SEO Tips: #1
OK, so you’ve just started a blog. Perhaps to share a hobby you’re passionate about. Or maybe a small side business you’re working from home, in your spare time.
We’ll keep it very short and simple.
Your new blog or website can’t do much without traffic. And the best source of traffic is organic traffic. That’s the traffic coming from all the people typing in various search terms (which we call keywords).
Now, as the times move on, we may see more people using voice search rather than typing in keywords, but that’s a more advanced subject. One we may cover in the future.
SEO Tips for Newbie Bloggers
Meta Titles
Meta titles are the key element of on-page optimisation. It’s one of the ranking factors which haven’t changed much (if at all) over the years. Meta title or title tag is an HTML element which specifies the title of a web page. You can read more on it here.
Usually, your meta title will be same or very similar to your post title.
There are 3 main considerations when choosing a meta title:
- it should grab reader’s attention and make people click on your post, when they see it on Google’s results page.
- make sure to include your main keyword and secondary keyword in your title.(more on keywords later)
- keep an eye on the title length
Google will typically display the first 50–60 characters of your title. If it’s any longer, it will be truncated.
Keyword Research
Before you write your post, spend some time on keyword research.
Now, you may have no time to become an SEO expert. You may also have no access to expensive keyword research tools. But do not worry, we’ve got you covered. This is a newbie guide.
So, if you’re completely clueless as to what keywords and keyword research is, best start here.
To get going you’ll need 2 things.
– understand that your content needs keywords
– use basic, free tools
The first and the most simple tool is Google Suggest.
Simply start typing your keyword in Google and see what happens.
There you go, here are your keyword suggestions.You can now use these within your post.
Another simple, free tool you can use is keywordtool.io Give it a go, it’s pretty self-explanatory.
Content Length
There is no such thing as optimal content length. It varies from niche to niche, and it is not impossible, even for a very short posts to rank well. However, having said that, when it comes to web pages ranking on the first page of Google, these tend to be long. In fact, very long.
According to massive study by Backlinko the average first page result (on Google) contains 1,890 words.
So there you have it. Our 3 very basic SEO tips to get you started.
If you want to learn more about SEO there is a lot of awesome free resources available. Why not starting with this free course from Udemy.
