This is a guest post by Derek Mabie.
Most of us understand how to search online. For more than a decade, we have relied on websites like Google and Yahoo to sift through the billions of web pages and present a list of contenders that, according to the search engines, most accurately relate to our search query.
Search Engines for President
We understand how to search. What we don’t always understand is how to be found. (How to be found by humans, that is. Google will find you. Oh yes, it will.) Search engines, after all, are merely indexes of the many websites that the Google or Bing bots discover – or as we say, crawl. Without these search engines, your readers/customers/etc. would only be able to find your site (1) by typing in the exact URL in the address bar or (2) by clicking on a link to your site from another site. Without search engines, we would be so lost. Thank goodness for those bots that crawl all over HTML to understand the quality of a website as well as for which terms it should rank organically.
SEO at its core
It’s critical to understand the workings of search engines as much as possible because they control how many users will be exposed to your website. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is really all about enhancing a website so that the search bots can find it more easily and, as mentioned, identify which terms it should rank for.
Ultimately, it comes down to making a website more user-friendly – not only within the navigation, but also in the sense that it answers questions for users and does so in a refreshing way. Of course, it’s not easy to accomplish a task like that. I mean, really. Who wants to spend all that time writing creative, helpful content? Who wants to take the effort to fill out unique Title Tags and Meta Descriptions for each page?
Do Good SEO
Well, the truth is that YOU should. Good SEO is all about transforming a website into a digital entity that deserves links. Don’t be tempted to pursue shady, sneaky tactics that may temporarily boost rankings (but can also potentially result in your website getting pulled from Google’s index entirely!) Below are a few tips that you should habitually put into practice:
1. SEO as you write.
I’ve found that it helps to get into the habit of incorporating SEO as you write. You should know for which keywords you are trying to rank. Check out the list and choose one or two that you can spin a certain way. Also, remember that Title Tags and Meta Descriptions play a huge part in whether or not users click on particular pages from the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
2. It’s not 2001 anymore. Enough with the keyword stuffing.
I don’t think it’s any big secret that keyword stuffing is completely out of style. Google really cracked down last year with the Panda Update, which devalued websites that add no real substance to the WWW, but only produce keyword-saturated articles. Keywords are still vital to determining how you rank for certain queries, but remember to adapt your content to fit the term. If they don’t flow naturally or make complete sense to the reader, search engines will perceive them to be shady.
3. Break it up.
Large chunks of text aren’t captivating to Internet users. We scan articles instead of carefully digesting each line. By breaking up an article into sections (like this one) or steps, the reader can more easily skim the information and determine which parts are applicable and worth further investigating.
4. Add visuals if relevant.
It’s also important to note that articles enhanced with images or even embedded videos typically engage the readers more effectively. If the visual applies to the content, the reader is likely to remember the messaging. If it doesn’t apply to the content… remove it! I’m always impressed by bloggers who can relate their posts to seemingly irrelevant images, like Dan Schure’s post in SEOmoz.
5. Practice makes perfect.
The best bloggers I know are writing constantly. They have a library of articles in draft mode, ensuring that they are pushing out content perpetually, even through the inevitable droughts of writer’s block. This constant activity proves to search engines that your website is generating content at a steady pace. Search engines (and users) like well-manicured sites with fresh content.
Search engines are becoming more efficient every year, and with each update to their algorithms, it’s becoming clearer that they recommend websites that house valuable, current content. If your interest is piqued and you’d like to dive a little deeper into the world of SEO, check out this free SEO Guide for Beginners, which offers a more elaborate, but easy-to-digest, rundown of SEO and how you can apply the recommended practices to your own site.
Photo Credit: Beatriz
About Derek Mabie
Kikolani covers blog marketing and blogging tips for personal, professional, and business bloggers to succeed in search and social media marketing. Kristi Hines is a 
Useful SEO tips for new bloggers to pick up. If you are a new blogger with little to no budget for a huge marketing campaign that will get people talking about (linking to) you, you can consider content marketing as a primary strategy for link and brand building.
Focus on creating a ton of quality and valuable content. Publish them not only on your own blog, but also blogs that are similar to yours (guest blogging). Apart from traditional blog posts, a new blogger can also consider putting out images, audio and even video content.
Wayne Liew recently posted The Ultimate Guide to Linkedin Answers
Keyword stuffing is no need anymore. True!
Your point about doing SEO as you write is a new one. I find myself thinking about certain aspects of my article regarding SEO.
I do that while I process my article and try to think of strategies while I do so.
Thanks for the article Derek!
Samuel recently posted Get More Facebook Likes For Your Facebook Page!
SEO is good – and not the most important aspect of blogging. We should concentrate on building a unique content and not SEO, as you said SEO as you write
Peter Mutiso recently posted Reasons Why Bloggers Are Succeeding and You Are Failing
Don’t forget that it’s about making sure visitors stay and interact with your site as much as possible. These metrics play a bigger part that ever in rankings so make sure your blogs posts are interesting, include multimedia and if they are long break them up into multiple pages.
Cameron recently posted Google Page Layout Algorithm Gets a Facelift
If you want to improve your rankings and get more traffic, I highly recommend you also build some backlinks. There is no need to build thousands of cheap and automated backlinks, because they no longer work and they will only hurt your site.
What you need are quality backlinks and some of the best backlinks are those you get from guest posts on quality sites in your niche. This will also give you high quality, direct traffic.
Thanks Darak for the basic but useful tips.
You made me smile by saying that it is not 2001 anymore, enough with the keyword stuffing… I remember those were the days when people were used to hide their keywords in different areas of their webpage by making their font color same and their page color!
Joe Clark recently posted Why free WordPress themes are risky for new bloggers
Now a days I am not going to understand the SEO judgements those are releasing by Google. However, I find these tips will helps me to overcome the Penguin update.
Pavan Somu recently posted Giveaway#7: Win 3 UnoTelly 1-month Gold Subscriptions For Free
I have been blogging for quite a couple of years. But still, I haven’t learned any SEO tricks. Rather, I should say I was not much bothered about it. So I thought I would read this post as the title had “Basic SEO”. And, indeed this post was informative. I guess it’s the 5th point that troubles me. I was never consistent. Anyway, let me see whether I can come with posts regularly on my blog
Jakes recently posted Top 5 reasons on why you should be Guest Blogging
The key is to write for your readers first, search engines second. A blog post will naturally include keywords about a specific topic. Be sure to optimize each blog post just as you would any other web page and write custom meta titles and descriptions.
I think the content on your blog is what counts the most, having a high bounce rate does not help you even if you have a high amount of traffic coming your way
Philip A. recently posted Building Backlinks – A More Effective Backlinking Strategy For Top Results
Yeah! Undoubtedly, the SEO is no more like 2001 stuff. Everything is changed now! Majorly, the new bloggers and experts always struggle with basics of SEO, but now I believe everything is turning into a social media game. You have to write for your readers first, and then think about anything else.
Thanks for amazing post! I like the headlines in the post!
Hamza Sheikh recently posted Local Business Website SEO Tips & Importance Of Local Business Website
Hey Derek,
Great collection of points here for beginners. I especially liked your point that it’s not 2001 anymore, and that keyword stuffing is no longer necessary
You would be surprised at how many people are still doing this stuff! It’s almost comical at times.
Great post!
Tommy Griffith recently posted Get to the Top of Google with the ClickMinded Online SEO Training Course!
Nice Derek,
you mention noticeable point for bloggers, we should must follow while we are writing any post, Keywords presence is a crucial point while we writing.
Thanks for sharing..
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