SEO for Blogs: How to Rank at the Top of Google

If you're looking to improve your blog traffic, then you need to start doing SEO for blogs. SEO, or search engine optimization, is the key to ranking your blog posts at the top of Google. When people search for information online, they use Google. If you want your blog posts to be found by more people, you need to do SEO so that Google can better understand your post. Here are some of the best ways to do SEO for blogs so that you can rank at the top of Google and get more traffic to your website!

How do you start with SEO for your blog?

The first thing you need to do is think about your Ideal Customer. What questions do they have? How can you help them and provide value? What information do they need to know? Make sure the blog content is something they're interested in and want to read when they find it.

What content are you going to create?

Start by brainstorming content ideas. What questions does your Ideal Customer ask you before they make a purchase? What issue do they have that your product or service solves? What questions do they have that they need answered and your product or service is the solution they don't know about yet?

If you don't have customers yet or you're unsure what questions they have, you can use some research tools to help you brainstorm content topics. Google Suggested Search is a great one that's free. You can start by entering a few words that are related to your niche and Ideal Customer and see what Google suggests in the results. This is a great place to look because Google suggests topics people are searching for now.

Another way you can come up with content ideas is by joining a few online groups your Ideal Customer would be in and seeing what type of questions they're asking. What do they need help with?

What are their pain points? These are all great topics to write about because you know there's an audience for these posts. When you focus your content creation on your Ideal Customer, their questions, and pain points, you know that you're creating content people want. Your job is to create content for your audience, not just for the sake of creating content.

Once you have a list of content ideas, you need to choose one topic you're going to write about in this blog post. Ideally, you want to reach as many people as possible, so your next step is to do SEO keyword research.

Choose the right SEO keyword

Of the topic ideas you have, which one has a keyword that you want to target and use in your optimization? Choose the keyword with the highest search volume AND the best chance of your website ranking at the top of Google.

If you're unsure how to determine if you can rank at the top of Google for a keyword or not, I teach exactly how to do this in my class, but for now, go to Google and see what websites are at the top of Google for that keyword. If the websites are similar to yours or competitors you recognize, then you're probably OK. You probably need to look for a different keyword if the websites are big brands, national chains, or big websites within your industry.

Some keyword research tools will also give you an indication of the competitiveness of the keyword. Try to look for keywords with low or medium competition at most. The keyword with the lowest competition and the highest search volume is normally the one you want to choose.

Write your blog post

Now it's time to write your blog post. You want to use your keyword in your copy but don't try to use it a specific number of times or write a set number of words for your blog post. Google wants you to focus on providing value for your Ideal Customer more than anything.

Your blog post won't likely be less than 500 words because if you're anticipating your customer's questions, answering them, and providing value, it's hard to do all of that in just a few short paragraphs.

Optimize your blog post

Once you've written your blog post, go back through and edit your copy, as necessary, to include your keyword. You've likely already used your keyword several times naturally because your blog post is about your keyword. You want it to feel natural, not awkward. Google and your audience both can tell when you're trying to use your keyword too many times, and it ends up feeling awkward.

Write Your Title Tag

Once you have written your blog post, it's time to start optimization! The first thing you need to do is to create your Title Tag. This is the title of your blog post that appears in Google search results above the URL, and it's the first introduction to your post for your potential reader.

Your title should be catchy and interesting, but also include your keyword so that Google and your Ideal Customer know what your post is about. Your Title Tag should be less than 60 characters, including spaces.

Create a Meta Description

After you've created your Title Tag, it's time to write your Meta Description. The Meta Description is a brief description of your blog post. This appears under your Title Tag and URL in Google's search results. Your Meta Description should be less than 160 characters, including spaces. You want to include your keyword and write it in sentence format.

Your Meta Description and Title Tag are the first two elements a potential reader sees in Google's Search Results that are designed to entice them to come to your blog and read your post. The Title Tag and Meta Description are also two SEO elements Google reads to understand the blog post and know what it's about.

Optimize your URL

Your next step is to customize the URL of your blog post. Your URL should be short and include the keyword. You want to use - not _ to separate the words in your URL if you have more than one word.

For example: etchedmarketing.com/how-to-rank-on-google

Add Header Tags (this is an H2)

Next, you need to add header tags to separate your blog posts into sections. If you have three main points in your blog post, then you'll likely want to use 3 header tags (these will be H2 tags). Use your keyword in your Header Tags because they're another place Google looks for information to understand what the page is about.

This is an H3 Tag

If you want to break your sections into sub-sections, you can use an H3 tag to do that. Be sure to use your keyword in the H3 tag if it makes sense.

Your H2 and H3 tags are helpful to both your reader and Google. They help the reader by breaking up large blocks of text into smaller sub-sections and increase readability by adding white space and large font to draw attention. They help Google by reinforcing that your blog post is about your keyword because it shows up there once more.

Add Images to Your Blog Post

Finally, add some images to help illustrate the blog post for your audience. Your images should help further explain what you're teaching or go along with the topic. If you're talking about examples and you could show one to make it easier to understand, that's a good thing to do.

Optimize Your Images

You want to name your images for SEO too. Rename all of your images before you upload them to your blog. You want to use your keyword in your image file name and use - not _ between the words because Google can read those as a space.

For example: how-to-rank-on-Google.jpg

You can also add your keyword to the ALT text of any of the photos in your blog post. This is one more place Google will look to understand the post.

Get started with SEO for Blogs today

For an easy-to-use SEO for Blogs guide, be sure to request my SEO Content Quick Start Guide; it has everything you need to know about getting started with search engine optimization and content marketing and includes a blog SEO checklist you can use to make sure your next blog post is optimized.