Blogging Best Practices: Easy SEO Tips to Help Grow Your Blog

CGT May Blogging Best Practices

The first two things that should come to mind, when most people think about growing a blog with SEO, are highly targeted keywords and link-building. Both of these strategies play significant roles in helping to increase traffic; however, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Today, we are going to share a few tips that people often neglect when trying to build a successful blog.

Your Blog MUST Be Mobile-Friendly
If you conduct an experiment of 100 mobile users logging onto either a mobile-friendly website or a non-mobile-friendly site, the participants would reject the non-friendly website. Both websites can contain the best written content, but if viewers are unable to easily view the content from their screen (effortlessly), they will abandon the website. This is one of the reasons why having a mobile-friendly website is crucial. Here are a few reasons why you should have a mobile-friendly website in 2016 and beyond:

  • All digital growth is coming directly from mobile usage (source: comScore).
  • Mobile phones and tablets are responsible for 56 percent of traffic to top websites (source: SimilarWeb).
  • Smartphone ownership is close to 80 percent in the US (source: comScore)

These statistics are proof that a business should have a well-built website. Additionally, websites that aren’t mobile-friendly, experience a significant drop in mobile traffic from Google Search. A mobile-friendly website is better for SEO. Is your website mobile-friendly? Find out by taking Google’s mobile-friendly test HERE.

Use Updated Optimized Images
Always choose your ‘best’ images for your blog articles. Adding optimized images to your articles will not only make them more vivid, it can enhance your SEO, according to Yoast. Studies have shown that text isn’t the first thing a person views when they land on a web page. The first thing people notice is the imagery. The image you choose can compel a person to take action or remain idle. Know your audience, and consider images that would be compelling to them.  Here are a few good tips to remember:

  • Make sure to use relevant keywords in the file name of your images.
  • Do not neglect creating a descriptive alt text for your images.
  • Write image captions that are interesting and useful. Writing captions is one way to help visitors spend more time on your page.
  • The image that you choose for an article should always be related to the article’s subject.
  • An image that is surrounded by related text, ranks better for the optimized keyword.

Also, make sure you avoid using outdated photos. Only choose photos that are associated with ‘current’ trends. If you’re posting an image with people, make sure their clothing and the objects they are holding are relevant to the times. For example, if you’re posting an image of a business woman, holding a cellphone, you’ll want to avoid choosing photos from 5 or 10 years ago. If your target audience are iPhone 6 users, and your photo displays someone talking on a Motorola flip phone from 2005, people will take notice.

What to Do and Not Do with a Blog
You have followed all SEO writing rules. Besides promoting your content on social media, there are a few additional things to consider:

  • Don’t build links by posting multiple articles on free article sites.
  • When guest blogging, make sure you only choose authoritative blogs that publish relevant content to build inbound links.
  • Avoid link exchange programs like the plague.
  • Avoid companies that guarantee thousands of links and #1 Google rankings.

These are just a handful of things to remember when building and maintaining a successful blog. The important thing to remember is that a blog is never finished. You should always find ways to enhance your blog. Staying current on the latest SEO blogging trends will help your blog grow.