Make Your Blog Posts Search Engine Friendly
My Best Tips To SEO Optimize Your WordPress Blog

To make your blog posts properly optimized for high search engine rankings and to be more SEO friendly, I can offer a number of suggestions.  Surprisingly, many bloggers don’t pay any attention to SEO issues, so their blogs are basically lost in search-engine-land.

That’s a shame, as it’s really not hard to attain decent (or even top) organic search engine positions by following some basic SEO guidelines.  But I must briefly mention that to keep any blog in the top SERPs (search engine results pages), you need to continue to add quality content on a regular basis, and you also need good quality incoming links.

My SEO Suggestions to Optimize Your Blog Posts

The Title:  Here’s the first SEO step.  Your main keyword phrase must be incorporated into your post’s title, and it should be at the beginning, rather than the end of the Title if at all possible. 

Post Slug:  The slug (one of the built-in tools in your blog) is found over in the right hand side column of the WordPress editor.  By default, if left empty, the slug will automatically be filled with your entire title when you publish the post, but with the words all in lower case and each word separated by a dash.  As example, this post’s slug is:  how-to-seo-your-wordpress-blog-posts-for-high-rankings.  

The slug is just like the page name of a traditional html coded website.  But, you can manually type in whatever you wish the slug to be (it will not alter your Title).  Many people, myself included, will alter the words in the slug to be shorter than their Title, or maybe a little more keyword forcused than what their post’s Title happens to be.  I don’t make a habit of doing this, but every now and then do alter it for one reason or another.  

Blog Post:  Following “traditionally taught” SEO techniques, you should use your keyword phrase in the very first sentence of your post.

Contrary to a lot of information floating around the internet, it is not necessary to use H1, H2, bold, or italic codes as examples, on your keyword phrase in order to gain higher rankings.  But, for aesthetic reasons, you may wish to use one of these html codes to bring attention to the actual keyword phrase in your copy.

I suggest you sprinkle your keyword phrase throughout your copy.  Use the keyword phrase a little bit more than you would in normal conversation.  But don’t overdue it … you’ll look like you’re spamming.  Also, incorporate your keyword into the very last paragraph.

Tags:  Tags are a misunderstood, thusly often overlooked, part of optimizing your blog.  Make sure to use the tags at all times.  Include your main keyword phrase and then some keyword variations or modifiers.  Tags are sort of like labels, but in this situation, they are keywords that pertain to the content of your post.  Tags help make it easier for other people to find blog posts relating to a specific category, or subject for instance.  So include keywords that you think would help your post be found if someone were searching for it :-)  

Hyperlinks:  If your posts contains hyperlinks to other posts (or pages) in your blog, to web pages on other sites, or to affiliate programs that are related to the topic, it is a good SEO tactic to include a keyword phrase to hyperlink to them.  Of course make sure it is a keyword that pertains in some way to what your post is about.

Images:  I like using images in my blog posts whenever I can, since a picture often speaks a thousand words.  Make sure you include the “alt” tag in the image’s coding, and make sure you’ve placed the keyword phrase in there.  This helps give you a small rankings boost.

For Serious Bloggers, I Suggest and Use This Great SEO Plugin

All in One SEO Pack:  This free SEO plugin is an absolute must-have for any blogger who is serious about SEO-ing their posts.  You can provide information for a Title tag (yes, it can be completely different from the title that starts off your post); the Description Meta tag and the Keyword Meta tag.  Whatever you enter will be shown in the SERPs.  Download it and I promose you’ll love it.

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The Description Meta tag comes in at Number #2 in importance of the three tags that can help your website achieve high search engine rankings.  In the search engines, you will find this tag showing up (there is an exception–more on this in a minute) right under the Title tag in the SERPs (search engine results page).  So, the Title plus the Description are what explain to the potential visitor what your web page is all about.

But let me stop here for a moment and play devil’s advocate.  Many SEO experts say that this tag no longer carries much, if any, weight towards search engine rankings.  I disagree.  As a matter of fact, I was taught by to make very good use of this piece of “search engine real estate”.  It’s very important to write an eye-grabbing, keyword focused snippet of information that gives a good overview of just what the web page is all about.  This is just plain good SEO strategy.

So, I will stick to the school of thought that the Description is NOT to be ignored, and it is a Meta tag that should be well written in the hopes that the search engines do indeed place some algorithmic weight upon it.  What do I, or you, have to lose?  Nothing.  What do we have to gain?  Possibly a little better wegiht put towards our ranking position? Yes.

SEO Confusion Surrounding the Description Meta Tag

I could write three pages on this, and maybe I will in the future, but for now, let me suffice it to say that sometimes your exact Description information will appear in the SERP verbatim.  But, sometimes it will NOT.  How come?  I can’t tell you exactly why.  It surely would take one of the algorithm experts at Google or Yahoo to fully explain it to us.

Just accept this as the way things stand SEO-wise for now.  Depending upon what the searcher has put into the search query; and what ranking your web page already has; and what level of significance the search engines place upon your web page; and how the engines find the arrangement of the keywords in your text … all these factors combined can or will determine whether or not your Description tag as written gets used.

It’s getting confusing isn’t it?  Well let me say it again: sometimes your exact Description will appear in the SERP verbatim but sometimes it will NOT.  Many times the Description information that appears in the SERP has been gleaned from within your page’s content.  The search engine has “compiled” a description for you.  It still makes sense, and lets the searcher know what your page is about.  Let’s leave it at this, for now.

Make the Description Meta Tag Search Engine Worthy

First, let me make sure you know where this Meta tag belongs.  The HTML code looks like this:
‹HEAD›
‹META NAME=”Description” CONTENT=”Insert your descriptive sentences here.”›
‹/HEAD›

This Meta tag belongs in the ‹HEAD› section of your source code, and is generally found after the Title tag, and before the Keywords Meta tag.  The order of these tags is not critical.  (Different web building programs or WYSIWYG editors place them in varying positions.)

For my own websites, and my client’s, I write two or three short, concise sentences about the page’s theme.  I will go a step further and say to not write more than 150 characters WITH spaces.  If you check Google’s SERPs, you’ll find no more than 150 character w/spaces allotted for Description Meta tags.  So, my professional opinion is to write the Description with Google in mind.  That’s good enough for me.  The other engines won’t have a problem.

Integrate Your Keyword Phrase(s) Into This Important Meta Tag

Whatever keywords, or keyword phrases you are targeting for the web page you’ll be writing, work them into the Description Meta tag.  Why?  Again, to satisfy the hungry spiders AND because it helps let the potential visitor know what information they can find on your webpage.  Of course write it to cause an interested web-surfer to want to click on your Title tag to find out more about your product or service, etc.

Remember:  treat the Description as a short synopsis of the web page’s content; limit it’s length to a maximum of 150 characters with spaces; and make sure it includes your keyword phrases.

The Title tag is Number #1 over the other two tags for helping your website achieve high search engine rankings.  It’s right up there in importance next to the need for writing quality content for each and every one of your website’s pages.  Do you know why you should NEVER ignore the Title tag? Let me educate you why …

The Title Tag Serves Two Purposes

First, let’s touch upon the basics.  The Title tag is an HTML code snippet that does two very important things.  One, it creates the words that appear in the top bar of your web browser (the blue bar that runs the length of your computer screen, up at the very top). Two, it also shows up in the SERPs (search engine results pages) when someone enters in keywords that also appear in your Title tag.

**Let me digress for one moment. Depending upon the search engine rankings for the specific keyword(s) used in your Title, combined with other SEO factors, you could find your web page listed on the first SERP, or maybe the hundredth SERP. Remember, the Title tag is but ONE contributing factor to search engine rankings.

Now, the HTML code for a title tag looks like this (very simplified):
‹HEAD›
‹TITLE›Title of Your Web Page Shows Up Here ‹/TITLE›
‹/HEAD›

The Title tag belongs in the ‹HEAD› section of your source code, and is generally followed by your Meta Description and Meta Keyword tags.  The order of these tags is not critical.  (Some web building programs or WYSIWYG editors place them in a different position.)

The Significance of the Title Tag to the Search Engines

All search engines use the Title tags to gather information about your web page’s topic.  What you put in this tag is critical.  It’s a major factor in which search queries you will be found for; and what ranking positions the web page will hold.

Every Title you write ends up as the clickable link on the SERP.  Are you aware of this?  Thusly, you want that web-surfing, possible visitor to want to click on your Title. You want their eyes to gravitate to YOUR Title … not your competitor’s Title!  Make it jump right out at them because it’s interesting, compelling and gets right to the point of what your web page is all about.

Make excellent use of this small piece of “search engine real estate”.  It is GOLD to your potential high rankings and to effectively enticing the searcher to click on your site, rather than a competitors.

Your Keywords MUST Be Integrated Into Your Title Tag

Whatever keywords, or keyword phrases, you are targeting for the web page you’ll be writing MUST be worked into the Title tag.  Why?  Again, to satisfy the hungry spiders AND because it helps let the potential visitor know what they will be reading when they land on your web page.

Also, I highly suggest you use “Title Case” for this tag, i.e. “SEO Strategy for the Small Business Owner”, or “Ten Reasons You Should Not Prepare Your Own Tax Return”.  This format looks clean and has a professional appearance to it.  Please don’t use all capital letters as you’ll look like you’re shouting and it’s poor internet etiquette.

Your Title Tag Should Clearly Reflect What The Page’s Content Is About

What comes first, the Title tag or the written text?  Many SEO consultants will recommend you write the copy first, then figure out what the Title tag should be.  I say whatever works for you!  Just don’t forget to remain focused on the primary keyword phrase you will be writing about and again, make sure you have effectively incorporated that keyword phrase into the Title tag. 

Remember:  you want that potential visitor to say to themselves when reading your Title “Hey, this sounds interesting.  I want to see what this page has to say.”  And click … here they come to your website.

Bottom line … make darn good use of the Title tag. You’ll be glad you did!