Like a pizza with the shape of a circle, cut into triangular pieces and placed in a square box, getting your blog post to rank on google can seem complex. Even trying to read several blog posts that promise to help you rank, yours can be disorienting and boring to read sometimes. But just so you know, it is reasonable to feel frustrated when no one is commenting, sharing, or giving feedback on your posts. And much more saddening when you can’t find your blog posts on the first page, second page, third page, and sometimes even on the fourth page of the search engine results.

But for everything, whether it be a passion, a calling, or a hobby, there are always laid down principles. You can be a seasoned writer, pass the right information in a soft cashmere tone softer than the voice of Frank Sinatra, and yet no one will find your posts. But this is no time to succumb to the taunting tentacles of discouragement. It is time to follow the principles in this nitty-gritty content on how to rank your blog posts on google and any other search engine.

Keyword Research

With new improvements with AI and Google algorithms, you can find a lot of resources undermining the importance of keywords. But this part of the ranking process should not be overlooked because when you research keywords, you achieve a lot of goals. Apart from telling the web crawler what your article is about, it gives your piece a direction and helps you tailor the headlines and sub-headings using those keywords.

During your keyword research, you will discover that there are two significant kinds of keywords, which are the short-tail keywords and long-tail keywords. It is advisable to use a good number of less competitive long-tail keywords and short tail keywords with higher search volume. Long-tail keywords are there to tell Google’s algorithm exactly what your article is about, and short-tailed keywords are more likely going to be searched by readers.

To find the keywords that are most relevant to your brand, there are keyword planners and tools like the google keyword research planner, SEMRush. Keywordtool.io. Some of which can help you with access to the ranking keywords of your competitors. Compile these keywords and incorporate them without stuffing to help your blogpost ranking on google.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is as simple as checking for the frequency of your selected keywords. You should have the main keyword appear in the first 100 words of your article, then again in the body as frequently as possible and then at the end. The keywords should be incorporated and flow naturally with the article and should not create speed bumps when your readers read. Here are a few places where you can use your keywords and related phrases for your blog posts to rank on search engines.

• Title
• URL or in this case, your Permalinks (www.xxxxxxxx.com/keywords) separated with (-).
• Headers and their tags
• Alt image tags
• Image captions

The main aim and purpose are not to throw the keywords in a lot of sentences and phrases. Overstuffing keywords will get you penalized by Google. Instead, provide real value through your content that shows you’re an authority on the subject matter using the keyword only when it flows into the writing naturally.

Share Triggers

Wonder why some blog posts are shared over another, wonder why you will read a blog post, and find a lot of shares to different social media platforms? Well, the truth is there are share triggers that can spur someone to share your blog posts online. When your content gets shared, you increase some of your chances of ranking that blog post on the search engine.

Also, trying to get a post to be a one that can be shared by people takes you on a path that produces content that is search engine friendly. Now, what are share triggers and how can you get them in your blog posts.

There are a lot of things to consider as share triggers, but here are a few of the most important ones.

• Utility: the importance of creating value cannot be overemphasized; you need to create content that offers value to the readers. The benefits become a two-way blessing because algorithms will rank it for its value, while readers will likely share with friends and colleagues.
• Length: there is a myth that the length of words determines the ranking of a blog post on search engines. There is some truth to this, and there are a lot of myths around it too. If you write long blog posts that means utter rubbish to your readers, you may be starting off wrong. But a long blog post that answers many questions of your readers is likely to be shared and rank more on search engines.
• Memory glue: can you remember the last content you read online? Well, me neither. People are so used to blog formats that it is almost a cliché to them. But there is nothing wrong with getting creative, authoritative, opinion-forming, and original (of course, innovative thinkers rule many spots in the world).
• Positive: In a society where people are mindful of what brings them happiness, you really should stay away from passing a message with negative emotions. Just throw in some humour here and there, and try to change “serious” concepts into simple analogies. People want to be identified with positivity, and it will help your online presence if you can help them with that.

Backlinks from high-quality sites

Getting backlinks is a way of embedding your links to a post that is related to yours on an external website. In doing this, make sure that your external backlinks are from authoritative sites. Your content must be of high value to build links. Consider these options to get high-quality sites to link to your website.

1) Guest blogging

Many blogs and news sites accept guest authors. Search for guest blogging opportunities and submit to them. When your article gets accepted, you will almost always get a backlink to your website.

2) Get quoted in an article

Another great way to get high-quality backlinks is to be an expert source for a writer in their article. When you get quoted in an article, the author will usually link to your website. To be quoted in articles, think about where your expertise lies and where you can add value to a writer’s column.

Pitching the media takes time and effort, so while DIY efforts can be successful. If you don’t have the time to put towards PR, consider hiring a PR agency to help you pitch the media on your behalf.

3) Get interviewed on a podcast

While podcasts can live on a variety of different platforms, most show hosts will put them on their website in addition to all the streaming sites. When they put the episode on their website, they will give a description of the episode and an introduction to their guests. This is when they will usually link to your website. So, make sure the podcast host has your website and social media sites before you go on the air!

Blog Format

The heading and subheadings are the first things you need to get right when formatting your post for SEO. Make sure to include your keyword in either the title or subtitle of the post. A well-structured blog post contains both internal or external links.

Take the extra step to make your blog posts in-depth, well researched, and have a strong hook in the first paragraph to keep the reader’s attention. If not, readers are likely to click off the page almost immediately, which gives the page a high bounce rate and signals to Google that the quality of the content is low.

If they read until the end, it shows Google and other search engines that the quality of the content is high.

Promote your blogs on social media

A key metric for Google regarding page rank is how many times the page gets shared on social media. So, make sure you share it on your company’s social media pages. Then, ask your employees to share it on their LinkedIn and Twitter. If it’s excellent content, it will get shared by readers to their social media accounts. The more your article gets shared and viewed, the higher your page rank will improve, and you will be climbing the search rankings towards the first page on Google.

Blog posts can be time-consuming and resource needy. But if it is worth doing, then it is worth doing well. Just take your time through the whole process. Of course, your 100th blog post will always be better than the 1st one. Follow the above principles and get the keyboards clattering till search rankings become the next growth engine of your business.

SOURCE: Christian Onwuebguchulam, Founder of My Earth and Me