I’ll be honest. When I started blog writing, it did not go well. Despite not knowing how to begin a successful blog- much less how to optimize my blog, I still went for it. I wrote about local events from my perspective, hoping that they connected with my community. Spoiler alert: It didn’t. Hardly anyone read my blogs, and they communicated no real value to the reader. After months and months of researching and practicing, I finally realized what I did wrong. More specifically, I realized what I NEEDED to do instead. Now, I’m going to share it with you.
START with a Plan
Every great blog starts with a plan. Mapping out the way you develop your topic is essential when learning how to optimize your blog. It helps organize your ideas, build out other topics, and make sure your blog supports your goals. If you’re writing for a brand or business, it’s important to plan how you’ll connect readers from posts to action. As copywriters, we exercise this skill regularly.
When implementing your plan, think about what your audience will get out of your content. The more successful content strategy templates speak to your audience’s pain points and what they need. Ask yourself: What kind of blog niches fit the brand’s tone and audience best? What questions are they asking about this topic? Knowing your audience’s search intent will give you a deeper understanding of how to structure your content. From there, you can increase your blog’s chance of ranking and converting.
Develop Your Keyword Cluster
Keywords are the main ingredient that you can’t leave out of your SEO recipe. Google rewards content that goes into depth about topics, so keyword clusters are the way to go for your blog niche! You’re seen as a credible source for the topic and can get a little boost in rankings. The better you execute this skill, the better you provide information for readers. You might answer questions they didn’t know they had, get returning site visitors, and increase views to other pages. My favorite tools that helped me develop my keyword topic clusters are Ubersuggest and SEMrush. They take the guesswork out of knowing how to make keywords for your website with strategy-building tools. They are a surefire way to ear hustle yourself into what your audience is searching for.
Write for Readers and for Search Engines
Per the intro of this blog, this was my biggest struggle. It can be a struggle for creators to feel like they have to confine their personalities when writing professionally. There can be a lot of rules to abide by, especially when writing business blogs. Many copywriters struggle to balance writing with personality and writing for Google. But here’s the truth: you can do both.
Here are a few Content Marketing tips:
- Opt for natural-sounding headlines (that include your target keywords). Don’t stress about sounding perfect!
- Structure paragraphs with clear subheadings. This helps search engines scan your site faster for EEAT.
- Keep sentences simple. I usually opt for content no higher than an 8th-grade reading level. Everyone may come in at different knowledge levels, so meet people where they are.All of these practices increase your readability on mobile devices (which is where most blog traffic comes from currently).
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Don’t Neglect Your Tech!
Blog optimization isn’t just about the literal word content—it also includes the technical side. This part was one of the most intimidating for me! It all seemed bigger than my mental bandwidth. But I figured, if I just need to learn how to flip a few switches to increase my visibility, why not take advantage?
What to Consider:
- Compress large blog images (bigger photos create longer load times, which can lead to higher bounce rates)
- Use headings in order (H1, H2, H3) for better readability.
- Add meta descriptions to each post. A practical summary of your content gives a sneak peek for prospective visitors.
- Add internal linking between your posts. This helps increase the time searchers spend on your site and the likelihood for them to act.
If you use WordPress for your blogs, you can use plugins like Yoast or Rank Math to analyze your SEO traffic. It’s highly recommended to use some sort of tracker to see firsthand how these changes make a difference.
Update Your Oldies but Goodies
Even the best blogs lose ranking over time. That’s why (1) knowing the basics and (2) staying up to date on blogging and search engine trends are going to be your best friend!
Questions to Ask:
- Are there broken links?
- Have your statistics become outdated?
- Slow-loading images? (Check your pagespeed)
- Are your CTAs up-to-date with your current services and offers?
Take time every few months to refresh your blog content with new insights or data from your analytics. Keep an eye on which posts are bringing the most traffic, conversions, or shares. If one blog is outperforming the rest, ask: what made it different? Was it the headline, keyword, format, or story? (Olivia’s tip: Internal linking from high-ranking pages to lower-performing blogs could help improve traffic throughout your site.)
Conclusion
When you understand how to effectively optimize a blog, you are already one step ahead of the average copywriter. Words will never not matter, but it’s more than just creativity. It’s about helping readers find the content they need in a format that’s easy to engage with. When you start your blog with a detailed content plan, utilize keyword clusters, align writing with search intent, and tend to the technical, you create lasting value. Not only for your blogs but also for your clients and the people they serve.