SEO.
If you’re a new blogger, I’m sure you’ve heard this term before.
It stands for Search Engine Optimization.
In simplest terms, your blog posts can be the #1 search result on Google (or on another search engine platform) when someone searches for a specific keyword or general term.
For example, here’s the result for Pinterest groups for moms.
Note: any Google searches were done incognito, making the search not related to my browser behavior or history.
My post is #1 for that search term. The search term – Pinterest groups for moms – is specific.
Let’s search for a more general term – blog tips for moms.
So, you can see, you can rank as #1 or even on page 1 with a specific keyword or a general keyword.
Pro tip: the best keyword to rank for is the shortest type of keyword. Blog tips vs. blogging tips for stay at home moms. As you can see, the base keyword is extremely general but highly searched. But, because it’s general, the traffic may not be targeted and is something to consider in your blog growth strategy. These terms are harder to rank for, but still possible for new bloggers (depending on your niche).
For most new bloggers, however, the way to start ranking on Google is to rank for long tail keywords. These are longer phrases like grow blog traffic for mom bloggers. And it’s better to rank for searchable longtail keywords.
If your blog post has this phrase as well as related words, it has the potential to start ranking.
Also, remember to also track how many searches those longtail keywords generate. You can use a free tool like Keywords Surfer (a chrome extension) or Ubersuggest.
But, keywords are only one type of metric to SEO.
In my course, Ready Set Blog for Traffic, I teach you the REAL SEO that you need to understand. This is the foundation you need to build your blog on and will help you start ranking once everything is in place.
Google has stated that they favor two factors for ranking:
But, for this post, let’s talk about what you – new blogger – can do RIGHT NOW to start the SEO game.
1. Hack for Creating Long-Form Content
Blog traffic in 2020 comes down to creating valuable and long-form content.
Google is looking for the best answer to someone’s search question. If your post is long, it usually means it’s filled with valuable content.
But, as a mom blogger, we are busy! There is no time to pump out a 4k-word blog post. I don’t write 4k-word blog posts every time I post on Twins Mommy. But, I occasionally do, and you should aim for that!
One way is to do a round-up post. These take a long time to write up, but well worth it in the long run. Right now, I’m creating a massive round-up of 100+ mom blogs for Imperfectly Perfect Mama.
This post will be thousands of words long, have links to other blogs and hopefully boost up the shares on Pinterest and Facebook. While most of the posts on Imperfectly Perfect Mama are around 1k words, this long-form blog post will help with growing a readership and showing Google that this blog does have valuable blog posts.
Google is also looking at the other side of the picture – will others link to that mom blogger list on Imperfectly Perfect Mama? If others link to that post as a resource link, then Google will get those signals, and in time this post has the potential to rank in Google (i.e. show up in the search results when someone searches for successful mom blogs or something like that).
Okay, but what if you REALLY ARE SUPER BUSY and can’t spend 10+ hours writing a massive round-up post?
No problem!
Here’s a hack!!
Boost your comments on any of your blog posts.
Are bloggers commenting on your blog?
If yes, then you can create long-form content and boost your comments by:
- Replying to ALL comments
- By writing more than one sentence when you comment
With each comment and response, you can add 50-100 words. And when people see you take the time to reply to comments, they will comment too!
2. Hack for Creating More Keywords
Okay.
Here’s the thing –
For the longest time, I didn’t pay attention to keywords. I wrote blog posts and filled them with keywords naturally. Since I’m a freelance writer, I guess I write in that vein.
For example, when thinking of a headline, I think of something like this:
How to Relieve Pain from Breastfeeding
instead of:
My Story of Breastfeeding My Little Boy
Do you see the difference?
The first headline is optimized for keywords – pain from breastfeeding, relieve pain from breastfeeding – while the second headline has no keywords.
And this last year I’ve looked more at incorporating better keywords to optimize my blog post even more. This means focussing on searchable keywords that get at least 500 monthly searches.
While my “no-strategy” has me ranking, I rank for highly searchable terms and ones that maybe get 30 searches a month. I feel you need to have both so that you have a goal each time you write your content.
But, here’s what new bloggers can do –
You can start creating more keywords in your blog posts with your comments.
Yes, I’m focussing on your comments because this is a rich resource for creating new content, long-form content and keyword content.
So, you do this by incorporating keywords in your responses to blog comments.
Sometimes, the person leaving the comment will have keywords in it too!
Next time you reply to one of your blog comments, see how you can fit a keyword or two into your response. It can go a long way down the road for ranking in Google.
Don’t Be Fooled
From this post, it seems like if you do these two things, you’ll start ranking. This isn’t the case, especially for new bloggers.
SEO starts working about a year into blogging. If you start your blog, create consistent and valuable blog posts, link to good resources and others link to your blog posts, Google will start getting signals that your blog is valuable.
So, you can add these two little hacks into your overall SEO strategy to help you later when Google starts to pay attention to your blog.
Ready Set Blog for Traffic gives you that foundation for the best practices with SEO and any future updates I add to the course will build on that foundation so that all new bloggers have the best outcome to ranking on Google!
Over to you – tell me how long you’ve been blogging and your plan for SEO (if you want to share it!).
Thank you, Elna! Great tips for strengthening my SEO game. Do you think using the Yoast plug-in for Word Press adds a little leverage for success? As a brand new blogger, that is my starting point as I slowly learn about SEO. I know itβs multifaceted, but is Yoast a good start for beginners? Thanks!! xo
Hi Kristie,
YOAST doesn’t do anything for keyword or SEO success. It’s just a very loose guideline. I never use it and my blogs have been doing well ranking in Google π Do have YOAST though as it helps with other things in the backend of your blog!
Hi Elna,
I love your content! Thanks for breaking down this whole blogging thing and making it more manageable! Iβve been blogging for a couple weeks. I just checked my titles to make sure that they are great for long term SEO.
Thanks for all the tips! Ashley
Hi Ashley,
You’re welcome! Glad you found the tips helpful in your SEO strategy!
I loved this post! My blog has only been up and operating for just over a month and a half. This post was so informative. SEO can be so confusing and I’m still working on figuring it all out. Thanks for sharing! π
Hi Alyssa,
Thank you so much for your comment! Yes, SEO or search engine optimization is a challenge, but remember to just write for your audience first!
Thank you for this SEO guide! I am currently working on my new mom blog and these tips are super helpful. While I’m learning, I also discovered a way to speed up writing my posts and make it lengthy at the same time. These strategies in place will definitely help me to grow my mom blog in no time.
Hi Rowena,
You’re welcome! Glad you liked my SEO hacks for your blog! Have fun using them!
These SEO tips are actually helpful. The number of posts that claim to help you figure SEO out but are actually just super confusing is crazy! These are small and easy steps that anyone can do. I am just starting my blog and between figuring out WordPress, SEO, and keeping track of the plugins my mind was starting to turn to mush.
Question: Do you think it is better to get everything perfect and make sure you check every box on every post before publishing or just start somewhere and return later to add things as your knowledge grows? At this rate I may never figure all this out and I keep thinking that I can’t move forward yet because it doesn’t have “x” or I haven’t figured out “y” yet.
Hi Jazmine,
Thanks so much for you wonderful comment! Yes, so glad you enjoyed these SEO secret hacks for bloggers. You don’t have to make everything perfect before publishing. I publish all the time and go back a day later and realize I have editing errors or formatting errors. It’s okay, plus you can add to your blog post later on!
Great post, thank you so much for sharing. I need all the advice I can get!
Amazing advice, hoping to utilise each point,
H x
Hi Helen,
You’re welcome! Glad you found some SEO tips to help you as a new blogger!
Thank you so much. I’m completely new to the Blogging world and still trying to get my head around best practices & improving SEO etc. It’s good to see Google Ranking takes time and it’s not that my blog is just rubbish.
The info you have provided is very informative and easy to understand as new blogger.
Thanks very much.
Hi Alex,
You’re welcome! Thanks so much for taking the time to read this post! Yes, SEO is a long-term game so don’t fret about it for the first year of blogging I say! Have fun and help your readers!!
Thank you so much for these SEO hacks! Just starting out, SEO can be very overwhelming and itβs hard to know what do concentrate on first! For someone like me, who likes immediate results this can be stressful. Iβm glad you gave a time frame for me to understand this is definitely not an overnight thing!
Thanks again
Tiffany
In My Right Mind Designs
Hi Tiffany,
Awesome! Yes, SEO is definitely not a quick strategy! It’s a long-term one!Glad you enjoyed the post and I hope it was helpful.
Hi Elna,
Great post on SEO and the different techniques to apply to your blogging strategy. I got to admit, SEO can be intimidating at times but you have broken it down gently that is easy to follow. I believe as bloggers we should focus on gaining traffic from different sources. Going to try the tips you mentioned here.
Thank you for this helpful post!
Sandy | Beauty, Bliss and Chaos
Hi Sandy,
You’re welcome! So glad you found these SEO hacks easy to implement! Yes, SEO is such a big topic and it can be a challenge to understand it all. I even don’t, but I know enough to get by! Thanks for stopping by!
SEO sounds like a minefield but you break it down into easy bite sized chunks. I never thought about using comments to increase my keywords but it makes so much sense! Thanks for the tips!
Hey Gemma,
Sounds great and thanks for coming over!
Hi Elna,
When you link to another blogger’s post, do you contact them at any point? I’d be happy if someone linked to mine, but I’ve seen posts where they’ve used the source site’s pics and post. Just don’t want to do something unethical or otherwise looked down on! LOL I’m new at this, can you tell? π Thank you for the information on SEO, I’m working on understanding that. Thanks!
Michelle
Hi Michelle,
There is no need to contact a person to ask permission to link to them! If you do feature them in your post you can email them after the fact and mention it if you want! But, it’s not necessary. I’m always pleasantly surprised when I found out someone linked to me on Entrepeneur.com or some other big blog!
Hi Elna,
Thanks for the tips! I am just starting a blog (Momennial Moment) and looking to get lots of information to help me grow it. I love how accessible you make this information! I will definitely be following your blog!
Hey Deborah!
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed this post about SEO hacks for new bloggers! Navigating this blogging world is hard, but I’m than happy to hold your hand through it all! π
Hi Elna, your tip about it taking a year for SEO to really kick in was an epiphany. Thanks for mentioning that, it will encourage me to keep adding quality content to my two animal and pet care blogs “Zoodulcis” and “Goat Goodness”. Getting traffic to new sites seems so frustrating!
Good to know I just need to be patient and keep on truckin’
Hi Lauren!
Yes! That’s right. SEO is a long-term strategy and if you just focus on creating the BEST and most valuable content in your niche, you will naturally start to rank π
I love this information. I am a mom blogger and really needed this help.
Hi Julie!
You’re welcome! So glad you found these SEO hacks for bloggers helpful!
I am Erica, a college student and I just started blogging. My blog is called The Kollie Post.com itβs really new and I am kinda scared to launch because I am not sure I am doing it right. But this has helped me a lot so thanks.
Hi Erica,
That’s awesome! You can do it!
This is probably one of the most useful posts on SEO I have read to date! I am still learning and trying to understand SEO to its fullest. This broke it down so even a newbie blogger like me can understand! Thank you so much!
Wow! Thanks Ashley,
So happy you found these SEO hacks for bloggers helpful! π
Excellent tips on SEO for newbies! It does take time. Best of luck to you. I love reading your posts!
Hi Emily!
You’re welcome! So glad you found some SEO tips for new bloggers π You can start these right away too!
Hey Elna,
I just got your newsletter announcing that you’ve submitted an application to Forbes. I wanted to wish you all the best! I love your newsletters. And look forward to each one you send!
And thank you for inserting a link to this post! π I needed to read it again.
I never thought of inserting keywords into comments! That’s such a neat idea! π Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day!
Hey Angela,
Yes, I’m excited about the pitch but I’m just waiting now! Glad you enjoyed the SEO hacks in this post!
Hey Elna,
Your blogs are very resourceful.I love the flow of your content and it’s simplicity.As a beginner to the blogging world, I find it very inspiring too.Thanks to your efforts.
Hi Elna!!! I just love your tips. I live here in Fiji Islands and I just started a blog a few days ago. At the moment i am just sitting on 100-120 page views. I always go back to your posts to get tips. Thanks so much for sharing. God bless.
Hey Rachel!
Congrats on starting your blog! Yay! I hope these SEO quick tips can help you as a new blogger!
Elna:
Wow, these 2 SEO tips are so helpful, thanks! Iβm brand new to bloggingβlike accidently published my website while Iβm still customizing the theme? SEO is confusing to me still, but youβve given me two simple things to start with. Let me ask you, do you recommend YOAST or Squirrly for beginners? Random, I know, ha! Thanks again!
Hey Adriana,
That’s okay!! The earlier you publish your blog the quicker it will get indexed by Google and you can start ranking!!! As for Yoast, it’s a good plugin to have but I don’t personally use it for the “green light” aspect of my post for SEO. I use it to share my social media graphics and whatever it does in the backend of my blog! I don’t know about Squirrly!
Hi Elna! Thanks for sharing your SEO tips. Iβm a new blogger and still learning everything about blogging and how to fit it around my niche. Very helpful tips to use. Thanks a lot!
Hey Anetria,
Thanks so much! Glad you found some SEO blogging tips to help your blog!!
It is a very advantageous post for me. I’ve enjoyed reading the post. It is very supportive and useful post. I would like to visit the post once more its valuable content. Thanks!
Hey Mario,
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed these little SEO tips for new bloggers!
Girl, this post was really helpful for me! You are a treasure, seriously! ?
I struggle with SEO so much! But your tips are amazing! I will definitely incorporate them into my blog! I always aim for cteating longer posts, but the second trick is definitely something new for me! Thank you so much for posting this! ?
Hey Monica!
Yes that’s awesome! I know there are so many tips for SEO for new bloggers but I find them boring or the same. So I thought I’d share my tips as they are a bit different and new for many bloggers! Enjoy using them on your blog!
I love your posts and I love your writing. I’m a freelance writer too and I’m also a French/English translator. I dived head first into blogging just a month ago and I must say that it’s exciting getting blogging hacks from experienced bloggers like you.
I love the idea of incorporating keywords in my responses to blog comments. I’m going to act on that straight away. Thanks so much for your posts!
Hey Recheal,
That’s awesome! Love connecting with other freelance writers. Enjoy these SEO hacks for new bloggers π
I love that this article focuses on just two key concepts! It feels so much more manageable than a dozen or more, at least for me as a new blogger. Thank you!
Hi Crisanne!
Yes! I totally agree! It’s doable and isn’t overwhelming for sure!
Great post, it was very easy to understand. I am new to the blogging scene. I am still trying to figure it all out. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Daniele,
You’re welcome! So glad these two SEO tricks for new bloggers are helpful. There’s a lot more to SEO than this but it’s a start for sure!
Love your out-of-the-box tips, Elna! I’ve learned some of the smartest ones from you… such as re-publishing old posts so that they show up with a newer publish date in Google!
Love your tip in this post to include keywords in your comment responses.
Do you know if this will be “read” by Google if you’re using a plugin like Disqus?
Hey Corina!
Thanks so much! I love helping other bloggers build up their ranking for Google! Not sure if this will be used with Disqus…I’m not a fan of that comment program!
Super helpful information! Thanks so much for writing clear tips that don’t overwhelm me!
Hi Meghan,
You’re welcome. Glad you found some tips for SEO as a beginner!
I have heard so much about not worrying about SEO at first, but these are all very reasonable things that I can think about and add to my blog posts! Your podcasts and posts are so helpful to me as I embark on my blogging journey!
Hey Mandy,
I agree β as a new blogger, you don’t need to buy keyword tools or try to SEO each post with keywords. Instead write valuable blog posts and they can very well rank. But, these little hacks can help you push those valuable posts up the Google search results!
These are great tips! Thank you for sharing! I haven’t dived into researching SEO yet, but this was a great start for me.
Hi Jessica,
You’re welcome! So happy you found these tips helpful. SEO starts with that valuable blog content so make sure to create that so other people find it just as hopeful!
Awesome post, I am still trying to figure out SEO, have been for the past 5 years. I can never seem to get the hang of it. BTW what plugin are you using for related post? I am using Jetpack but the images are cut off and I cannot get them to show up full like yours.
Hi Michelle,
Yes, SEO is a big topic to uncover! As for my related plugin, I share that in this post: https://twinsmommy.com/look-like-a-pro-blogger/
Thanks Elna, so glad this wasn’t just another post about the usual strategies that I hear about everywhere! Using comments to boost SEO ranking in this manner had never occurred to me, I’ll be locking this little nugget of info away for future use! π
Hey Lauren,
I know what you mean! I see the same posts about SEO tips and I’m totally board with them also. I see SEO in such a different way and I’m hopefully helping others see it that way too!
Love to read more about seo.
I have a blog and no comments.
What can i do to improve this?
Hi Annemie!
I have two other posts about SEO/ranking: https://twinsmommy.com/rank-for-pinterest-and-google/ and https://twinsmommy.com/blog-post-got-featured-snippet-google-ranked-no-1/ Hopefully you can glean more insights into SEO from these posts!
SEO in comments is genius! Thanks, Elna!
Hey Niki!
Thanks so much mama! Yes, having keywords in blog comments is a nice little hack for sure!
Hi Elna! This is a new information for me, comments can be optimized with keywords! I was about to turn off my comment section because of spammers.
Do you have recommendations on how to find long tail keywords?
Hi Shem,
That’s awesome you found some tips to optimize your comments for keywords. Yes, I get a lot of spam comments too but I use Akismet and that seems to filter over 95% of spam! As for finding long tail keywords, I know that for May 2018 AppSumo has Serpstat for only $40 for LIFETIME access! Worth scooping up. http://www.99signals.com/appsumo-deals-may-2018/
Hey Elna!
You’ve always got really precious hacks & tips to share with us. The last time you shared about creating & marketing content upgrades, it was an awesome blogging lesson for me! Well, I have created 2 content upgrades so far my 5-month old blog & the result was quite good.
Thanks for letting us know that blog comments, too, can be perceived in terms of harnessing keywords.
Love you for all the awesome work!
Hi Ashvini!
Thank you so much for your wonderful words! I’m so happy to hear that your content upgrades are converting π Glad you found this post helpful and you can start growing your traffic using some SEO tips!
Great post! Great tips! But what do you do when people don’t comment even if you tell them to in the post. I know you talk about call to action…
Hey Karima,
I do have a post on getting more comments to your blog: https://twinsmommy.com/blogging-basics-write-blog-post/ Try following some of those tips. Having a good hook in your headline will get people to click to your post and then having a valuable and informational post that’s formatted for online reading will get the people to stay on your blog and if you have a CTA then hopefully they will comment. Mostly having an authentic voice and being true to yourself when you blog will attract the RIGHT audience! Good luck!
Awesome! Thanks so much! Going to read that post now!
Another great post Elna, thank you!! I never thought about how comments would affect your google ranking ??ββοΈ it makes perfect sense! Going to share this in my Fb group ? You rock!
Hey Victoria!
Yay and thanks so much! So glad you found this tip helpful. Keywords (wherever they are) will affect your Google ranking, so having them in the comments is just ONE way π
Elna, your blogging tips are GOLD! I just finished Ready Set Blog for Traffic and I’m super excited to implement everything I learned. I love these easy SEO tips. I have never heard them anywhere else!
Hey Laura!
Thank you so much! So happy you enjoyed RSBT. I’m planning for a BIG SEO update on that course this year!! Hopefully it will be ready summer/fall after the move and I get my butt in gear!! Please email me your success with the RSBT tactics!
Hi Elna – such clever ideas! I had no idea that comments helped increase the length of your post or helped with SEO. These are excellent tips. I’m almost done Ready Set Blog for Traffic and it’s great so far. Thanks for all of your helpful pointers.
Hey Nicole!
Yes!! You know one day, I was searching on Google for my freelance writing blog and I noticed that Goggle showed as the META description a BLOG COMMENT for one of MY top ranking posts! I was like whoa! That’s awesome. They felt that that blog comment represented what the post was about. And it dawned on me that it was optimized for keywords. BAM!
I love these tips –they seem so simple and easy to implement! And I especially love how honest you are. Blogging is a long-term game, not a get-rich-quick scheme like so many blog posts make it seem. It’s really frustrating, as a new blogger, to feel like I’m do everything I should be, but totally failing because I have zero organic traffic. So thanks for your wise suggestions!
Amy!
Your welcome! And don’t beat yourself up. You won’t get Google love if your blog is less than 6 months old. And even then it can take up to a year. Smart Mom Ideas is over a year and gets barely any organic traffic yet. The topics on SMI are very competitive and I have to leverage Pinterest to rank on Google https://twinsmommy.com/rank-for-pinterest-and-google/
I know commenting helps SEO but I never thought of it in terms of keywords. Interesting post. I’m planning on doing my own round-up post soon. Did you ever write a post about that?
Hey Michelle,
I know right? It like dawned on my one day when I was commenting on my most popular posts and I realized I could optimize my comments for SEO!! BOOM!! I haven’t written a post about doing a round-up as this is something I talk about in my paid traffic course, but I do have a post on what types of posts you should have (very meta I know!) https://twinsmommy.com/best-types-of-posts-your-new-blog/
Thanks Elna! You definitely have some pearls of wisdom for me! Iβm going to start working on this ASAP.
Hi Mary,
So happy you found these two SEO tips helpful! Have fun using them!