Basic on-site SEO tips for bloggers

Many bloggers do self promote their blogs in order to attract traffic. This can be a daunting task as you have to do it almost on a daily basis. If you fail, then you won’t have traffic to your blog in fact in some cases failure to promote may mean zero readers. The only way to avoid this tedious tiring process  is to optimize your site for search engines. By implementing on-site SEO Techniques your blog stands a better chance of ranking high in search engines hence driving a large traffic from the same. 

You can start by implementing basic on-site SEO techniques as follows:

Keyword research

This is an activity you undertake to come up with an extensive list of keywords you would like to rank for. You should select such keywords that are highly searched by users in the search engines. Some of the keyword research tools include:

• Google Adwords Keyword planner-Free tool
• Semrush
• Serpstat
• Jaxxy
• Spyfu

Keyword in title

Search engine algorithms give importance to Title of your posts. Therefore include the keyword in Title of your web posts or pages. This enables the search engines to figure out what your post is all about hence rank your posts accordingly in the search results.

Keyword in meta description

Meta Description is just like a summary of what your page or post is all about. This is what will appear in the search results under the title. Include the keywords in Meta Description. Search engines give more weight to keywords in the meta description. Including keywords in meta descriptions increases your Click through rates. Write your meta description in a way that captures users’ attention and lead them to click.

Keyword in H1 tag keyword

This is your web page’s body. Using keywords in your site page’s body text helps to increase your overall SEO score. Search engines also give more weight to the keywords found in the H1 tag.

Alt tag on image with keyword

Using images along with your content makes your page or post more appealing. But to increase your overall SEO score remember to use Alt Tag on image with keywords, this will help to describe the images on your website.

Internal linking between your pages

Creating internal links enhances your visitors engagement by providing links which connects your blog posts. This helps your visitors to find relevant content related to the topic they are searching within your site. This increases your page views and reduces the bounce rate.

You can also read: 10 Effective ways of building links on your blog

Site structure and duplicate content

Your website structure should be such that it should facilitate search engines crawling and indexing. Ensure that you create a site structure that has no duplicate content. Many bloggers make duplicate content on their site by including same posts in various categories. This can affect your site

rankings. If you must include same content in various categories make it ” no follow” so that search engines know how to see your content.

Website sitemap

Search engines use website sitemap to crawl and index your website posts and pages. Usually there are 2 forms of sitemaps. One for the user and the other for the search engines. A user sitemap comes in the form of a single page where all the website pages and sub-pages are displayed thereby helping users find what they are looking for.  Search engine sitemap, helps to increase your site’s crawl-ability. It tells the search engines about your website pages. Therefore a good website structure together with a sitemap helps to improve your website rankings in the search engine results page.

Related: How factors for UX affects SEO

Google webmaster tools

By using Google webmaster tools, you increase your chances of ranking well on the Google search results and also increase your chances of fully indexing your web pages. It provides tools with which you get to know your most popular keywords, how many links are pointing to your website, what pages are indexed and you can even submit a sitemap. You also get information about inbound links to your site.

Optimized website layout

For SEO purposes, the important parts of your content should come first in the HTML. Your users should have an easy navigation of your site. Your website should also be optimized for mobile users since most of the traffic come through mobile devices. You site should have a responsive design so that it can adapt itself according to the screen sizes and resolutions of various digital devices.

You can also check: On-page SEO for Beginner Bloggers

Write quality content regularly

Quality Content is the King and will remain the King as we move to the future. If you want to be successful in your SEO efforts, then creating quality content for your blogs is the most important thing to do. Search engines give huge weight to quality original content.