How to write SEO friendly blog posts
Do a quick Google search on ‘How to write a blog post’ and you’ll come up with all kinds of results from the basics of setting up a blog through to the in-depth technical aspects of search engine optimisation. If you’ve had a blog for a while, but are not interested in techie stuff, you’ll be looking for a practical article which can help you implement a few simple techniques when writing search engine friendly blog posts to help improve your search results.
That’s what this blog post will do - but first, a short history of the internet!
Back in the year 2000, just 6.8% of the world’s population (around 414,794,957 people) were internet users. By 2016, that figure had risen to 46.1% but in January 2021, it had grown again to 4.66 billion internet users worldwide (59.5% of the global population). Of those 4.66 billion, 92.6% accessed the internet via mobile devices.
The last 21 years has been a period of rapid growth and the question now for many business owners is how on earth they can stand out in all those search queries to ensure the right people find their products and services. Google pretty much dominates the search engine market with more than a 90% share, so it makes sense to look towards them when writing SEO friendly blog posts.
You may also want to read my blog post ‘SEO for beginners’
But why write blog posts for your business in the first place?
According to Semrush blogging statistics for 2021, over 409 million people view more than 20 billion pages each month and blog posts remain the most effective form of content over email, ebooks and white papers. On average, companies who blog produce 67% more leads per month (see point 67 on the article!) and 70% of customers want to learn about a company from an article and not an advert.
I also wrote a blog post ‘Why have a blog for your business?’ which covers the reasons in more depth.
Now you know more about why having a blog can help people find you on internet searches, read on for information and tips about how to write more search engine friendly blog posts. We’ll be covering the following:
Write practical blog posts with useful information
Research & write about engaging topics
Understand how to use SEO when writing blog posts
Structure your blog posts to make them easy to read
Write a rough draft first
Include relevant examples in your blog posts
Edit, then edit again
Add the finishing touches
Let’s dive straight in!
1. Write practical blog posts with useful information
When ranking blog posts for search results, Google considers lots of factors, including post length and keywords, but they also measure how long someone stays on your page.
So if you’re looking to create an SEO friendly blog post, make sure you’re writing about things your readers (customers) want to know and include lots of practical or useful information. It also goes without saying that you need to know your target audience and learn about their problems and interests.
When you’re providing relevant and valuable content, Google will show that page to searchers again and again.
For example, despite having been written a while ago, popular posts on my outdoor blog include my series on Bikepacking in the Outer Hebrides and a walk in West Yorkshire.
This screenshot, taken at the time of writing, shows my outdoor blog ranking first in the search for ‘bike packing Outer Hebrides’ appearing above a dedicated bikepacking website and Visit Scotland.
The reason this happens is because people spend time reading the posts and click links to explore more rather than returning to their search results. All of which tells the search engines that it’s helpful information.
2. Research & write about engaging topics
If you’re struggling to come up with ideas, you can look at relevant Facebook groups containing your target customers and see what questions they’re asking - then write blog posts to answer them!
Semrush have a topic research tool which generates content ideas around your targeted keyword/s but you will need an account with them to use it.
Alternatively, my blog post ‘10 easy ways to create new ideas for your blog’ has some great ideas which are quick and simple to put into action.
I also find it helpful to brainstorm different angles before sitting down to write. There are online ways to create a mind map but I prefer to grab a clean piece of A4 and write all my ideas down. The main strands of my mind map often become the sub-headings of the blog post.
3. Understand how to use SEO when writing blog posts
You could be the best writer in the world and write incredible, witty and informative blog posts but, without search engine optimisation, it’s unlikely many people will read them.
Google processes more than 3.5 billion searches every day so you need to know how to make your blog posts stand out in all those search queries! Search engine optimised blog posts include:
Keywords
Headings
Meta descriptions
Alt-image tags
Scannable longer posts
Links to high authority websites
Internal links on your own website
Use of H1, H2 and bullet points
BUT, the main thing to remember is to write for humans not for search engines!
4. Structure your blog posts to make them easy to read
When writing a blog post, you’re taking the reader on a journey so, in simple terms, you’ll need an introduction, the main body and a conclusion.
The introduction explains what the problem is and how you’ll approach delivering the solution. It gives the reader a reason to stay longer and read your blog post. Your introduction should also help search engines to understand what your blog post is about.
Ideas for an attention grabbing introduction could include:
Defining the problem
Showing statistical results
Asking a question
Quoting an expert
Making a comparison
Sub headings then make it easier for readers to find the content they’re looking for quickly and bullet points help break up information into smaller, more digestible chunks. Both are really useful when people want to skim through an article.
5. Write a rough draft first
This is all about getting the ideas and thoughts out of your head and into some sort of structure - but the key thing to remember at this stage is to just write! If you try editing as you go along, you’re likely to get tangled up in the detail.
One great content writer I know talks about writing ugly - and I love that analogy. This first rough draft often looks pretty ugly and is definitely not something you want your readers (or, in my case, my clients) to see!
The main headers on my mind map gives some kind of structure to follow and then I often just add some basic bullet point thoughts underneath. I’ll go back later and write the information into flowing sentences.
Once your first draft is written, you may find some glaring issues with the headings not appearing in the best order. For example, this point was originally #7 in the list but I moved it to a more logical position later when I came to edit my draft.
6. Include relevant examples in your blog posts
When writing about a complex topic, it helps to include examples to demonstrate how it works in practice. Examples give context and understanding.
Earlier on I demonstrated how search engines work when showing valuable content in search results by sharing some of my own experience and in this blog post, I linked to a couple of free downloadable checklists (see #18).
It all comes back to the point that your blog posts should be written firstly with human beings in mind. Make the content you’re providing as user friendly as possible and they’ll want to come back for more.
7. Edit, then edit again
One of the most important parts of writing good blog posts comes in the editing stage. It can take a huge chunk of time and you need quiet space to concentrate. My husband and I joke that I need a ‘Keep Out’ note on the door when I’m editing - although he can now recognise the signs of intense concentration and makes a hasty exit!
I find that it helps to leave a blog post for a few hours before sitting down to edit. With a fresh perspective, it can be easier to see grammatical or structural errors more clearly. I also like to read it through as if I’m speaking to someone in front of me - it helps to minimise jargon and makes the article flow better for the reader.
When it comes to spelling and grammar, we’re all human and everybody makes mistakes from time to time. However, readers will expect a certain standard, especially if you’re blogging for your business. Blog posts which are peppered with misspelled words can result in a loss of trust in your brand. Additionally, if your blog posts do not look authoritative and error free, readers may go elsewhere for their information.
Read my blog post ‘12 tips to write the right words’ to see how to remember the correct spelling for common words which often trip us up.
8. Add the finishing touches
Once you’re happy with the final blog post, it’s time to add a few finishing touches before hitting the publish button. This will differ slightly depending on your blogging platform but for me, the finishing touches include the following:
Adding tags (keywords) to help search engines find the post
Adding the category (which helps readers navigate around my website)
Adding a thumbnail image (often the same as my main image)
Writing an excerpt (this displays on the main blog page of my website and is a summary of the blog post)
Adding an SEO title (it defaults to my blog post title so tends not to need changing)
Adding an SEO description (search engines will add an excerpt in search results from the body of your blog post, but you can specify what you’d like to be displayed - often the same as your excerpt).
Final thoughts
If you’re just starting out as a blogger, the main thing is to get writing and begin publishing some posts. A good place to start is my Free guide to blogging download.
Make sure you write blog posts which will inspire, educate, inform or entertain your readers by understanding your audience and finding out what problems or information they’re looking for when typing into search engines.
Once you’re happy with the basics, begin putting some of the SEO tips covered in this blog post into action.
Creating evergreen content will bring you clients months or years after first posting and can establish you as an expert. But, it’s important to post consistently and to remember that organic growth of your website or blog may take a long time.
There are other ways to grow the number of visitors to your website more rapidly (PPC - Pay Per Click and social media advertising). Those strategies will bring visitors during the time of the advert so you then need to think about how you’ll keep them coming back in the future. Blogging will keep your website fresh, up to date and interesting (which search engines love).
I’ve had my outdoor blog since 2014 but realised in Spring 2020 that I’d not posted anything for well over a year. Making the decision to close the site down, I logged into my account and saw that people were still finding and reading the posts via organic search.
It led me to change my plans and, instead, I rebuilt the site using a modern design on Squarespace. Despite losing all my previous analytics, it was a great decision and now, a year later, I can look at year on year trends.
The image shows that the number of page views on the site increased from 460 in August 2020 to 1,096 in August 2021.
That growth has been purely organic (ie. I’ve not paid for advertising) and, bearing in mind that I only write 1 blog post a month due to spending my writing time on client work, I’m pretty pleased with the results.
I’ve included these stats as it demonstrates how blogging is a long-term strategy.
If you’re expecting to grow from 258 to 824 unique visitors only a month after publishing some new blog posts, you’re likely to be disappointed. My outdoor blog already had search engines driving a little organic traffic to it from previous years, so posting useful and interesting content optimised for search engines on a regular basis really helped to increase the numbers.
For anyone looking to grow their website organically through blogging, I’d recommend posting at least double the number of blog posts than me (LOL - do as I say, not as I do!), perhaps even every week.
Click the link below to chat about how I can help you with content marketing strategy and search engine friendly blog posts.