Complete Blog Post SEO Checklist To Boost Rankings

If you own a blogging site and struggling with online search visibility, search engine rankings and organic traffic, adopting a foolproof SEO strategy is crucial. Creating relevant content and consistently publishing it on your website won’t deliver the desired results until you implement the right SEO techniques.

The success of any online business in today’s competitive digital landscape depends on effective SEO. However, SEO comprises various key components, including traditional on-page and off-page SEO, as well as technical SEO and local SEO, each serving an important purpose.

Grasping all the intricacies at once is undoubtedly a challenging task, but covering all these aspects is essential in achieving high search engine rankings.

This article will discuss some important tips for blog post optimization. You’ll learn about the various aspects of SEO required to rank your blog posts well on search engine results pages. 

What Are the Key Elements of Blogging?

Content creation requires significant effort, time, and resources. While millions of content pieces are published daily, not all yield a good ROI.

Consider this as a reference: Google receives approximately 3.5 billion searches each day and only the top five searches account for 67% of all clicks. These figures showcase the importance of content optimization.

To succeed in blogging, it is essential to have a solid content strategy for your website. This will help you be consistent and follow the right approach every time you create something valuable for your audience. 

Here are the three fundamental aspects of blogging:

• Defining Target Audience

Defining your target audience is the first key step in building a successful blogging business. Remember, everyone is not your target audience and reaching out to everyone will make your content too generic and you won’t get the desired results. Narrow down your audience by understanding who you are writing for, enabling you to craft content that truly resonates.

• Doing Keyword Research

Keyword research is the second most important thing that can’t be overlooked. It helps you get a detailed blueprint about topics your target audience is actively searching for and loves to read about them. There are multiple tools used for keyword research such as Ahrefs, Google Keyword Planner, Semrush, Google Trends, and more.

• Creating Content Regularly

Now that you have defined your target audience and identified intelligent keywords for your niche, it is time to focus on creating content.` The content should be original, resourceful, and aligned with the needs of the audience. Consistently producing high-quality content will enhance your online search visibility and help establish your authority over time.  

Blog Post SEO Checklist To Get Started

1. Target the Correct Keywords

Are you targeting the right keywords in your blog post? Since keyword research is crucial, it is significant to incorporate high-intent long-tail keywords in your blogs naturally. Avoid keyword stuffing, instead, you can use relevant terms and synonyms with a high possibility of being searched by your audience. 

When selecting the primary and secondary keywords, make sure they are impactful and your target audience frequently searches them. It is better to use a good mix of focus keywords along with long-tail keywords. 

Furthermore, research what your competitors are targeting and look for the gaps. Working on all these aspects will increase your probability of ranking higher than your competitors.  

[Also Read: Google Page Ranking: 8 Successful Steps To Rank a Site on Google]

2. Create a Compelling Blog Title

The title plays a vital role in the success of your blog post. This is because it is the first thing that appears in front of the reader. If the quality of your blog title isn’t good; chances are slim that the readers will click on it, which ultimately benefits your competitors. 

Here’s how you can craft a compelling blog title for your blog post:

• Incorporate the focus or primary keyword anywhere in the tile, preferably at the start. This will attract the reader more.
• Google showcases a certain length of the title tag on the screen and the rest will not be visible. A strong and impactful title should ideally be between 50-60 characters in length.  
• Leverage powerful words in your blog title and try to evoke the readers’ emotions to target their pain points.

3. Place Your Primary Keyword in Key Locations

Next on the SEO blog post checklist is ensuring proper keyword placement in key locations. The focus keyword of your blog post encapsulates what readers are looking for, so, it is important to place it in these six key areas:

Title Tag:

Incorporate your primary keyword in the title tag as it will assist search engines in understanding the context of the blog post.

Headline: 

Place your main keyword at the beginning of your blog headline to immediately inform readers about the blog post’s focus.   

Meta Description:

A meta description is a summary of the information discussed on a specific page. It is also one of the primary locations where you should add the focus keyword.

Introduction:

Make sure that the keyword you are aiming for is included in the introduction. This reassures readers that the content will meet their needs. 

Sub-headings:

Lastly, include that keyword in the sub-headings of the blog post. You can include it in H2, H3, or H4 tags naturally, signaling search engines that your blog is keyword-focused and relevant.

4. Consider the Search Intent of the Reader

Understanding and addressing the user’s search intent is the next important step in the blog post SEO checklist. When an individual inputs a search query into a search engine, there exists a purpose for doing so.

The term ‘search intent’ is used to describe the purpose behind a user’s search. They could be looking for information on a particular subject, a comparison between two products, or access to a specific website. 

Always consider and address the user’s search intent when crafting a blog post and provide readers with every necessary detail they are seeking. This will encourage readers to spend more time on your blog, signalling to search engines that your content is valuable.

5. Structure Your Post for Optimal Readability

The readability of your blog post is important as it improves the user experience, keeping readers on your site longer. Content with higher readability is pleasant for the readers and here’s how you can also make your blog reader-friendly:

• Use clear and concise sub-headings for readers who skim first and then read the entire blog post.
• Use short sentences and paragraphs, big content chunks might overwhelm the readers.
• Use bullet points and various formatting options like bold and italics to highlight key points for the reader’s attention.
• Separately include famous quotes relevant to the blog title. 
• Include eye-catching images or infographics throughout the blog post. This will give a break from the continuous text, improving the readability. 

6. Include Both Internal and External Links

Including both internal and external links will supercharge your blog post and boost your ranking in SERPs. Every blog post-SEO checklist is incomplete without this point. Internal and external links are equally important for SEO and you can’t overlook any of them.

External Links: 

External linking allows you to build associations with content available on other websites. It is important as they improve your content’s credibility.

Internal Links: 

Internal linking allows page value to pass between the interlinked pages, benefiting the SEO. This also helps in keeping readers engaged on your site for longer periods.

When creating a blog post for your site, sometimes it becomes difficult to include all the information in one piece. This is where internal linking plays a vital role. It enables you to interlink relevant blogs so that the reader can navigate the related information without struggling.

7. Optimize Your Images for SEO

Images are an integral part of SEO and user experience. Well-placed relevant images boost your blog’s performance. Here’s, how:

Images break the long content form, giving a break to the readers. Another reason why images and infographics are important for blog post optimization is to clarify difficult concepts.

However, having unoptimized images of blog pages can be havoc, slowing down your site speed and influencing user experience. To avoid such a scenario, optimize images by compressing them and maintaining the quality. Moreover, incorporate the primary keyword in the alt text which boosts the chances of your image being ranked and appearing in search results.  

8. Utilize the Best SEO Tools

Lastly, prepare a strong SEO toolkit. Having the appropriate tools will undoubtedly impact your SEO performance. 

Here’s a quick yet valuable list to help you optimize your blog post for maximum results:

Content Optimization: Surfer SEO, and Clearscope.

On-page Content Optimization: SEO Press, and Yoast SEO.

Keyword Research: Answer The Public, Keywords Everywhere, Ubersuggest, Google Keyword Planner, and Semrush.  

Technical SEO: Google Analytics, Screaming Frog, and Google Search Console.

Image Optimization: Smush, Optimizilla, and Compressor.

Page Speed Test: Google PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom Speed Test.

All-in-one SEO Tools: Moz, Semrush, and Ahrefs.

9. Finalizing Our Blog Post SEO Checklist

Optimizing your blog posts and other content pieces on your website is an ongoing process. It requires continuous maintenance like updating statistics and adding more recent information over time so that your readers are fully convinced whenever they read your blog.

It is important to preview our blog post once it’s ready to be rolled out on the site. This will let you know how other users will see it. Most probably, you will pinpoint all the errors at this stage.

Want to uplift your search engine rankings with a proven SEO strategy? 

Connect with our expert team at VirrgoTech for top-notch SEO services and take your SEO campaign to new heights. 

Also read: What Is Content Audit? Advantages of Content Audits for Your Site