Chances are that at some point in your digital marketing journey, someone told you that you should be blogging for SEO. And if your first thought was, “I’ll google SEO later” and somehow nine months have slipped by without typing that into the search bar, you definitely aren’t alone. Have no fear friend, today we are finally getting you those answers and demystifying exactly how to drive traffic to your site through SEO driven blogs.

What is SEO and why should you blog for it??

Before we dive in, let’s get your feet wet. Here’s the basics! Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, is the process of getting free, natural traffic from search results. 

What SEO really is is the science of increasing your site visibility. When people inevitably take to searching the internet to find solutions for their unanswered questions, SEO makes finding you a tad easier.  

So now you’re reading this asking yourself “why should I care in the first place?”

And that’s a totally valid question! If it’s done correctly, SEO helps tremendously with driving traffic to your website. If you’re going to shout into the digital void, might as well do it strategically, right? 

And “organic” isn’t just a word reserved for your fruits and veggies. We want you to get all the organic traffic you can get! Once that traffic starts to roll in, the easier it’ll be to start ranking on Google, which means more visibility for your site.

We already know that blogging for SEO has a few perks. Did you know that it also keeps your content funky fresh? The more often you update your content, the more frequently search engines will favor your website. The key to staying ahead of the game is to put out updated and relevant content. While the majority of your site will rarely change, having a steady flow of SEO friendly blogs will keep the search engines satisfied and indexing away at what you publish. 

Weaving in SEO in your blogs can also get you ranking for niche keywords that don’t necessarily go on your website. One copy hack I’ll share with you is this… being specific will help you attract your perfect people. You’re not for everyone and ranking for niche keywords can help narrow the scope of who you serve by encouraging you to create content that clearly resonates with your target audience.

Breaking Down Keywords

Keyword reserach might feel like a digital marketing buzzword at this point. You’ve likely seen it all over as the first step in blogging for SEO. And it is! SEO is impossible without them, so it’s a buzzword for good reason! All keywords are are the words and phrases that people tap into search engines. If you boil all of your content into a handful of some of these words and phrases, what would they be? Or what do you want them to be?

This isn’t a green light to start throwing in keywords left and right. You gotta be intentional for the magic to work. But where do you find them?

There isn’t a magical keyword list you can look up that is universal for businesses in your industry. You need to curate a bank of keywords that are customized for YOUR business. Luckily there are plenty of places to find keywords! Here’s how I’d start if I were you.

Think about what your ideal client would be typing into the search bar to find you or your services? For me, my audience would probably types something like “website copywriter” “copywriter for websites” “SEO copywriter” “how to write my website” and more. Here are places you can find more words and phrases!

• Google Predicted Search
• Pinterest + Instagram Predicted Search
• Google Analytics  
• UberSuggest, Keywords Everywhere, Semrush, and other SEO platforms.  

Keyword research is a beast and might deserve its own blog post. But for the sake of this particular post, I’ll keep going. Keep an eye out for a further breakdown, but until then, check out this post on keyword research

from Ahrefs for more deets!

When search engines are dipping their toes in to determine the relevancy of your content, they’ll look at your title first and foremost. You’ll also want to use it in the first sentence of your copy to help that keyword’s prominence in your content. From here, continue adding in your keywords naturally in the body of your blog. 

And if you try to overstuff your copy with keywords, this will hurt your SEO. Using too many will also make your copy sound a little spammy and unnatural, the goal should always be providing value! 

Time to give you a quick lil rundown of how to be consistent as heck when it comes to blogging for SEO. Check the checklist: 

• Keyword in the title 
• Keyword in first sentence of copy 
• Keyword in headers (H1, H2, H3, H4)
• Keyword throughout copy 
• At least one internal link
• At least one external link 
• Use keyword synonyms when possible 
• Use LSI keywords given when possible (if given)

Checking these boxes will ensure your blogs are perfectly search engine optimized – it’s that simple! See? No headaches necessary.

You’ve been blogging for SEO. Now what?

I’m all about working smarter, not harder. Now that you’ve smashed that publish button – what now? Well, you’ve got a big, juicy piece of search engine optimized content that’s just waiting to be repurposed throughout your business! 

Blogging and Pinterest usually go hand in hand. These two are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to attracting eyes on your site! This is the perfect opportunity to go crazy with a few pins to link back to your blog.

And let’s take it a step further, shall we? Time to share your blog to instagram while we’re at it! You can share your post on your stories, break up the text to use for your captions, etc. 

Now that your blog is floating around on the internet, you’ve made a few pins, and repurposed your content to Instagram, don’t forget to track your rankings! 

Tracking your keyword positions is important for determining if your current SEO strategy is working. This way, you’ll be better suited to make adjustments when necessary.  

Here are some handy tools you can use to easily track your rankings: 

• Ubersuggest
• Google Search Console
• Google Analytics 

SEO is not a means for overnight fame and visibility, it’s a long-term game. Working your magic and creating blogs people will love while being intentional about the keywords you’re trying to rank for will help your website continue to grow while reeling in some curious eyes!

When it comes to blogging for SEO, it definitely has some sweet advantages. Why choose quality over quantity when you can have both! Businesses that blog consistently without leaving SEO out of the recipe have a greater chance of increasing their site visibility, which leads to more moooola for you! 

Now that we’ve made it this far together (woohoo!), do you feel a lil better about SEO blogging? Told you it wasn’t that bad! As a copywriter with her fair share of blog writing and keyword research, I can confidently say that SEO should always be a part of your business. You’ve already got the writing part down, all there’s left to do is add in the keywords! You got this, dude.