Originally published April 5, 2022

Don't hit that publish button just yet!

We know you spent quite some time writing your blog, but there's still work to be done. While proofreading is definitely an important part of the editing process, another component is just as vital—SEO. 

Search engine optimization improves your webpage to get a higher ranking. It is a vital aspect of your digital marketing strategy, holding the power to drive traffic to your blog post.

Often, we're so focused on writing the blog that we forget to enhance our SEO, which can hurt the article's overall performance. But where do we start?

Keep reading to discover People First Content's essential SEO tips to remember. 

11 SEO Things You’re Forgetting

Assuming you already have a blog post filled with quality content, all that's left is SEO. We've narrowed the top eleven SEO best practices to help you rank high and drive more traffic.

1. Write a compelling meta description

People often neglect writing meta descriptions. These brief summaries of your page appear as snippets on the search engine results page (SERP). They give people a preview of what to expect from the site.

The impact of meta descriptions on search rankings today differs from years prior. Thanks to AI, Google often writes its own meta descriptions for content; however, this does not promise accuracy.

Remember, meta descriptions act as teasers that get people interested in the rest of the article and immensely influence click-through rates. Using a relevant keyword or two for SEO is essential, but keywords should be a secondary concern. If the copy doesn't grab the searcher's attention, they're less likely to visit the link. So, spend time writing a couple of lines of copy to get them to click.

2. Fix broken links

We know how important link building is to SEO, but if your blog includes any broken links, you're doing more harm than good. 

Have you ever clicked a link and an "Error 404" or "Page Not Found" message popped up? Oh yeah, that means it's broken. Broken links are pages that can't be found or accessed for whatever reason, and they are bad for SEO.

First, they ruin the user experience by sending them to a page they can't view. This leaves a negative impression on you, and users will quickly exit your site to find a link that works, resulting in a higher bounce rate.

Second, it affects your Google search rankings. To them, broken links indicate that you're neglecting and not updating your site. Google doesn't want to send users to pages that don't work.

So, it's always a good idea to do a website audit and ensure all your links work. Tools such as Google Console and Ahrefs can help you find them faster.

3. Have an appropriate keyword density

Nothing drives content writers mad than seeing someone use keyword stuffing. It's a practice where writers fill a site with keywords in the hopes of improving their search rankings. Not only does it kill your SEO but it also makes for a terrible user experience.

The thing about keyword stuffing is that both people AND search engines know it when they see it. I mean, it's hard to ignore reading the same word four times in five sentences.

That's why it's important to maintain an appropriate keyword density. This indicates how often a keyword has been used in a blog or webpage. 

While there's no one answer to "what is the ideal keyword density," you want to aim for 2% (or 2 keywords per 100 words). A good way to avoid stuffing is to explore related keywords, rephrase, or use synonyms!

Use our keyword density tool to make it even easier to hit that 2%.

4. Add alt text to images

Also known as alt attributes or alt tags, alt text is written information used to describe an image. Having them benefits your brand in multiple ways. One is for accessibility purposes. It helps people who cannot see the image access all the content on the page, whether the viewer is visually impaired or the picture fails to load.

Important for SEO, search engines use the alt text, along with the content around it, to better understand the image's subject matter. That way, they can properly index it and increase your chances of showing up in image results.

Before you publish your blog post, give your images a proper title tag and alt text to improve your SEO.

5. Include internal links

You want to keep the user on your website for as long as possible, so it's essential that your blog includes internal links to other pages on your site. These links are beneficial to your SEO because they let Google know that the page is high-value or important since the information it contains is valuable enough for you to reference it.

As you're editing your blog, be sure to include internal links throughout the text. While quantity is good here, quality is better. You don't want to just drop links onto random words. You should embed them within words that have a connection with the page you're linking to.

For example, if we wanted to direct the reader to an article titled, "4 Tips for Guest Blogging ," we would insert a link in the text, "Guest Blogging." These hyperlinked words are also known as anchor texts.

6. Cater to search intent

Search intent is the logic behind an online search. It's important because Google wants to provide the most relevant results for every search query. So, if your content matches exactly what someone is looking for, you have a high chance of being in the top results.

There are four types of search intent: informational, navigational, transactional, and commercial investigation. Before you start writing your blog, you need to think of what your target audience is looking for. Do they want to learn something? Do they want to make a purchase?

To help, do a quick Google search of your target keyword and observe the structure of each title. You can usually tell immediately what the intent is for that specific topic. Then, use a tool to track your keyword rankings.

7. Use header tags properly

Also known as H tags, they tell Google how to differentiate headings and subheadings. They go from H1 to H6, with H1 being the most important.

Here are several tips on using them correctly. First, there should only be ONE H1 tag – that's usually the title. Second, remember to maintain a hierarchy. For example, subheadings should use H2, and then subtopics under that should be H3, and so on. Third, don't add links in any of the tags.

8. Make URLs SEO friendly

Which is easier to type:

“www.web.com/37814443dfad283”

or

"www.web.com/11-seo-things-youre-forgetting"?

Yeah, we thought so.

Having an SEO-friendly URL benefits user experience and boosts rankings. Google considers the URL, along with other components, when determining the content of a webpage.

So, before your blog goes live, make the link easy to read and type. Integrating the title of your article into the URL can be as simple as that.

9. Update old content

Update your old content to give your blogs a new life. Revising your past blogs makes them fresh and new again, which can lead to higher click-through rates.

Think about it. If you wanted to learn about the latest blogging trends, which one do you read – the one published in 2022 or the one from 2010? You'll most likely visit the most recent link because you know that will have the most up-to-date information.

So, what does updating content look like? You can improve your headlines, replace old data with new data, and even link to new resources. But you don’t have to refresh EVERY page. Take a look at what sites have the potential for growth and start from there.

10. Remove things that slow down your site

Did you know that page speed is one of the most important factors that affect your SEO ranking? It makes sense, right? How likely are you to leave a website that takes too long to load? It's not just an SEO issue but a functional one as well.

So, to improve your position in search results, you should look into speeding up your site. You can compress or reduce your image file size so that there's less data. Another option is to upgrade your hosting service to one that can handle the content on your page. Use helpful tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to help deduce if your pages are running slowly.

11. Add visuals

Content is becoming more and more visual. It always helps to decorate your webpage with images, videos, or infographics. Besides the fact that images give you another place to include keywords, they also keep people on your page – resulting in lower bounce rates and longer dwell time.

In addition, visual content helps break up your blog into chunks and keep the reader engaged. So after you're done writing your content, add any pictures and videos related to your topic to give the reader another way to understand your ideas.

Bonus: Improve website security

Having a secure website boosts SEO performance as Google prioritizes data protection and user safety. If it detects an unsecured site, you better believe you're falling down the rankings - and may even be blacklisted. 

Ensuring you have an SSL-secured connection is the bare minimum standard to meet. Beyond this, look into penetration testing services to really get deep within your website and figure out any possible security breaches lurking within. Working with trained cybersecurity professionals will ensure you iron out any creases and present a highly secure website to Google. 

As a result, you’re not hit with any penalties and you should be ready for a strong search engine performance!

Conclusion

If you provide quality content and include the SEO basics above, you're already closer to getting your blog in front of as many potential customers as possible. Any advantage to improve your search rankings will help your website in the long run.

Need more help? People First Content can write optimized blogs for your website, so you have one less thing to worry about. Click the button below to get started.

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