Bloggers 16 Point SEO Checklist
If you think that your job to optimise your blog content ends in publishing it and checking its performance, you are mistaken– you have to keep your content updated at all times.
Keeping your keywords relevant and changing the constantly shifting SERP, will help make your content appear still relevant to your readers and search engines. On-page SEO can help boost your page in numerous ways–it can boost your traffic, get you more leads, increase conversion rates, match reader intentions and many other things you may not realise yet.
Here are therefore 15+1 on-page SEO factors to consider in your next blog content update:
1. Include an SEO-friendly url
An SEO-friendly url is essentially a short and simplified url form e.g www.wesiteurl.com/on_page_seo instead of a long url with random characters in its tail www.websitename.com/onpageseo_sgteotyyuiiiiiiiiimnhfadf.html
Use the main keyword or title of your page in its url and keep it short and simple to get more “SEO” juice.
2. Use a relevant title tag
Your primary keyword should be used at the start of your title as an SEO title. If you are unsure which keyword to use, you may also perform some A/B testing to see which title tag ranks the best.
3. Use your headings properly
Optimising your headings is very important yet so many blog owners ignore this tip. The key to proper heading optimisation, is to use your main or even secondary keywords in your blog headings and subheadings.
4. Include main keywords in the first 100 words
Another tip that many tend to skip is the inclusion of the main keywords in the first 100 words or the intro of a blog post. Adding it to the first sentence is actually the most favorable for Google but if you wish to appear more natural, you may just feature it in the first paragraph of your article.
5. Do not engage in keyword stuffing.
Stuffing your text with the same keyword over and over again looks unnatural and unappealing to both readers and search engines alike. For example, instead of writing: “best SEO tips for best bloggers who look for best SEO tips and best blog tips” you may write something more natural like: “best SEO tips for new and experienced bloggers”.
6. Include outbound links.
These are links that you use on your content that direct readers to other relevant sites -they are great for supporting your claims and leading readers to sources where they can willingly explore more about the topic you are writing about.
7. Use internal links.
You may use internal links mainly in two ways. The first is by including links to your newly published post in other relevant articles that you already published. The second is including links to other posts in your blog in your newly published article. 2-3 links each time is a good density–anything more than that though is considered as keyword stuffing and will sabotage your linking attempts.
8. Check your page speed.
You may not realise this but little things such as the use of smaller images, file compression, redirect reduction, and HTML or Javascript code reduction can make a big difference in your page’s speed and SEO rank.
9. Ensure that your website is responsive.
Google does not favor any websites that are unresponsive and not only that, you may miss a huge portion of mobile traffic that won’t simply be able to respond to your CTA.
10. Use a meta-description.
This a small glimpse of your content that users will see when they check out the appearing search engine results. There are two tips to follow here: include your main keyword in your meta-description and secondly, use a Call-To-Action to boost your click-through rates. You may change this description later as you see fit.
11. Review your reader’s intent.
If your previous article used to perform really well 3 years ago but now it’s nearly invisible, this is a sign to do some Search Engine Results Page (SERP) analysis to see if your reader’s intent has shifted. You may also check how your competitors are performing in similar posts–if they seem to answer better user queries than you, you will simply lose traffic.
12. Erase any duplicate content.
Use canonical links in your HTML code to prevent duplicate content, which is considered a foul by Google. This applies especially to e-shops which may have duplicate content on their category pages. Do not add the same blog post in multiple categories or tags if you don’t want to end up with duplicate content.
13. Use ALT text tags.
Alternate text tags are used to signify the attribute of a relevant image that you use with your text. A good strategy here is to include your main keyword in the ALT text field of your image and do the same in all images–you may also include some secondary keywords as well but do not engage in keyword stuffing here either or you risk getting penalised.
14. Use data markup when applicable.
Data markup is essentially a multiform or multimedia presentation of data in specific content forms that require more than just a simple text description e.g recipes, how-to-videos, reviews, etc.
15. Use social media buttons.
If you haven’t already done so, get a relevant plug-in and just do it. There are several tools that will let you personalise the text shared by your readers so they too can get you more views through their own social networks.
16. Don’t use Black-hat methods.
Black-hat methods to boost your SEO rank are not only outdated, but they are also dangerous! These include the use of spammy links, keyword stuffing, spam comments, link farms, paid links, duplicate content and many more. These are all picked by Google and will get you in trouble.
Now, the catch is that applying all the above tips is not an easy and quick process–but if you invest some of your time and resources, your attempts to update and optimise your content for SEO will pay off for sure!
