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Let me tell you something. I didn’t start taking SEO seriously for years. It was only about 4/5 years into my blogging career that I realised heck, maybe I should learn about this stuff. I’m not a very technical person and things like SEO scare me. So for that reason, I was reluctant to delve into it because quite honestly, I was worried I’d get overwhelmed. So for anyone who feels like that, here is a beginners guide to SEO for bloggers.
Photo by Daniel Fazio on Unsplash
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it means the practices you put in place on your blog to increase organic views and visibility on search engines. The better your SEO practices, the higher your blog posts will rank on Google and research shows that blog posts featured on the first page of Google get a whopping 95% of clicks.
With hundreds of thousands of bloggers out there, all trying to achieve something similar, Google are inundated with links and the further up the order the link, logically, the more likely it is to get viewed. There are plenty of posts to help with SEO – this SEO guide can help – but here’s a beginners guide to SEO for bloggers.
Beginners Guide To SEO for Bloggers:
Link back to other content you’ve written
This is a super easy and effective way to help with SEO, simply linking back to your older content, where relevant. It boosts your SEO, boosts your DA score (more on that next) and helps you generate an authority on certain subjects where you can interlink your content together.
Top tip: Don’t interlink using the anchor text “here” or “this post”. Always use keywords or full titles to link your blog posts with. Google and search engines can’t recognize “here” or “this post” as keywords.
Related: Why You Should Be Internally Linking Within Your Blog Posts
Work on your DA score
DA stands for Domain Authority and your DA score means how highly your site is ranked on search engines. It’s common knowledge that brands want to work with bloggers with a higher DA so it’s worth doing some things in order to help yours out. Linking back to old content, as stated above, is one way. You can also up the amount you’re commenting on other blogs, sort out all your broken links and starting your posts with writing, not an image.
Related: DA Score – What Is It? Why Is It Useful? And How Do We Improve It?
Make your post shareable for others
Not only will other people sharing your posts gain you extra views, it also shows Google that your post is relevant. No offence but a lot of us are lazy and we want things as easy as possible, so having clear shareable buttons on your posts will help make it super swift for others to share your work!
Use headings where possible
A bit like I’m doing in this post, using headings makes your posts more digestible and reader friendly. Better formatted and more useful in the eyes of Google. Big chunks of next put people off reading – me included – and also makes your blog content LESS accessible to those with a mental disability that might make digesting text harder for them.
Tip: Make sure you research how to correctly use H-tags. H2 tags should be used as heading titles and H3 tags should be used to break up H2 tags. You shouldn’t be using H1 tags throughout your post.
Related: How To Write an Amazing Blog Post
Write a minimum of 300 words
Google likes posts which are on the longer side, they figure that they’re more useful and professional so blog posts certainly should be more than 300 words long. I mean, we bloggers have got a lot to say, so chances are they will be but if you’re looking to improve your SEO then try and refrain from whacking out a ton of posts which are all short. Quality over quantity. Long form content prevails in this case.
Utilize keyword research
Keyword research is SO important for SEO. So, so, so important. And it can be an absolute game changer for boosting your blog traffic. But it’s not about picking a keyword out of thin air that you think fits your blog. Keywords need to be 2 things:
- Highly searched for
- With low competition
And this balance is really hard to find, unless you have the tools and knowledge of how to do it. The Yoast plug-in is a great place to start with SEO and keywords as it tells you where your keywords should be and if you’re using your keywords too much. But I’d highly recommend grabbing this ebook:
Nele from The Naviagtio is a MASTER at SEO and keyword research. This eBook is perfect for beginners and a great resources to supplement this beginners guide to SEO for bloggers. She teaches you exactly how to search for keywords that work for YOU in a beginner friendly manner. You can grab her Keyword Research eBook here! And if you’re ready to delve deeper into SEO for bloggers, grab her SEO for Bloggers eBook here!
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This was so helpful xx
Literally going through all your tips right now! So helpful!
Glad you think so!
Thank you for this! Most posts aimed at beginners really don’t fully break it down. I appreciate the simplicity of this and the fact I can actually understand what SEO and DA are now. Haha!
I’m so glad! I have a new post up all about DA too!
Amazing post Jenny! Thank you for all the helpful tips
You’re welcome! 😘
These are some great tips. I’m currently working on improving my seo and da ranking so fingers crossed. Question how does page authority come into play? My PA is way higher than my DA.
I’m not too sure about that one! I’ll have to look into it. But I don’t see much in the way of PA so I think it’s your DA that you really need to look at 😌
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Ahh thank you for this! Need to seriously improve my SEO on my site to help traffic so will use some of these tips.
[…] via A beginners guide to SEO for bloggers — […]
Now that I’ve got a new domain I’m back at the bottom of the pile and trying to work my way up, so thank you for this reminder! New bloggers will find this so useful. Also, I’ve recently learned that broken links are a bloody ballache :)(:
Soph xx
– http://www.sophie-elise.co.uk
Haha they sure are! 😂😂
I didn’t know you could shorten the URL – this is helpful! Thanks for sharing all this wonderful information.
[…] A beginners guide to SEO for bloggers […]
Thanks for the tips Jenny. I’ll likely be trying to shorten all of my URLs more and more as I get into the longer posts myself. I also can vouch for the whole “link back to old posts” method – when relevant of course.
Every little bit helps!
It sure does 🙂
Great post, enjoyed it!
Thank you 😌
As a beginner i like this post
I’m glad 🙂
Good info in this post.
Thanks a lot!
•Bree
letsbebreef.com/blog
I’ve taken down my links to my older blogs because I feel like it was all a hot mess. I know a little something about blogging but even just reading this post as if i had never written before is so helpful and encouraging, whilst creating my new site I’ll be sure to follow your tips! Thanks jennyinneverland !
Thank you for this! I’m always wondering how to improve my SEO. I do have a question about DA. How do you find out your rating?
Search for Moz DA Checker on Google 🙂
Thanks!
You are not only a cute girl but also have a good head on your shoulders…LOL. Again a wonderful post!
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A very useful post and it must have really taken hard work to research and write.Happy Diwali wishes
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Oh! What a great post this is and I am glad I found your post on the topic that I was looking for.
SEO Audit
This was such a useful post, thank you so much, Jenny.
You’re welcome 🙂
This was such a useful post, thank you so much, Jenny.
You’re welcome 🙂
Why is it bad to start posts with an image?
It’s not bad but it’s better for SEO if you start with text
ok thanks
Great Post! I’m just starting out trying to improve my site’s SEO and I realised I have a lot to learn so this post is really valuable to me. I’ve also realised my urls are waaayy too long 😂
Long URL’s are so easy to alter too 🙂 Hope this helps!
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Useful Information. Thanks for sharing!
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thanks for sharing this useful content.it helps me a lot to get into the seo
Thank you for this. We are just starting out & although overwhelming, really enjoying learning something new every day 🙂
You’re welcome 🙂 Good luck!
Very informative and will certainly be helpful to beginners like me..
Regards
Lately I have been researching SEO & I have come across some pretty simple articles & some that will make you never ever want to deal with SEO at all. Thanks for a simple post!
Awh thank you!
A very helpful post, specially when one is still trying to figure out one’s way around this blogging business…
Thank you x
Reblogged this on All The Shoes I Wear and commented:
Excellent info. A must read especially for new bloggers!
Thanks for reblogging 🙂 x
Useful, interesting and well written. I don’t know much about such things either, and these suggestions sound like a good start.
Thank you 🙂 Hope they help!
Reblogged this on CrapPile and commented:
A Must Read…very informative
These are great tips for anyone starting out. I think SEO can be very overwhelming for some people at first. I actually enjoy it, weirdly! lol
Thank you 🙂 x
Thank you for the advice. It still seems daunting to me- but I guess a challenge I will tackle. There is a lot to learn! Which also is great 🙏🏻
Take it step by step and it’ll be easy 🙂 x
Thank you. I am doing my best- and most of all love it so far. Thanks again and enjoy your day 😊🙏🏻⭐️
This is really useful article and I like to start SEO
Great advice. I’m fairly new at this and still trying to figure it all out.
Thank you 🙂 you’ll get there!
Great post. I never thought about checking the url of new posts.
Thanks 🙂 x
Helpful tips, thanks Jenny. 🙂
You’re welcome 🙂 x
Very useful as I’m new to blogging.
I recently started a blog, so this was super helpful for me to read!!
So glad 🙂 xx
My friend talked me into SEO. I just write and publish. Maybe I need to take them seriously. Thank you for the awesome tips ☺
If you want to improve views and where you’re placed on search engines then it’s definitely something to look into 🙂 cxx
Yes. I think I should look into it. Nice article 💚
helpful post! i always try and write 500 words at least, my husband runs his own site and hes always telling me to do more words in a post
He’s definitely right! 🙂 xx
Reblogged this on Pregnant Millennial and commented:
<3
It’s very helpful. Thank you for sharing!
anyabelle.com
You’re welcome 🙂 xx
great one !! very helpful…
can you post something on how to have more followers o?? for eg- on wordpress
I’ve recently done a post on how I increased my following which might help 🙂 xx
I will just check. Thank you mam😊😊
Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome 🙂 xx
Nice guide of SEO for beginners 😃
Good tips for new bloggers out there!
Rebecca Elaine x
Thank you 🙂 xx
Great post, Jenny. I’m hoping to add just a tad bit of insight to your article length portion. It’s very important to note, that most page 1 content in search today, has a minimum of 2,000 words. Being so much content is being created each day, it is getting harder and harder to rank for the most searched keywords. We wrote a fairly in depth explanation regarding content length and statistics, with authoritative references.
Thanks for sharing great content!
This is really helpful! Thank you!
I have heard of SEO but did wonder how to to do it so you have given me some tips 🙂
Yorke welcome 🙂 xx
You are so knowledgeable on all things blogging and I love that you always share these amazing post to help others!!!
Awh thank you! I try my best haha 😂 xx
Jenny this post was extremely helpful!! Giving your blog a follow. I’m going in later today to change some of my url links to something short and with more keywords related to my topic. Such a nice tip, never thought about that one.
Natonya | http://www.justnatonya.wordpress.com
Thank you for the follow! So glad you found this helpful 🙂 xxx
Wow, I had no idea that starting your posts with a picture was bad for your DA, I’ve always done it because otherwise, my blog homepage looks dreadful haha. I’ll need to try and sort that out somehow!
There are some great tips in here, as usual! Thanks Jenny 🙂
Beth x
You could do what I do and add the “read more” tag under the photo so the home page shows the first paragraph of text and the photo? Xxx
This is super handy 🙂
I started properly with SEO on my blog last month and traffic has since shot right up, it’s amazing what a difference it makes.
I also found making sure my images have relevant Alt/Titles helped a lot.
Do you have a post about upping your DA? Feels like mine has been stuck on 33 forever.
Cora | http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk/
I don’t have a post about that but I feel like I’d be rehashing a lot of this post if I did! I feel like mine has been stuck on 37 for ages, I’d love to hit the big 4-0!
This was such a useful post, thank you so much Jenny. I never knew that shortening a URL helped SEO so I’ll definitely be doing that now! Thank you 🙂 xx
You’re welcome! 🙂 xxx
You’ve included some great tips I can take away and apply to my blog posts and hopefully help out my seo and da.
http://littlemissmelanie.com
Hope it helps! 🙂 xxx
This is really interesting! I don’t really know much about SEO so these little tips are things I will definitely take into consideration.
Thanks 🙂 xx
This is SUCH a useful post Jenny! I never knew that shortening the URL would improve SEO. Tbh, I never knew you could even shorten a URL 😂🙈. You have included so many fantastic hints and tips here which are really helpful. Thanks for sharing, great post girl! 💖 xx
Bexa | http://www.hellobexa.com
You’re very welcome! 🙂 xxx
Great post, very practical tips.
Thank you 🙂
Love how you brought up all of the important points for boosting a blog’s SEO! I realized that the more your site is spread (via twitter/pinterest/etc), the easier it is to look it up on search engines. Using a proper alt tag in images help as well! Oh man, I hate it when URL’s are SUPER LONG! Thanks for sharing these tips :).
Nancy ♥ exquisitely.me
Same it’s so annoying 😩 yes your point about images is a good one! xxx
Just what I have been looking for! Great post, thanks!
You’re welcome 🙂 xx
Thank you so much for the easy to understand post I’ve been trying to get a grip on SEO!
You’re welcome 🙂 xx
Some helpful tips thanks! Do you know if there is a quick way of checking broken links instead of doing it manually post by post which would be too time consuming? Thanks nikki x
There is a website but I don’t know it off the top of my head unfortunately! Just try typing in “broken link checker” on google xxx
Brilliant tips! My only addition would be to be aware that search engines like to move the goal posts every once in a while, so what works with SEO now might not in the future.
True but there’s basics which will rarely change x
Goodness I have been looking for a post like this! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
You’re very welcome 🙂 xxx
Great informative post! I am definitely gonna switch and get my own domain so I want to learn all about SEO and DA etc so this was great!
So glad you found it helpful! 🙂 xxx
Great helpful post and easy to follow tips, thanks!
You’re welcome 🙂 xx
Definitely going to bookmark this page! I’ve tried reading up on SEO but I might have more success reading about it from a fellow blogger! We can do this!
Ellyn xx | Life Of A Beauty Nerd
Absolutely! I can’t understand most articles about it to be honest because they’re written by professionals who assume we all know what they’re talking about xxx
This post was super useful. Thanku xx
You’re welcome 🙂 xx
Such helpful tips, thankyou for sharing ☺️
abbiejadewanders.co.uk
You’re welcome! 🙂 xxx
Great post, thank you for sharing xx
You’re welcome 🙂 cxx
Thank you for this post. I learned some new things that I need to try out. 🙂
So glad! 🙂 xxx
Thank you for writing this! I always really struggle with the more technical side of blogging. I’ll definitely be referring to this checklist a lot. What a helpful post!
It’s something I always struggle with too, you’re not alone! xxx
SEO or more specifically broken links are the bane of my life! I’m slowly working my way through an absolute tonne of them but it’s really so time consuming!
PaleGirlRambling xo
http://palegirlrambling.co.uk
I’m terrified to tackle my 4,000 broken links 😂😂 xxx
Very helpful! Some great tips here, I think I’m doing most of these already but it confirms I’m going in the right direction!
Alys
https://alysjournals.com/
Absolutely 🙂 Some of them really are so basic! xxx
I was never familiar with SEO but this has really helped me understand it! Thank you!
venus | https://venusaby.blogspot.com
It’s so difficult to navigate! xxx
I’ve been looking for an SEO guide to add to my Blogging board on Trello since yesterday. When I found this post through Twitter, I knew I had to read it. Thank you for sharing these tips, Jenny!
You’re welcome! Glad you found it helpful 🙂 xxx
As someone who is going self hosted soon, this post was everything that I needed! Bookmarked it for future use. You’ve been absolutely KILLING it with the blogger advice posts recently and I’m very appreciative.
Jas xx
Thank you so much! 😭😭 xxx
I remember when I first started and I was looking up lots of advice on the internet. Thanks for sharing and hope it helps lots of wanna be bloggers x
Thank you 🙂 I hope so too! xx
Definitely needed this post! Thank you for writing it!!
Melanie || http://www.melaniewithanie.com
You’re welcome 🙂 xxx
This was really interesting. I never really knew what SEO was until reading this. So thanks!
You’re welcome 🙂 xx
Loved reading these tips!
Thanks 🙂
These are really great ideas and tips! I’m currently trying to improve my SEO so this has been very helpful!
Shauna || https://goddessguide.co.uk
So glad it was helpful! xxx
Girl, these tips are amaaazing! I love that so many of them are perfect and bite size. Just shows that one quick change can really go towards helping boost your SEO!
Rosie
Yep the little things really do make a difference! xxx
Some really great tips. I want to try and improve my DA this year xx
Thanks 🙂 hope they help!
Fantastic blog post keep up the fantastic work.
–
Jack Deyes
jackdeyes.wordpress.com
Thank you 🙂
You’re very welcome
I am such a n00b when it comes to SEO, so this post has been super helpful! I’m already flicking through my blog to see if I can do any link backs to my old posts. Thanks so much for another amazing post <3
You’re welcome! Glad you found it helpful 🙂 xxx
Shortening the link is a useful one for me! Thanks!
You’re welcome 🙂 xx
Thanks for making SEO a little easier to understand.
You’re welcome 🙂 xx
This is a SUPER helpful post and I WILL be using your tips for my upcoming posts, Thank you so much for taking the time to write this.
You’re welcome 🙂 Glad you found it helpful! xxx
This is really helpful! I did not know that having text first works better! I’m so clueless about stuff like this so thanks for making it a bit easier to understand 😊💛
You’re welcome 🙂 xxx
SEO can be really hard to understand when first starting out and there is always more to mearn so posts like this are very helpful! Thanks for sharing it!
You’re welcome 🙂 xxx
Such a useful post – thanks x
http://www.ofbeautyandnothingness.co.uk
You’re welcome x
Such a helpful and concise post! Thank you, I needed this!
You’re welcome 🙂 xx
Thank you for a REALLY helpful post.
You’re welcome 🙂 xx
Very informative post Jenny 👍
Thank you 🙂 xx
Welcome 👍
Hi Jenny, this post helped make what can be a challenging topic easy to understand for beginners. I recently started reading about SEO and was reminded about how critical it is to identify the best key words to use, depending on what your post topic is about. Others may want to read more about that if they are interested in becoming more searchable!
Joan Senio
kindness-compassion-and-coaching.com
@joansenio1
So glad you found it easy to understand. SEO can be so difficult x
This is indeed helpful. The thing about URLs? I never thought about those before but now that you mention it, it makes perfect sense.
Absoltuely 🙂 tbh it’s not something we’d naturally think about!
Exactly. But from now on, I will be keeping it in mind.
These are such good tips! SEO is such a battleground, it’s so hard!
Love, Amie ❤
The Curvaceous Vegan
It really is! Xxx
So helpful! Thank you for sharing xx
You’re welcome 🙂 xxx
This is a really helpful post! I have been trying to Up my DA score and try to understand SEO and this post will help me with that! X
I’m so glad 🙂 xxx
Amazing tips, thanks for sharing ❤
You’re welcome 🙂 xx
Hi Jenny.😊 Thank you so much for the amazing tips.😊 Just want to ask about what you mean when you said starting your post with writing and not an image? Thank you!❤️
Basically having text at the first thing in a post, not a photo. Having the photo after the first paragraph for example (like in this post) cxc
Oh…I see. I’m reviewing books and the always first thing in my every post is the photo of the book..😅 I think I have to change my format then. Thank you so much!❤️
Great blog luv, agree SEO is super helpful. I didn’t know this for ages and when i found out i have gone back or actually am still going back and rejigging my old blogs. Since understanding SEO i have found that it really helps me structure all my blogs and to make them flow better. I think it has made me a better blogger. Love the blogging community and how so many wonderful people like yourself are willing to share your own experiences and knowledge of blogs. #BlogCrush
Awh thanks so much! I’m always happy to share advice 🙂 it really does structure your posts better! xxx
Som really useful SEO tips here hun x
Thank you 🙂 xx
Ooh I didn’t know about not starting with an image!! Hmm, might have to do some re-jigging of how I set out my posts now – thanks!
You’re welcome! I always used to do that too xxx
I love that you wrote this in a way I feel like I can do this (and apparently have been doing some of these things already) I just really need to learn to check my urls.
Awh thank you 🙂 I tried to make it as easy to understand as possible xxx
Super tips, especially the one about shortening URL’s.
Thank you 🙂 it’s such an easy thing to do too! xxx
I always find SEO complicated but you explained it quite simply here and it’s rather useful thanks!
Thank you 🙂 xx
Awesome post as always Jenny! ☺️ I slowly working my way through my older content and updating them to make them more SEO friendly- it’s taking a long time but I’m already noticing more views to those posts since doing it! ☺️ Xx
Jade | jademarie.co.uk
That’s great! I honestly haven’t gone through any old posts and done that yet but it seems too overwhelming when I have like a thousand posts 😂 xxx
Super helpful post! I didn’t know about the 300 words or the length of the post name!
Thank you lovely!!
Kate xx
You’re welcome! 🙂 xxx
Finally a SEO post where I understand everything! Thank you!
Haha honestly it took me ages to learn anything because all the “beginners” posts were written as if we already knew everything! So glad you could understand it 😂 xxx
I’ve save it to my favourites bar so I can read it when necessary! xxx
A really helpful post x
Thank you 🙂 xx