Guest Post: SEO & Its Effect On Blogging

By now we all know SEO changes (search engine optimization) very often. We, the SEO specialist have a very hard job in keeping up with Google and other major search engines because they adjust their SERP (search engine results page) almost every day. However, there are several little tasks anyone of us can do to improve rankings specifically on Google, which owns most of the market anyway. I’ve tested several methods and I’ll go over them so that you can apply them to your own website. 

#1 – Try to get content that is share worthy

Finding the right content can sometimes be daunting. By using simple tools offered by Google, you can discover subjects that are related to your field and are popular. Here is a list of Google tools I use before I start any content strategy:

·         Google Adwords

·         Google Traffic Estimator

·         Google Insights

·         Looking at other popular blogs

By using these simple and very affective tools, you can find out your keyword strategy for your blog without guessing what users are searching for.

Search engines have taken social media and raised its importance when it comes to their result page. So what you want to do is pick something that’s popular, relevant and useful to your users. Otherwise, your blog posting will be one in millions, which will never see the light of day.

Remember, content doesn’t just mean written text. It can be a visual as well. For example, using images/videos/infographics gets the attention of any user (boring or not). I’ve noticed people link to content with visuals more often as well. And if you create your own media to publish, your blog posting will see much more traffic since it’s nowhere else to be found. 

Courtesy of SEOMoz

#2 Use social media to promote your blog

Of course social media is a huge outlet to let users know what your blog is all about. The best part is, social media will yield results much faster then search engines. Once you publish your blog post or site on social media sites, your site will get instant recognition in your network. I have a client who installs artificial grass and with simply blogging and sharing he got these results in less then two months.

As you can see the number visitors grew greatly. This is huge because I targeted specific keywords on each blog posting. It ranged anywhere from sustainable building to the benefits of synthetic grass.

Here is a list of social media sites I like to share my information on:

·         Stumbleupon

·         LinkedIn (their personal LinkedIn page)

·         Facebook (their personal fanpage)

·         Google+

·         Reddit

·         Twitter

·         Pinterest

·         Folkd

Keep in mind you have to have an account with each social media site and make sure you interact with others in the same field. Sharing and not being active will not get you anywhere.

#3 Reference your blog post to blogs on your own site & other sites

The whole point of having a content strategy is to get your message across attractively that is beneficial to your readers. Don’t just write a blob of text and not link it to references or other interesting blog postings. Remember, other bloggers will read your post and might share your site on their own if you put their link on your site. 

Also, if you have an article that will explain a subject you briefly talk about link it. Don’t link every single primary keyword but keep it organic and not artificial (in other words don’t be a link horde). Interlinking is a part of SEO and it’s also very important to Google. What I do is have a spreadsheet with all my blog posts with their links. When I write a new article I check if I can interlink between 1-3 blogs for a better user experience. 

Check out my online marketing blog for an in depth look at how you can score huge rankings and visitors through SEO.

#4 Never give up and stay consistent with your goals

A lot of bloggers and new sites tend to start off great. Were writing everyday, sharing our articles through out the web, interacting with users and other bloggers etc… But something happens after a few weeks or months. Our human nature kicks in and we tend to get lazy and give up. This is when you fail your site.

Courtesy of SEOMoz

Stay consistent and you are sure to reap the rewards. I guarantee it!

Puya Turkiyan is a SEO specialist and information architect @ New Media Sources in Beautiful Vancouver, Canada. 

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