SEO for new bloggers can be overwhelming, yes even I have been there. I’m still learning and I believe one will always be in “learning mode” with SEO because the web is always changing. One mistake that you have to avoid as a new blogger, is an obsession over everything, including SEO. You can not be and do all things at one time AND still be a fabulous blogger, it’s impossible. With that said, you CAN implement best practices, when consistently applied will bring you great results. It’s a marathon, not a sprint so pace yourself!
photo credit: Team Traveller
The best practices you apply to your blogging do not have to be complicated — yes, even with SEO. The beauty of today’s social web means even the little guy can achieve success with a little planning, elbow grease and consistency. Here are 5 SEO tips for new bloggers that can get you started and require little or no technical experience.
SEO Tips for New Bloggers
1. Create a search engine friendly permalink structure.
Your permalink structure is one of the easiest ways to build SEO right into your blog and daily posting. The permalink structure is the linking structure that Wordpress will create every time you publish on your blog. It basically makes up the links that are your site. Wordpress has a section just for setting up your permalink structure:
My recommendation is to select “Custom Structure” and using the post title as your main permalink structure. You can see what that option looks like above.
Note: If you have already set your permalink structure, DO NOT change it, unless your blog is very new and you’re willing to lose all your links and start over. (There are ways to redirect and work it out, but for those tech challenge, don’t bother with it). But, if you’re able to, now is the time to get it right. In the long-term it adds an incredibly search engine friendly aspect to your blog.
You can also customize your folder structure with Wordpress.
2. Focus your categories and tags use on keywords and simplicity.
How you use your blog categories and tags will affect whether your blog is search engine friendly. When I talk to new bloggers this topic seems to be the most difficult for them to grasp. The best advice I can give is keep it simple. Very simple. How you set-up and use your categories and tags will also affect your link structure and whether or not Google finds a ton of duplicate content on your blog.
Note: I’m not arguing for or against duplicate content and it’s validity in the world of SEO. I say, if a penalty does exist and you’re careful not to create duplicate content — you win. And, if the penalty doesn’t exist, you’re still good.
This is the best advice I can give you…
- Keep it simple. Organize your categories like file folders, one topic per category. Rather than create a category every time you post or in an ad hoc manner, determine what topics you’ll cover, in advance, and set them up before hand. Yes, you can still add them as you post later in case you add another topic to your blog.
- Only use one category per post. Why? Because every time you post and file it into a category, that post is created in each category you use. There are plugins that can help you stay away from duplicate content, but many of them are unneccessary because you should keep it simple for more reasons than just duplicate content — it’s also for the benefits of your readers too. The easier it is for them to dig into your content, the better.
- Use tags as further clarification, not as the main means of how you categorize your posts. In other words, you can have multiple tags for each post and use them in addition to categories to organize your content. An example would be a post on how to build links and their benefits for SEO. I’d categorize that post in “SEO”, then I’d tag it with “link building” and “seo.”
- Use keywords in your categories. When you create the “slug” for a category, make sure you use dashes in between words, not simply letting words run together. (The “slug” for a category will ultimately be it’s permalink.)
3. Integrate simple keyword research into your post ideas process.
I know this might intimidate most new bloggers, but it’s really much less complicated than you think. You do not have to be a keyword research ninja or spend hours doing complicated research. If you consistently apply simple keyword knowledge into your blog content, you will see much better results in the search engines. The advanced techniques can come later.
When you determine to write a post, use a free keyword tool to get a “feel” for the keywords you need to use in a post. Like I said, it’s not rocket science, but the point is to use keywords in your posts that search users (and now social search users) are actually typing in to find content. You simply enter keywords you think are relevant to your posts, these tools will show you an estimate of the actual search volume and provide a list of relevant keywords. What you find might surprise you, it does me.
My fave free keyword tools are:
SEOBook’s Free Keyword Tracker Tool
Keyword Tracker’s Free Tool (which is actually a part of SEOBook’s output too)
SEOBook’s output is a bit complex for most newbies, so if it intimidates you, just use Keyword Tracker’s tool.
4. Use your keywords when posting.
After you’ve gathered a couple of keywords for your new post, you’ll want to integrate them into your post. Not too difficult and as you do it more, this process actually becomes easier. Simply remember these steps:
- Try to include your keyword(s) in the title of your blog post.
- If you’re using a custom permalink plugin (will be discussing in next post of series), change the permalink on that post to include the keyword(s) and be as short as possible. Don’t forget to use dashes in between the words you’re using.
- To keep it simple, try to use those keywords NATURALLY in your writing. A good rule of thumb is to have them in the intro paragraph, somewhere in between, and in the closing paragraph.
- Try to integrate those keywords into headings and other styling, like bolding etc. Heading (like the one above showing #4’s title) will integrate </h2> and </h3> tags into your posting, some argue it helps in SEO, some argue it doesn’t. If you can work headings in, do it because it certainly won’t hurt you
- Use those keywords in the tags you use for that post.
Another thought, the tip above reminds me, since you’re using simple keyword research for posting – you should also use it to form your categories and tags (if you can plan ahead or have a chance to restructure your blog). Including keywords in your categories titles and tags is a great way to build SEO friendly linking structure and add SEO benefits to your blog each time you post.
5. Use keywords when sharing and promoting.
Those same keywords you determined to be relevant for that post, should also be included in your sharing activities. These days, much of what people find online, they find through social search. Not to mention, we’re not far off from social media activities being fully integrated into search engine’s universal search results. Right now, FriendFeed, Twitter, and other social media site content is showing up in Google.
So, rather than just send out a Tweet that says, “Check out my latest post…” shoot one out that says, “My latest thoughts about SEO and blogging… [link] Your thoughts?”
Connect the dots! Now, if you’re using keywords in your titles, you’re actually helping to ensure that when people share your content they will also be including those same keywords when it’s shared. Think about it, most RSS updaters and social media services use post titles as the text included in a link or the reference text
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None of this is really rocket science or going to make Matt Cutts and others refer to you as an SEO ninja, but it’s a great start to integrating SEO best practices into your daily blogging activities.
Tomorrow we dive into the world of SEO plugins for Wordpress that EVERY blog must have — they all make your SEO life much easier!
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Looking forward to connecting with you!
Maria
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