Navigating the world of SEO can be a game-changer for new bloggers looking to increase their site’s visibility. We’ve gathered insights from experienced Bloggers and SEO Specialists, offering advice from planning a 12-month SEO strategy to leveraging Google Analytics insights. Discover these eight essential tips to boost your blog’s traffic.

 

• Plan a 12-Month SEO Strategy
• Avoid Keyword Stuffing
• Prioritize the Reader’s Experience
• Understand Search Intent
• Use a Silo Structure for Categories
• Incorporate Secondary Keywords
• Focus on Unique Content
• Leverage Google Analytics Insights

 

Plan a 12-Month SEO Strategy

My best piece of advice for new bloggers is to plan out your SEO strategy for the first 12 months before jumping in with the blog writing. Map out your articles in a structured way by identifying all the areas you can talk about in your niche and categorizing them into parent and child posts. 

 

This is a great way to maintain a clean architecture for your site and achieve topical authority, which ‌will boost your traffic. Undertake thorough keyword research, and for your first 20-30 posts, look for low-hanging fruit—i.e., keywords with a difficulty of 0-30 that will be more attainable to rank for if you’re just starting out.

 

Alexandra P., Blogger, Alexa Skin

 

Avoid Keyword Stuffing

The biggest piece of advice I could give a blogger would be to ensure not to keyword-stuff your article. What I mean by that is, do not overuse the keywords you are trying to rank for. Focus on the quality of your content and make sure it sounds and reads naturally. 

 

There is nothing worse than reading an over-optimized article. Google will penalize you for it and will rank you lower. Please link me at www.aleccreativeco.com.

 

Aoife Connolly, Website Designer and SEO Specialist, ALEC Creative

 

Prioritize the Reader’s Experience

Above all else, you need to keep the reader’s experience top of mind. Does your response fully answer the reader’s question, provide unique insight, and go above your competitors’ efforts? Is it well-structured and easy to read? 

 

Nowadays, there is much more to SEO than keyword stuffing. Write for the reader first and only include keywords where it makes sense to, in a natural way.

 

Isabelle Hoyne, Travel Blogger and Online Entrepreneur, Cultured Voyages

 

Understand Search Intent

The best advice I would give to new bloggers about using SEO to drive traffic is to understand search intent. When you understand what people are searching for when they type a keyword or phrase, then you’ll know how to structure your article to match their needs. 

 

You’ll be able to use the right semantic search terms in your article as well to help meet the search intent, rather than just relying on inserting keywords throughout your article. This is what I’ve learned to do throughout my blogging career.

 

Aghogho Boccardi, Blogger and Content Creator, Hope Like A Mother 

 

Use a Silo Structure for Categories

Set up their blog categories in a silo structure and interlink the associated articles. This helps with SEO. Learn keyword research and find low-competition keyword phrases to begin with. 

 

Ensure that each has a different search intent. Strive to build niche topical authority for a single niche topic to build authority and trust with Google. Focus on educating visitors with excellent content.

 

Michael Santoro, Founder, Brand Velocity.io

 

Incorporate Secondary Keywords

Focus on quality keyword research, and always include secondary (and even tertiary) keywords in your blog posts! 

 

More often than not, the little keywords you weren’t planning on get picked up by Google and rank you for a keyword that’s much more niche. And with that higher rank (even on a smaller keyword), traffic boosts.

 

Shelby Stover, Strength Coach and Blogger, Fit As A Mama Bear

 

Focus on Unique Content

As an experienced SEO with ~20 years of experience, you may not expect me to say this, but forget all the SEO mumbo-jumbo you have read about keyword research, metadata optimization, including keywords in the first hundred words, and so on.

 

If you are blogging for the first time, then hopefully you have something interesting to say!

 

There’s so much competition in the SERPs for eyeballs that you have to stand for something and stand out from the crowd. So concentrate on your unique angle, say what you want to say without focusing on “SEO keywords,” and show your authentic expertise. 

 

Concentrate on building an audience by helping your readers and providing them with content they will love and share. Later, once you have done this and gained traction, then you can optimize and tweak to get the most out of your work from an SEO perspective.

 

Laurence O’Toole, CEO, Authoritas

 

Leverage Google Analytics Insights

To optimize a site’s performance, learn how to use Google Analytics and Search Console effectively. These tools can help to identify how people interact with your page. Once you have a handle on that, you can devise a strategy to improve user engagement. 

 

Increased time on a page shows Google that the content is valuable and relevant. Your page will be ranked higher. This simple trick is one of the easiest and most overlooked ways to improve your site’s SEO.

 

Dylan Callens, Teacher and Blogger, The Teachers’ Blog