39 practical SEO tips to leverage your blog results!
How to leverage your SEO strategy and achieve better and better rankings in search engines? We'll show you in 39 quick and simple SEO tips to put into practice right now!
Rank on Google is not such a simple task, is it? Most of the time it requires knowledge, some resources and a lot of time.
This content is here to show you practical tips, easy to execute and that can bring fast and promising results to your strategy!
How about putting them into practice right now?
Check out the 39 best SEO tips for your website or blog!
If you want to have a complete SEO guide with you before you start reading this content, check out our free ebook on the topic.
1. Choose the right keyword
It may seem basic (and it is), but this is a very important detail that many overlook.
Search for the right keyword! And no, the right one is not the one with the highest volume of searches, nor the one with the least difficulty in ranking. She is the one who is related to your persona, will solve her problem and has real chances of ranking.
But how to find that keyword? Good advice is:
- use long-tail keywords (check tip 15 of this content);
- choose niche words, that is, more specific;
- search and analyze the SERP. Do the results fall short? Is Yahoo Answers one of the first results? Are the pages found bad? You can now start producing your content;
- if you use a keyword tool , compare different terms and choose the one with a low average search volume and less competition.
Also, choose a keyword to dedicate to optimizing your content. It is better to focus your efforts on one than on several.
2. Accomplish the purpose of the search
Okay, you have chosen your keyword. But and now?
The truth is that there is no point in writing “random content on the topic”. You can write the largest and most complete content on a topic, but it is useless if it does not respond to the user's search intent .
Want an example?
Let's say your persona searched Google "what material should I use on my door?"
You can write everything about doors: you can talk about door handles, you can quote 20 different materials and even address dimensions. But is that the answer your persona wants?
In fact, it makes a lot more sense to get to the point, doesn't it? And getting to the point doesn't mean that your content needs to be short or shallow. On the contrary: the persona must leave without a doubt.
Persona satisfaction is essential, both for him and for your website, but, above all, for Google.
The search engine has ways of identifying who is delivering the expected content (or even exceeding those expectations).
See next topic:
3. Observe the first search results before writing your content
A good idea to understand what people are looking for and what their doubts are is to carefully observe the first search results (both in Portuguese and in English, since it is very interesting to understand the market trends also abroad).
From this observation, you can find points in common and even unanswered questions to structure even more complete content.
Understand what these contents offer and get ideas. Put yourself in the place of your persona: is there something missing? Is there any point that is too much?
If you use any keyword tool, note which keywords are related or which terms users search for the selected result.
Finally, when writing your content, be clear, objective and complete! Thus, you will ensure that the user finds what they need in the best content on the topic.
4. Make URLs friendly
The URLs function as a website address. Make sure they are friendly, meaning easy to read and memorize.
It is also important that the URLs are timeless, which allows content to be updated without changing the URL.
Remember: a URL should never be changed , as you would lose all authority already gained on that page. (If you need to change URLs, you must redirect the content.)
And rest assured! Making friendly URLs is quite simple. Avoid long URLs, with many subdomains, hashtags (or other characters) and numbers. Be simple and clear in your URL.
Want an example? Let's assume that you made a post with the following title: “The 10 best destinations to visit in 2018”. Your URL could even have this structure, but look how it would look:
Notice how it does not allow updating content, both because there are 10 destinations (and if you want to add one more?) And because it is temporary (and if you want to update the post in 2019 and re-publish it).
Unless you want to create a post for each year (which may be interesting, but will require you to gain authority for that page every time), good URL options would be:
See how it makes a difference? In addition to now being able to update the content without fear, you have also guaranteed a short URL without numbers!
5. Update your content
This is because it is not enough to just publish a large volume of content, if your previous posts become outdated and obsolete.
Just because its content is evergreen does not mean that it will last forever. On the contrary: to be evergreen, it needs to be updated!
Users interpret content updates positively - and so does Google (which directly impacts rankings)!
The reason is simple: updated content offers information that is always relevant and will therefore always be useful, following the trends and changes of the moment.
- Content in 1st position: if you have a first position, congratulations! You are doing a great job. But that does not mean that you can relax: always pay attention to the following results and the Search Console (follow CTR and position variation) so you don't lose your position;
- Content between 2nd and 5th positions: you are already in the most privileged part of SERP! Don't waste it. You probably will not need to make major changes to this content, but occasional updates (such as adding or updating information) and changes to the Title Tag and Meta Description (which can guarantee higher CTR). To understand what to change in your content, a good idea is to do an analysis of the results before you do;
- Content between 6th and 20th positions: here is the gold of the content update! These contents have a high potential to achieve higher positions. Think about it: they are “ok” content and are already in those positions. Imagine if you optimize them to the maximum? Here, it is worth doing a whole restructuring of the content, making it better than all the first results. That done, also update the Title Tag and Meta Description and post it on social media;
- Temporal contents : these contents, regardless of position, must always be the focus of updating, due to the existing temporal relationship. For example: our content on the most used Social Networks in Brazil needs to be updated every year, as this is a time issue and it always changes according to new reports that appear every year.
In addition to these, always pay attention to those contents that are fundamental to your business and that bring more customers and users to your strategy. Losing positions in them would be a huge threat to your company's content marketing tactics.
Want to learn more about updating content? Download the ebook.
6. Delete content that is taking your site down
Let's be honest: the content you posted 3 years ago is certainly not as good as what you post today.
And, over time, it is normal for there to be inconsistent posts, with very similar themes or even that are no longer relevant on your blog.
When updating content is not enough, it's time to let go and eliminate the content that takes your site down!
Duplicate content, with very similar URLs, that are not really relevant or even content that has no more access is not interesting for the health of your blog!
We did this with our blog, Saia do Lugar , in 2016. The blog was purchased and had a lot of bad and non-optimized content that hurt it as a whole.
In November 2016, the site was cleaned up: updated, deleted and redirected content. Observe the impact it had on the total growth of the blog in the following months:But beware: there is no point in just deleting the content. You need to redirect 301 to related and relevant posts.
7. Use Search Console to speed up indexing
Okay, you updated the content, great job. But it takes Google a while to understand that.
If you want to speed up the process, use Search Console!
Just click on “Search with Google” in the “Tracking” section. Enter the URL of the post in the available field and click "Search". Then, just click on “Request Indexing”.
Ready! Google will carry out the process more quickly, taking a few hours (in some cases even minutes).
8. Be mobile-friendly
According to the Digital in 2017 report , internet traffic coming from smartphones already accounts for 50% of the total, with a growth of over 30%.
Mobile is no longer a trend and is an increasingly urgent reality for those who do online marketing, which includes those who use SEO strategies.
Google announced last year that its indexing will prioritize pages optimized for mobile, which includes elements such as AMPs, responsive design and loading speed.
9. Make incredible headlines and descriptions
When you search for a term on Google, several results appear, as usual. Two things directly influence the decision of what to click: the page title and description.
Usually, we quickly scan them to find out if that page is going to offer us what we want. And, from that, we click or not.
Good titles and descriptions directly influence the clickthrough rate (CTR), an important metric for Google to rank content.
So invest your time thinking about the title and description of each page. Try to be objective and clearly demonstrate the content of the page and the benefits it has. In your description, remember to arouse the user's curiosity and interest.
With more clicks, your content will be more accessed and this is one of the factors that influences SEO.
10. Invest in buzz content
Buzz content is content dedicated to hot topics, trends at that time, such as news and most talked about topics.
They are content with a high potential for engagement and that generate many discussions around them, performing especially well on social networks. This in itself is already an important point, as we know that performance on social networks benefits SEO.
In fact, we have invested a lot in buzz content here and have seen incredible results in the last few months. See how our blog traffic from social networks has increased over time with this type of content:Over time, this took all the engagement upwards, in addition to benefiting the dominance authority and our positions in the search engines.
In addition, content of this type has an additional strategic benefit: they can become evergreen content .
Making news, for example, before your competitors, puts you among the first places of search engines. Over time, and as that theme becomes common in everyday life, more people will look for it, and its result will be performing better than those who didn't start before.
11. Be visual
Videos, images, infographics ... Being visual is an increasing urgency.
Visual content is more shareable, memorable and can still be great ways to get backlinks and appear in other “sectors” of the search engines, such as better ranked images and videos.
Invest in it! Your users will like it, you will reach more people and, moreover, you will have much more chances of winning positions.
12. Satellite posts
Satellite posts are a way to use content from your website to strengthen each other.
They work as follows:
- there is a pillar content, which is the center of the strategy. It is usually based on a head tail keyword and is central to the blog;
- various contents related to the pillar content are published: they are the satellite contents. They are usually based on long tails and should always link to the main one.
So, for example, suppose you have a blog about clothes. A pillar post could be “Women's Shirts”, and the satellites could be, for example: “Floral shirts for women”, “Women's cotton shirts”, “Prints for women shirts”, “Modeling shirts for women” and for Here it goes.
The idea is that these contents generate authority for the principal, through a consistent link and total domain relevance.
We use this strategy in several of our posts to have terms that we want to strengthen and rank. A good example is one of the most important keywords for the future: Digital Transformation.
In addition to a pillar post and a complete ebook on the subject, we have several posts that address this topic and all of them refer to the main one, for example:
- Digital transformation: why CEOs should implement this strategy to ensure the company's future
- 12 biggest Digital Transformation trends that your company needs to be aware of
- How to implement Digital Transformation in your company
- Digital Transformation and Marketing: discover the changes of the digital age
These posts strengthen the main content, and the result of which you see in the first organic result of SERP:
13. Find snippets and optimize for them
The rich snippets are pieces of information made available by Google for the user to find the information you search more easily without the need to actually enter the sites.
But calm down! It is important to optimize for them, as this will have positive impacts on your SEO, especially when we talk about featured snippets.
Featured snippets are Google's zero position. They are answer boxes that appear even before the first result.
In addition, they are great ways to appear twice on the first page of results. That's because a snippet is only produced from the first 10 results. Which is another advantage, isn't it?
Suppose your post is in seventh place, in a SERP. Can you imagine getting a snippet and staying before the first place?
Promising results, no?
Discover how to find and optimize for featured snippets in our comprehensive guide to them!
Thanks a lot for the blog.Really thank you! Really Great.
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