SEO Quick Tips

Congratulations! You have arrived on our last and final post in a six-part series on how to start a successful WordPress blog! If you happened to miss our previous articles, please check them out below:

They cover:

Technical Requirements you need to fill when writing your first post
Previewing/Scheduling your first post
Promoting your Post on Social Media
Style Considerations and
Choosing Topics

Today, we’re covering Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. This is the process of creating more visibility for your website/blog in search engine results and there are resources as the GSA SER verified link list where you can search your site rank. It’s extremely important for your website or blog, which is why we have written about it several times.

Go Media’s Simple Yet Powerful Approach to SEO
WordPress SEO by Yoast Tutorial for Dummies
Positive Brand Experience and SEO Go Together like Peanut Butter and Jelly

We also have our very own SEO Quick Start Guide, an incredibly easy to follow manual that teaches you how to optimize your website/blog for best results. If you’re new to SEO, we highly recommend picking it up.

Today, though, we are giving nine quick tips in regards to implementing SEO best practices on your blog today. Let’s go!

1. Choose keywords based on phrases for which your target audience will be searching.
2. Weave keywords in your title & body copy (but don’t overload them; 2-3 references in body copy is plenty)
3. Link to an internal site page in your body copy
4. Include images with keyword-labeled ALT tags
5. Link to an outside credible source
6. Occasionally seek backlinks to your own site
7. Share/ promote your content on social media, encourage others (colleagues, other businesses, etc.) to share
8. Write quality blogs on topics people care about
9. Publish with regularity

Other notes about the Yoast tool:
Readability: Generally you can disregard this. It’s supposed to be a measure of how easily your copy is understood. It focuses on things like, “Do you have sub headings?” “Does your copy contain passive voice?” “Are your paragraphs too long?” “How does it score on the Flesch Reading Scale?” “Are your sentences short enough?” “Do your sentences have transition words?” While you should look at it and consider making adjustments, you should not worry too much about making this “green.” Ask yourself – Is there anything confusing? Does it have too much jargon? Any thoughts seem to meander? Are there run-on sentences? Make sure your back-reader will be honest with you.

Keyword. This is the more important part. But again, don’t kill yourself on it. Under “Focus Keyword” type your chosen keyword. Then open “Edit Snippet.” In the SEO Title, copy/ paste the title of your blog. The slug should appear automatically based on that.

Meta Description: You can literally copy/ paste a sentence from the blog here, or you can write your own. Your meta description briefly describes what the blog is about. Enter about two to three sentences until it shows up green. (If it turns red, lower your word count.) Make sure it includes your identified keyword (and make sure it is exact). Then click “Close Snippet Editor.”

Analysis: This contains a list of tips to improve your SEO. Give them a glance. See if there are any easy fixes. Don’t drive yourself crazy over it. For instance, “Your ALT tag doesn’t contain your keyword.” In that case, just go to your Feature Image and type your keyword in the ALT Tag. (Make sure it’s EXACT – uppercase/ lowercase/ plural & all). Easy. Keyword density low? Figure out a way to work in one more keyword reference. Keyword not in the first paragraph? Is there any way to fit it there? (Don’t worry too much if it doesn’t. You don’t want to risk it sounding unnatural.) Slug too long? Can you shorten your headline? Does the text have fewer than 300 words? Can you flesh out another sentence or two? Used that keyword before? Again, don’t drive yourself crazy.

Good luck with everything and please tweet us @go_media to let us know how your blog is coming along!