "Work at home mom" "mom with three kids" or other similar phrases. The words in the quotation marks would be keywords, or key phrases, in this case. Figure out what words or phrases best fit your blog, and write them out in a list.

4. Use your keywords, where relevant, in your posts. If you blog about food, and your keywords include "Recipes" "Quick meals" and "Healthy Snacks" you should be sure to use them in your blog posts, if they fit. A post about healthy snack ideas should use the phrase "healthy snacks" 5-10 times, depending on how long the post is. Search engines will notice the extra use of "healthy snacks" and list that post in it's list of sites about healthy snacks.

5. Another basic SEO step for your blog is to use your keywords for post tags and for categories. Search engines put extra emphasis on the words and phrases used this way. You should also use your keywords in headings, post titles, and when naming pages.

6. Learn how to properly use links. Links are important for your site's search engine optimization. Search engines will notice links between sites. If you link to a site with a higher search engine rank than yours, your rank can go up a little. This depends on several factors, but it is always a good idea to link out to trustworthy sites. When you use links, be sure to use relevant words for the link itself. For example, if you were linking to another blog, and the post was titled "Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe," the linked text (where readers click to access the other site) should read "Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe" or something similar, not "this post" or "read it here." Extra weight is given to the linked text. Make it count.

7. Use pictures to improve your blog's search engine ranking. Pictures that are related to your topic, such as a baby on a mommy blog, can help your blog's rank. When picking out a title for a picture, choose something that relates to the post, because search engines use titles to figure out what the picture is of. "Pic1" or the number assigned by your digital camera won't help you. If your blogging platform (Wordpress, Blogger, ect.) allows you to use the "alt-tag" you should also make use of that for your keywords, if they apply. The same goes for your description field, if it is available.

8. Another basic SEO technique is to update regularly by posting often. Search engines like to put the most current results in their highest ranked positions. A blog that hasn't been updated in three months will probably not get the top spot. Regular posting also increases the amount of material, and keywords, on your site, improving your search engine rank even more.

Tips & Warnings

• Many of these tips can be used individually, but to get the best results, all of them should be taken advantage of.
• To learn more about SEO, please visit the resources section.
• SEO techniques do not work overnight. Even if all of these tips are used, it may take months, if not longer, for your site to move up towards the top of the ranking's lists. There is a lot of competition for almost all keywords. Be patient and keep at it, and eventually you will see an increase in your search engine traffic.
• It is possible to over-use these techniques. Use common sense. If it looks like too much, it probably is. Using any of these techniques in excess can actually hurt your search engine ranking. Think moderation.

Resources

• Search Engine Optimization All-in-One for Dummies
• Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day

[brate]

on 9/10/2009 True. I agree with your suggestion of carrying out the basic practices while blogging. But sometimes, these suggestions are limited to blogging and not for the whole internet marketing. I read your post, and open a blog where I used to present some articles regarding the advancements in the medicine, new research going on the field, and other relevant topics. It works fine to gain a continuous attention from the patients. But the same didn’t work much for the website that I created for my clinic. I was eventually required to hire an SEO company.Hiring someone to optimize your website would be a really good idea if you have a new website and/or business venture. Using the services of an experienced Offshore SEO company will give you exactly the results you need. SEO companies are trained to generate a steady continuous flow of quality traffic in order to achieve more revenue for your ...

[jfjones]

on 8/2/2009 Very good advice. It takes time to get to the top spot. 5*