Four Ways to Make Your Blog Posts SEO Friendly

The phrase “content is king” certainly rings true when it comes to blogging, but when writing for business, other reasons can often factor in. These can range from content marketing, to driving and navigating web traffic, delving into an industry's business proficiency, and even to develop leads.

Posts should include points to appeal to your audience, but they should also be SEO-minded. While shares via social media brings in a lot of traffic, many hits do come in through search engines, so it is essential to make sure that these search engines are able to locate your blog posts.

What can you do to make your blog easier for readers to find?

1. Begin with a clear headline - A key element when content marketing is SEO in the title. That is what will give readers a clue on what they are clicking. It is the first thing people see when they are searching and scrolling, and it is also what engines evaluate when analyzing your content. The essential rule is to make sure that your title is simple and to the point; that is what keeps it SEO-beneficial. Here's an example: if someone is looking for searching for a tutorial on on scarf knitting, they would most likely search for "how to knit a scarf" or "scarf knitting how to." The most important keywords are "scarf knit/knitting," so when you come up with your headline, make sure you include your keywords in the title.

2. Don't overcrowd keywords - Keywords are essential in marketing, but it's fundamental to note the importance of not overcrowding too many keywords into a post on behalf of SEO. Target using around three keywords for each blog post; it will help keep focus on writing rather than getting more clicks via SEO. A negative of side to cramming too many keywords in is that search engines are designed to impose penalties on these posts.

3. Utilize keywords in a functional sense - In the body of your post, make sure to use your keywords, distributing them with natural measure. Make sure your piece is concise and easy to read. A rule to keep in mind is adding your keywords about five times within the post for best SEO.

4. Construct a complete meta description - If you are using a meta description, it's important to fill it out completely. The description is inherent when giving search engines and your audience data on the content of the post. The meta description is a great place for keywords so search engines can easily locate your posts.

Google provides a section on SEO in their Webmaster Tools; it helps in answering questions you may have when optimizing a website.

Lastly, all on SEO-minded and getting more people to your site thoughts aside, the most important thing to remember when writing any blog post is to make sure that it connects with your audience and your readers.