Note from Jennifer: Since I get many questions from writers about SEO, I wanted to share some tips from an SEO expert with you today. Callum Mundine is the head of marketing at Warble Media. They are a boutique website design and digital marketing agency based in Dubbo, NSW, Australia. If you have any questions about marketing, feel free to contact him on callum@warblemedia.com.au

By Callum Muindine

Search Engine Optimization, three words that can strike fear into those who don’t have a technical background. If you’re a writer or blogger who prefers to ignore anything to do with SEO or whose eyes glaze over in the first paragraph of a jargon-rich SEO article, then listen up, this one’s for you.

Once you get your head around the basics of SEO, you’ll be able to boost your audience and improve your ranking without breaking a sweat.

Here are some small steps you can take that’ll yield big results.

Those All-Important Keywords

Keywords are particular words or phrases that describe the content of your website or blog post.

Let’s say you run a travel blog and have just published a new post on the best places to visit in Barcelona. Once you’ve established your keywords, it’s best to insert them as naturally as possible in your title and section headings as well as in the content itself.

Keywords also play a big role in your Meta Description, the snippet of information that appears below the link on search engine result pages. Adding relevant keywords here will help convince readers your site is worth clicking on, and also lets users know your page has content which is relevant to their search.

Building Internal Links

Although this is an easy step to take, it’s often overlooked by people who are just starting out. Building internal links means connecting to the different pages on your site so that it’s easier for readers and Google search bots to find the information they’re looking for.

Going back to our travel blog, imagine you’re writing an article on how to make plane journeys easier. Within this article, it’s worth linking to other pages on your site which hold relevant, helpful information, such as your post about airlines with the best food and entertainment.

The amount of internal links you add is really up to you. But connecting to helpful resources will keep readers on your site and boost the SEO value of your pages, so it’s really worth doing.

Descriptive URL

If your default URL is a bunch of random letters and numbers, it’s won’t provide your readers or Google search bots crucial information about your page, so it’s important to give each page or blog post on your site a short, descriptive title. Most content management systems make this easy to do.

For instance, after searching for the best places to visit in Barcelona, which result would you be more likely to click on:

• www.mytravelblog.com/12y9RCn5
• www.mytravelblog.com/visiting-barcelona

My point exactly.

Structured Content

Making your page easy to read will enhance user experience as well contribute to your SEO efforts. Breaking up your content with descriptive sub-headings and using bulleted lists (whenever you’re discussing more than one lesson, tip, benefit, etc…) is a great way to start.

Take a look at the pages on your website or recent blog posts and see if they could benefit from a few more section sub-headings or shorter paragraphs. The aim is to guide the reader from your compelling headline right down to the bottom where you can place a call-to-action.

Make Social Sharing Easy

Making it easy for readers to share your content on social media is as important as sharing your own posts. It’s one of the best ways to show search algorithms that your website holds useful, shareable information, and will have a positive impact on your search ranking.

Most content management systems make it easy to enable social sharing buttons on every page, which will allow your readers to quickly share your articles across platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Google+ and many others.

Engaging Your Audience

As the old saying goes, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. But in the days when impressing Google is at the top of your list, an image, video or GIF will do much more to engage your audience and improve your ranking than black and white text alone.

If you don’t have any of your own images to share, use file photos offered by your content management system or check out paid services such as Stock Photo.

The Bottom Line

Although the world of SEO can seem daunting, following these simple steps should have a positive impact on your website’s visibility, ranking, and audience engagement. You really don’t need to be tech-savvy to reap their benefits!

So many writers publish great content every day, but getting Google (and therefore readers) to notice you requires a little more input from your part. Instead of shying away from SEO, use it to boost your site, gain readership, and let the world know what you have to say.

What techniques have you found helpful? Have you tried any of Callum’s tips?