Blog SEO: la guía definitiva de SEO para blogueros

principiantes
serpthrive.com /blog-seo/

Stanley Udegbunam 9 de marzo de 2023

¿Eres un blogger y deseas aprender a optimizar las publicaciones de tu blog para SEO?

Al optimizar sus publicaciones para SEO, puede mejorar su clasificación en los motores
de búsqueda, obtener más visibilidad y aumentar el tráfico del sitio.

En este artículo, lo guiaré a través de todo lo que necesita saber sobre Blog SEO con
consejos avanzados.

Estos son los mismos consejos que uso cuando trabajo como gerente de SEO para
hacer crecer y escalar las mejores marcas en los Estados Unidos a una valoración de
más de $ 1 millón.
Sin más preámbulos, comencemos.

¿Qué es el SEO para blogs?

Blog SEO está creando y optimizando publicaciones de blog, arquitectura y estética para
aumentar sus posibilidades de clasificarse en la parte superior de las páginas de
informes de motores de búsqueda (SERP).

Es un proceso que implica análisis de brechas de contenido, investigación de palabras

clave, creación de contenido, creación de enlaces internos y externos y optimización de
la velocidad de la página.

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En esta era moderna, todos crean y publican contenido para la web.

Como resultado, cada vez es más difícil posicionarse en la parte superior de las páginas
de informes de los motores de búsqueda.

Sin embargo, si sigue las prácticas estándar de SEO, su blog se destacará y se ubicará
en la parte superior de los principales motores de búsqueda.

Importancia del blog SEO

Bright Edge dice que el 65% de todas las experiencias en línea comienzan con un motor
de búsqueda.

En una encuesta reciente de 1016 blogueros, el 71 % afirma que los motores de

búsqueda son una fuente vital de tráfico orgánico.

Blog SEO es crucial por varias razones:

1. Aumenta la visibilidad

El SEO ayuda a que las publicaciones de su blog aparezcan más arriba en los resultados
de los motores de búsqueda, lo que hace que su contenido sea más visible para los
lectores potenciales.

Cuanto más alto sea el rango de las publicaciones de su blog, más clics y tráfico es
probable que reciba su sitio web.

2. Impulsa el tráfico orgánico

El SEO efectivo atrae tráfico orgánico (no pagado). Los usuarios que llegan a su sitio
web a través de resultados de búsqueda orgánicos generalmente buscan información o
soluciones que las publicaciones de su blog pueden proporcionar.

Esto puede aumentar las posibilidades de que estos usuarios interactúen con su
contenido o se conviertan en clientes.

3. Mejora la experiencia del usuario

Muchos aspectos del SEO, como la compatibilidad con dispositivos móviles, los tiempos
de carga rápidos y la navegación sencilla, contribuyen a una mejor experiencia del
usuario.

A good user experience can keep readers on your site longer, increasing the chances of
conversions and return visits.

4. Boosts Credibility and Authority

When your blog posts consistently rank high in search results, it helps to establish your
brand’s credibility and authority.

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Readers are more likely to trust and engage with content from sources that appear
authoritative.

5. Provides Insight into Your Audience

SEO tools and analytics can provide valuable insights about your audience, such as what
keywords they’re searching for, when they’re most active, and where they’re located.

You can use this information to optimize your content strategy and better cater to your
audience’s needs and preferences.

6. Cost-Effective Marketing

Unlike paid advertising, SEO doesn’t require a large budget.

While it does require time and effort, the long-term benefits of SEO, such as sustained
organic traffic and improved brand visibility, often outweigh the costs.

Industry Standard Blog SEO Practices

1. Conducting Keyword Research

Keyword research is a fundamental SEO practice that involves identifying popular words
and phrases people enter into search engines.

This knowledge helps business owners and bloggers to optimize their content around
these terms.
How to perform keyword research:

– Identify Relevant Keywords:

The first step of keyword research involves brainstorming a list of potential keywords that
are relevant to your niche or industry.

These should be terms you believe your target audience might use to search for the
content, products, or services that you offer.

– Use of Keyword Research Tools:

Keyword research tools are SEO software used to identify and analyze keywords that are
most relevant to a topic or business niche.

These tools can provide insights about keyword volume (how often a keyword is
searched for), competition and more.

Here are some popular keyword research tools:

a. Google Keyword Planner:

This is a free tool offered by Google as part of its Google Ads service.

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It provides information on search volumes for specific keywords, competition levels, and
can suggest related keywords that you might not have considered.

b. SEMrush:

SEMrush is a comprehensive SEO tool that offers a robust keyword research feature.

It can provide information about keyword volume, keyword difficulty, and long-tail
keywords.

SEMrush also allows you to check which keywords your competitors are ranking for.

c. Ahrefs:

Ahrefs is another all-in-one SEO tool.

Its keyword explorer provides data on keyword volume, keyword difficulty, click-through
rates, and more.

Like SEMrush, Ahrefs also allows you to see what keywords your competitors are ranking
for.

d. Ubersuggest:

Ubersuggest is a free tool that provides keyword suggestions based on your seed
keyword. It provides information about search volume, SEO difficulty, paid difficulty, and
cost per click.

e. AnswerThePublic:

This is a unique tool that visualizes search questions and suggested autocomplete
searches in an image called a search cloud. It’s great for finding long-tail keywords and
questions related to your main keyword.

These tools can be a great help in finding the right keywords for your content,
understanding your competition, and aligning your content strategy with what people are
actually searching for.

– Analyse Search Intent:

Modern keyword research also involves understanding search intent, or why people are
searching for certain terms. This helps to ensure that the content you create effectively
satisfies your audience’s needs.

– Evaluate Competition:

A key part of keyword research is evaluating how difficult it might be to rank for certain
keywords.

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This typically involves looking at the websites and content that are currently ranking for
these terms and assessing whether you can compete with them with regard to brand
authority, expertise and domain rating.

– Selection and Implementation:

The final step is to select a mixture of broad, specific, and long-tail keywords that are
relevant and achievable, then strategically incorporate these into your content.

Through continuous monitoring and adjusting, keyword research informs a strategic

approach to creating and optimizing online content.

The ultimate goal of keyword research is to match your content with the queries your
target audience is searching for, thereby driving relevant traffic to your site.

2. Create Effective Blog Post Titles

This is the first thing a reader sees on search engines before clicking on the blog post.

The title of your blog post is extremely important for search rankings.

While a good post title attracts the attention of readers, bad titles repel readers and
search engines.

Here are some steps to help you craft a good blog post title:

i. Make It Relevant and Descriptive:

Ensure your title accurately reflects the content of your post. Misleading titles can lead to
high bounce rates, which can negatively impact your search engine rankings.

ii. Use Your Main Keyword:

Include your target keyword or phrase in the title to help search engines understand what
your content is about. Place it towards the beginning of the title, if possible.

iii. Keep It Concise:

Search engines truncate long titles, and lengthy titles may also be less attractive to
readers. Aim for a title of about 60 characters.

iv. Make It Catchy:

To grab the reader’s attention, use powerful and emotive words. Numbers, how-tos,
questions, and “the best” or “the top” phrases can often engage the reader’s curiosity.

v. Write For Your Readers, Not Just Search Engines:

While including keywords is essential, it’s equally important to make your title appealing
and engaging to human readers.

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vi. Promise Value:

Your title should communicate what value the reader will gain from your blog post.

Whether it’s learning a new skill or gaining insights into a topic, make sure the benefit is
clear.

vii. Test Different Titles:

Sometimes, the first title you come up with might not be the most effective one.

Don’t hesitate to tweak and test different versions to see what works best.

viii. Use Title Generators for Inspiration:

If you’re stuck, title generators can help kickstart your creativity.

Tools like Fat Joe’s Blog Title Headline Generator and Ryrob’s Blog Title Generator can
provide a multitude of ideas based on your keyword.

See SERPThrive Guide: How to Write Catchy Blog Titles that Generate Clicks

3. Write Descriptive Meta Descriptions

A meta description is a brief summary, typically between 150 and 155 characters, that
describes the content of a webpage.

In the context of a blog post, the meta description gives potential readers a quick
overview of the post’s content before they decide to click on it. It appears beneath the title
of your page in search engine results.

When crafting a meta description:

Use Action-Oriented Language: Encourage readers to take action with verbs like
“discover,” “learn more,”read more” or “get”.
Include Your Primary Keyword: Although not a direct ranking factor, it reinforces
the topic of your content.
Give Heads-up: Clearly state what benefit the reader will gain from your post.
Keep It Succinct: Try to limit your description to 155 characters or less to avoid
being cut off in search results.

4. Add Images and Videos to Your Blog Content

Visual content like images and videos can make your blog post more engaging and
interesting, leading to lower bounce rates and longer dwell time – both positive signals to
search engines.

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Visuals also help break down complex information making it easier for readers to
understand your content. This enhances the user experience and increases social
shares.

Images and videos also provide extra opportunities to use your keywords in a natural
way.

You can add keywords to the file name, alt text, title, description, and caption of an image.
With videos, you can optimize the title, description, and tags.

When adding images and videos to your blog posts:

– Use High-Quality Visuals: Use high-resolution images and HD videos. Avoid blurry or
pixelated visuals.
You can use free stock photo platforms like Pixabay or access high-quality images on
paid platforms like Shutterstock.

Read more: 13 Best Paid and Free Stock Photo Websites for Bloggers

– Compress Files: Large files can slow down your website’s load time, negatively
impacting your SEO. Use tools to compress your images and videos without losing
quality.

If you’re a WordPress user, then see SERPThrive guide on the 7 Best WordPress Image
Compression Plugins.

– Use Relevant Visuals: Ensure the visuals you use are relevant to your content.
Irrelevant visuals can confuse your readers and search engines.

– Add Alt Text: The alt text is used by search engines to understand the content of an
image. Include your main keywords in the alt text.

– Consider Load Time: Videos can slow down your page load time. Consider hosting
your videos on platforms like YouTube or Vimeo and embedding them into your post.

These are all the key points to consider when adding images and videos to your blog
content.

You can read more about image optimization here: 13 Important Tips to Optimize Images
for SEO

5. Add Internal Links to Your Content

Internal links are hyperlinks that point to another blog post or page on the same website.

They help establish an information hierarchy for the given website and spread link equity
(ranking power) around websites.

Here’s why internal links are important for Blog SEO:

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i. Improved Website Navigation:

Internal links guide visitors through your website, helping them discover more content and
improving the overall user experience.

If you’ve been actively reading this article, then you’ll observe I’ve been pointing to other
helpful guides on SERPthrive with internal links to give you more value and to solidify
your learning.

ii. Enhanced Content Relevance:

By linking related articles together, you help search engines understand the context and
relevance of your content. This helps boost the SEO performance of your blog posts.

iii. Increased Page Authority:

Internal linking spreads link equity throughout your site.

By linking to a less popular blog post from a high-traffic page, you can boost the former’s
visibility and ranking.

iv. Lowered Bounce Rates:

Remember bounce rate is a ranking factor for search engines.
Now consider two different health and fitness blog posts on weight loss:

– One with helpful internal links on a blog post for readers to learn more about similar
weight loss topics like weight loss supplements, and weight loss meal planning.

– The other with just the main topic and no internal links.

Which of these two blog posts will have a lower bounce rate?
I’m certain you know the answer.

By providing relevant internal links, you can keep visitors engaged longer increasing the
visibility of related posts thus reducing your website’s bounce rate.

When implementing internal links:

Be Relevant: Only link to relevant pages that top up the overall value of the blog post.

Use Descriptive Anchor Text: The clickable text (anchor text) should describe the linked
page. Avoid linking with generic phrases like “click here.”

Don’t Overdo It: Too many internal links can make your content hard to read. Aim for a
balance.

By employing a strategic internal linking structure, you can significantly improve your
blog’s SEO, making it easier for both users and search engines to navigate your website.

6. Add External Links to Your Content

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These are links in your content that lead readers to other websites.

While it might seem counterintuitive to direct your audience elsewhere, these external
links have several benefits for your blog’s SEO:

By linking to authoritative, relevant sources, you demonstrate to both your audience and
search engines that your content is well-researched and trustworthy.

It supports your arguments and provides additional valuable information to your readers.
Just like internal links, only point external links to relevant content, use descriptive anchor
texts and avoid excessive external linking.

One more thing,

Check Regularly for Broken Links: They can harm your site’s SEO and user
experience. Regularly review and update your external links to ensure they’re still active
and relevant.

7. Use Short and Readable URL Slugs

URL slugs are the exact address of a specific blog post and are essential for effective
SEO.

A clear and descriptive URL slug helps users understand what the page is about before
they click on it.
The URL slug of this post is: https://serpthrive.com/blog-seo/
From 1st glance, you can guess what the post is all about without visiting the page.

Shorter URL slugs are easier to copy, paste, and share. They look better in social media
posts and are less likely to break.

When creating URL slugs for Blog SEO:

– Keep It Short and Descriptive: Your URL slug should clearly indicate the content of
your page. Make it short, but not at the expense of clarity.

– Use Your Primary Keyword: Incorporate the main keyword of your blog post in the
URL slug. This tells both users and search engines what the page is about.

– Avoid Special Characters and Unnecessary Punctuation: Stick to lowercase letters,

numbers, and hyphens. Avoid using spaces, underscores, or other special characters.

– Don’t Overstuff Keywords: While it’s beneficial to include keywords, overdoing it can
lead to penalization. Your URL slug should sound natural and easy to read.

– Limit the Use of Stop Words: Words like “and,” “or,” “but,” “the,” “a,” and “in” are often
ignored by search engines. Removing them can make your URL slug cleaner and easier
to read.

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8. Properly Format Your Blog Post
Formatting your blog post content properly is crucial for blog SEO. Here’s how to do it:

– Use Headers and Subheaders:

Headers (H1, H2, H3, etc.) not only make your content easier to read, but they also help
search engines understand the structure of your page.

Include your main keyword in your H1 (title) and relevant keywords in your subheadings
where possible.

– Utilize Bullet Points and Numbered Lists:

These can make complex information easier to digest.

Presenting information in a list format enhances readability and makes key points stand
out.

– Incorporate White Space:

White space around your text and between paragraphs can make your content easier to
read. It can also increase reader engagement and comprehension.

– Shorten Paragraphs and Sentences:

Long paragraphs and sentences can make your content harder to read. Aim for short,
concise sentences and paragraphs of 2-3 sentences each.

– Use Bold and Italics Sparingly:

Use these to highlight important points, but use them sparingly to avoid cluttering your
content.

– Use a Readable Font Size and Type:

Ensure your text is easy to read on all devices.

See Complete Guide: How to Properly Format Blog Posts.

9. Optimize Blog Posts for Featured Snippets

A featured snippet is a summary of an answer to a user’s query, which is displayed

directly on the Google search results page. It’s extracted from a webpage and includes
the page’s title and URL.

Being featured in this prime real estate can greatly enhance your blog’s visibility and click-
through rate.
Apart from properly formatting your blog post, here are other ways to optimize your
content for featured snippets.

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– Answer Specific Questions: Featured snippets often respond to specific questions.
Identify common questions in your niche and answer them clearly in your content.

– Use Structured Data: Structured data, or schema markup, can help Google
understand the content and context of your page, making it easier for them to feature it as
a snippet.

– Aim for High Rankings: While you don’t need to be the top result to get a featured
snippet, it helps to be on the first page. Continue to follow SEO best practices to improve
your overall ranking.

– Keep Answers Concise: Google typically favors short, direct answers for featured
snippets. Aim to concisely answer questions in around 40-60 words.

10. Add CTAs to Blog Post

Every blog post has a purpose. This purpose usually depends on the type of search
intent.

A CTA can prompt readers to engage with your content in ways that send positive signals
to search engines, such as increasing dwell time, reducing bounce rate, or generating
social shares. Here’s how to effectively add CTAs for blog SEO:

– Position Your CTA Effectively:

Where you place your CTA can significantly impact its effectiveness.

It can be at the end of the blog post, in the middle of the content, or even an exit intent
pop-up. Experiment and see what works best for your audience.

– Make Your CTA Relevant and Contextual:

The more relevant your CTA is to the blog post content, the more likely your readers are
to take action.

For example, if your blog post is about gardening tips, your CTA could be an invitation to
download a free gardening guide.

-Use Persuasive, Action-Oriented Language:

Your CTA should be compelling and urge your readers to take immediate action.

Using verbs like “Download”, “Subscribe”, “Buy”, or “Register” followed by the value they’ll
get can be effective.

– Make Your CTA Stand Out:

Ensure your CTA is visually striking and easy to spot. This could be achieved by using
contrasting colors, large fonts, or eye-catching designs.

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– Test and Optimize Your CTAs:

Measure the effectiveness of your CTAs through clicks, conversions, or other metrics.

Experiment with different placements, wordings, and designs, and optimize based on your
findings.

While CTAs don’t directly affect SEO, they can lead to improved user engagement and
better behavioral metrics, which are important ranking factors.

Plus, they serve as a bridge between your blog content and the next step in your reader’s
journey, whether that’s subscribing to a newsletter, making a purchase, or downloading a
resource.

11. Create Blog Sitemap

For your blog posts to appear on Google, the post must first be indexed by the Google
search engine.

Google bot is responsible for crawling sites and indexing all discovered URLs.

However, it’s not perfect as some posts usually get left out in the automatic indexing
process.

To make it super easy for Google to crawl and index all of your posts, it’s recommended
you use a sitemap.

A sitemap is simply a list that links to all of your posts and pages.

The sitemap is then submitted to search engines, and because it contains all your site
links, the search engine bot automatically has access to all your URLs making it easier for
them to be crawled and indexed.

Many SEO plugins like RankMath, Yoast and AIOSEO will automatically create a sitemap
for you.

Personally, I use RankMath to create and generate the sitemap of this site.

So if you don’t have a sitemap, create one using an SEO plugin and submit it to search
engines for faster indexing and better site visibility.

12. Ensure Your Blog is Mobile Responsive

Mobile responsiveness is crucial for blog SEO as 66% of all website traffic comes from
mobile devices.
As more people are accessing the internet through mobile devices, search engines like
Google have adopted a mobile-first indexing policy.

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This means they predominantly use the mobile version of your content for indexing and
ranking.

How to Make Your Blog Mobile Responsive:

– Use a Responsive Design: Choose a blog theme that is designed to be responsive.

This means it will automatically adjust the layout based on the screen size and
orientation.

Over the years, I’ve tested various WordPress themes for speed and responsiveness and
DIVI by elegant themes tops the list as the best WordPress theme for bloggers.

Theme Review Guide: 13 Best WordPress Themes of 2023

– Optimize Images: We’ve talked about this earlier. Always ensure that your images are
not too large as they can slow down your page loading speed.

– Implement a Mobile-Friendly Menu: A simplified menu will make it easier for mobile
users to navigate your site.

Test Your Site: Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to see if your site is mobile-
responsive and to identify any issues.

13. Track Relevant SEO Metrics

Blog SEO is all about taking action and measuring the impact of these actions using
relevant SEO metrics.

Don’t just publish a blog post and forget about it.

Rather, use basic tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics to track the
performance of your blog posts over time.

Here are some important SEO metrics these tools provide and their meanings:

A. Google Search Console Metrics:

– Total Clicks: This is the total number of clicks from a Google search results page to
your website. It’s an important metric as it directly correlates to organic search traffic.

– Total Impressions: Impressions are counted when your website appears in search
results viewed by a user, regardless of whether or not they click on your website. It gives
you an idea of your site’s visibility.

– Click-Through Rate (CTR): CTR is the percentage of impressions that resulted in a

click. A higher CTR can indicate compelling content or effective meta descriptions.

– Position: This is the average position of your website in search results when it’s shown.
The lower the number, the higher your site is on the search results page.

B. Google Analytics Metrics:

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– Organic Search Traffic: This is the number of visitors who arrive at your site through a
search engine’s organic results. It’s a key indicator of the effectiveness of your SEO
efforts.

– Bounce Rate: This is the percentage of single-page visits where the user left your site
without interacting further. A high bounce rate might indicate irrelevant content or poor
user experience.

– Pages Per Session: This measures the average number of pages viewed during a
session. More pages per session often indicate more engaging content.

– Average Session Duration: This is the average length of a session. Longer session
durations suggest that visitors are spending more time engaging with your content.

Final Thoughts on Blog SEO

Google processes at least 3.5 billion search queries per day but only 0.63% of these
Google searchers clicked on anything from the second page. Literally, everyone gets
answers to their queries on Google’s 1st page.

In fact, moving up in ranking just one spot on the SERP increases the click-through rate
by 2.8%.

Considering these stats, you can see that ranking on Google’s 1st page for important
keywords is like a gold mine with endless benefits.
I use the Blog SEO tips shared here to rank this site and hundreds of other sites for
brands and businesses while working as an SEO Manager for a US-based agency.

And I do hope you apply these tips to increase your site’s traffic and stand out from the
crowd.

Till we meet again on another article,

Happy blogging.

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