Hello! And welcome to another podcast thing. This one is to do with our blogging technical error earlier in the week, so we thought we’d have a rant about SEO (search engine optimisation).

If you want to learn a little bit about how to improve your on-site content with a few tweaks here and there, we’re your lot!

With 10 years’ experience in digital working across SEO projects, this is one of the few things in life we actually know anything about. Huzzah!

Free Blogging Tips on SEO, Yo!

Okay, so just to note a few things. The recording app we use has had an update and now seems to automatically chop out pauses and stuff in the audio.

That means what was a 20 minute clip has been chopped to 12. Neato!

Anyway! SEO tips! Yes. We’re going to cover a few of the things mentioned in the audio, breaking it down below so you can figure out the right structure.

The Right SEO Content Structure

Basically, and this all in Google’s quality guidelines, you want to follow the search engine giant’s content hierarchy structure. That goes like this:

• H1: This is your blog title
• Intro copy: Introduction to your main piece
• H2: A secondary heading in the copy
• Your rambling: The main content of the piece
• H3s: You can use these as subheadings to break up copy
• Internal linking: Where relevant, link to previous content you’ve done

Follow that structure and you’re pretty much sorted. You can use your main keyword to help you out there. Like if you’re reviewing a book or something, make sure the name is used in the copy five times or so.

Don’t keyword spam, though, otherwise Google may think you’re trying to manipulate search results. The best approach is just to write naturally.

Every aspect of the bullet points above are all mega important. But one of the most forgotten is with internal linking. That’s super crucial, as it creates a hierarchical structure across your site and shows to Google you’re directing readers to other quality pieces you’ve written.

Don’t overdo internal linking across each piece, though. Like, don’t stick 30+ internal links in. That’s OTT, big time. Under 10 is just fine.

Also, use descriptive anchor text (the blue bit) for each internal link. Don’t just go like, “CLICK HERE!” And that’s your internal link. That’s rubbish. Again, just look at some of our posts here to see how you should be internal linking.

Remember, Google crawls your site periodically and organises results in search engines based on the best quality.

Basically, the better quality your content… the better it’ll rank!

So, you should always look to write engaging, information rich copy. Preferably with at least 300 words per page, otherwise that can be classed as “thin content” (i.e. it’s not very informative).

Structuring Your Metadata

Okay, so title tags and meta descriptions! If you have Yoast SEO installed, you can structure this from your WordPress posts. But you don’t just do whatever seems suitable for you, there are rules here, too.

Basically, character limits to follow. And it’s like this:

• Title tag: Should be 65 characters or less and look like this:
  • SEO Guidelines for Bloggers | Handy Ranking Tips | Professional Moron
• Meta description: This is a little description about the page you have. It should be 155 characters or less and be a basic explanation of what your page is about.

The title tag is essential and really helps Google understand what your page is about.

If you don’t have Yoast SEO, then your H1 will determine your title tag. So! Make sure you get your main keyword in there.

Notes on Images

A common habit of bloggers is to stick images straight onto their blog without thinking of:

1. The size of the file
2. SEO implications
3. Copyright infringement

Don’t just stick any old picture you Google into your site, someone may have copyright on it. You can get sued if you do that.

You can use copyright free image resources like Pixabay if you want a picture with your blog post. These days, we use Canva to create all our images.

From an SEO perspective, you should compress your images and get the file size down. It can affect loading speeds if you’ve got loads of massive files on there. You can use a site like TinyJpg to do the compressing.

Don’t forget to add a descriptive name for your file, too, and (this is crucial) fill out the alt text form for each image. That way, Google knows what the image is about.

You can get a lot of traffic from images if you add a description into alt text.

Just search in Google for a tasty Pot Noodle sandwich and see who pops up. Yes! It’s gubbins here. That is the power of alt text.

Repurposing Old Blog Content

Right, if you’ve read the above and you’ve recognised a few errors you’re making… you may well want to go back and update a few of your posts.

That’s called repurposing. It can just sharpen your SEO up a bit.

Our advice there is do it if you want to, just dive into your copy, spruce it up, and hit the update button.

However, DO NOT do what we did and delete a batch of your old posts thinking it’ll save you a bunch of time. Your best bet is to gradually work through content updating it where you see fit.

If you boot a load of old posts into your trash, Google won’t be pleased about the sudden and numerous 404s (broken pages) it’s sending users to. It’ll know that’s all emanating from your site. And it’ll be annoyed with you for creating a big hole in its search results pages (SERPs).

Remember, Google’s business model is based on sending users to the best quality pages it painstakingly indexes across its search engine.

The index updates usually once every week.

Be patient with SEO. It takes time to get anywhere with it. We launched our post on the best indie games of all time in May 2022. It slowly worked its way up the ranking order and is now on page one of the SERPs for multiple keyword terms relating to the piece.

That took three months. So, again, be patient. And your hard work will be paid off if you’re producing top-quality copy.

And That’s an SEO Wrap

SEO is extremely complex and many people now make entire careers out of ensuring business content ranks well in Google’s vast search engine.

But! If you just follow the basics above, then you’ve got a good quality site that Google will love.

And if you’re using WordPress, double bonus. The enormously powerful CMS is massively loved by Google, as it focusses on respecting those quality guidelines.

Kudos! You’re already doing yourself a super favour by using this platform.

Any questions? Shoot them into the comments below and we’ll be happy to help. It’s only £500 ($600) for our time! Bargain. Over and out.