SEO Basics for Bloggers
Posted on 05. Sep, 2010 by brilliantjeni in Blogging Tips, Highlights
After my last post, I spoke with several bloggers who needed a few fundamental SEO tips for their blogs. Let’s take a look at some basic, must-know SEO facts, do’s and dont’s.
SEO and Keywords
1. Use keywords in the titles of your pages.
2. Use variations of the same keywords throughout your post.
3. Proximity of keywords matters (Let’s say your going for the phrase “Make money online” – The phrase “Make money online blogging” counts more than “Make money blogging online”)
3. Use keywords for categories and tags (see my Big Bang Theory here: keyword strategy.)
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SEO and Backlinks
1. Get anchored backlinks from relative sites.
2. Do not pay for backlinks.
3. Do not use backlink circles. ie. Site A links to Site B which links to Site C. Site C then links back to Site A creating a circle of one way links. Google doesn’t like this!
4. Google “reads” backlinks so even a url shown on a “no follow” site, will get indexed.
SEO and Images
1. Alt tags are essential.
2. Titles of images matter.
3. Flash is lousy for SEO – Search Engine’s are limited on reading the content embedded in Flash.
SEO Tracking
1. Use Analytics AND other tools for tracking visitors- once you see what they like, you can do follow up posts targeting the same keywords.
There you go- a handful of basic SEO do’s and dont’s for your blog. Feel free to share your own tips in your comments!
Related posts:
- SEO Tips for Bloggers: Brilliant Blog Linking Strategy Part 1
- What is Backlinking?
- Paid Inclusion, PPC, or SEO for Bloggers
- SEO Tips for Bloggers: Brilliant Keyword Strategy
- Keywords and SEO
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Excellent timing Brilliant Jeni!!
I am in the process of writing an ebook for my small business, entrepreneurial market and am finding it necessary to talk about seo and keywords. They hear about it from others, so I have to set them strait on many things as they are getting bad information.
I needed something simple to put out there and get them familiar with the process, so thanks for the basics.
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Glad you found that helpful. There’s a rather new book out by Stephen Spencer and his peers- Art of Seo. Stephen just passed one along to me and I’m beyond impressed and I’m only through a few chapters. You may find that helpful too.
Hope you’ll let me know the minute your ebook is available- would love to read it!
Hi Jeni. Yeh, helpful post, thanks. I’ve seen Stephens book too, looked pretty good. What’s you verdict on it? Worth a read? There are a few books that I like the looks of right now.
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Flash content – Google has implemented these over the past 2 years with readability only increasing.
See the following 2 posts for more information:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/06/improved-flash-indexing.html
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/06/flash-indexing-with-external-resource.html
You are absolutely right- I should have clarified that and added text trumps flash but flash/image readability is improving. I was actually just talking to Stephen Spencer about this. Pretty impressive what they’re planning in this realm for the future.
For Bloggers who want to use Flash, I’d recommend them to use Javascript instead. Scripts are widely available on the net and it can give effects better than what Flash can give. The best part is that it would be easy for Google to index it. Right Jeni?
Hey Jeni, as always spot on…. Basically if any blogger follows these rules there is no more needed!
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I’ve got my eye on your blog- obviously your SEO skills are up to par and I hear Bing is especially loving you. I’m curious about Bing’s algorithms compared to the others. Are you doing any testing in that arena?
These seo basics really stand useful for bloggers because these are not just seo basics but vital step to do a good seo. Keywords, backlinks and images are the way which associate witn one another.
Good post, but all of this of course depends on whether or not the correct keyword phrases have been selected – keyword phrases that are relevant, aren’t too competitive yet still have the potential to bring in a reasonable amount of traffic.
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Great point David- of course all of this is dependent on selecting the correct keywords.
I tend not to worry about competition myself but mostly because I focus on long term, big picture as opposed to faster traffic. Not sure if you caught my Big Bang Strategy, but that’s exactly why it works- it’s designed to take advantage of lower competition keyword phrases while climbing ranks for top tier keywords in the long run.
Great points! Regarding backlinks, I would also say that diversity is very good too. Links from related websites, blogs, forums, social media, etc. all contribute to a well rounded set of backlinks.
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Backlinks are very important for any site but it should be from related Niche. By which you will be strong.
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This is a a great post, basically its a very quick guide short and easy, even a dummy can do this.
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I agree with you andy. By using this you can be good blogger.
Web Design LA Spinx´s last blog ..Effective buying and selling through Ecommerce website
Short and to the point. Backlinking can be a painful and brutal process but so necessary in the long run.
This are very up to the point tips. No more is needed more than this for good blogger,
Web Design LA Spinx´s last blog ..Effective buying and selling through Ecommerce website
Basics but it is very important as most of bloggers forget while writing posts
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You couldn’t be more on point with this post. SEO is so important when blogging. What plugins do you use to help with SEO?
I have found that if you are using WP then the all in one seo pack help out quite a bit. you just have to make sure you use switch up the usage of your keywords between the different areas.
Very good info,brilliant jeni!
I am still wondering which is the right thing regarding backlink circles.It is advocated in so many internet marketing courses.Another SEO tip is site loading time.Google has recently announced in public that site loading also is going to play its part in SERP.
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A website has to earn its keep.
In many cases an “ugly” website will be far more effective than a flashy website.
The best website designers are not graphic artists, but SEO experts
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Thanks so much for sharing this important topic and giving useful information…
These are basic , everyone should know
I wonder writing articles and posting it on article websites like ezeline etc, how can it help increasing the traffic ? Is there any other advantage for SEO for this ?
Amazing post thanks for shearing..
Thanks for the tips. This is a good quick start guide. Just another reason not to use flash. I don’t generally like flash because it slows down my site anyways.
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It is quite possible you have fixed some of this since I finally bit the bullet, decided you weren’t going to fix things after multiple support requests and permanently removed Disqus.
It’s nice to see some Blogger-specific SEO guidlines, especially condensed into the most important things to think about. Thanks for this!
This is too simplistic! You can find this information everywhere- I think it would be better to compile a longer list and site other websites. This is going to have a harder time for people to bookmark and push for you.
I cover both new blogging strategies and advanced. This one is for newer bloggers, and was by request by a few just starting out. They asked for a general overview to help build their foundation- feel free to take a look at some of my more advanced strategies if you are at that level yet.
Getting backlinks is harder then you you make it seem! And sometimes it comes down to virtually buying backlinks.
I think as long as you are providing valuable content, backlinks will come easily in the long run. They sort of compound when you repeatedly show your readers you are credible and there to contribute.
Buying backlinks- hmm.. For most monetized blogs/sites, I wouldn’t ever advise buying backlinks myself. Not worth a potential sandboxing from Google. On the other hand, I do know quite a few information blogs that have gone this route just for directory listings, etc and have great luck.
Care to explain more on your results with this?
Really very good tips for getting started in the SEO field or doing normal SEO for your SIte.. Getting Backlinks is always difficult but once you get them you se the money coming your way!!
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Absolutely agree Rohit! Offer great value, and people are more than willing to link back. I know from experience!
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Most of the SEO specialist believe that links with no follow tags are ignored by the search engines. It is my own experience that links with no follow tags are always indexed by the search engines if they are created naturally.
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I do really enjoy the read and especially the SEO part of it. Keep posting for more tips on this topic. Thanks
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Are you taking link wheel as link circle? But links wheel is often demanded by the buyers for SEO campaign.
This is a very good post Jeni. I personally use those techniques to rank #1 for several highly competitive keywords in different niches.
I might add that if you are targeting a set of keywords that are very competitive it can be very hard to rank on page 1 of Google or Yahoo. I’ve found that buying add space from an authority site really helps my rankings.
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Thanks for stressing some of the most important things for blog creation. But I think the page design is most important because it gives the visitor a first impression that would would either make him stay on your page or leave. Competition in the internet is fierce. But your article gives people an edge when it comes to online marketing and blogging, so great post!
Nice read!
Most of the SEO specialist believe that links with no follow tags are ignored by the search engines.
Great tips. One of the things I always try to ensure is proper spacing of keywords too. For every 400-500 word article, atleast 10-15 keywords placed strategically. Also make sure to stay relevant with their usage and not just insert keywords randomly for the sake of it.
nice tips ..SEO is one of best way for promation of the sites………by doing onpage, offpage optimization…….
Almost, i apply all methods what you have mentioned above but little confuse about usage of headings (H1, H2 and H3). Suggest me what is the benefit of headings in post?
Thanks for the tips – i better get working on them quick!!
Any other advice for bloggers interested in some light SEO? pls Share
keyword is really important for any blog. one should be very careful while choosing the keywords coz thats what people search on net and if you have selected the right keyword then you’ll be doing great..
This is a great and useful post about SEO basics..Very well written
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On the other hand, some SEO techniques can really get you in trouble and trigger your blog’s search traffic to plummet or disappear completely.
Some great SEO tips here. Thank you so much for sharing brilliantjeni.
- Robert
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I need more information about SEO. I am building my new blog. Google can detect pay backlink easily. So, no instant way to get many backlink. Blogging need more patience. if we aren’t patience, we won’t get successful from blogging.
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Hi brilliantjeni,
This is very helpful to me. I am a newbie blogger and thus I would love to read all basic SEO topics I could find that may help my website a successful one. Cheers!
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hello
do SEO but don’t overdo it
that way it help your site a lot
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Good post. Can you share more info on subject, please Also you can download wordpress themes cracked
Your post is not only applicable for bloggers but also those who are thinking of putting up their own website. I will definitely recommend this as I have learned a lot from it myself.
We’ve been pretty surprised at the number of clicks we get through SEO’d images. Make sure to include the title as the keyword you’re targeting and also put in an image description with that keyword again.
When picking keywords for your images, try to use keywords that are either intuitively looked for in an image search or that have a block of images on the SERP for maximum exposure…
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Ill definitley follow these tips
Thanks mate
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Thanks for your advice, I find your site very useful and encouraging.
Good stuff, great explanation, Thank you…
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Great post! Thanks for sharing this blog.
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