Category Archives: SEO

This is how you use your blog to improve your SEO

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Publish a blog to improve your SEO

Content marketers and SEO experts often advise you to start publishing a business blog. Even on my blog I have often written about the benefits of regularly publishing a business blog.

Although publishing a blog can seem like a daunting task, especially considering the prospect of having to write quality content regularly, you can use your blog to tremendously improve your SEO.

Actually, for many years people have already known that if you regularly blog, it is good for your SEO.

Why is a blog good for your SEO?

It is the very nature of the blog that is preferred by the search engine ranking algorithms.

What do search engines like?

They like to crawl and index lots of fresh content.

On your blog, provided you update it with new content regularly, the search engines (let’s say Google for clarity’s sake) get to crawl new content repeatedly.

Every blog has a theme, preferably. For example, my this blog deals with content writing and content marketing.

Since almost all the blog posts are about content writing and content marketing on my blog (blogging is a very important component of content marketing), Google deems it as an authority place for these topics.

There is a greater density of keywords pertaining to my profession on this blog.

Suits Google’s ranking algorithm.

On majority of blogs the home page is simply a collection of the most recent blog posts, arranged time-stamp-wise descending order with the latest blog post appearing at the top.

So, the home page is constantly updating, the side bar is constantly updating, the new blog posts are constantly being added, new images are constantly being added. It’s a never-ending party for Google crawlers.

Even the structure of blog posts is by details search engine friendly. The title appears within the <h1> tag in most of the cases. There is meta data to give extra information to the search engine crawlers.

Hence, an averagely updated blog is anyway search engine friendly.

Does having a blog automatically improve your SEO?

more lead generation with blogging

Data Source

Something, is always better than nothing

Even if the SEO benefit is not apparent, just by existing, your blog improves your SEO.

The benefit doesn’t bring you much profit because it has to compete with other blogs in your business.

If I don’t see any improvements in my search engine rankings even when I blog regularly, it’s because there is too much competition in my field. There are some established content writing and content marketing blogs that are miles ahead of my blog.

So even if my SEO is improving, I’m constantly being pushed behind by more prominent blogs.

This is true for every niche that has competition.

If you blog regularly and still your SEO doesn’t improve it doesn’t mean it actually isn’t improving, it’s just that your competitors are undoing your effort by being better than you.

So, does it mean there is no use trying to improve your SEO with your blog.

This recent Search Engine Land blog post explains what changes you can make to your blog to get an SEO edge over your competitors.

Using your blog to improve your SEO

As I’ve explained above, the very nature and structure of a blog is such that search engines prefer them over regular websites.

But, since all the blogs are by default SEO friendly (unless you’ve chosen a really terrible theme or template), even your competitors’ blogs must be optimized.

So how do you make your blog more SEO friendly.

These are some of the things you can do to improve your blog SEO, according to the above SEL post…

Name your blog appropriately

What does appropriately mean? The post above says create a compelling name, but I would add that create an appropriate name.

It means try to have your main keyword in the title of your blog.

For example, the title of my blog is “Credible Content Blog”

If you want to add some more spice (you’ve got 70 characters to play with) you can add more words.

The page <title> tag of the home page of my blog is “No-Clutter Content Marketing and Content Writing Advice – Credible Content Blog”.

Of course, you can be more creative, and there is nothing wrong in being more adventurous.

Just keep in mind that when someone comes across the title of your blog somewhere (assuming you are not a well-known brand like Samsung or Accenture) he or she should immediately be able to know what it is about.

The above SEL post suggests you keep the following pointers in mind while coming up with the title of your blog:

  • What is the overarching theme of the blog?
  • What would be a compelling description in my industry?
  • Can I incorporate important SEO keywords in the blog’s title or name?
  • Specifically, whom am I trying to reach?

Target on narrow audience with every post

When you focus on a narrow audience it is easier to optimize your keyword targeting.

Every business has different narrow sections.

In this blog post I’m targeting people and businesses interested in using a blog for SEO.

This is very easy. Before creating a new blog post, always have the intention in your mind.

What do you want to convey?

What particular problem you should solve?

Who would be best served by this upcoming blog post?

This can be done by focusing on just a single topic.

If you want to publish your blog posts in question-answer format, answer every question in a separate, dedicated blog post.

Don’t try to handle multiple questions in a single blog post because this dilutes the focus of your blog post, which is not good for your SEO.

Follow an SEO-friendly URL structure

Well, this is something I need to pay close attention to because I normally tend to use the default URL that is generated by my WordPress setting. My URLs are normally very long, which is not good.

If you are using WordPress to manage your blog, it is a given that we don’t use its default URL structure which is something like yourblog.com/?p=48.

Normally the words contained within the title of your blog post are concatenated into a string and a URL is generated.

If your blog post titles are shorter and to the point, the URLs can be used as they are, but if your blog post titles are very long and contain lots of words, it is always prudent to shorten your URLs.

For example, when I publish this blog post, the default URL generated by WordPress is going to be /this-is-how-you-use-your-blog-to-improve-your-seo/, which is not very SEO-friendly.

On the other hand, if my blog post URL is something like /how-use-blog-improve-seo/ it is shorter, and it uses all the main keywords of the blog post.

If you use WordPress, there is a plug-in that automatically takes care of this issue.

Optimize your blog post content continuously

There are two ways of doing this: take care of all the optimization issues when you are publishing your blog post for the first time, and then, revisit your blog post whenever you get a chance and see if it can be optimized further.

The initial optimization steps can be like

  • Use your main keyword or search term in the first 100 words of your blog post content.
  • Make sure your main keyword is present in the title of your blog post, preferably in the beginning.
  • Use your keywords and their variations every 100-150 words (don’t over use your keywords because this will invite SEO penalty).
  • Use multiple optimized images. Normally there is a tendency to use just one image in the beginning as featured image. But, if your blog post is 1200 words long use at least 4-5 images. I don’t do it myself, but ideally there should be an image after every 300 words.
  • Write longer blog posts. Longer blog posts are considered good for SEO because they are difficult to write. You can have more information on a particular topic. You can use your keywords and search terms more often when you write longer blog posts. Even Google thinks that longer blog posts are better than shorter blog posts. The ideal length these days is 1200-1500 words.

How do you optimize your blog post after you have published it?

Keep checking its rankings every week. If it doesn’t show up in search, you need to optimize it further.

You can use the SEOPressor WordPress plug-in to analyze your blog post. It tells you whether you have under-optimized or over-optimized your blog post – both are bad for your SEO.

In this blog post titled Should you always be writing optimized content to improve SEO? I have talked more about the SEOPressor WordPress plug-in.

Another way of improving SEO of individual blog posts is by turning selected blog posts into “pillar posts”. You may like to read What are topic clusters and pillar pages and how they improve your SEO?

Cover your individual keywords and search phrases by dedicated blog posts

One of the greatest SEO benefits of publishing a blog is that you can write blog posts on keywords and search phrases that you haven’t been able to cover on your main website.

It would seem off-topic if I try to explain how to use your blog to improve your SEO within my main website because on the main website I mostly talking about my services and how I can serve well my clients’ interests.

The feel and the language of the main website is different from your blog. On your blog you can be more conversational and informal and it is easier to talk about related or slightly related issues.

Use optimized images and videos for better SEO

As you publish more and more, your blog posts are going to be a mix of images and videos.

Do you know Google prefers lighter images? I recently read in a blog post (I can’t find it right now) that Google probably prefers PNG files to JPG files. Ever since then I have started using PNG files.

A good thing about using PNG files is that by little tweaking you can considerably reduce their size without compromising on visual quality.

You can optimize images and videos by supplying appropriate text around the images and videos.

You must already know that whenever you use an image you need to use the ALT tag to supply the alternative text for the image.

The text that you write around the image is also taken as an indication of what the image represents and this information is used when the image is shown in the image search engine result pages. The same holds good for videos.

Use proper markup for your blog posts

Markup gives extra information to the search engines which helps them rank your blog posts accordingly.

Markup is just like the old HTML tags that contain specific information like <title> and <meta name=”description” content=”” />.

Markup is just the extra information that helps search engines like Google know more about the nature of your content.

I will give you a simple example of how your markup information can help Google decide whether to show your content or not…

Suppose you create a blog post titled “Review of The Godfather”.

In the “genre” markup tag you can mention whether it is the “Movie” or the “Book” you are talking about.

Here is a nice explanation of what is schema markup and what is the benefit of using it.

If you’re not very comfortable with the intricacies of the source code, I will again refer to the WordPress plug-in SEOPressor that allows you to enter markup information.

Promote your blog posts on social media and social working platforms

This may not seem like specifically using your blog to improve your SEO, but it is.

Although the search engine crawlers, especially Google crawlers, may start crawling and indexing your content sooner or later if you persistently publish new content, you will start getting SEO benefits faster if you promote your content aggressively.

Recently, CognitiveSEO has published a very big study on how various social signals can boost your SEO.

Social-Signals-Influence-SEO--1024x570

Your social media and social networking profiles are ready-made platforms for you.

Use platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ to promote your new links.

In fact, it is rumored that by merely posting your content on Google+ you can have a positive impact on your search rankings.

To improve your SEO you need backlinks. People should link to your content voluntarily, but for that, they should be able to discover your content.

Since most of the influencers are on social media these days it is easier to put your content in front of them rather than leaving everything on serendipity.

Many clients approach me to get content to improve their SEO. Sometimes they want to use content marketing solely for its SEO benefits.

I don’t appreciate the approach but it is definitely better than doing nothing. It’s after all fresh and relevant content that keeps you ahead of your competitors in search engines.

But if you are really interested in improving your search engine rankings and you don’t want to get embroiled in some “SEO tactics”, publishing a regular blog is the best way of doing it.

Search engines love blogs. Blogs have focused, targeted information. They are centered around specific keywords and themes. The content is organized in such a manner that it makes total sense to search engine algorithms.

If you don’t have a blog, start one now, and if you have it but it has so far remained in doldrums, dust it off and give it a nice push. Let me know if I can help in any manner.

What is the importance of keywords in SEO content writing?

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Importance of keywords in SEO content writing

What is SEO content writing and how critical it is that you know how to incorporate your primary, secondary and long tail keywords into your overall writing process?

SEO content writing means writing in such a manner that it’s very easy for search engine crawlers to access your content and make sense of it.

Why is it important that the search engine algorithms should be able to make sense of your content writing?

It is because if they cannot make sense of your content, they won’t be able to rank it for the appropriate keywords.

When you are writing SEO content you keep in mind the phrases, the search terms and the keywords people may use, to be able to find your website or one of its links, and then you create content using those phrases, search terms and keywords.

SEO content writing in no way means mindlessly using your keywords. These days, the quality and the relevance of your content is as important, and sometimes even more important, than your ability to use your keywords.

The importance of keywords in SEO content writing

Ever since the advent of search engines and it became important to get good search engine rankings, the importance of keywords to improve your SEO always invites heated discussions.

Content marketing and SEO have been combined. SEO content marketing has evolved into a branch in itself.

There was a time when keywords were important. Okay, they are still important, but there are also a zillion of other factors that are important for your SEO.

Keywords importance

Those factors are beyond the scope of this post because here I’m just focusing on the importance of keywords in SEO content writing.

Read 10 fundamental qualities of effective SEO content writing.

With so many changes occurring in Google’s ranking algorithms, do keywords still matter?

To understand this, you need to understand what are keywords.

Keywords may sound important and even intimidating when you feel that they can have a big impact on your search engine rankings and then these search engine rankings can have a big impact on your business, but they are not as intimidating as they seem.

Keywords are basically the search terms people use so that they can find your business (not particularly your business but something of that sort).

These keywords can have just a single word, a couple of words, a small phrase, a complete sentence, or a question.

Would you like to get better rankings for “where can I find handmade table napkins” or “handmade table napkins”?

The person using the first search term actually wants to find handmade table napkins.

The person using the second search term may be looking for handmade table napkins, but he or she may also be looking for just some sort of information on handmade table napkins.

You may target both the search terms but for you, if you are selling handmade table napkins, the first search term is more important.

So, how do you target the search term, or the keyword or, the longtail keyword “where can I find handmade table napkins”?

This is called optimization.

This is where the importance of keywords in SEO content writing arises.

To get targeted traffic you have to use the right language. In the above example, “where can I find” and “handmade table napkins” are very important parts of your main keyword if you are selling handmade table napkins.

Your text must suggest that your web page will tell the search engine user that yours is the place where he or she can find handmade table napkins.

Your keywords are like the building blocks. They help you stay focused when you are writing content, especially content that needs to rank higher on search engines.

Consider the above example again. You know what keyword to be found for.

So, when you are writing SEO content for this particular search term you know that you don’t want to write about the technique of making handmade table napkins or what are the benefits of using handmade table napkins.

Although you can touch upon these issues, your primary concern is telling the search engine users that they can find handmade table napkins on your website when they want to know where they can find them.

Should you over-obsess over your keywords?

Keywords are important but let them not dominate the way you write your content.

Focus on providing the right answers to the right questions.

When you provide the right answers, you are automatically using the keywords or the search terms being used by your prospective customers and clients.

I want to draw people to my website who are looking for a content writer or a content writing service.

So, if I write and publish content about “need a content writer”, or “looking for a content writer” there is a small chance that I will be focusing on “how to become a better content writer”.

This is because I’m not selling educational material on how to become a better content writer; I’m selling my content writing services.

Even such small changes can make a big difference.

How can you avoid such costly mistakes?

You can avoid such costly mistakes, again, by focusing on the questions and search terms people may use when searching for your services, rather than obsessing over your keywords.

Remember that your prospective customers and clients may use a totally different language for your business than what you use.

Yes, it is important to prepare a list of your target keywords and search terms, but once you have created the list, focus more on solving problems rather than covering all the keywords.

I always suggest my clients that when they focus on solving problems they automatically cover their important keywords.

How to use keywords when doing SEO content writing

keywords and SEO content writing

Keywords are important in SEO content writing. The search engine algorithms look for your keywords at certain locations of your web page or blog post.

Although these laws are not written in stone, SEO experts and experienced content marketers suggest that you use your keywords

  • In the beginning of your web page or blog post title
  • Within the first 100 words of the body text
  • Once every 200 words
  • Within H1, H2 and H3 tags at least once
  • In the last paragraph

As I have written above, your rankings may depend on many external factors, so you don’t necessarily need to adhere to these guidelines regarding where to put your keywords while doing SEO content writing, these are better practices to follow.

If you are targeting a longer phrase, it isn’t necessary that you always have to use the complete phrase. Use the complete phrase, if it is possible, within the title and then a couple of times within the body text.

After that, you can use the various parts of the phrase, creatively, in different ways.

For example, if I want to optimize for “SEO content writing services” I can use the exact phrase in the title and a few times within the body text and then at various places I can use individual words “SEO”, “content writing” and “services”.

There is always a danger of over-optimizing so always be careful of overusing your keywords.

Overusing your keywords can be more damaging than not using them at all.

The importance of keywords in SEO content writing is going to prevail for many more years not because there is no other way but to rely on this, the so-called “outdated strategy”, it’s just that, using them makes perfect sense. This is how you speak. The keywords are a part of your language. They are always going to be important.

How content marketing actually improves your SEO

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content marketing improves SEO

Content marketing and SEO are intertwined these days.

Ever since Google released the Panda and Penguin updates people have come to understand that SEO doesn’t just mean using the right keywords while writing content.

Although keywords are important, they are not the sole factors in determining your search engine rankings, the way they used to be 10 odd years ago.

Somewhere along, Google realized that it had to crowdsource its ranking algorithms. Merely depending on the machines was open to exploitation.

Hence, social validation and acceptance of your content became as important as the way you used the keywords.

These days, your search engine rankings depend on

  • The overall quality of your content
  • The ease of reading
  • The number of people sharing your content on social media and social networking websites
  • The number of people linking to your website or individual links
  • The relevance of your content
  • The bounce rate on your website or blog
  • The number of times you update and refresh your content

Although Google (and other major search engines) don’t let people know how actually the search engine ranking algorithms work, the above-mentioned attributes of your content can ensure an improved SEO.

As you can see, a big part of your search engine rankings depends on how people perceive your content.

Google has incorporated these attributes because even if you can use black hat SEO tactics to trick the machines, it is practically impossible to trick humans.

Therefore, SEO these days depends a lot on content marketing.

Why SEO and content marketing are interconnected

The basic nature of content marketing is, publishing high-quality content and then making sure that people who need to access that content, can easily access it.

Read Can content marketing improve your SEO?

Once you have published high-quality content and made it easy for people to access it, since people these days love to share content on social media and social networking websites, they start sharing your content too.

The beauty of this is, they won’t share your content if they don’t find it useful.

If they don’t like your content, your content will not earn social validation.

You may find it nagging that you always have to publish and then distribute high-quality content for better SEO, but look at it logically…very few business owners can publish content that can earn social validation.

If you can improve your SEO with better content marketing, it creates a level-playing field for everyone.

People cannot force their way into better search engine rankings simply because they can spend more money.

SEO these days is not about quantity.

It’s about quality.

And quality comes with knowledge, wisdom, experience, and a strong desire to keep your prospective customers informed and educated.

Well-executed content marketing automatically improves your search engine rankings.

As mentioned above, content marketing can succeed only when you publish valuable content, content that people appreciate.

When you focus on your core topic, you are naturally creating content around your keywords.

Content marketing means providing compelling content on an ongoing basis.

The more you refine your content marketing the better focused you are when publishing useful content.

Being better focused means, focusing on the right questions and the right answers.

Content marketing also means making your content available on all possible distribution channels, which means more people can access your content.

When people can access your content there is a greater possibility of them sharing your content and linking to it from their own websites and blogs.

So, all the steps that you follow to execute a good content marketing strategy, are also the steps needed to improve your SEO.

Better SEO means publishing relevant content in as friendly a manner as possible.

Better SEO also means a greater number of people responding to your content and linking to it.

Consequently, better content marketing means improved SEO.

Should you always be writing optimized content to improve SEO?

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dont-let-you-need-to-always-optimize-stop-you-from-writing

You publish content on your website or blog for a reason, right?

Out of scores of reasons, one of the biggest reasons why people want to publish content regularly on their websites and blogs is to improve their SEO.

Many SEO experts and content marketers suggest that never publish a piece of content without optimizing it for search engines.

Here, I’m assuming that when they say “optimizing” they don’t mean needlessly stuffing your blog posts and web pages with keywords.

What they mean to say is, make sure that you publish something, you target your effort in such a manner, that it helps to improve your SEO.

There are some great tools available that can help you search-engine-optimize your content.

For example, if you manage your website and blog with WordPress, you may be using one of the SEO plug-ins. I use SEOPressor. People also use Yoast SEO and All-In-One-SEO.

They are great tools to help you publish posts that are optimized for your chosen keywords.

A great thing that I like about SEOPressor is that it helps you see if you are over-optimizing your content.

Since I don’t intentionally overuse my keywords, when I use them, it is unintentional.

Sometimes, just in the flow, I tend to use the same expression again and again, mostly to sound lyrical.

This optimizes my content and consequently, my SEO suffers.

SEOPressor tells me when I have used the keywords more times than necessary.

But this small post is not about optimizing or over-optimizing for better SEO; this post is about not getting bogged down by the fact that you have to optimize every web page and blog post just because you have got tools with you that help you optimize.

For example, the SEOPressor tells you whether the web page on the blog post you are working on is well-optimized or not. If it is well optimized, you see this nice green response:

SEOPressor screenshot

The problem here is (it has nothing to do with SEOPressor) that sometimes one tends to get psychologically bogged down by the fact that, that icon has to turn green. The entire focus is shifted on optimizing the web page instead of delivering the message.

Optimization is needed.

If you want to draw targeted traffic from search engines, there is no other option but to optimize your individual web pages and blog posts.

But you don’t need to obsess. You shouldn’t let your need to optimize every possible web page and blog post stop you from expressing yourself.

Optimize when you really want to, need to, optimize, but otherwise, let yourself be free.

Don’t dilute your content by writing about everything under the sun – stick to your core competency (in my case it is content writing and content marketing) – but sometimes if you don’t want to pay attention to the optimization aspect, don’t.

You don’t always have to write more than 1500 words.

You don’t always have to use your keywords within the first 100 words in the last paragraph.

No need to always worry about keyword density.

No need to worry about an optimized title.

Just write and publish.

This is very important for you as a professional and a professional who promotes himself or herself through his or her writing.

Your writing begins to get stunted when you focus more on optimization and less on your core message.

Again, yes, optimization is necessary and unavoidable but keep it a mix of free flow and optimized content.

Let it be like, in every 10 web pages and blog posts, don’t bother for optimization for 2-3.

Remember that what is important is that you publish regularly.

Don’t feel discouraged that right now you cannot come up with a completely optimized web page or blog post.

Publishing something is always better than publishing nothing.

How to boost your content with these 5 SEO tactics

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5 SEO tactics to boost your content

Search engine traffic is very important for your business.

But search engine traffic doesn’t just come your way simply because your website or blog exists.

You need to provide quality content to search engines like Google, constantly. The search engines are hungry for fresh and high-quality content.

The problem is, it isn’t just the quality of your content that boosts your SEO (although the quality is fundamental): you need to apply some tactics to make it easier for search engines to crawl, index and rank your website links for the appropriate keywords.

You need to keep it in mind that it’s the algorithms that are deciding which link to rank, and how. These algorithms go through various facts like

  • what keywords you have used
  • how you have formatted the information
  • what is the quality of your writing
  • and most importantly, how people react to your content.

You may like to read how Google actually ranks your content.

Most of the content marketers tell you that you needn’t worry about your search engine rankings as long as you are publishing great content.

Although this is theoretically correct and it may even happen in the future, right now, you have to take care of a few things to make sure that your content is indexed and then correctly ranked.

I have listed below 5 SEO tactics that can help you boost your content on search engines.

Boosting content with SEO tactics

1. Focus on problems and solutions

People are normally looking for solutions to their problems on Google and other search engines.

For example, if I think that my content isn’t performing well, I may be looking for a content writer.

If conventional advertising isn’t working for my business, I may be looking for alternative ways to promote myself.

If I have a back pain, I would like to know how to cure my pain using home remedies or natural ways.

I might be looking for good schools in the new neighborhood I plan to move to with my family.

I may want to know what were the best songs in the 70s.

Web pages and blog posts that address the “how”, “where”, “why”, “when” and “what” of different situations fare well on search engines.

2. Do your keyword research before writing content

If you want to boost your content on search engines, then you need to take your keywords very seriously.

“Keywords” in SEO context means all those search expressions people may use to find what you offer.

For example, people who are looking for a content writer may like to look for “content writing services” or “small business content writing services”.

So, these are the keywords I should be focusing on when writing content for my website and my blog.

People also look for longer keywords, for example, “looking for content writer to improve my SEO”.

Similarly, if you sell handmade bags from your website some people may try to find you using “handmade bags” or “handmade bags as Christmas presents” or “medium-sized handmade bags”, and such.

Selecting the targeted keywords is a whole different branch of study and there are actually specialist people and tools that can help you find the right keywords.

Why is it important to do keyword research before writing content?

It’s because the keywords should be an integral part of your content writing process. They shouldn’t be an afterthought.

Also, a pre-compiled list of your important keywords keeps you focused. It constantly reminds you what content you need to write and create.

3. Use your keywords in the title of your web page or blog post

Your title is one of the most important parts of your web page or blog post. I charge extra for coming up with well-sounding SEO titles.

Whereas the complete body of your content exists on your website or blog, when it appears on other sources like search engines, social media and social networking websites, and on the websites and blogs of those who want to link to you, it’s your web page or blog post title that is used.

On the search engine results pages it is your title that appears as the primary hyperlink.

It has been observed that people click those links more that contain the search term or the keyword they have just used.

Perhaps, this is the reason why Google looks for the keywords in your title and a big part of your SEO is affected by the presence or absence of your keywords there.

4. Write shareable content

The benefit of writing shareable content is that it spreads fast. It is shared more on social media and social networking websites.

It is repurposed more.

More Webmasters and bloggers link to content that they think shareworthy.

Why create shareable content?

Google takes into account the way people react to your content.

How many people are linking back to your content?

How many people are reacting to your content in terms of responding to it and sharing it from their social media and social networking profiles?

How much time do people spend reading your content?

Useful content is shareable content. Content that contains lots of information that can be immediately implemented to improve something is quite useful.

List articles, popularly called as “listicles”, enjoy a greater possibility of being shared because they contain the exact number of steps, solutions or resources. People know what they are sharing.

How do you know what is shareable?

You can check out Google Trends to know what is trending and create topics around trending topics.

You can compile a list of solutions to a problem: 10 ways you can improve your SEO in just a week.

Make your title as compelling as possible and then pack as much information as possible.

5. Remain focused to your core subject

Don’t dilute the focus of your website or blog by writing about random topics.

If you provide legal services, then your content should talk about your legal services and how you can help people with your knowledge of the law.

If you are into carpentry, then talk about carpentry: the various tools you use, the qualities of woods you use, and the sort of work you have undertaken.

Staying focused on your core subject will help you create a repository of useful information on your topic. This tells Google that you are an expert and hence you publish authoritative content.

Authoritative content is ranked higher compared to general content.

Aside from these 5 tactics to boost your SEO you should also

  • Write longer blog posts and web pages (Google and other search engines prefer longer text to shorter text).
  • Use images wherever necessary. Try to use an image after every 300 words.
  • Link to other blog posts and web pages from other blog posts and web pages.
  • Make sure you use your keywords within the first 100 words of your web page and then in the last para.
  • Use your keywords every 100-200 words, but not unnecessarily.
  • Use shorter sentences. It makes it easier for search engine algorithms to make sense of your content.

Read 10 fundamental qualities of effective SEO content writing.

What are SEO tactics?

I normally don’t prefer to use the expression “tactics” in terms of SEO and content marketing, but since many people use it, I’m using it just to make a point.

The most important on-site SEO tactic to boost your content is, making it easier for the search engine crawlers to access your content, make sense of it, and then rank it.

For off-site SEO, try to spread your content as much as possible.

Share your content links on social media and social networking websites.

Repurpose your existing content using different formats – YouTube videos, GIFs, PDFs, infographics and slides – and then upload these to the appropriate platforms.

Encourage people to link back to your content to earn social validation.

Why I don’t call these tactics is because this is an ongoing process. You may call it, a way of life.

You need to create high-quality content otherwise it is not appreciated by your target audience.

You need to strategically distribute and disseminate your content because there is too much of it on the Internet and it is difficult for people to pay attention to a particular piece of content.

Become an information hub, and be known for the quality of your content.

Whether you call these tactics or an ongoing process, there is 100% guarantee that you can boost your content with these SEO practices.