How to Optimize Blog Posts for SEO | Episode 187

How to optimize blog posts for SEO and the best practices for SEO copywriting so more of your articles land on the first page of Google.

There are some essential steps to writing articles and blog posts for search engines, search results, as well as your target audience. This podcast and post focus on how to optimize blog posts for SEO. Learn the best practices for good content, meta descriptions, titles, URL structure and so much more focused on SEO content writing!

You might be wondering how to rank your articles higher in Google. In truth, there are thousands of articles, guides, and tutorials published about SEO every year. This podcast and article share the best strategies for travel bloggers to create blog content that is SEO optimized.

This article is different from the other guides and articles out there because these tips come from successful travel bloggers who share the best way to rank articles higher on Google.

This episode is part of the “Travel Blogging Quick Tips Podcast Series“. Starting a travel blog isn’t easy and this is podcast series is here to help you navigate the way easier and faster! This episode will help you understand search engine optimization and how to write seo-friendly blog posts.

It’s never too late to implement good travel blogging techniques and tactics.

Break Into Travel Writing: A podcast and website designed to help you build a travel blog your readers love as well as help you achieve your goals as a travel writer or blogger.

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Tips to Optimize Your Blog Posts for SEO

Writing for both search engines, search intent, user experience, can be tough. In this post, you’ll learn some of the best practices for SEO copywriting. The main goal is to have your articles on page 1 of the search engine results page, but there are a few things you need to know to make this happen.

If you want to have a successful travel blog that sees an increase of web traffic every month, check out these tips focused on SEO content writing!

Listen to the Full Podcast!

Blog Post Optimization Tips from 4 Travel Writers

1. Use Frase to Optimize Blog Articles

These days blogging is becoming very competitive and you need something that gives you the competitive edge. I’ve noticed a huge improvement in my own content since starting to use a tool called Frase. It uses artificial intelligence to pull data from the Q&A forums and current ranking content to help guide you on how to structure your new blog post for the best results.

It scans the LSI keywords in the top-ranking content and encourages you to use relevant keywords, scoring you against your competitors as you go. They’ve even introduced new features where they also use AI to help you write some of the content. I’m able to publish better content, faster which is then more likely to rank higher on search engines. This is my top tip to optimize blog posts for SEO.

Tip From blogging coach (and travel blogger), Leanne Scott from Passive Income Superstars
Blog Niche: Blogging
Bio: Leanne is a travel blogger turned blogging coach, specializing in passive income strategies such as affiliate marketing and creating digital products. She teaches the strategies she learned in the travel niche that helped her to quickly earn a full-time income without having a huge audience.
Join Leanne’s Passive Income Bloggers Facebook Group

2. Choose the Right Keywords

If you want to know how to optimize a new blog post for SEO, you must pick the right keyword. It seems easy, but if you’re using keyword research tools like SEMrush, many bloggers have a tendency to choose too broad of a keyword just because it has a high search volume.

Choose the relevant keywords that actually fit your blog topic—even if it’s lower volume than other keywords. Sometimes, the easiest way to do keyword research is to just google your idea, and then research the keywords *that* story is ranking for.

It’s a shortcut I use all of the time to plan a story’s keywords and can streamline your research. SEMrush offers 10 free searches a day, so if you find a couple of great stories ranking on page 1 of Google for your particular topic, input your target keyword into the Organic Research tool in SEMrush and spy on the top-ranking keywords for that story. You can also look for related keywords as well.

Chances are, that’s a good place to start your own keyword research. https://www.semrush.com/analytics/organic/overview?db=us

Tip From travel writer, Shannon O’Donnell of Expats Adrift
Blog Niche: Travel
Bio: Shannon O’Donnell is a long-term traveler who has completed a number of trips around the world. She values slow travel and has lived in numerous countries, including Barcelona, Spain, her current home base.
Follow Shannon on Instagram

Get more amazing tips from Shannon! She was my guest on episode 20: How to Become National Geographic Traveler of the Year 

3. Create an SEO-Friendly URL structure

A quick and easy way to optimize an article for Google is to create an SEO-friendly URL structure. So many people overlook URLs with their SEO strategy, but they’re vital – especially now that Google changes meta descriptions and titles.

You’ll first need to adjust your settings in WordPress to ensure your posts don’t have the automatic “=p?###” permalink that is generated for every post. Change this to the “page-name” selection.

Use an SEO plug in like Rank Math to optimize your URLs for each post, including your primary keyword.

Keep your content evergreen by not putting a date in the URL or a number. For example, your Christmas gift guide for 2021 can be reused in 2022 if you change the title, but if your URL still shows 2020, you’re less likely to rank in the new year.

The same goes for round-up posts with a number. For example, a “five best things to do in Berlin” post should have a URL of “best-things-to-do-berlin”. This skips the extraneous word “in” that usually isn’t in primary keywords, and allows the blogger to adjust the list in the future without the permalink seeming out of place.

Google loves short permalinks (under 5 words) that include your target keyword, so make use of that to boost your SEO ranks!

Bonus: Users also love short, to-the-point URLs!

Tip From Nina Clapperton, travel blogger and SEO guru of  She Know SEO
Blog Niche: SEO for Bloggers
Bio: Nina, the she behind She Know SEO, has made Google strategies her business. After growing her travel blog through SEO, she committed to helping other struggling bloggers achieve their dreams with SEO. Get free tips and affordable services from She Knows SEO.
Follow Nina on Pinterest

4. Choose the Right Title & Write the Best Meta Description

If you want to optimize your article you must choose the right title and write the best meta description possible.

Why?

Because those are the first things you would see on a Google research and it must be catchy and attract the highest number of visitors to your page. But it is not all, you want them right in order for Google to rank your article high and improve page visibility.

How can you do it?

It is quite simple with some easy tricks.

For the title:

• The title length should not exceed 60 characters’ length.
• It must include your target keyword in the beginning of the title.
• The title for each post should be unique and appealing.
• You can use SEO tools to help with writing top-notch titles.

For the meta description:

• Do not write more than 160 characters. If you do so the meta description will not be fully included in the snippet.
• Insert your target keyword, possibly at the beginning of the meta description.
• Tell the reader why they should read the page.
• Communicate the value and benefits the visitor will gain from the content.
• Include a call to action. (eg. ‘Click here’, ‘Learn more’, etc.)
• Don’t duplicate the same meta description for multiple pages, be unique!

So easy right? Follow these tips and you will be an SEO title and meta description pro!

Tip From travel blogger, Francesca of Travel Heal Love 
Blog Niche: Travel Wellbeing Lifestyle
Bio: My name is Francesca and I am the editor of the Travel Heal Love blog. For me traveling is the ultimate road to inner peace and self-care. That is why I started to write my blog, because I wanted to encourage everybody to embrace new adventures and live to the fullest. In short, if you learn how to travel well you will heal and learn to love your life again!
Follow Francesca on Instagram

How do I know if my article is SEO friendly?

Learning how to search engine optimize your blog content takes a bit of research and consistency. The first step is thorough keyword research and my favorite keyword research tool is Keysearch. The easiest way to work on blog SEO is to have a plan.  Use the below SEO checklist for every article you write. You can also use it to optimize already published articles on your site.

Blogger SEO Checklist

1. Use Frase or Rank IQ to optimize content.
2. Create a search engine friendly title.
3. Create an SEO-Friendly URL structure.
4. Choose relevant keywords that fit your blog topic.
5. Include the main keyword or keyword phrase within the first two sentences of the article.
6. Include additional keywords related to your topic throughout your article, in H Tags and meta description.
7. Keep the article focused on the main keywords so it’s clear to Google what it is about.
8. Write good content that keeps your reader in mind.
9. Include alt text on photos with accurate long-tail keywords.
10. Include internal links in the article (at least one). Internal linking helps your readers navigate your site and helps Google understand your website content better.
11. Include a few external links within the text to high authority sites or articles that are relevant to the post and would benefit your reader.
12. Build links back to your article.

Thank you to Leanne, Shannon, Nina, and Francesca for sharing their awesome tips for optimizing blog posts for SEO and the best practices for SEO copywriting so you know what to do to have more articles land on the first page of Google.

Please check out their websites and visit them on social & make sure to let them know you heard their awesome tip on the Break Into Travel Writing Podcast!

Podcast Resources

Frase & RankIQ for blog post Optimization

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Related Posts: 

I hope you have learned a few new tips to optimize blog posts for SEO. If you’d like more tips for SEO and to build website traffic, below are some of my favorite articles on the subject:

• White Hat Link Building & SEO Strategy
• SEO for Travel Bloggers
• How to Build Blog Traffic by Updating Old Posts

Did you miss the last podcast in this series? How to Write an SEO Article Title

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