Small Steps to Boost Your SEO – TODAY!

This is a guest post by Shanna Mallon.

When you start learning about search engine optimization (SEO), it’s easy to be overwhelmed. But before you run the other way, take heart. Not all SEO is complicated. In fact, here are a handful of SEO-savvy strategies you can begin implementing, right now, today!


Get Search Engines to Index Your Website

The first step to promote your website in search results is getting your website indexed. This is the way search engines look over your content to know what to include in search results. Getting indexed is not a hard process—Simply sign up with and add your website to Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Webmaster Tools, and then use a tool like Simple Sitemap to create a sitemap of your blog. Submit your sitemap to the webmaster tools, and you’re all set.  


Engage on Social Media

We’ve got three words for you: personalized search results. Today’s search engines are increasingly concerned with search relevancy, and social media is one of the chief ways they achieve it. Search engines take into account communities, groups, contacts, etc. When you’re connected with someone on Google+, for example, your online content is more likely to come up in that person’s search results than in a total stranger’s.  What this means for you is that engaging with others on social networks is more than being friendly—It’s being smart about SEO.


Improve Pagination

Proper pagination is more than a way to make your site attractive and user-friendly (i.e. less content on main page means less clutter). It’s also valuable in terms of search results. When your content is archived in descending page numbers, it’s easier for search engines to access. Easily update the pagination on your WordPress blog by using a plugin like WP-Paginate or Simple Pagination.  


Highlight Related Posts

Look around at blogs today, and you often see linked content at the bottom of posts, set beneath headlines like “Related Content” or “You Might Also Like.” This not only draws readers deeper into your content, but it also boosts the value of older content, improving PageRank across your blog. To add Related Posts to your blog, use a plugin like Yet Another Related Posts Plugin,  NRelate, or LinkWithin.


Use Strategic Categories

how to boost SEO 3 The categories on your blog are more than organizational tools for your readers—They’re also a resource for improving search results. Your category page for a specific topic sends search engines a message of high relevance for that particular subject area. To make the most of your categories, limit them to 15 or fewer total, and designate each new post into just one of those categories rather than many.  


Use an SEO Plugin

Add a plugin like All-in-One SEO Pack or Wordpress SEO by Yoast to your WordPress blog, and you have a built-in way to vary your titles to attract search engines. Every time you write a new post, you write the title in its spot above your post, in the dashboard; but, with the plugins, you also input a different title in another space, below. Vary the title tag and the article title, and you maximize your opportunities to hit specific keywords for search engines.


Consider Keywords

You don’t have to be an SEO specialist to consider keywords in your blogging efforts. Try Google’s Keyword Tool to test words or phrases you plan to use in your post, and use the results to fine-tune the terms you include. Hint: Focus on keywords with low competition and high monthly searches for the greatest chance of success. Google does plan to phase out this tool in the coming months. When it’s no longer available, however, the same research will be available through Google AdWords accounts.


Make Your Blog Easy to Share

When readers share your content, they act like referral marketers, promoting your content across social platforms like Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest, and to new audiences. This is obviously good for your site in terms of traffic and readership, but it’s also beneficial for SEO. The more your content is shared, the greater its chances of spreading. The more it spreads, the faster search engines index it. Plus, thanks to share buttons provided by ShareThis, Shareaholic, and AddThis, encouraging readers to share your stuff has never been easier.

As you can see from the tips in this post, working towards better SEO is mostly a matter of strategy and starting. Don’t wait to begin boosting your site in search results and driving up traffic—Begin implementing these tips today!

About the author
Shanna Mallon is a writer for Straight North, a Chicago Web design firm providing specialized SEO, Web development, and other online marketing services.

29 comments to "Small Steps to Boost Your SEO – TODAY!"

manpreet gurjeet August 16, 2013 at 7:43 PM    

too awesome article and i think i have to follow these steps.

Unknown August 17, 2013 at 12:14 AM    

Hi!I'd like to ask you something. I installed social media share buttons below the title and it seems they don't work properly. Instead of sharing the selected post, they share a random one. I've searched your site to find a solution to this but couldn't find it. Can you help me, please? Thank you very much! My blog is http://chicposh.blogspot.com.ar/

andrea August 17, 2013 at 2:46 PM    

Nice blog Shared, thanks for the information shared.

Arham Sukardi August 17, 2013 at 9:13 PM    

Nice tips for SEO, this article make me know more about SEO

Unknown August 18, 2013 at 5:39 PM    

Already doing above mentioned things....nothing new in this article....

Suhel Sayyad August 18, 2013 at 10:10 PM    

Bounce Rate is a metric which is ignored by many bloggers. I consider it to be an important factor to make your blog a good one.
http://www.suhelsayyad.com/2013/08/tips-to-reduce-bounce-rate-of-your-blog.html

Sujon Paul August 19, 2013 at 6:14 PM    

Really Good Tips.
Thank you so much for sharing these...

Anonymous,  August 20, 2013 at 1:11 AM    

Is there any plugin available to blogger to show related blog posts?

Life blog August 20, 2013 at 10:37 PM    

Sir why did you not meta description for post. If we do not write meta description for post then it will rank better in SERP

web development company August 21, 2013 at 6:42 PM    

Very, very helpful. Thank you for sharing!

goldenworks August 24, 2013 at 12:07 AM    

A good seo tips and I am applying these already in my blog!!!!

samupdate August 25, 2013 at 1:51 PM    

this post is not that unique cos have been reading stuffs like this for a while now on so many blogs.
Pls give us something new

Unknown August 25, 2013 at 3:19 PM    

Hey Shanna Mallon

Thanks for sharing these seo techniques. I implemented these techniques long before in my blog. But my blog's page rank isn't increasing. What should I do?

Please suggest...,

Mukesh Mali August 26, 2013 at 1:46 PM    

Hi guys, thanks a lot.
So this "bounce" rate of 55% is the percentage of people hitting back button?
Wow... and my site has 90% of boucing :-S

Click Here August 26, 2013 at 2:18 PM    

Make your blog easy to share is very effective point. I have visited lot of blogs which are very hard to share on social media as well as on bookmarking sites and it is negative impression for any blog. Every webmaster should make his/her blog social media friendly that any user can easily share it on any website.

Srilankan Airlines August 28, 2013 at 2:23 PM    

I mostly integrate the keywords into the web content but do not do any social media as I am not a big fan. Thanks for shedding some light on other alternative steps I can take to improve my website rankings.

w3scope August 31, 2013 at 12:56 AM    

good tips, but some plugins you suggested for SEO are related to wordpress blogs. What alternatives available for blogger blogs and other websites.

Inderjeet Singh September 3, 2013 at 5:49 PM    

Seo is a must part of every blogfer thanx for sharing with us such a nice tips

Aywhy93 September 12, 2013 at 4:03 PM    

Thanks for the tips, Its quite useful

Damp September 18, 2013 at 5:19 PM    

Yes, all these steps can boost SEO. Currently I follow those except social media.

Donna Kratz September 23, 2013 at 2:12 PM    

Thanks for such a knowledgeable article. Tips shared are really useful..!!

Anonymous,  October 6, 2013 at 1:05 AM    

thanks for sharing some of the best informative steps to make SEO efforts count

hafizmd October 7, 2013 at 10:45 AM    

Awesome. Thanks. Still learning about SEO.

thanks

Ami December 18, 2013 at 5:37 PM    

Social media seems very useful to boost SEO. Great article :)

Unknown January 8, 2014 at 7:58 PM    

The SEO scene is always changing. Trying out new stuff and taking risks is part of the deal, but being a good SEO you have to take into consideration the needs of the clients and how they will be able to market their business in the most "natural" way possible.

επισκευη iphone January 14, 2014 at 9:23 PM    

Its my great pleasure to visit your blog and to enjoy your great posts here. I like it a lot.

Anonymous,  January 30, 2014 at 1:31 AM    


Learning SEO and Blog for Beginners

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Lam Kieu April 9, 2014 at 2:17 PM    

So many thing to learn, thanks for the useful tips.

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