Launching a blog is an exciting venture, but it can be difficult to make your blog stand out in the crowded online world. While an eye-catching design is important for attracting visitors, it’s equally important to optimize your blog for search engines. With so many guides and tutorials available, it can be hard to know which SEO techniques will work best for your WordPress blog. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of 10 universal SEO techniques that will make your blog shine no matter what niche you’re in.
1. Opt for a Responsive Design
A responsive design ensures that your blog provides a seamless browsing experience on all devices. Google has stated that mobile-friendly designs receive additional ranking boosts in mobile search results. To make your website more accessible, ensure that your blog performs well in any web environment. Google’s tips for mobile-friendly websites will guide you in the right direction.
2. Make Your Content Powerful and Mighty
Content is king, and the quality of your data will determine the future success and demand of your online resource. Create valuable pieces of data that are relevant to your blog’s topic. Keep your target audience in mind and focus on creating posts that are shareable and commented on.
3. Optimize Your Post Titles
Your post title is the first thing that visitors see, so it’s important to make it eye-catching and intriguing. Use clarifications like [interview], [podcast], [infographic], etc. to set clear expectations. Keep it short (less than 70 characters if you want it to be shown properly in search results) and use numbers and stats to make it more appealing. Don’t forget to add the focus keyword to the post title.
4. Make Permalinks Short & Clear
Permalinks and link structure are important from a search engine perspective. Keep permalinks as simple and intelligent as possible so that search engines can easily find the desired content. The optimal length of the permalink should be 100 characters maximum. Use keywords to the point, separate words with hyphens, and omit stop words like ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘but’, ‘at’, etc. Avoid using dynamic properties if possible.
5. Add Internal Linking between Your Blog Posts
Internal links between posts can improve navigation on your site and grow user engagement. By adding quick links to relevant publications, you suggest other articles that may come in handy to your audience as they read your post.
6. Optimize Image File Names
Images can also get ranked in Google, so it’s important to add good names for image files. Instead of keeping the default file names generated by a digital camera, use descriptive words and phrases in the file name. Also, use the alt tag and title tag for each image.
7. Use Social Media
Social media marketing is a great way to generate new traffic. Share your publications on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ and let your social media followers keep track of your updates. Create a mix of promotional content with educational posts and fun data to make your social media profile helpful to the audience.
8. Exchange Backlinks
Get in touch with authority websites or other blogs in your industry to exchange links to relevant pages/topics on your own web portal.
9. Create a Sitemap
Creating a sitemap helps Google index your blog more efficiently. Use a plugin like Google XML Sitemaps to generate a sitemap of your site automatically.
10. Use SEO-friendly Themes
Choose a fast-performing and mobile-friendly WordPress theme that’s optimized for search engines. WordPress blog themes from TemplateMonster, for example, can save you loads of time for proper optimization of your pages and content.
These 10 universal SEO techniques will make your blog more findable on the web. Experiment with different techniques for proper data optimization, engage your audience via search engines, and make them reach your WordPress blog to never leave for a competitor’s site. If you want a more in-depth guide, check out our post on “WordPress SEO Best Practices” for even more information to help you get started and improve your site’s SEO. And if you have any additional tips, leave a comment!
