How to Optimize Your Blog Posts for SEO? (14 Killer Ways)

Want to optimize your blog posts for SEO?

If yes then you have landed at the right place because in this blog post I am going to tell you how to optimize your blog posts for SEO?

I will tell you each and every tactic that I use to rank my blog posts on Google.

Along with that, I will tell you a secret tactic that I haven’t told anywhere else.

Excited?

Let’s dive right in.

Why Optimizing Your Blog Posts for SEO Is Important?

Before talking about the ways to optimize your blog posts for SEO, let’s first see in brief why it is important to optimize your blog posts for SEO:

14 Awesome Tips to Optimize Blog Posts for SEO

Now let’s discuss the tips that I use to optimize my blog posts for SEO:

1. Find the Right Blog Topics

Finding the right topics to blog on is super crucial for your blog’s success.

If you start blogging on irrelevant topics and try to cover everything under the sun on your blog then there is a high possibility that your blog won’t rank on Google.

Why? Because Google now focuses on EAT and YMYL algorithms to rank websites on Google.

So, now to rank on Google you have to pick a specific topic and create content around that on your blog.

It would help you build your blog’s authority around that topic and rank higher on Google.

Nowadays many bloggers blog about everything on their blog and that is the reason why most of them fail to make a decent income through their blog.

Along with that, you have to pick only those topics which you have a chance to rank so that your efforts won’t get wasted.

Now the main question is how can you find these kinds of topics?

Simple! By doing proper keyword research which I am going to tell you in a bit.

But before that let’s learn about keywords briefly which would help you pick lucrative topics for your blog easily.

Each keyword that you search on Google comes with a specific intent which is classified into 4 categories which are:

If you are a blogger then I would highly recommend you to go for Informational and Commercial type keywords.

Along with that one thing you should keep in mind is that as a beginner or intermediate blogger you should go for long-tail keywords.

Long-tail keywords are those keywords that consist of more than 3 words and are of low difficulty.

Now let’s see the exact process that I use to find low-difficulty topics for my blog.

For the blog topic research, I use Semrush which you can use for absolutely free by availing of its 7-day free trial.

Or you can read my in-depth Semrush review if you want to know more about the Semrush tool.

For finding awesome blog topics with Semrush you have to use its Semrush Keyword Magic Tool.

After going to this tool add the seed keyword, choose the country you want to target, and click on the search button.

For example, I have added the keyword “Gaming” into this tool.

Wait for some time and you would get a lot of keywords related to your seed keyword.

On the left side, you would get the sub-topics related to your seed keyword that you can click to get keywords related to that topic. For example, I clicked on the “PC” subtopic.

After that, you would get topics involving the “PC” keyword.

If you want longer keywords then pick any keyword from the above list of keywords and put it again in this tool.

For example, I have added the keyword “Gaming PC” in this tool and it has generated a bunch of long-tail keywords related to gaming PC.

Along with that, you can go to the advanced filters section and under that use the word count filter to filter out long-tail keywords for your blog.

For example, I have used this filter to get keywords equal to or more than 3 words.

You can use this process to find working blog topics in any niche.

Along with that, you can use the other filters present in this tool which would help you filter out more profitable keywords for your blog.

The best filter present in this tool according to me is the keyword intent one that helps you get topics according to the search intent you want to target.

Must read – Semrush Content Marketing Toolkit Review 2024.

2. Spice Your Content With LSI Keywords

A single blog post can rank for 1000s of keywords. Want to know how?

Simple by using LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords in your blog posts.

But how to get these LSI keywords? Here is a short and sweet tutorial for finding LSI keywords for your blog easily.

To find LSI keywords you can use Google’s Autosuggest and Related Keywords feature.

First, let’s talk about the Google Auto Suggest feature.

To use this feature just type in the keyword you are targetting but don’t press enter and Google will give you keyword suggestions for FREE!

For example, I have entered the keyword “SEO tools” on Google and it has given me a bunch of related keywords that I can target.

You can pick some of these keywords and add them to your blog post which would help you rank for various keywords.

Along with that, you can enter a keyword on Google, click enter and go to the bottom of the SERP page there you would get more related keywords that you can target.

But one thing you should keep in mind is that you have to write your blog post naturally and between that you have to add LSI keywords sometimes.

3. Craft a Compelling Blog Post Title and Description

Do you know that 600 million blogs are out there on the web?????

So, how would you make your blog different?

The first thing you can do is to provide awesome content through your blog which I will cover later in this article.

But before that, you have to let users come to your website. How?

By making a killer headline and description for your blog post.

First, let’s talk about headlines, here are some tips to create irresistible blog headlines:

For more blog headline tips you can see this video by Neil Patel sir????.

Now let’s see some tips for writing compelling blog descriptions:

You should read my blog description guide for more blog description optimization tips.

Along with all these tips always keep your blog headline and description under its limits so it won’t get cut off from your blog’s SERP on Google.

The limit of blog headlines is under 60 characters and for blog descriptions, it is 155 characters.

4. Make Your Content Worth the Read????

As I have previously said there are 600 million blogs out there on the web which means that users have more than enough content for them to consume.

But the good thing is that most of the content around the web is simple trash!

So if you want to make your blog stand out then you should provide high-quality content that could make your readers stick to your blog.

But how? Here are some tips that I use to create compelling blog content:

Craft a Proper Blog Layout

Preparing a blog layout before writing your blog post is a super important thing.

Without a proper blog layout, you won’t have a clear idea of what you have to write in your blog post which could lead to copy content issues.

But how do I know all this? Because I have personally done that in the past.

But after I started preparing blog post layouts, I am able to create unique content for my blog easily.

For preparing a blog post layout, you can analyze the top 10 to 15 results of Google and make a layout according to that.

Along with that, you can search Quora for finding sub-headings for your blog.

To do that first go to Quora and search the keyword you are targeting in your blog post.

For example, I have searched for the term “blog SEO” on Quora, and here are the questions related to it.

You can pick some questions and use them as sub-headings for your articles.

Along with that, you can use the Answer The Public tool for finding sub-headings for your blog posts.

Make Paragraphs Shorter

I have seen a lot of bloggers writing big chunks of paragraphs in their blog posts.

By doing this they make their blog posts much harder to read which increases the bounce rate of their blog.

And because of that, they struggle to get traffic from Google.

So, what I do is that I don’t make paragraphs more than 4 lines and it works like a charm for me.

Craft Persuasive Content

Persuasion is a tactic that marketers use to believe their audience into their saying.

Suppose you are a marketer who wants to increase the sales of your product X.

So, you can use this persuasion tactic to make your audience believe that your product is worth a try which would help you increase its sales.

This is highly recommended for all affiliate bloggers and product creators because this tactic can skyrocket your sales easily.

You can read my persuasive content guide to know how to make your content persuasive.

Use Open Loops

We all love to read stories that hook us from start to end.

In stories, authors start with a cliffhanger and give its closure at the end and that is the reason why these kinds of stories bind us.

This psychological tactic is known as open loops.

I won’t get into the details of this tactic but instead, I will give you a practical example that would help you understand this tactic better.

At the introduction of this article, I have told you that in this article I am going to reveal a secret SEO tactic.

Unknowingly you are reading this article till now just to know this secret SEO tip which I will tell you in a bit.

It is a superb tactic in which you give a cliffhanger to your readers, tell them that they would get its answer anywhere in the article, and in this way you keep them bound to it.

But one thing you should keep in mind while using this tactic is that don’t give closure at the end of your article as it could lead your readers to bounce off from your blog post.

Instead, give the closure somewhere in between your blog post.

Use Questions to Evoke Curiosity

Using questions is another awesome way to add curiosity to your reader’s minds which lets them read your article till the end.

I have used a lot of questions in this article which have hooked you to read this article till now.

So, use questions where it fits in to make your article much more interesting to read.

Make Your Content Skimmable

Most people on the internet don’t read the content instead they just skim through it and only read what they want to read.

So, for all those of your readers you have to make your blog skimmable so that they won’t bounce back right after entering your blog post.

I use two tactics to make my blog posts skimmable.

The first is using the table of content in my blog posts which adds jumpers so that you can navigate easily through my articles.

Along with that, I use a lot of sub-headings in my article which also helps you select which section of the blog post you want to read.

I would highly recommend you to use these two tactics in your blog posts.

Make Your Content Comprehensive

As I have previously said most of the blog posts out there are trash and don’t deserve to rank a bit.

So, if you create comprehensive content then it could be a game-changer for your blog.

In a study by Backlinko, it has been found that long-form content outranks short-form content.

Yes, I know that in some niches content length can vary but I would highly recommend you to make your blog posts as comprehensive as you can.

Note – I have recently started using Jasper for my blog content creation process. You can try it for absolutely free using its free trial.

5. Add a Lot of Visual Elements to Your Blog Posts

The real meaning of blogging in today’s world is how to let your blog readers hooked with your content.

And using visual elements like images, videos, memes and more helps a lot in that.

I personally use a lot of visual elements in my blog posts. I have a lot of blog posts that have images over 100????.

But one thing you should know is that you should always use custom images in your blog posts, not royalty-free stock images.

You can read this blog post to know the effect of using royalty-free images on search engine rankings.

I use Canva for making custom images for my blog and an awesome screenshot chrome extension for capturing and designing screenshots.

Along with images I use YouTube for videos and imgflip for creating memes for my blog posts.

You should use a visual element after every 300 words of text content as it makes your reader hooked with your content.

6. Do Internal Linking the Right Way!

Many new bloggers only add internal links of their old blog posts to their new ones but don’t do its opposite which is also important.

It has two major benefits:

Here are my two favorite internal linking tactics that I use on my blog:

Internal linking SIMPLIFIED!

7. Answer the Query Right Away

Now comes the tactic which you were waiting for since the beginning of this blog post.

Yes, you guessed it right it is the SECRET ONE!

The secret tactic that I have started using recently is to answer the query of my blog post right at the beginning.

For example, in this blog post, I have mentioned all the SEO optimization tactics right at the start in short-form.

It has two benefits, first, it helps you rank on Google’s featured snippet which gets a higher CTR as compared to normal Google SERPs.

Along with that, it increases your affiliate sales by telling the result right at the start so that skimmers can decide and buy from your affiliate links.

You can see this video by Matt Diggity to know more about featured snippets and how to rank in them:

8. Back Every Claim You Make

This is a golden tactic that I have learned from my blogging guru Ankit Singla sir which works like a charm for me.

It is that I back up all the claims that I make in my blog posts by linking to proper resources.

For example, in this blog post, I have made several claims and have added links as proof for you to confirm it.

It helps in building my trust and credibility which helps my blog to stand out from the blogs which don’t back its claims.

It takes some extra time to collect these resources but it is totally worth the effort.

Along with links I use charts, graphs, and more for confirming my claims.

So, in short back up your claims to build credibility.

9. Short and Sweet URL!

URLs are one of the most ignored aspects of blog SEO.

Most bloggers don’t focus on it and still use unoptimized URLs for their blog posts.

Trust me it doesn’t take much time to optimize your blog post’s URLs but it would surely increase your blog’s Google rankings.

I use two tactics to optimize my blog post’s URLs. The first is to keep it short and sweet.

It has been found by a study of Backlinko that shorter URLs tend to outrank longer URLs.

Along with that, Google recommends the same thing too.

Along with that, I add my target keyword into my blog post URL which also helps a bit in rankings.

10. Craft Compelling CTAs

Adding killer CTAs (Call to action) to your blog posts is a super important thing especially when you are promoting affiliate products through your blog posts.

I have done a lot of mistakes while adding CTAs to my blog posts and till now I am learning this process.

Here are some hacks that you can use to create compelling CTAs:

Use All Types of CTAs

Bloggers think that only button-type CTAs can drive clicks and conversions for their business.

But do you know that using anchor text CTAs increased HubSpot’s conversion rate by 121%?

So, if you are only focussing on button-type CTAs in your blog posts then it could cause a huge loss for your business.

I use almost all types of CTAs in my blog posts which include button, text, and image CTAs.

Use Urgency Phrases

Using urgency phrases like now, today, act now, etc can make a huge difference in your blog’s conversion rate.

It adds psychological pressure in your reader’s mind which lets them take the action you want.

You can read this guide to know more about urgency phrases.

CTAs Are Not Always Affiliate Links

Many new bloggers think that CTAs are only used for affiliate links.

But that is not the case because you can use them to grow your email list, Facebook group, etc.

It helps you build your own audience so you won’t be dependent on any platform like Google, Facebook, etc for driving traffic to your blog.

You can see this video by Matt Diggity to know more about crafting compelling CTAs for your blog posts.

11. Make an Awesome Intro and Conclusion

The attention span of online readers is very less. You have to hook them as soon as they come to your blog post and if not then you would lose them forever.

The best way to hook them right away is by adding a captivating introduction to your blog posts.

I use a short and sweet introduction for my blog posts which tells you what you would get in my blog post.

I either start my blog introduction with a question or I make it according to the APP principle from Brian Dean.

If you are a beginner then I would highly recommend you to use the APP principle.

APP stands for Agree, Promise, Preview.

In this technique, you first agree to a common problem of your audience, next you have to promise them that by reading this article they would get their answers and at last, you have to tell what your blog post is all about.

At the end of your introduction don’t forget to add transition phrases like let’s dive right in, let’s kill it, let’s get started, etc as it helps your reader to move forward.

Along with the introduction, your blog’s conclusion is also very important which is often ignored by many bloggers.

By adding a proper conclusion to your blog post you are giving a chance to your blog readers to join your Facebook group, newsletter, to comment, and a lot more.

I make my blog conclusion pretty short, give my opinion about the product or topic, and add action-packed CTAs at the end.

12. Fasten Up Your Website

No one likes a slow website and that is the reason why a 2-second delay in load time can increase your website’s bounce rate by 103%.

Here is the page speed insights score of my website which is hosted on shared hosting servers.

Do you want to know the hacks that I use to speed up my website on a shared hosting server?

First of all, I would like to tell you that I don’t do anything extraordinary to achieve this speed. I use some tools and plugins to do that.

First of all, I use a super optimized WordPress theme for my blog that is my one and only favorite Kadence theme.

You can read the Kadence review to know more about it.

Second I use the WP Rocket plugin which is one of the main reasons why I am able to make my website fast.

Must read – WP Rocket review: Best caching plugin??

At last, the major reason for my website speed is the brilliant shared hosting that I use which is Hostinger hosting.

You can read Hostinger vs Chemicloud comparison to know more about this web host.

Along with that, I do some minor things as well to speed up my website such as:

13. Use FAQs to Get Traffic Fast

Adding FAQs to your blog posts is one of the easiest and fastest ways to drive organic traffic to your blog.

I have recently started using this tactic in all my blog posts and it is working like a charm for me.

I use the People Also Ask box on Google for finding questions and along with that, I choose the questions which my competitors are answering in their blog posts.

Must Read – FAQ schema guide.

14. Update Your Blog Posts ASAP

Updating your old blog posts adds a new charm to it and helps you get more organic traffic to it.

Do you know that updating blog posts increased the traffic of Single Grain nearly to 96%?

I regularly update my blog posts after every 2 to 3 months which sends a freshness signal to Google and helps my blog posts to rank higher on Google.

I highly recommend you to at least update your blog posts once every 5 to 6 months even if you are producing evergreen content on your blog.

To know how to update blog posts for maximum SEO you can see this video by Ahrefs????.

Frequently Asked Questions

Over to You!

Optimizing your blog posts for SEO is a super important thing because it helps you get highly targeted organic traffic to your blog.

Yes, I know that it is not a quick way to get traffic like referral traffic or paid traffic but trust me the quality of organic traffic is much higher than any other traffic source.

So, always optimize your blog posts for SEO!

Now you tell me in the comments which tactic from this blog post you liked the most?

Also, if you have any queries then make sure to comment down below. I would be super happy to help you out.

Please share this blog post on social media so it can help other fellow bloggers in optimizing their blog posts for SEO.