Every time we meet with a potential customer, one of the first questions they ask is how do I increase my SEO. Usually this statement is usually followed by, “But who reads blogs anyway?” And an exhausted, “I don’t have time to write that.” By now it’s no secret that SEO is a game changer for ongoing traffic to your website. But before you focus on paid ads or invest in SEO tools, we recommend you follow our Blog Post SEO checklist to cover the basics.
A few things to mention before we get started with today’s article.
Google has changed the way they approach ranking. You’ve probably even noticed that your domain authority and analytics have fallen pretty drastically over the past few months. There’s a few reasons this is happening. Without getting overly detailed and nuanced, here’s the shortened tea:
- Google has shifted a their overall UI. “Page 1” ranking isn’t a true metric as on their mobile app, users function within an infinity scroll mirroring social media UI. If you want to have domain authority and top listings as a service provider, you will need to use paid campaigns for GoogleAdWords. (ie pay to play environments.)
- Google is also taking notice to heat maps within your site and the UI/click events. This is will have stronger priority in ranking than solely focusing on SEO keywords.
- Keyword stuffing is no longer a good practice to use. Remember the days of keyword stuffing and mega menus with pages that don’t accurately represent your services in hopes of ranking on Google? Those days are gone and you’re probably Both are important but make sure to track click events and have cookies enabled on your site to keep a pulse on the analytics to your site.
(Pro tip #1: Need help past the basics? Hire our team at 3816 Creative to help.)
Before You Post:
1. Use SEO tools to research the kinds of content your users are looking for. (Check out our favorite SEO tools: Ubersuggest and Semrush.)
2. Make sure to check permalink structure.
3. Name all images and alt text within the post.
4. Include H2 and H3 tags for segmentation within the article.
5. Include links to other relevant pages on your site (relevant articles, contact page, sales funnel, etc) and external links (LTK, affiliates, etc.).
6. Add a unique social share image to your post.
7. Include a featured image.
8. Proofread. Nothing will tank SEO faster than typos.
9. Word count matters. Make sure blog posts are at least 1500 words for a best practice.
Pro tip #2: ChatGPT can be great for creating prompts for blog posts on your site. However, don’t copy and paste. If you do, your website will ineligible for copyright protection and duplicates open content on the web. AI tools serve as a great starting point. When infused with brand voice and specific SEO keywords, it can be a fantastic tool to increase efficiency in content writing.
Pro tip #3: Are your ideal customers on Pinterest? If on WordPress, use the plugin WP Tasty Pins to have hidden images on blog posts that are more Pinterest friendly to drive traffic to the site.
After You Post:
1. Pin all images onto Pinterest.
2. Schedule onto relevant group boards using either Tailwind or Later.
3. Post to Facebook business pages and in relevant Facebook groups when users are asking for content the article speaks to.
4. Create carousel posts on Instagram and then post to Instagram Stories. (We love using the link feature to link directly to the post in Stories.)
5. Post an excerpt as a LinkedIn article and then drive traffic to the read of the post on your website.
6. Include blog post content in email and/or SMS marketing.
7. Check the analytics and referrers of your posts to see how items are performing.
8. Re-pin images to relevant boards 1-2 months later.
9. Identify cornerstone content that can be used as answers to potential customer questions, FB groups, etc. This will allow your post to have a much longer shelf life than a few days or weeks.
10. (Monthly) Review your Google Analytics. Determine which posts are performing and make a point to update these articles regularly. Depending on the type of content you’re writing, scheduling regular updates will insure the content remains relevant to the user.
11. (Every six months) Submit your sitemap to Google Search console for regular updates and scanning.
Pro tip #4: If you are an influencer/content creator, make sure to include backlinks to your website in addition to your social media channels. You’ll notice we haven’t included TikTok, Threads and YouTube platforms in the list above. Why you ask? These are all top of social funnel platforms that drive traffic to Instagram or direct purchases rather than drive users to your website. With SEO, we encourage focusing on linking to platforms where users are actively searching for long-form content. As a content creator, this can also increase your overall value as you are pitching to brands for sponsorships and offering a competitive bid.
P.S. Looking for further ways to repurpose your content? Check out our guide here.