9 Killer On-Page SEO Tips for Newbie Bloggers
“SEO” (on-page) is crucial for any blog, be it old or new. It is recommended to work on basic SEO from the day one of starting a blog.
As SEO ultimately decides the fate of your website whether it is going to be a hit or a miss with potential loss in your hands.
When I started blogging back in 2014, I had no clue about SEO. I thought blogging was as simple as writing few lines and hitting the publish button. I was wrong though (now I know).☺
SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization and it is a complete business thing for your blog.
It is divided into two major categories that are On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO. Today I am going to discuss 9 On-Page SEO tips that you need to follow if you are starting new.
Here's how to do on-page SEO step by step with the best examples possible:
1. Title Tag - The First Heading
The title is the most important part of your blog post. Make sure it includes your target keyword.
Make sure, when you craft your Title try to include the target keyword nearer to the beginning.
According to a recent SEO study, you can better your rankings by including the target keyword at the beginning of the title tag.
Also, make you have a catchy headline. This will help you to increase your conversion rate both on social media and search engines.
Try to craft a long headline for your blog post. People are more attracted to longer headlines more.
For example:
- 11 WordPress Plugins ( wrong approach)
- 11 Cool Free WordPress Plugins you cannot miss in 2024 (right approach)
2. Seo Friendly URLs - Permalinks Optimization
Most new bloggers have very ugly URLs.
Do you keep the URL same as the Editor suggests you to keep? Then you are wrong.
Make sure you keep the URL as short and sweet possible. I would not recommend more than four words. Try just to add you main target keyword.
Long URLs don’t carry so much importance when it comes to SEO.
For example:
If my headline is 11 Cool Free WordPress Plugins, you cannot miss in 2024.
Then the Editor will suggest you a URL as:
http://yourdomain.com/11-cool-free-wordpress-plugins-cannot-miss-2024 = (wrong)
Don’t you think the URL is ugly and will reduce your CTR? Yes, it will.
The right approach will be-
- http://yourdomain.com/free-wordpress-plugins
Always remember to remove numbers and unnecessary words from your URL.
3. Include LSI keywords in your post
LSI stands for Latent Semantic Indexing. In simple terms, these are related words to the keyword you are targeting.- Most LSI keywords are ignored and hence they are easy to target and rank for. Finding LSI Keywords is damn simple in seo game.
You need not include these in the title tag.
4. Use beautiful images - Good Featured Photos
According to a study, the human brain can process Visual 50,000 times faster than text. This the reason you find watching a movie easier than reading a novel.With images, I don’t mean to Google your blog topic and include them in your post. It’s not that simple.
Try to create your images and even try to add screenshots wherever appropriate. In terms of on-page seo these images have more value than others.
You can convert a long boring post about a fun and entertaining by adding appropriate images at the right spots. I use Photoshop to create all my images and Fast Stone Capture to capture screenshots
There are other online alternatives such as Canva and PicMonkey.
5. Adding Sub-Headings
Back in 2014 when I started blogging, I use to write a long post with no sub heads. But I was wrong. Subheads are very important for attracting the reader who will read the whole post.Most people are writing long posts because Google loves and quality matter in today’s competitive world. Hence make sure you divide your long posts into different subheads.
This will help people read you post with breaks.
- Also if a person comes looking for a specific topic he can go through the sub heads and find it.
6. The First few Paragraphs - Topic Introduction
The first few paragraphs are very important.
First, it decides if the reader will read the full post or leave in few seconds. If you are not able to catch the attention of a reader, then he will leave soon.
- So make sure you put a lot of effort in writing your first few 100 words.
7. Interlinking your past posts
Most bloggers ignore interlinking of posts. They think they are a waste of time.Interlinking is very important to boost other and also to keep a visitor to stick on your website for longer.
- Try to add at least 2-3 posts in each of your blog posts.
8. Use Alt tag in your images - Giving Voice to Images
Unlike your posts, Google can’t scan images. An Alt tag helps Google to understand what the image is actually about. So next time you add an image don’t forget to add an alt tag.This way you can also search engine traffic for your images too. Cool right :).
There are many free plugins which will add alt images automatically from the title of the image.
Try to use the SEO Friendly Images to do the same.
9. Social Sharing Buttons - Make it Easy to Share
Social signals are very important for SEO. It is a ranking factor. It even helps your posts to index quickly.Try to use free social sharing buttons on your posts promote sharing. Sharing will also help you in extra targeted traffic.
I love Sumome, it is a great tool.
Hope you loved the most. If you loved the post make sure to share the post among your readers and spread the word.Guest contribution by: Ryan Derek the content manager at Rankible. They build powerful, targeted SEO strategies, which drive attention to your website and build stable authority for your business.