Tips to improve the SEO of your blog posts in 2023

SEO is an essential element of any good marketing strategy, yet these three famous letters have often been associated with a somewhat obscure science.

But in recent years, SEO has evolved a lot: it has become a logical science, necessary to improve the experience of web users. By following certain tips and knowing some technical optimizations, referencing a blog article in the first results of search engines is within everyone's reach. Checklist of SEO tips for good SEO

By providing the answers your audience needs in a blog post and providing them with a quality experience, your SEO and traffic will increase. There is no magic solution, so you will have to be meticulous.

1 – Keyword research
It's impossible to start writing an article without first doing keyword research.
Keyword research allows you to understand the expectations and needs of your potential visitors. By analyzing the different keywords and their traffic volume, you will be able to choose a subject for your article that will correspond to Internet users' searches.
To rank your article at the top of search results, choose a unique theme per article to be sure to provide your visitors with a complete and targeted solution. 2 - Analyze the competition
When you have identified a targeted keyword and researched it enough, analyze the competition in the search results for that keyword. By typing your keyword into Google, you will get a very good overview of the competition.
You must consider the authority of the websites that reference the targeted keyword. Over time and with your research, you will be able to develop your sense of intuition regarding your SEO possibilities based on the competition.

2 - Analyze the competition
When you have identified a targeted keyword and researched it enough, analyze the competition in the search results for that keyword. By typing your keyword into Google, you will get a very good overview of the competition.

You must consider the authority of the websites that reference the targeted keyword. Over time and with your research, you will be able to develop your sense of intuition regarding your SEO possibilities based on the competition.

3 – Produce quality content
Now that you have identified and targeted the topic of your blog post, it is time to move on to writing. Do research on forums, analyze online discussions, and use feedback from your customers to answer as many questions as your readers may have on the topic of your article.

You must appear as an expert who answers the questions your readers ask in depth.

Don't forget that Google tracks an Internet user's activity on the web: if your visitor leaves your site, then consults the next site without modifying their search, Google will deduce that you have not provided the answer they are looking for. Internet user. Your page will then be demoted by search engines, since your article does not seem to provide a solution to visitors.

So do everything possible to offer as many answers as possible to your readership in a quality article.

4 – Pay attention to the length of the content
To provide all the answers to visitors, it is often recommended to write an article of substantial length. Depending on the targeted keyword, a blog article should have 800 to 900 words on average to obtain good SEO.

But be careful, this is not about writing to simply fill this quota, quality always takes precedence over quantity.

5 – Make the article readable
If your article is long enough, you must make it readable to facilitate reading and avoid a high bounce rate, which could again penalize your SEO.

To do this, air out the text, add colors and avoid using a font that is too small or a color that makes reading difficult. Your reader should not have to make any special effort to read your blog post. There are likely plenty of resources online on the same topic, so don't give them an excuse to leave your site and look at an article written by your competitors.

6 - Add images
To make reading easier, nothing is better than adding images that illustrate your explanations or each of your paragraphs. Well-chosen images will make it easier for the reader to remember your content and they can provide real added value. Better yet, you can create infographics to illustrate your articles.

Indeed, if a travel agency writes a blog article on “the 20 most heavenly places in the world” but does not include any photos, it is very unlikely that its article will obtain good SEO because it does not will meet the needs of an Internet user looking for escape.

7 - Add the alt attribute to your images
Adding the alt attribute to your images is a simple tip to implement to improve your SEO using images. Indeed, search engine crawlers cannot see or understand the content of an image. It is therefore necessary to add an alt so that crawlers receive an indication of their content.

A simple sentence of two to three words is sufficient to provide this attribute. Additionally, the alt attribute will be especially important if your site cannot load images. Visitors will then have at least some information about the content that should have appeared on your page.

8- Optimize your article with a keyword (title, headings, URL)
When optimizing an article for search rankings, it's crucial to incorporate the chosen keyword in the URL, title, and section headings. This makes the topic evident to both readers and search engines. However, it's essential to avoid over-saturating the article with the keyword, a practice known as "keyword stuffing", which can lead to Google penalties. Instead, maintain a balanced keyword presence, ensuring the content remains engaging and not repetitive. Additionally, diversifying your SEO approach with related phrases or synonyms can be beneficial without straying off-topic.
Short, clear URLs under 80 characters enhance user experience and indirectly benefit SEO, especially if your domain name is lengthy.
Avoid using prohibited characters in URLs, like accents and spaces, to prevent issues like "%20", ensuring better readability.

9 - Fill in the meta description tag
The meta description tag allows you to personalize the text that describes a result on search pages.
An eye-catching and optimized meta description tag, that is to say one which contains a certain number of searched keywords linked to your article, will have a direct impact on your SEO on Google

10 - Put unrecognized external links in nofollow
With the Penguin update (now completely integrated into its algorithm), Google is hunting down poor-quality links, integrated with the sole purpose of influencing SEO. If a link doesn't provide value to your readers, reconsider including it on your site.

In addition, sponsored dofollow links should be banned from your blog. Only reliable, quality external links that provide added value to users should be added as dofollow.

If you are unsure of the quality of a site but still want to add a link, indicate this to search engines using the nofollow attribute, which will prevent the transfer of authority (link juice) from your blog to the mentioned site.

11 - Add internal links
Add internal links in your articles to boost internal navigation and retain visitors, enhancing the time spent on your site and potentially increasing page views, both of which are beneficial for SEO.

12- Adapt your site for mobile
Mobile has been very important to Google for a long time now. If your website is not compatible with mobile display by default, it will be particularly difficult to rank your article in the first search engine results.

Adopt a blog platform that can adapt your design to mobile format dynamically and automatically thanks to a responsive site or AMP format.

13 - Use an HTTPS domain
HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) designates an encrypted transmission protocol allowing browsing that is generally more secure than HTTP.

Since 2014, Google has considered HTTPS to be an SEO criterion. It is therefore recommended to switch from HTTP to HTTPS, because domains secured under https:// have better SEO performance.

14 – Strictly follow Google’s guidelines
SEO is evolving very quickly: what was true last month is no longer necessarily true today. It is therefore very important to inform yourself regularly to avoid applying obsolete SEO techniques. Follow Google's guidelines to the letter and don't try to cheat the system or risk getting penalized.

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