How to Make Blog Posts SEO Friendly? The Basic Metrics

In this article, we will explore the topic of making blog posts SEO friendly, focusing on the basic metrics that are essential for success. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a critical aspect of online content creation, as it helps to improve visibility and attract more traffic. By implementing basic SEO metrics, bloggers can optimize their blog posts for better search engine rankings and increased organic traffic.

Through in-depth research on common SEO content analysis tools like Semrush, Yoast SEO. We will provide a comprehensive overview of the key elements of SEO-friendly blog posts, including SEO analysis, readability analysis, originality check and tone of voice. Whether you’re a seasoned blogger or just starting out, these basic metrics will help you achieve your SEO goals and drive more traffic to your blog.

1. Readability Analysis

What is readability analysis?

Readability is the ease with which a reader can understand a written text. Readability analysis of blog posts refers to the practice of evaluating how easy it is for readers to understand and comprehend your content. It involves assessing factors such as sentence length, word choice, grammar, and structure. The goal is to ensure that your content is clear, concise, and engaging for your audience.

Why readability is important to SEO?

1. User Experience (UX): High readability improves the user experience. If your content is easy to read and understand, users are more likely to stay on your site longer, reducing the bounce rate. This indicates to search engines that your content is valuable, which can improve your site’s ranking.
2. Engagement: When your content is readable, it encourages more interaction from users. They are more likely to share, comment, and engage with your content, which can boost your SEO.
3. Accessibility: High readability ensures that your content is accessible to a wider audience, including people with different reading levels and cognitive abilities. This broadens your audience base and increases the potential for more traffic to your site.
4. Ranking Algorithms: Search engines like Google use complex algorithms to rank websites, and while they don’t directly measure readability, they do consider factors influenced by readability. For example, if users spend more time on your site and engage more with your content because it’s easy to read, search engines may rank your site higher.
5. Voice Search and Featured Snippets: With the rise of voice search and featured snippets, readability has become even more important. Search engines are more likely to select easy-to-read content for voice search results and featured snippets.

Readability analysis common method

The Flesch–Kincaid readability tests are commonly used readability analysis methods, they are designed to indicate how difficult a passage in English is to understand.

The higher the score, the easier text is. Scores can be interpreted as shown in the table:

Click here to learn more about Flesch–Kincaid readability tests on Wikipedia if you want.

Here are some simpler ways to analyze readability

• Split long paragraphs: Some folks love to write super long paragraphs. That can make your writing look a bit scary as it turns into one big chunk of text. So, try using shorter paragraphs and make sure to put some serious thought into your main points.
• Consider using active voice: If you use too much passive voice in your writing, your message can seem a bit detached and unclear. It could make your sentences wordy and a bit tricky to grasp because the sentence structure gets more complex. So, whenever you’re tempted to use the passive voice, stop and think – is there a clearer, active voice option you could use instead?
• Replace too complex words: The use of rare and complex words might make it challenging for your audience to grasp your content. You should pinpoint these intricate words and modify them.
• Use more transition words appropriately: Using transition words like ‘also‘,’however’,’because’, it enhances the smooth progression of your article as they offer cues to the reader about the forthcoming content.

2. Originality Check

Don’t get into trouble with your content. Check it for plagiarism before publishing.

Search engines like Google penalize websites that have duplicate content. If your content is not original and is found elsewhere on the internet, it can hurt your site’s SEO ranking. When you provide unique insights, information, or perspectives, it can attract more visitors and increase engagement, which can boost your SEO.

Plagiarism is not just bad for SEO, it’s also illegal. Using someone else’s content without permission or proper citation can lead to legal issues.

3. Choose the right tone

The tone of voice represents the manner in which your message is conveyed, encompassing the selection of words, their arrangement, rhythm, and speed. With careful consideration, it can foster trust and distinguish your business from its competition.

Here are some example sentences

Here are some tips for choosing your target tone of voice

• Know Your Audience: Understand your target audience’s demographics, preferences, and values. This will guide you in selecting a tone that resonates with them.
• Define Your Brand Personality: Determine the personality traits and characteristics that define your brand. Is it playful, professional, authoritative, or friendly? Align your tone of voice with your brand’s personality.
• Consider Your Industry: Take into account the industry you operate in. Certain industries may require a more formal and serious tone, while others allow for a more casual and conversational approach.
• Research Competitors: Analyze how your competitors communicate with their audience. Identify gaps or opportunities where you can differentiate yourself through a unique tone of voice.
• Be Authentic: Stay true to your brand’s identity and values. Authenticity helps build trust and credibility with your audience.
• Adapt to Different Channels: Tailor your tone of voice to suit different communication channels, such as social media, website content, or customer support. Each channel may have its own requirements and expectations.
• Test and Refine: Experiment with different tones of voice and gather feedback from your audience. Continuously refine and adapt your tone based on what resonates best with your target audience.
• Consistency is Key: Maintain consistency in your tone of voice across all touchpoints and interactions with your audience. This helps to reinforce your brand identity and build recognition.

4. Technical SEO Optimization

SEO Title

SEO title, also known as meta title or page title, refers to the title tag of a webpage that is optimized for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes. The SEO title plays a crucial role in improving the visibility and click-through rates of webpages in search engine rankings.

• SEO title length needs to be between 25-60 characters. Less than 25 characters may not be able to clearly summarize the content of the article. More than 60 characters may not be fully displayed in Google search results.
• The SEO title should contain the target keyword of your article. Google pays close attention to the title of your page when determining its topic. If you happen to leave out your focus keyphrase from the SEO title, it could potentially have a negative impact on your rankings. Plus, it’s worth mentioning that people searching online are more likely to click on a search result that directly matches what they’re looking for. So, to get the best results, try adding your keyphrase right at the beginning of the SEO title.

Meta Description

A meta description is a concise summary or snippet of text that provides a brief description of the content on a web page. It is an HTML attribute that appears in the search engine results pages (SERPs) below the title tag and URL of a webpage. The purpose of a meta description is to provide a preview or enticing summary of the page’s content to potential visitors.

• Meta Description length needs to be between 120-160 characters.
• The Meta Description should contain the target keyword of your article.

Ideally, a meta description should be around 120-160 characters long, as search engines typically truncate longer descriptions. It should accurately reflect the page’s content, include relevant keywords, and entice users to click through to the webpage.

Article length

According to a summary of a large number of SEO-friendly articles, the average number of words in an article is between 1200-1800 words. As a general guideline, aim for articles that are at least 300 words in length.

Longer articles tend to perform better in search engine rankings. This is because longer articles are often more comprehensive and provide more value to readers. However, it’s important to keep in mind that quality should always take priority over quantity. If your article is long but lacks substance or relevance, it won’t perform well in search rankings.

Keywords density

• Use your target keyword in the introduction part: Mentioning your target keyword in your introduction part makes it easier for readers and search engines to find your content. And figure out what it’s about quickly.
• Notice keyword density in the whole content: Keyword density refers to the percentage of times a target keyword or keyphrase appears in the overall content of a webpage, in relation to the total number of words. While keyword density used to be an important factor in SEO, search engines now prioritize content quality and relevance over keyword stuffing. In general, the range of keyword density is 0.5-3% of the whole text.
• Avoid previously used keywords: Usually, you should use a focus keyword only once. Don’t compete with your own articles! Your target keyword is like the star keyword that you want your post or page to shine for in search rankings. It’s natural to feel eager to optimize multiple articles on your site for that keyword, but that’s not the purpose of a focus keyword! In fact, it’s best to use a focus keyword only once to maintain its effectiveness. Remember, it’s all about giving each keyword the spotlight it deserves!

Links

• Internal links can not be ignored: Internal links are hyperlinks that connect one page of a website to another page within the same domain. These links are essential for website navigation, user experience, and search engine optimization (SEO). Internal links establish a hierarchical structure on your website, indicating the importance and relationship between different pages. They can guide search engines to understand the organization and context of your content, which can positively impact search rankings. So using the right internal linking strategy can boost your SEO!
• Outlink is needed: Including relevant outlinks to high-quality websites can help improve your own website’s search engine rankings. Search engines use algorithms to analyze the quality of a website, and linking to reputable sources can signal to search engines that your website is also trustworthy and authoritative.
• Make sure the link can be visited: Inaccessible websites are very unfriendly to SEO. They will make the search engines confused.

Images

• Use images in your blog posts: By using right images can help readers better understand your content. Another way, the significance of Google’s visual search is growing rapidly, and it is crucial to acknowledge its importance in order to maintain visibility in search results.
• Add alt attributes to your images: Alt attributes, also known as alt tags or alt text, provide alternative text descriptions for images. Search engines like Google cannot “see” images in the same way humans do. They rely on alt attributes to understand and index the content of images. By providing relevant and descriptive alt text, you help search engines comprehend the subject matter of your images and improve the chances of them appearing in image search results. That’s why add alt attributes to images can make blog posts SEO friendly.

Headings

• Use headings to show text structure: Search engines use headings to understand the structure and organization of your content. By using appropriate heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.), you help search engines understand the most important topics and subtopics of your content, which can improve the chances of your page appearing in search results. Another way, headings make the blog post easier for users to navigate and understand. This improves the user experience and encourages users to spend more time on your website, which can also positively impact SEO.
• Use Keyword in subheadings: Headings offer an opportunity to include relevant keywords related to the content of the page. Search engines use headings to understand the context of your content and improve the page’s relevance for specific search queries. However, it’s important to use keywords naturally and avoid keyword stuffing, as this can have a negative impact on SEO. In general, it is reasonable to use keywords in 30 to 75% of your subheadings.
• Avoid overusing headings: While headings are important for organizing content, overusing them can be seen as spammy and harm your SEO. Use headings only when necessary and ensure they accurately reflect the content of the section.

5. One-Page to Summarize All the Metrics of Making Blog Posts SEO Friendly