11 Best Practices For SEO Successful Bloggers Swear By

As a blogger, if you want recurring traffic with minimal effort, then you have to be willing to implement the best practices for SEO on your blog,

These practices will help you keep getting traffic back to your blog years after you have published your blog posts.

Since Google controls 91.94% of all searches done globally,

Web pages that rank #1 on google SERPs get a whopping 34% more click-through rate than articles that rank lower in the SERPs,

Organic traffic gotten by practicing proper SEO on your blog is more than 1000% higher than traffic generated from Social Media.

So unless you are okay with not having any traffic to your website,

Then it is only wise that you as a publisher optimize your content to rank on Google to be able to get search traffic.

Let’s be honest,

If your blog is not ranking on Google or is not optimized to rank on any search engine at all,

You might as well close up shop and cut your losses, because as you might have guessed,

You need the traffic to become a successful blogger.

In this post,

We will cover the best practices for SEO that you can start doing on your blog right now that will take you from beginner to expert in no time!

11 Best Practices For SEO Every Blogger Must Know

Make Your Website Secure With An SSL Certificate

Security is huge when it comes to SEO,

In 2014 Google announced HTTPS as a ranking signal for websites to help make search more secure for users,

Since then,

1.9 of the top 1 million websites now redirect users to a default HTTPS or SSL version of their website that is more secure.

HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure,

It is a type of internet protocol that protects the interaction of users with a website by safeguarding things like passwords, and credit card details and adding an extra layer of protection by encrypting sensitive information.

Companies like Cloudtec, a web, and software development company, witnessed more than double their search rankings after they switched to HTTPS,

Plus, a study showed that 92% of browsing time on chrome is spent on HTTPS pages alone!

A report by Brian Dean, founder of Backlinko,

Along with other big SEO giants like Ahrefs, SEM Rush, Similar Web, and Market Fuse after analyzing 1 million websites,

Revealed a moderate correlation between HTTPS websites and higher search rankings on the Google first page.

When your website is protected by an SSL certificate, you;

• Protect your visitors’ sensitive information
• You protect your reputation and also increase your level of trust
• You will get a better email and monetary conversions
• Achieve a better competitive edge in your chosen niche
• You will be able to expand and monetize your blog

Since HTTPS is now mandatory for all websites on the internet, it is better to switch from HTTP to HTTPS on your blog, to make your readers and Google trust you more.

Optimize Your Page Load Time

Did you know that a 1-second delay in page loading time makes pageviews drop by 11%,

Customer satisfaction drops by 16%, and conversion rates drop by 7%

And that if a website takes up to 3 seconds to load the bounce rate rises to 32%, and any additional loading time triples the bounce rate by 90%?

Statistics show that if it takes more than 3 seconds for a website to load on mobile devices,

It is likely to lose 53% of its users within those 3 seconds,

And more than 64% of smartphone users expect a webpage to load in as little as 4 seconds or less,

If it takes more than that,

You already lost the majority of your website traffic.

To check your website page load time and performance on both mobile, tablet, and desktop devices,

You can use tools like Google Pagespeed Insights, GT Metrix, Web Page Test, and Pingdom,

These tools give you a complete analysis of your website’s speed and performance with step-by-step solutions on how to resolve each issue.

Other things you can do to improve your page load time include;

• Using a CDN (Content Delivery Network) to serve static content like HTML, CSS, JS, Images, etc from a server that is a lot closer to the user’s location, popular CDNs include Cloudflare, and Rocket CDN, Key CDN, Google Cloud CDN, and Amazon CloudFront.
• Enable GZip compression by adding a code to the .htacces file on the root folder of your website to help reduce the amount of data sent from the web server to the end user.
• Enable Caching by showing the previously loaded and saved version of a web page to their web browser, some powerful wordpress caching plugins include WP Rocket, WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Fastest Cache, and Hummingbird.
• Combining and minifying HTML, CSS, and JS files, to help reduce multiple HTTP requests.

Having a fast-loading website helps to improve user experience,

improve your search ranking position and also encourage higher email and sale conversions on your website.

Target Low-Competition Longtail Keywords

If you are a brand new blogger,

Then you must be currently aware of how difficult it is to get ranked in the search engines for already saturated keywords in your blog niche,

This is where targeting longtail keywords come in,

Proper keyword research and search analysis of keywords are vital before you start writing any blog post whatsoever.

Knowing the search potential and keyword difficulty of a keyword before you target them keeps you from writing content that you have no chance of ever ranking for on the SERPs,

It is better to focus on keywords that have a reasonable amount of monthly searches and low difficulty scores,

You also need to check that the pages or websites ranking for that term in the search results have a similar Domain Rating with your website or close.

Focusing on long-tail keywords helps you to attract more relevant traffic to your website and bring you in front of your targeted audience,

It also helps you to;

• Boost interest and engagement
• Improve commercial intent
• Produce a high ROI (Return On Investment)
• Ensure that you produce relevant content for your audience.

Satisfy The Search Intent Of The Searcher

If you are not creating content to match the search intent for the keyword that you are targeting in any blog post,

then you have got it all wrong!

Google has gotten smarter at figuring out and understanding the search intent behind every keyword type in the google search bar,

It then uses this intent to recommend the top pages with the most relevant piece of content that will properly satisfy that intent.

Think of search intent as the reason why a user is searching for something online

Or the reason why a user has typed a keyword into the search bar,

You need to make sure that every blog post you publish on your blog is designed to match the search intent of the searcher, this is one of the best practices for SEO that will help you increase your rankings, and also build a web of loyal readers

There are 4 main types of intent behind every searched keyword;

• Navigational: Trying to get to another website, brand, or product
• Informational: Searching for information on the phrase typed
• Transactional: Looking to make a purchase and looking for the best options regarding that purchase.
• Commercial: Looking for a purchase of a specific product or service they have in mind.

Matching the search intent of a particular keyword helps your blog to rank higher, increase your pageviews, reach a wider audience who might be interested in your niche,

and even have a chance of appearing in the featured snippets if your content is well optimized for it.

To help you match search intent,

here are some things to keep in mind;

1. Figure out what intent your keyword is targeting
2. Analyze the SERPs results for that particular keyword
3. Create your content.

Target Topics Within Your Niche

One of the biggest mistakes bloggers make is that they try to cater to more than 1 blog niche at a time on the same blog,

While this is possible,

It is important to note that websites that pursue multi-niche blogs are a lot bigger

and so have a lot more writers and resources required to diversify their content sources and marketing strategies.

If you are a new blogger starting out,

One of the best practices for SEO is to focus on one particular niche and c create content in that niche to help yourself become an authority in that particular niche,

People get to trust you more and believe your tips and tricks because they see you as an expert in your field.

1. Identifying and sticking to writing topics in your niche helps you to;

• Build up a loyal base of readers around your targeted audience.
• Reduces your competition you are no longer comp[eting with multiple niches at the same time
• Cuts down on the marketing costs and advertising fees.
• Positions you as an expert in your field
• Increases your profit and chances of monetization in your chosen niche.

2. Defining a niche strategy by;

• Selecting your target audience
• Defining a need that is unmet or underserved.
• Researching the customer base of your niche
• Coming up with a good business plan
• Marketing your business to your targeted audience.

3. Dominate your niche by;

• Easily identifying your ideal customers
• Having access to your customers
• Identify an underserved or neglected market
• Have huge market potential

To help you discover the hottest topic in your niche, you can check out Google Trends, Buzzsumo, or Quora, or you can even use tools like Answer The Public.

Optimize Your Blog For On-Page SEO

One of the best practices for SEO successful bloggers cannot fall short in is the aspect of proper On-Page SEO (On page search engine optimization),

This refers to techniques of optimizing your website to rank higher in the search results by optimizing your pages, content, posts, images, etc on the website, asides from technical SEO,

It is the only other part of SEO that you can fully control.

On-page SEO is divided into 3 major aspects; Content, HTML and Website Structure / Architecture;

1. Content Optimization

1. Improve On-page SEO by maximizing your E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)
2. Target Longtail keywords
3. Emphasize readability, don’t stuff keywords in your blog posts, keep your sentences short and brief, and use subheadings and bulleted lists.
4. Optimize your website’s visual assets, more than 36% of consumers search using images.
5. Use short descriptive URLs as lowercase, use hyphens not underscores, include your keywords in your URL structure and make your URLs future-proof by making them evergreen.

2. HTML optimization

• Craft Catchy titles that drive clicks
• Write better meta-descriptions to help give your searchers a better understanding of what your page is all about, they have an influence on your click-through rate.
• Optimize images to make your website load faster by including friendly alt tags, choosing the right file format and size, properly customizing file names, and ensuring that your images are mobile-friendly.
• Enable Geo-tagging for local search by optimizing local listings and citations to include name, address, phone number, website URL, business description, third-party apps, and reviews, and also optimizing your local content and accommodating the “near me” searches by providing location-based content, or identifying as a local website or blog.
• Try to optimize and build links with other local businesses and organizations in your niche.

3. Website Architecture / Structure

Did you know that mobile searches account for 56% of all internet usage, surpassing desktop searches in 2016?

More than ever,

People are searching online on their mobile phones, making purchases, and visiting websites and online stores,

If your website architecture or structure is not optimized for mobile, you might be losing a lot more traffic and conversions than you thought!

To improve your website structure, focus on improving your;

• Website Speed
• URL structure
• Website Design
• Building more internal and external links.

Craft Catchy Titles & Descriptions For Your Blog Posts

Crafting headlines or titles for your blog posts can sometimes be the main difference between a great CTR or a really low score,

This is because even if you have written the best content if it is hidden behind a boring topic,

People will have a hard time clicking on the link to visit that web page.

Think of your blog post title or headline as one of the most important things people consider when looking at the SERP results for a given keyword and wondering which result to click on,

To help you write more compelling titles and headlines for your blog posts that will drive more clicks to your blog,

Here are a few tips;

• Keep your title, short, simple, and straightforward.
• Highlight the main benefit of that blog post in your title.
• Add new and exciting news people don’t know about
• Include questions in your title
• Give your readers guidelines on what to do
• Create a really great information resource
• Add symbols and numbers to the title

Extra tip: 7-word headlines do best! (based on research by comparing over 50 viral headlines)

Optimize Your Images Properly

How you use images on your website greatly affects your website speed and performance,

It is important to properly optimize your images properly to ensure that you are not slowing down your website and encouraging readers to bounce right off your blog,

Here are a few tips to help optimize your images.

1. Choose the right image format

• Png images produce high-quality images but with a bigger file size
• Jpeg – the quality of the image is a lot lower than png and can be reduced from a range of 0 to 100%
• Gif Images are really great for animations but only support about 256 colors and are not great for blogs

2. Use Progressive JPEG and Next-Gen Formats

JPEG has two main file formats;

• Baseline loading – displaying the image with full quality from top to bottom, this can be problematic for slow connections
• Progressive loading – first a low-quality image is loaded and the quality increases as the image are loaded.

3. Caching

Serve images quickly by storing image files on a proxy server or browser cache to help improve performance and speed.

4. Compression

• Lossy Compression: reduces the file size by removing data redundancies, cuts down the image size but also downgrades the quality
• Lossless Compression; Prioritizes quality over size, cannot use this technique to reduce file size.

5. Resizing

The higher the resolution of n image, the higher the size, using higher resolution slows down the page load so try to use lower resolution files.

6. Optimize Image Delivery

Use a content delivery network (CDN) to deliver images to users from close proximity to their location, the closer the server is to the searcher’s location, the faster the response time.

Write Comprehensive & High-Quality Content

Writing high-quality content is one of the best practices for SEO successful bloggers should not overlook,

Publishing high-quality content on a consistent and regular bases helps your readers to trust you more and helps you position yourself as an authority in your chosen niche,

You also have the chance to rank for more keywords as the number of your content increases which in turn increases your chances of being ranked higher on the SERPs.

While writing high-quality content, make sure that you are;

• Writing for your readers and not for yourself
• Add humor and personality to your content to make it more readable and engaging
• Sharing real and authentic tips and advice that makes you trustworthy
• Posting regularly updated content
• Improving your website structure to make navigation and user experience smooth and easy.

Note that more than 61% of consumers buying decisions are influenced by custom content

and so for your users to be able to trust you enough to make any sort of purchase from you,

Your content needs to be 100% authentic and real.

Link Out To Other Related Blog Posts On Your Site

Linking out from one article to another related article on your website ( Internal Linking) can have a huge impact on your SEO efforts and is one of the best practices for SEO very few bloggers know about,

It has a ton of benefits even though it is not as popular as external links,

51% of marketers suggest adding 2 or 3 internal links in every blog post as it also passes link juice and page authority between pages.

It helps search engines to understand your website structure and understand what your website is all about,

when you link from one page to another page on your website,

Google assumes that the pages are related to each other and this makes it easier to know what a website is all about so it can better be ranked on the Search engine result pages (SERPs).

It also helps users navigate between pages they find relevant to them and can be a very useful tool in keeping visitors on your website for a lot longer than they initially intended.

There are two types of internal links;

• Navigational Internal Links – Placed on the navigation menu of your website to help users navigate to specific pages on your site.
• Contextual Internal Links – Placed in the main body of your blog posts or other content to help users see other helpful or related resources.

To see how many internal links you currently have on your website, you can view this information on the links page of your Google Search Console dashboard.

Build High-Quality Backlinks

Backlinks are great for SEO,

In fact,

They are considered one of the best practices for SEO that successful bloggers use to help improve their website traffic, rankings, and domain authority a lot faster than it would originally take.

Studies show that webpages that rank #1 on Google have at least 3.8x more backlinks than the rest of the top 10 websites shown on the first page results,

52% of marketers on the internet believe that building backlinks to their website can help improve their rankings on search engines

and up to 40% of marketers will spend up to $10,000 on link-building for SEO.

High authority backlinks from the high DR websites can cost up to $1000 each!

This is one of the biggest reasons why more than 41% of all SEO companies believe that building backlinks are one of the biggest SEO challenges they face.

Statistics show that 53% of marketers use infographics to get more backlinks and that list-style articles have the highest number of backlinks out of all content types.

To help you build more backlinks naturally, make sure that you are;

• Focusing on writing high-quality long-form content.
• Constantly promoting your blog posts and asking others to share
• Offering value instead of asking people to link to you
• Identifying and maximizing your target audience’s favorite channels
• Creating targeted and purposeful content
• Building something better than what already exists on the internet
• Collaborating and networking with other bloggers and influencers in your niche
• Writing posts people want to link out to like case studies and interviews
• Searching Q & websites like Quora for potential topics for your blog
• Diversifying your content types and not just creating only one type of content
• Investing in visual content like videos (52% of marketers say that video content brings the highest ROI and helps to improve search rankings)

SEO Best Practices FAQs

How long should blog posts be for SEO 2022?

When it comes to best practices for SEO in 2022, one of the most important components is the length of blog posts. Generally speaking, blog posts should have at least 300 words in order to be effective and get picked up by search engines. This allows search engines to gain an understanding of the purpose behind your article and rank the post more easily. It also provides readers with more relevant information for them to form a full understanding of your message. Although there is no exact word count that you must adhere to, striving for longer content ensures that your blog posts are successful in helping build visibility online.

What are some ways you can optimize your blog posts?

Blogging is a great way to reach potential customers and grow your online presence. To capture the largest possible audience, best practices for SEO should be implemented. From creating compelling titles to using relevant keywords throughout the post, taking these steps can draw more traffic to your blog. Other best practices include linking to other content you have created, adding visuals like pictures and videos, and creating different types of content such as interviews or podcasts. Utilizing best practices for SEO in blog posts can set your blog up for success with greater visibility and more user engagement.

What is an optimized blog post?

An optimized blog post is one that follows best practices for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEO is a key factor in helping your blog get discovered organically by prospective readers. An optimized blog post should include several components; these include the main keyword of the article, internal and external links to relevant sources, meta tags, headings and subheadings that incorporate keywords at the beginning of each phrase or sentence, and quality content with images and videos that engages readers while providing useful information.

How do I write SEO-optimized content?

Writing SEO-optimized content requires best practices that help ensure your content is visible and searchable online. To best optimize your content, start by thoroughly researching your topic to determine the best keywords to use in the text. Once you have relevant keywords selected, incorporate them into both your introduction and throughout the body of the text in a natural and organic way. Additionally, use heading tags such as H1 for the main title, H2 for subheadings, etc., to draw attention from search engines. This also improves readability for viewers who generally skim through an article instead of reading it word-for-word. Finally, make sure you include a meta description that outlines what readers can expect from your article in order for it to best entice people to click on it. By following these best practices, you will be well on your way to writing SEO-optimized content that drives attention!

Do short blog posts hurt SEO?

Many business owners are wondering if writing shorter blog posts is best for their SEO strategy. The truth is, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. However, best practices suggest blogs should be optimally 500-800 words in order to get the best possible results with SEO. Shorter posts may struggle to take advantage of certain SEO tactics such as including targeted keywords and using headings and subheadings to break up content, so taking the time to write more substantive blog posts can often be worth it in the end.

How many blog posts are good for SEO?

When it comes to best practices for SEO, determining how many blog posts to create can be tricky. Generally speaking, a consistent posting schedule will help achieve desired search engine rankings. If a website’s goal is to rank higher on Google, then posting quality content regularly is a best practice because it helps keep pages fresh and increases the number of words on the page. Ultimately, businesses should aim to post at least once a week to ensure that their content maintains an active presence in search engine results. This will also help with long-term success since frequent updating of blog posts signals to search engines that the page content is relevant.

What are the six pillars of blogging?

Successful blogging requires more than just writing content. It’s important to understand and adhere to best practices if you want your blog to thrive. To guarantee success, there are six essential pillars that every blogger must incorporate into their strategy, which include: strong keyword research; consistent content production; SEO best practices; social media promotion; reader engagement and interaction; and, monetization of the blog. By executing these tips, any blogger can take advantage of the potential that blogging can bring.

What are the 3 types of SEO optimizations?

SEO optimizations involve best practices for improving website visibility in search engine results. These best practices can be divided into three types – on-page, off-page and technical. On-page optimization involves optimizing content for targeted keywords and phrases as well as optimizing other elements such as title tags and meta descriptions. Off-page optimization involves building backlinks to a website from other websites to create more visibility. Technical SEO focuses on making sure the website is properly indexed by search engines and is structured in a way that allows users to easily access information. By taking advantage of best practice across all three types of SEO optimizations, companies are able to improve their ranking with search engine results and gain more visibility.

What are the three key components of optimizing for SEO?

SEO optimization is critical for any website in order to appear among the top results on search engines like Google. To best optimize a website for SEO, it is important to focus on three key components: keyword research and usage, content optimization, and link building. Keyword research allows you to understand what terms customers are searching for in relation to your product or business horizontally within vertically. Incorporating these keywords into relevant content on your pages helps target these audiences more effectively. Furthermore, effective link-building can increase trust and authority, thus leading to increased exposure not only from outside links but also from organic search visits. Following best practices for SEO will ensure that website visibility is optimized and best leveraged by placing content before appropriately targeted audience members.

What is the golden rule of SEO?

The golden rule of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is to focus on best practices, as this encourages favorable search engine results. By using best practices, businesses can find success when it comes to their website ranking higher in search engine results. Such best practices include having unique and quality content; outlining strategic titles, descriptions, and headings within the website; optimizing page loading speeds; implementing relevant keywords throughout content; and ensuring the website is easy to navigate and mobile-friendly. Implementing best practices for SEO helps draw more organic traffic to your website, ultimately leading to a service or product being seen by more people. The goal of SEO is for it to go hand-in-hand with online marketing efforts in order for true success to be achieved.

Best Practices For SEO Takeaways

There you have it!

My top 11 best practices for SEO that you can start implementing on your blog right now to start seeing a change in your blog traffic and search rankings,

Most of these practices take a long time to see results so make sure that you are patient as you start your journey to proper SEO optimization on your blog.

These 11 best practices for SEO are a good place to start when it comes to optimizing your website but there are other ways to help you improve search rankings that you need to know about.

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