Getting any blog off the ground can be an extremely difficult process. Even if you have the necessary focus and high quality content, it can be hard to get noticed among the vast ocean of noise that is the Internet. Good SEO design will add quality and integrity to your blog. It will also help to ensure that your hard work gets the maximum exposure that it deserves.
Focus on 1 or 2 Long-Tail Keywords
Optimizing content for keywords is not about stuffing as many keywords as you possibly can, which can actually damage your SEO ranking and lower the overall quality of your content. Rather you should use keywords intelligently in a way that does not appear forced. A good rule of thumb is to focus on one or two keywords for each blog post. This will keep your content focused on each post.
Using long-tail keywords will ensure that you are standing out from the crowd and your readers are looking for exactly what you are providing. This will mean more conversions as people who come to your site are more likely to stay and click through. There are a number of great articles out there on how to perform long-tail keyword research, so take some time to familiarize yourself with the process.
Next, be sure that you include these keywords in specific parts of your blog posts. The four essential places to include your long-tail keywords are in the headline and sub-headlines, the body of the content, in the meta-description, and the website title. This will ensure that the keywords get the maximum exposure for SEO purposes.
Make The Blog Mobile-Friendly
It has been a couple of years since Google commented that a majority of searches are performed on smartphones vs desktops. This is important because phone-based searches will display the results that are mobile-friendly first. Mobile-friendly web design for blogs makes good sense plus it is now also crucial for SEO purposes. Take time to ensure that you have a mobile responsive design for your blog that is easy to read from a smartphone.
Optimize Your Meta-Description
A meta-description is the extra text that appears below the main search results, which lets readers know what the link to your blog is about. The meta-description provides the information needed to decide whether your content is what people are searching for. Your meta-description should be relevant and compelling including long-tail keywords that you are focusing on that represent the content you are writing about. Making a reader-friendly meta-description that features the natural inclusion of keywords will make it easy for search engines to prove the relevancy of your post in search results.