Getting eyeballs on your content requires traffic, and your first traffic-generating strategy is search engine optimization.
In this video, I walk you through your basic SEO tasks for every post you write. Look below for your quick-reference talking points.
Easy SEO Plugins
The plugin in the video is WordPress SEO by Yoast. It’s my preferred SEO plugin.
An alternative is All-In-One SEO, which is one of the most-used SEO plugins.
Where to Put Your Keyword
You don’t need to include it in all of these spots, but these are the best places to put your keyword.
- Title
- SEO Title
- Meta Description
- URL
- Alt-Tags of your Images
- Introduction of Your Article (first 100 words)
- A Subhead (if it fits)
- Naturally Throughout Your Content
A Few Thoughts
Optimize for people first, search engines second.
Sometimes, to create a compelling (clickable) title, you can’t get the keyword in it. Don’t force it. Just make sure the keyword is in your URL and, perhaps, an image alt-tag.
Don’t try to stuff your article with keywords. Write your article and find ways to add keywords if the Yoast plugin recommends it.
To Improve SEO Even More
Make sure your content is original and unique.
Your goal is 400 words minimum, even if it’s a video or infographic. Shorter articles can work, but longer, more indepth articles tend to rank better.
Include links to other articles in your blog. Make sure they’re related. Preferably link to pillar (or authoritative) posts.
Also include links to high-authority sites if they fit naturally in your post. You may quote them or include a statistic they share, then link to the page where you found the source material.
Avoid black-hat tactics.
Don’t use paid links from advertisers.
If it’s a guest post, don’t allow more than two backlinks to their site—and only allow links that fit naturally in the flow of the article. Never allow spammy links. In the author bio, make sure links are rel=”nofollow.”
