Interested in optimizing your up-and-coming blog for Google searches? Knowing SEO basics are necessary in this competitive market, but lucky for you, we’re here to make the process easy. With many years of digital marketing experience, we’ve compiled a crucial list of SEO basics needed to make your blog a success. Learn about blogging SEO for newbies by reading our blog below, or contact a marketing professional here.
- Hosting & Domain
It is close to impossible to have a free blog rank well on high traffic search terms. Why is this? Google assumes that a paid website is more likely to have relevant and valuable content, in comparison to a free one. Luckily, there are many low-cost domain and costing options available to the newbie-blogger.
- Media is King
You’d assume that since you are writing a blog, text would be the most crucial aspect to your SEO. However, Google prefers blogs with a wide breadth of media and content. What does this include? Adding a video, photo, or even a podcast to your blog posts can help their rankings significantly. Take note, however, that irrelevant media can result in lower rankings. Only include high-quality media in your blog posts that enriches your text.
- The Power of Backlinks
If you’ve done a little bit of digging, then you’ve likely heard about the power of backlinks. While this is mostly true, some backlinks are detrimental to your SEO ventures. Make sure to never purchase or pay for backlinks, as many buyers have found that their site has been banned, and as a result, won’t show up on search results. Backlinks coming from highly reputable sites, especially .edu and .gov websites, are the most coveted; these will help your SEO plan more than most others.
- Optimize Your Theme
Make sure your theme loads quickly, has no broken links, and is cleanly coded. A well functioning website can be the difference from ranking on the third page and ranking on the first.