If you’re running a company blog, that means you want to get found by potential customers. And one of the most cost-effective ways to do that is search engine optimization (SEO).
The following SEO tips for company blogs can help your posts achieve better search engine rankings, and the best part is, you don’t need to be a web developer to use these strategies. They can all be implemented as you’re creating and entering your blog posts.
Easy Search Engine Optimization Tips for Company Blogs
1. Long-Tail Keyword SEO
As you’re thinking of the topic of your blog post, identify the long-tail keyword you want to target.
Long-tail keywords are phrases with three to fives words that someone would search for in Google or another search engine. Long tail keywords are more specific than one or two-word keywords, and have less competition. This means you have a better chance of ranking for them, and the traffic is more likely to be relevant to your content.
Before you settle on your long-tail keyword, do a few test searches. Are there already several articles targeting the same phrase? Can you be even more specific? Can you use synonyms?
The keyword you decide to target will become your basis for determining your content, title, URL and meta description, so put in the due diligence in this step.
2. Blog Title SEO
Your blog’s title is incredibly important for SEO. Not only does it go into the formula for determining where it appears in search engine rankings, it’s what a person actually sees and uses to decide if they want to click.
Your title needs to contain the long-tail keyword you identified. It also needs to be interesting and enticing. Be creative!
3. Keyword Location and Frequency
Use your long-tail keyword in your lead paragraph. It’s good for SEO, and it helps your readers get to point of the article quickly. You should also use your keyword in headlines as often as possible.
One handy trick is to give a quick introduction to your post that contains the keyword, then use a headline that is similar to your blog title that also contains your keyword. (Like this post, above.)
Your keyword should appear throughout the post as often as possible while still being natural. If Google senses that you are attempting to unfairly manipulate results, your site could be penalized.
4. Image SEO
Every blog post should have an image. Make the file name the long-tail keyword phrase, with all letters in lowercase and hyphens between each word (example: long-tail-keyword.jpg). If your blogging software gives you the option to give the image an Alt tag and Title tag, these should also both be the long-tail keyword.
5. Page URL SEO
Your page URL should contain, you guessed it, your long-tail keyword. Many blogging software packages will automatically assign your blog title to be the page URL. This typically works quite well if your title already contains your keyword.
6. Meta Description SEO
The meta description is what shows up under the title blog title on the search engine results page. It may also be what someone sees when your post is shared on social media or other sites. Much like the title, this may be what convinces someone to click on your post. It should be a concise summary of your post, contain the long-tail keyword, and be as enticing as possible.
