SEO has become something of a buzzword in the last year and many don’t really understand the true implications of good SEO, whilst others find themselves getting frustrated in trying to manipulate Google’s algorithm.
Firstly, for those of you who aren’t sure, I’m going to give you a quick rundown on what SEO is.
SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimisation and ‘is the name given to activity that attempts to improve search engine rankings’ as stated by Red Evolution, experts in web development. Google ranks websites based on authority and relevance to the search term. This can be based on a number of things and we’re going to take a quick look at what you can do to improve your SEO on your style blog.
Write longer posts
Google’s aim is to serve the searchers, so it’s going to work in your favour if you do things right and provide great content. Now this starts with word length.
Generally speaking Google likes longer posts, always ensure that it’s more than 300 words. The longer you make the article, the more authoritative you become and Google will reward this. If you can put together a handful of extra-long articles, this will also help and provide more content for you to be ranked on. But don’t ever compromise quality.
Use good quality backlinks
Link to other pieces of content, link to your resources and guest post on other style blogs to provide backlinks to your original content. Creating a network of links like this will establish you as an authority on that particular topic. But don’t cram them in everywhere. Just like your word count, quantity is not always the better option. If you only add a handful of links but you know they’re good quality, especially if they’re coming from old domains with lots of traffic, you’re tactic is more likely to pay off.
Include specific keywords
This goes hand-in-hand with the ‘writing longer posts’. When you have your topic, take a moment to think about specific keywords you can use. If you’re writing an article on a new fashion trend, but don’t actually include the words ‘fashion’ or ‘trend’, how will Google know that’s what you’re writing about?
There are loads of handy tools for this, including Buzzsumo which will help you determine which keywords are popular at the moment and allow you to tailor your content to fit the trend. There are also plugins that will be able to help you identify how well your keywords are working and whether you need to tweak the post.
Make it easy to share and access
Hiding your post from Google is not going to do any favours, so make it readily available. And the more people that read it, share it and love it, the more Google will note you as an authority figure.
Keep at it!
Most importantly, don’t be discouraged! If you can use these tactics on all your posts, eventually you’re ranking will increase, so don’t give up hope.
Words by: Natasha Orme