Blogging is a great opportunity for everyone who has a passion and wants to share it. What starts as an experimental series of blog posts written for fun may soon develop into a serious project. You want to reach a wider audience, but how can you do it? The answer lies in creating great, original content that will strike a chord with your readers. But that’s not all. Humans are important, but there are also robots. Optimizing your blog so that it is visible and clearly readable to search engine crawlers is a must. Fortunately, we have some tips on how to take your blog to the next level!
Why is my blog not showing up on Google search?
So you’ve just googled your blog but it’s nowhere to be seen? There are a few reasons why it might be.
Your blog has not been indexed by Google
Google regularly adds new pages to its index, which is a huge database, a digital library encompassing everything that has ever been written online. Search engines use these indexes to find the right search results for a given query. The purpose of indexing is thus not only finding a new website but also understanding its topic so that it is indexed in the right place and accurately displayed in search results. However, there is so much new content published every day that it may take some time before Google crawler discovers your blog. Be patient!
Your blog is not well optimized
It is estimated that there were over 500 million blogs in 2018, which would mean that statistically one in fourteen inhabitants of the globe is a blogger. You must admit that there’s huge competition – many of those people have similar blogs to yours and target exactly the same keywords. Why should your blog be displayed at the top of the search results? Fortunately, there is a way to stand out from the crowd, so keep on reading this article!
How to start a blog?
Let us start from the very beginning. The way you start your blog has already some impact on what course it will take in the future.
Invest in your blog
Firstly, do buy a domain. It may be tempting to start with a free blog, but it will never be treated seriously by search engines. The good news is that it’s usually free or at least cheaper in the trial period. Of course, you also need to buy web hosting services, that is a place on a server. However, the more you invest in your blog, the more likely it is that you’ll post regularly, which is really important SEO-wise. How many times have you started something and then given up? Exactly. And knowing that your blog costs you money will force you to make a serious commitment this time.
Domain name and SEO
One of the first things you have to come up with is the domain name. The internet is full of such queries as “Does your domain name affect your SEO”? The answer is: not that much. Google is paying less and less attention to domains containing keywords, and in the future, such practices may even work to your disadvantage. The key to success is thinking of a name that’s simple and memorable. Not too long, without unnecessary signs such as hyphens. You want to build your own brand, and you want your readers to be able to recall the name of the blog instantly. Examples of good domain names: treehugger.com, basicthinking.de, holymoly.co.uk.
How to do keyword research?
Imagine you’ve bought your perfect domain and are now ready to embark on a blog-writing journey. Hold on a minute! Do not write anything until you’ve done thorough keyword research. Without it, you’ll be in the dark regarding what information your potential readers are looking for. You need to find keywords that have relatively low “keyword density” rates (which means there’s not much competition when it comes to this keyword) and quite a high search volume at the same time. What tools can you use?
Free keyword research tools
The simplest way to come up with some keyword ideas is using Google Autocomplete, a fancy name for search suggestions. For example, if I enter “how to” into Google search bar, I get the following suggestions: “how to promote small business”, “how to train your dragon”, “how to tie a tie”. The downside of this method is that it does not provide you with search volume rates or any other details. For that, try using Keywords Everywhere or Google Trends.
Paid keyword research tools
Let’s face it: if you are serious about your keyword research you should invest in paid tools. It is by no means necessary at the beginning, but eventually, you’ll appreciate the broad range of indicators offered by professionals. Such tools as Ahrefs allow you to specify your location, suggest questions related to the keyword you entered, show detailed search statistics. They are also frequently updated, so you can be sure you get the latest information about the public’s interest in your niche.
How to write a blog post?
Having done your keyword research, you can start writing, which is harder than most people think. While we cannot teach you how to write, bear in mind these basic tips.
Plan the structure
That’s right, you need a solid plan. I’ll let you in on a secret: Google has a lot in common with your English teacher back at school. Ok, it’s not actually a secret but a well-known fact: search engine robots like it when a text is divided into clear paragraphs. Like teachers, they disapprove of creative mess and value clarity above anything else. What is more, the paragraphs should have keyword-rich headings. The reason is simple: the headings tell the robots what the text is about, and in what context the website should be displayed in search results.
The more, the better
Humans of the 21st century often suffer from attention-deficit disorder. They don’t read texts but skim them. They are terrified of long novels, newspaper articles or blog posts. It may therefore come as a surprise that articles that rank best in Google are the ones containing between 1000 and 2000 words. Therefore, you need to write lengthy posts to optimize your blog. To make the task of reading easier, make the most important ideas bold and add pictures.
How to promote a blog post?
Your blog post is ready. Well done! Now it’s time to share it. Follow the good example many bloggers have set and create your blog’s official social media profiles. People are rather lazy and forgetful, so don’t count on them to visit your website regularly to check if any update has appeared. Instead, encourage them to follow you on Facebook or Instagram and share the new content there. You can also use social media to add premium content, such as video tutorials. Show your followers it’s worth staying up to date with everything you do and build a faithful audience.
Monitor your blog’s progress
Clearly, writing a blog is not just writing. Every post starts with keyword research and planning, and afterward, it needs to be properly advertised. There’s one more thing worth doing: monitoring your blog’s progress. There are two free tools you can use to do that.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a brilliant tool that gives you all sorts of information about visits to your blog. All you need to have is a Google account – the service only becomes paid if your website reaches more than 5 million impressions per month. It collects data on how the visitors found you (was it organic search, referral, social media?), the country they are in, how long they stay on your blog and which article was of most interest to them. Basing on this knowledge, you can fine-tune your content to meet the expectations of your readers.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is an invaluable tool when it comes to indexing. You can check whether a given page has been indexed or even request its indexing yourself! That way you’re making sure you won’t be left out. It also allows you to monitor how high you rank for a given keyword or analyze any links leading to your domain, whether external or internal. Along with Google Analytics, it provides a very useful insight into what’s going on on your blog and where you should be heading.
Wherever you go, remember to write a blog that pleases yourself. The aforementioned tips have hopefully helped you to understand the basics of SEO for bloggers, but the absolute key to every blog’s success is passion and just being oneself.