SEO and blogging
In the the world of digital marketing, when it comes to SEO and blogging - particularly the optimising of blog posts - there are a few ways to approach it. Here is ours.
First we must find the keywords for a blog
When thinking SEO and blogging and researching keywords for a blog there are a few variables to consider:
What is the topic and sub-topics you would like to cover?
Which geographical market do you wish to target and which specific language within that geography do you want to publish content in?
Are there any keywords that arise from natural inspiration whilst thinking of the subject matter(s) that you aim to cover?
Have you exhausted all inspiration before heading towards keyword research tools?
Have we chosen low-competition keywords with historic search volumes for our primary and secondary keywords?
If you really want to be meticulous, check the search engine results page (SERP) results for each keyword that you’ve chosen
Which is the right keyword research tool for blog posting?
There are many tools out there for SEO and blogging but not every keyword research tool for blog posting is for every person - in short, naturally we tend to have preferred tools.
A word of caution before using any of the tools we will list - a tool cannot substitute a lack of effort, so I would advise striving as hard as possible before using tools.
Here, in no particular order, are a list of some of the tools that we use to get keywords wholesale:
And ofcourse, on a blog-by-blog basis it’s never a bad idea to check Google keyword planner for volumes and competitiveness of your chosen keywords.
Is blog keyword placement really that big of a deal?
Blogging and SEO is about more than just research. All of the keyword research in the world won’t help unless your blog keyword placement is present.
If we don’t signal to Google that we want to be associated with a particular audience through keyword placement, then how can it reliably and repeatedly get the job done?
There are several places to mention keywords, depending on whether it is the primary or a secondary target.
Primary target keywords can be used in domain names, URL slugs, titles, meta descriptions, [top of page] headers and bodies of text. Nothing wrong with using permutations of the keywords on the page either.
Secondary target keywords can be used in headers and bodies of text; I personally try to keep them out of other key positions on the page in order not to confuse the hierarchy of targeting on the page. I usually keep them away from being a <H1> header just in case it confuses Google.
At this stage, we want to have finished our copywriting and keyword placement. Now it’s time for a little linking.
Is it necessary to have blog internal linking
Naturally at some stage before or after writing your blog post, you may want to funnel your audience to other parts of your website such as commercial pages. For this blog internal linking becomes key.
It may be important to keep a track of where you’d like to funnel people to and also to keep a track of the anchor text you’re using to link to other pages on your website.
Consider which external links in blog posts to use
Now that we’ve taken care of blog internal linking it’s time to support our belief/point of view by providing a few strategically placed references via your external links in blog posts.
An important point to remember is that, just as you would like people to be considerate of your anchor text, it may also be worth giving a few seconds of thought when thinking of the anchor text you’re using for your external linking.
Pay attention to the blog post structured data
After we’ve finished the blog post internal linking it’s time to take a look at blog post structured data - at pomegranate we prefer, out of habit, to use the JSON-LD format.
Depending on the platform you are building your website with, there may be plugins - such as YoastSEO WordPress plugin - which automatically add blog post schema when publishing the page… For everyone else there is the Technical SEO Schema MarkUp Generator.
Simply select blog post and enter all of the relevant information and there should be a JSON-LD code outputted. Copy this code and run a rich results test on it. Should the results come back fine, it’s time to embed the code, wait for the sitemap to be updated with new URLs and then go for indexing.
First we advise submitting updated sitemaps to Google Search Console and then testing new URLs and submitting them for indexing.
-
This is the top of page header and [primary target keyword] <Heading 1/H1>
After using any keyword in a header remember to use the same keyword in a body of text on the same page, in this case we can include the [primary target keyword] here.
This is the [first secondary keyword] <Heading 4/H4>
When we use the [first secondary keyword] in the succeeding body of text, we signal to search engines that we’d like to be increased in association with the [first secondary keyword] and other keywords used on the page.
And finally the [second secondary keyword] <Heading 4/H4>
Last but not least we can mention the [second secondary keyword] here and possibly include a segway to talk about services offered that are relevant to the blog post’s subject matter.
A call to action at the end of the blog post could be just what an audience member needs after reading the material.
-
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "BlogPosting",
"mainEntityOfPage": {
"@type": "WebPage",
"@id": "www.pomegranate.marketing/uk/seo-blog-topics/why-should-i-do-keyword-research"
},
"headline": "Why should I do keyword research anyway?",
"description": "In this week’s blog post we explore why all SMEs and bloggers should put importance on keyword research.",
"author": {
"@type": "Person",
"name": "Karim Mohammed Chehab",
"url": "https://www.pomegranate.marketing/"
},
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "pomegranate",
"logo": {
"@type": "ImageObject",
}
},
"datePublished": "2024-07-29"
}
</script>
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And finally, for copywriting and blog post writing services please feel free to contact us at info@pomegranate.marketing or alternatively click the button below to get a free quote.
