Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not only an incredibly important topic, it’s also an extremely in-depth topic. So much so that we have an entire course dedicated to the topic that we encourage you to also take: Intro to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
In this lesson, we’re going to address some of the high-level elements of SEO that you can apply to your site, without any understanding or knowledge of SEO. These strategies will help to give you a foundation for your SEO until you’re ready to start digging deeper.
At WordPress.com, we handle much of the technical side of making sure Google regards your site highly, but there are some simple tasks that you can perform to aid the process.
SEO is short for search engine optimization. Sounds like a complicated software feature, but the term simply refers to techniques and tools for making your site and site content more visible to search engines like Google.
Effective SEO is at the intersection of understanding human behavior (your audience) and search engines.
Google searches work with algorithms to return search results and it’s based on a combination of SEO efforts. While search algorithms change often, there are a few basic things you can do to make sure that you’re presenting your blog in the best possible way to search engines who come crawling and indexing. Factors that can help over time include producing consistent, high quality, relevant content — to keep the site fresh, and optimizing content on specific pages/posts for specific keywords. Below are some tips:
- Consider keywords. You’ll want to make sure you brainstorm the most important keywords for your site and use them in your tagline, post titles, post content, and tags. For example, if you were a travel blogger, your keywords might include, “travel,” “vacation,” “hotel,” the names of destination cities, and other related words such as “nomad,” or “backpacking.”
- Write a descriptive tagline. Even if your theme doesn’t display your tagline, search engines can still see it. Make sure yours accurately describes what your blog is about. Your tagline is a great place for your most important keyword.
- Make sure your images are “readable”. Use alternative (“alt”) text to add text descriptions to your photos. Search engine bots can’t “read” an image, so it’s important that your media files include simple text descriptions. Follow the instructions on this support page to learn how to add alt text to your images.
- Ensure your profile is complete. Go to your Profile and ensure your name, your screen name, and most importantly your blog’s URL are filled out correctly. This is especially important when you comment on others’ blogs. Here is more on this.
- Put yourself out there. Make time to visit the Reader, follow blogs you’re interested in, and comment thoughtfully on others’ posts. Every time you leave a comment on someone else’s blog, you also leave your name and your site’s URL automatically (provided your Profile is complete). People are naturally curious about that awesome someone who left a thoughtful comment on their blog and they’ll follow the link back to your site to learn more about you.
- Publish regularly. Make sure that you’re offering new content consistently so that Google comes crawling to index your site.
- Be selective with tags. Choose only the tags most relevant to your posts. Posts with too many tags can be viewed as spammy and those with a combination of more than 15 tags and categories may not appear in the Reader.
Of course, there are even more options available if you decide to upgrade your Plan. Also, an upgrade will allow you to install a plugin like Yoast or RankMathSEO to further guide you through improving your SEO.
In addition to the general guidelines above, for each specific piece of content, try to complete all of the following items:
- choose a piece specific, focus keyword/phrase (1-4 words)
- ensure you have a minimum of 300 words of text on the page
- include the keyword/phrase in the page title, the page URL, the first paragraph on the page, and roughly 1-2 times throughout the content per 300 words of text
- include the keyword in a subtitle on the page using a heading tag (H1 to H6), in a way that makes sense for the content
- include the keyword/phrase in the file name of any images included within the page (name your images before uploading them to your media library)
- include the keyword/phrase in the alt text of images (while keeping this text relevant and descriptive for your visually impaired followers)
Another consideration is that search engines are acknowledging synonyms as well. So without “overdoing” the keyword/phrase, you can boost your SEO by adding in some additional synonyms too.
These combined efforts are not a guarantee of improved results, and it won’t be instant, but they will go a long way to boost your search engine ranking, over time.
It’s also important to know that improving search ranking with Google can take weeks and even months to achieve. It’s not a fast or overnight process, it’s part of the long-game.
SEO is just one way to help the discoverability of your content. Sharing your content out through social media channels and collaborating with other websites to cross-share content in order to create organic links back to your site will also help.
To really deep-dive into the SEO for your site, we recommend taking our Into to SEO course when you’re finished this one.
Today’s assignment: do an SEO audit on your blog. Pick one thing to work on or fix, today.
Here are some ideas to help you get started:
- Do all your photos have alt tags?
- How many categories and tags do each of your blog posts have? Remember that we recommend no more than 15 categories and tags combined per post in order to be displayed in the Reader, but consider that as a guideline and not a goal. A post with 5 highly targeted tags, for example, can generate higher interest from search engines than a post with 15 generic, highly competitive tags.
- When you comment on other blogs, do your comments offer thoughtful insights or ask interesting questions that further the discussion, or are they short and generic, e.g., “Great post!” Adding useful, substantive comments will inspire more engagement and visits back to your own blog.
- Think about your tagline. Is it unique, and does it include some descriptive keywords or keyword phrases about your site’s main themes and/or topics?
- Read your last 3-4 blog posts carefully. Do you make sure to include relevant keywords within your copy? You don’t want to “stuff” your blog posts with a lot of random keywords for the sole purpose of ranking high on SERPs (search engine results pages) — not only is that ineffective, it can also backfire and cause Google to de-rank your site. Instead, write with relevant keywords in mind as you craft your copy. Focus on one or two main keywords or keyword phrases to sprinkle into your text. If you’re writing a blog post about Roman architecture, add the keyword phrase Roman architecture to the first paragraph of your post.
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