SEO Basics for Thought Leaders & Content Creators
SE-OHHH
I'm here to help you improve your online communications, so today I wanted to share a few quick tips on improving SEO on your blog.
What is SEO and why does it matter?
SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization," which I like to explain as 'appealing to Google.' When we turn to Google as a user, we want to be pointed to the webpages that are the most likely to give us the information we're looking for.
So, Google tries to prioritize the pages that'll make them look good. This is comprised of various elements, ranging from things like how long it takes your site to load to if reputable sites link to back your page, to whether people seem to spend time on your site and look around while they're there.
What about keywords?
These are the words that you want to rank for when someone types in a search query. There are whole courses on this, but here are a few, quick things to keep in mind:
Use the language your customer uses.
Type words you imagine your customer using into Google and Pinterest to see the predictive text for any related terms (predictive text is when you type in “food” and it says “food blog”; “food recipe”; “food delivery near me”) . There are also several free and paid keyword planners.
Remember that going specific will likely give you a user further on the decision process: Someone typing in car could be looking for pictures of classic cars, or toy cars for their child. Someone typing in "Used Toyota near me" is looking to research (a.k.a., buy) a used car nearby.
Make sure the content on your post truly connects with the keyword you're targeting. "Homemade pumpkin pie recipe" should point to that--not a blog with tips on Thanksgiving decor. (Again, imagine you were the one typing the term into Google or asking Siri: What would you expect to see?)
What can I do today?
The first part of optimizing is fixing anything that's going to count against you. Go through old pages and posts and:
Eliminate links to broken pages or outdated resources.
Use custom URLs and make sure they're not too long. Include keywords in your URL.
Include meta data and SEO descriptions for your pages. In Squarespace, you click over inside the content block to the SEO tab. In Wordpress, I use the Yoast SEO plugin. (I'm sure a Wordpress developer--which I am not--could provide additional options.)
Reread your content and keep the fourth bullet above in mind. Ask yourself if, when someone lands on your page, they'll find what they're looking for; and if not, how can you make your content more robust?
This was a quick hit overview for non-experts who want to make their blog content 1-step better. Looking for more in-depth information on this topic? Let me know in the comments.
