When I first started blogging, I had no idea what SEO was. The first time I saw the term, I had to Google it. Ironic now as I realize that SEO is actually “search engine optimization,” or a way to get the attention of search engines.
You see, I thought that if you wrote a great post, it would just automatically show up on the first page of a Google search because… well, I thought it was awesome. Unfortunately, it is a bit harder than that.
Search engines have “bots” or “crawlers” which are constantly crawling the internet. They are reading the information that is unseen to the average reader and reporting back to Google the words you are using most frequently on your blog. When someone searches for those terms, your blog might be in their results. Might.
How can your blog be seen on Google?
This is where SEO gets complicated. Search engines use various algorithms to decide who gets on the first page. While I am still learning about SEO myself, I do know a few things you can do to bump up your odds.
Give the bots permission to crawl your blog. Within the set up of your blog, you are able to choose whether or not your want to make your posts available to search engines. If this option is turned off, you’re toast. Go in and change that right away.
Keep your blog clean. Using a lot of plug ins, graphics, and such can bog down those bots. Use what you need and delete the fluff.
Write quality content. Google has recently changed their algorithm so that blogs with weak posting content (such as heavy use of ads ~ sorry coupon bloggers!) get less of a rank than those who really put information into their posts.
Abandon the pronouns and use your keywords. If you are writing a post about how to wash a dog, do not refer to the dog as “it.” Without sounding contrived, use the terms “how to wash a dog,” “washing dogs,” or whatever you would typically plug into a search engine if you were looking for the information yourself.
Guest post on BIG blogs. If your link appears on a blog that already has a high rank, your blog’s rank will be boosted. Likewise, the more blogs that link to you, the higher your rank will rise.
While these ideas are an extremely basic review of what SEO is and the things you can do to start improving your odds of being seen in the search results, I promise that as I learn more, I will share more.
Hello, Amazing article. Very good information about SEO. I also work in B2B. But I really liked your article. Thanks for sharing this article.