16 SEO Tricks: Get Your blog or business recognized in seconds

Yes, you create awesome content. Now make it easier to be seen + appreciated! I understand how much work you put into your site because, believe me, I have spent hundreds of hours pouring over my blog and at times had nothing to show for it. This is one of the most discouraging things about blogging and I am pretty sure all of us bloggers have been in the same boat at one time or another.

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Search Engine Optimization is basically how your blog gets recognized by Google. I definitely want every blogger that is reading this right now to get recognized because all of you guys deserve it! So here’s 16 information packed tips that will help improve your ranking:

1 | LABEL GRAPHICS PROPERLY

Images can still have a great impact on your SEO ranking. Instead of labeling your image file as “image1.jpg” label it as “better-seo.jpg” so if you have a food blog and are posting on a homemade icing recipe label your image as “best-icing-recipe.jpg.” Basically, whatever you believe someone would type into google to search for your posts, label your picture with those words. Those are called “key” words. Your image will show up and booyah you’re a SEO rockstar. Replace the title of those images with a searchable name!

2 | PERMALINKS

A permalink is the URL of the blog post itself. Still confused? Go to one of your blog posts and look at the URL, it is a specific URL that links only to that blog post. That is your permalink. I’ll devote a whole post to this later but I’m going to mention it rather quickly right now, make sure your permalinks do not have the date of the blog post before your blog post title. Instead of having “yourdomain.com/2012/11/your-blog-post-title” make sure you have “yourdomain.com/your-blog-post-title” because it’s a super quick fix to solve a super overlooked SEO problem.

3 | H1 TAGS ARE KEY

Search engines look for H1 tags. These tags are pretty important. Make sure your H1 tag is searchable by Google. We talked about key search words and how to tie this into your image file name, make sure these key search words ARE the words in your H1 tag aka your post title. Having a catchy title is important but make sure this title is searchable and SEO friendly first, then work on the catchiness later!

4 | CONTENT AND WORD COUNT

Content is very, very important. Quality is fantastic because you want traffic (traffic helps SEO, too!) and also because you want to give the very best information to your lovely readers. They say that over 2,500 words is the best, but making sure that you are at least around 900 with most of your blog posts is a good goal to have. You hear a picture is worth one thousand words around every corner but a picture is not worth one thousand words when it comes to SEO standards. One thousand words counts for one thousand words. And you need to make sure those one thousand words are packed with SEO savvy phrases + a bunch of useful content.

5 | INTERNAL LINKS

Linking back to your old content within your current content is sometimes a task that many bloggers don’t want to take the time to do. Making sure all your relevant content is hyperlinked within your blog post is so important though, especially to SEO standards! Also, link a phrase such as “awesome cupcakes” to a post about your cupcake recipe rather than link it to “click here.” I am definitely guilty of this sometimes! Tip with internal links: make sure your links are different colors than the basic color of your text.

6 | WORDPRESS PLUGINS

If you have WordPress, then research some plugins designed for SEO. SEO by Yoast, all-in-one SEO, and SEO-processor 5 are fantastic plugins!

7 | HIGH TRAFFIC

Yeah, the sound of feet running to your lovely blog every morning does play a role in your SEO ranking according to Google. Attract more readers! Pay more attention to your marketing plan. Which if you have a marketing plan, you can read about 8 different tips that help improve your current marketing strategy from a few blog posts ago.

8 | TAGS AND CATEGORIES

This not only keeps your readers on your blog longer but also helps out your SEO. Both blogger & WordPress have this incredible feature that lets you organize your blog posts into category/tag topics. Be aware that getting extra traffic by over-using tags and categories actually harms your ranking so don’t go too crazy!

9 | COLONS ARE AWESOME AND LET ME TELL YOU WHY

Because when you have “Content: 3 ways blah blah” SEO will pick up the phrases before and after the colon so your mulitplying the chances of getting seen. Woo hoo!

10 | GOOGLE + IS FREAKING FANTASTIC

A lot of bloggers I know don’t use Google + and I didn’t for my first two years of blogging. But now I get 50+ extra views on my posts because of this outlet. Which I know 50 may not sound like a lot but hey, it actually increases your SEO as well! So not only are you getting a better ranking on Google you are getting your blog’s name out there as well! It’s easy traffic from a pretty low maintenance source. Coming soon will be detailed instructions on how Google + can enhance your blog (and how to use the confusing thing!)

11 | HASHTAG IT UP

If you’re hashtag crazy already then you go girl. If you’re not, start searching “successful hashtags for ____” insert whatever your niche is in the blank. This is so whatever category you post about will have even better rankings on social media sites that you promote your content on! I know this can be a super duh but I know that I need a hashtag reminder because I so often leave those out.

12 | TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR BLOG

Do you own your blog? I mean, do you have hosting and own your domain to where Blogger and WordPress can’t take your blog down at any second if they ever chose to do so? If the answer is yes, awesome opposum your SEO ranking is probably way better than those who have blogs on blogger + WordPress. If the answer is no and you want more information about owning your own site then please email design@juneandmae.com so we can get you set up the quickest + easiest way possible.

13 | EFFICIENT CODE

Coding does play a part in SEO ranking in multiple ways but for this thirteenth tip I am going to stress efficiency within code. Make sure you’re code is efficient. How do you know? If you’re someone who knows a lot about code you know exactly what to look for. If you’re someone who does not know a lot about code, email me at chat@maraburkes.com if you want me to check for you!

14 | EXTERNAL LINKS

Do you have websites linked in your blog posts that lead to high traffic, quality websites? This helps! Showing that your website promotes websites that have great SEO ranking looks awesome on you.

15 | POPULAR SITES LINKING TO YOUR PAGE

Are there other sites linking to your page? Wowza, you must be super cool. Content is good but now your overall quality is great because now SEO recognizes you as useful to multiple people. Plus, what a compliment!

16 | FIND A NICHE

Making your website focused on one specific topic increases your SEO because Google doesn’t like when your all over the place. Also, a lot of other people don’t like that either because it can be super confusing. So find a niche and then dedicate your whole site to this topic! Thinking about the top three things you are the most passionate about. Choose from these!

Okay, this was a lot. I know. Maybe read it all over again, let it soak in, and then get to action by applying these 16 SEO tricks to your site! You put a lot of work into your blog or business, you deserve to be ranked as number one. Unfortunately, not everyone can be number one according to Google but hey if you apply these 16 tricks you’ll definitely be loved by Google!