13 Tips On Writing An SEO Friendly Blog Post

Blogger, Blog and how to write a blog post. Pretty easy words, right? Indeed, the latter two words can be very easy as well as super difficult. It all depends,  and we will find out in this article.

Well, not to mention that today’s post was supposed to be on my “organized coat closet”, but the darn paint job is taking a little longer than expected. I found this to be to my advantage to write about how to write a blog post per SEO. I remember promising that to some of you.

At the beginning of my blogging journey, all I thought was that you write whatever the heck you want and this is how you blog. Well, yes you can call it blogging, but it is a personal journal entry type of blog. Not the one you would like to monetize. In my opinion, if you are in the web world you definitely want other people’s attention.  Like, “Hey, I am here and want to be noticed”. Or, “Come, find me.” Am I right? Otherwise, you can just buy a $10 journal and write the story of your life and call it a night.

So, You Want To Be Noticed By Google

Now, it’s clear that you are here (in “Google-land”) and you want to be noticed. Perhaps you don’t have a budget to advertise at the beginning of your blogging. Hence, you pay attention to the technical side of blogging to improve your skills to show up on the first page of Google search. Not every single blogger starts the blog with all these things in mind. Once you start to write a blog post, then you realize the need for learning all the important factors. I am still learning about SEO, but by following these steps I am going to share with you, I am preparing my site for a better future each day.

The Steps On How To Write A Blog Post Per SEO

Below are the easy steps you need to keep in mind on how to write a perfect blog post very well while keeping SEO (Search Engine Optimization)in mind in order to show up in SERP (Search Engine Results Page). As a result, you will get great traffic to your site. So, shall we start?

1- Select Target Keywords/Key-phrases

The first step in how to write an attention grabber blog post is to pick a keyword and synonyms. Use that keyword in your title, meta description, and your blog post URL.  In other words, your slug. Besides that, include the target keywords throughout your content naturally, but don’t’ overdo it. Try your best to Include them in your subheadings as well, as Google loves it. Repeat that at least in a few of the headings. I use Keywords Everywhere, and Ubersuggest. Both are amazing sites, but my favorite is Ubersuggest.

Ubersuggest is created by Neil Patel. He is the guy I am learning from, and his tips are amazing. Here is his website full of knowledge.

2- Pick A Catchy Title To Attract The Readers

The title is the first thing which helps a reader to decide whether they are going to continue to read or leave your site as it’s the first impression, so take it seriously. It’s hard for new bloggers, but do not worry. Everyone starts from somewhere.  A clever tip for you is to read magazines in your niche and pick your titles. Write them down right away. Magazines always have really good titles and some are shocking, and shocking titles are not a bad idea anyway. Put a number in front of your title, like “13 Steps to write an SEO friendly blog post”. Your tile should not exceed 55-60 characters. Include your keywords into your title.

Use H1 to write your title. That’s the only time you get to use H1. I, in fact, use H1 at the end as well when I insert my Pinterest graphics. It’s optional though. Speaking of Pinterest graphics, if you missed my post on that, here it is:

How to make Viral Pinterest images for free

Best tool to optimize your SEO title 

3- The Slug, Or URL Of Your Post

Slug is the URL for your post not for your blog. If you look above in the search bar,  you can see the URL for this blog post. Make your URL short, and make sure you do that manually, because usually URL is auto-generated, so pay attention. Make sure you don’t use stop words or at least keep stop words to a minimum.  Here is a great list of stop words for you.

For example, for this blog post, and if you look above in the search bar, I have manually optimized my URL.  It should not be too long.  Although it’s not a big ranking factor,  with everything, it adds up when it comes to optimization.  

If you change your URL once the post is published, then 301 redirect is your best friend. Otherwise, you are going to find broken links all over the web and nobody wants that.

4- Meta Description

The meta description is very important when writing a great and optimized blog post. If you don’t write your own meta description, then Google will pick whatever it can out of your content, and I don’t think it’s a good idea. The length of the meta description should not exceed 156 Characters.  It’s, in fact, a short summary of your entire post to show up in the SERP.

5- An Introduction

Before you start writing your long paragraph, write your short introduction about the topic you are going to write. Don’t put too much information into your intro though, just enough excitement so your reader will stick around.

6- The Paragraphs’ Length To Write A Great Blog Post

When you start writing, make your points first. A content calendar is a great way, and I am still working on it. Try to shoot for a minimum of 1000 words. The best is to write between 2100 to 2500. So, How long should your paragraphs be?

The answer is to keep your paragraph up to 150 words, and your sentence should not exceed more than 14-20 words. I would say two paragraph is perfect to write your blog post under one H2 heading, and that’s 300 words right there. It means if you are shooting for a 1000 words you need to have 6 H2 subheadings. It just makes it easy to break, and your readers don’t get bored and can get an idea what you exactly talking about. I mostly read the whole post when I go to someone’s blog, but if there are no jump breakers (H2) it makes it very hard for me to read.

It’s proven with research that longer posts perform much better in Google search result pages. Big brother, Google, likes it that way, and readers like it as well. It shows that you know what you talking about as opposed to a couple of lines sprinkled on a huge white paper. On the other hand, keep in mind that you can’t compromise over quality.  Quantity without quality is a totally useless effort. Shorter posts with best quality content also rank better.

The most important thing to keep in mind when you write a blog post is to write relevant content as it has a huge impact. 

7- Sub Headings With H2

Write your heading using H2, as Google likes this. Use your keywords in your headings and if you can’t, repeat them several times, then, they should be at least in a few headings. That’s the only way to write an SEO friendly blog post that Google likes. The quick tip is that writing blog post ideas in advance will give you a better sense of headings. Keep your heading between 8-12 words or 8-14 words.

8- Link Building

As much as I learned about SEO and back-linking, and to my understanding, they both are nothing without each other. Add at least one or two internal links to your post. Add a couple of external links, such as your affiliate links when you write a blog. You can add quite a few links, and it’s totally okay to do that.

Find someone in your niche, and ask for link exchange, as it’s a win-win for both parties. Make sure you go for your niche, though.

9- Optimize Your Images +Alt Text

Images play an important role in your writing. They look pretty, so therefore as a result they improve and enhance the quality of the content. Make sure your images are aligned and that they are according to your website image size. For example, my image size is 720 x 1280 pixels. I make my longer images exact, but if my images are horizontal I then only care for the width, which is 720 pixels in my case.

My featured image size is different than these. Also if you are using any screenshot, they should have visual and clean borders as well. Floating pictures in the middle of the screen look horrible. I had made that mistake, but the most important part is that as long as you learn from your mistakes you can always go back to fix them. My Pinterest graphics use custom dimensions. It’s a free option available in “Canva”. 

The most important part is when you upload your images. Give them a name, not a random one. Name them using your keyphrase or the exact wording you have in your title.  You then optimize the name in your Alt-Tab. 

Note; don’t fill all your images with Alt-Tag using your key-word, it’s called stuffing. Just do 2 or 3.

10- Edit/ Proof Reading

Make sure once you are done that you are writing a perfect and relevant blog post for your readers. Read it at least three times before you hit the publish button. Have a friend or a family member proofread it for you. As English is not my first language, (although I have known English since pre-school) I still take it as my second language. My husband proofreads it for me. He, in fact, holds a degree in Communications which is coming in handy. After he gets done with it, I re-read it and sometimes I find minor mistakes.

Writing a blog post is not that hard, but you do have to go through a system, and once you get that system down, it will become second nature to you. Grammarly is a good free tool to have on hand, but sometimes Grammarly even messes up your sentences, hence you have to have a good knowledge of the language you are writing your blog post in.

11- Correct Formatting

Using correct formatting while writing a great blog post is crucial, Clean formatting is always appealing. Be consistent with your formatting as it’s good for your branding as well. Outer beauty always appeals to eyes. Make sure your images are aligned as well as your headings. Check your post in your preview settings, that could be very helpful. It shows you everything before you hit the Publish button. You can easily come back and fix the error. I love this option.

12- Categories and Tags

Last but not least, make sure you post under the correct category so your readers don’t get confused. Also, use relevant tags. You can use more than 10 tags, but make sure they are relevant and don’t cause any bad effect.

For instance, this post is about “How to write a blog post per SEO”, so my tags should be all about blog learning as opposed to putting tags about clothing or fashion or any other category I have on my blog as a lifestyle blogger. I will be linking this to a category, “Blogging Tips”,  which make sense.

Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day

Rome wasn’t built in a day, which is exactly the way to think of SEO. It’s a very slow process to learn and adapt both. Don’t get frustrated. Be consistent and keep learning. I promise that each day will be different, and you would see a difference in your writing with the overall progress of your blog. Overall, SEO posts take 45 to 90 days to show up in SERP. Note that we mostly talked about our “On Page” SEO once you are pro on it. Then, focus on your “Off-page SEO”. Spend at least one hour of your time learning every day and implementing it. You can’t implement everything you learn but you will find a balance soon.

Here is a great video from my expert blogging friend, Kimberly, on SEO learning.

After watching the video please leave her a comment as to what you think, as it’s time-consuming to make free videos on an important topic

13- Conclusion

Let’s recap the anatomy of your blog post, and tips we learned on how to write an optimized blog post. 

1. Pick your key-phrase and synonyms.
2. Optimize your slug without stop words.
3. Write your amazing meta descriptions using only 156 characters.
4. Come up with a catchy title and use H1 to write it (55-60 characters).
5. Shoot for minimum 1000 words divided into short paragraphs of 150 words.
6. Optimize your sub-heading with H2.
7. Use internal and external links within your content, and find a way to link exchanges.
8. Optimize your images according to your site’s pixels size. 
9. Optimize your Alt-text for your images. 
10. Write a conclusion about your post at the end. Make sure you write a short intro in the beginning as well.
11. Proofread it. 
12. Relevant categories and tags.
13. Conclusions and Intro in the beginning.

PIN IT

A Challenge for You

Leave me a comment below after you find my key-phrase, and how many times I used it…Lol, just find the key phrase and you have a big hint, so it should be easy for you.