This is an extra blog post in the ā€˜how to make a blogā€™ post series. I hope you think it is worth your time!

Fact 1: Every blog post you write should NOT be optimized for SEO purposes.

Why?

Because sometimes you just want to share some news or write from your heart or write about something you did last week and has nothing to do with the niche of your blog

Fact 2: Some of the blog posts you publish MUST be optimized for SEO purposes.

Why?

Because you want free targeted visitors and the way to get free targeted visitors is to ensure you optimize your blog posts for the search engines. See my previous post in this ā€˜how to make a blogā€™ series:

How To Make A Blog Part Eight: Perfect Your SEO Habits

Fact 3: This blog post (i.e. the one you are reading now) is about those posts you want to optimize for the search engines

Why am I sharing this knowledge?

I see too many bloggers who THINK they are optimizing their posts for the search engines and they are not.

I also see many blog owners who donā€™t optimize some of their blog posts for the search engines and they should!

Soā€¦letā€™s start and ohā€¦before I forget there is a free PDF document below (no opt-in required) that you can download and use.

The free PDF is a simple checklist for publishing blog posts for best SEO results. You can print it off and refer to it each time you publish a post.

Sorryā€¦one more thing (I feel like Detective Colombo!)ā€¦I have assumed you have chosen the keyword phrase you want to target in your blog post.

This could cause a few arguments but these are the SEO steps in (my) order of importance:

SEO Boost 1:

Ensure your targeted keyword phrase is part of the blog posts URL.

SEO Boost 2:

Use your targeted keyword phrase in the title of your blog post (towards the beginning, if you can) and ensure the title is less than 70 characters.

SEO Boost 3:

Use a SEO plugin like the All-in-one-seo-pack or WordPress SEO and add your targeted keyword phrase within the ā€œMeta Descriptionā€. Ensure your Meta Description is less than 156 characters.

SEO Boost 4:

Aim for a keyword phrase density of between 1% and 5%. If your post is 500 words in length, your keyword phrase needs to be mentioned between 5 and 25 times. If 1000 words, then between 10 and 50 times and so on.

SEO Boost 5:

Break up your text with sub headings and use the H2 and H3 tags. Use your targeted keyword phrase in the sub-headings.

SEO Boost 6:

Link from your blog posts to relevant internal (i.e. your blog posts) and external blog posts using appropriate anchor text.

SEO Boost 7:

Ensure your blog post is at least 300 words in length.

SEO Boost 8:

Use your keyword phrase in the first and last sentences.

SEO Boost 9:

Add the post to ONE category that is a keyword related to your targeted keyword.

SEO Boost 10:

Add an image and ensure the image is called ā€™your targeted keywordā€™ phraseā€™.

Plus add a title and ā€˜altā€™ title of your targeted keyword phrase. The plugin SEO Friendly Images automatically does this for you.

SEO Boost 11:

Use a SEO plugin like the All-in-one-seo-pack or WordPress SEO and add your targeted keyword phrase within the ā€œMeta Keywordsā€

SEO Boost 12:

Bold your keyword phrase a couple of times.

Thatā€™s itā€¦12 steps to maximize the SEO of your posts.

 

You can download the free SEO checklist document here (no opt-in required).

You can print it off and refer to it each time you publish a post.

Just click on the link below (opens to a new page):

The 12-Step Checklist To Boost The SEO Of Your Blog Posts

 

What SEO steps would you add when publishing a blog post?

Please share your views in the comments below.

In the next post on the series, ā€œHow to make a Blogā€ we shall cover the topic of ā€œGetting Backlinksā€

The previous blog posts in the ā€˜how to make a blogā€™ series:

Part One: How To Make A Blog: Getting Your Niche Right Is Crucial

 

Part Two: How To Make A Blog: Finding The Best Keywords For Your Chosen Niche

 

Part Three: How To Make A Blog: Monetizing with Affiliate Products

 

Part Four: How To Make A Blog: Monetizing with Digital Products

 

Part Five: How To Make A Blog: Choosing a Domain Name and Hosting

 

Part Six: How To Make A Blog: The Tools I Use To Make A Full-Time Income

 

Part Seven: How To Make A Blog: Are you Content with Your Written Content?

 

Part Eight: How To Make A Blog: Perfect Your SEO Habits