How to Effectively Grow Your Blog by Leveraging On SEO

Reader’s Persona

Occupation ­­­­‑‑‑‑‑‑‑ A Writer

Problem ———– Rank Poorly On Google Search

Desire ————– Wants To Rank High On Google Search.

Are you a blogger, in-house marketer, freelance writer, or entrepreneur? Doesn’t matter who you are, and what kind of writing work you do, as long as:

• You have your own blog.
• You like to write.
• You want to rank very high in Google search.

If this is you then it’s for you; if otherwise, then I advise you to zoom off now because it will be extremely boring to you. Nonetheless, I will also suggest you read on. Why? No knowledge is wasted! It might come in handy someday too, who knows?

• No knowledge is waste and
• You might need it soon enough – who knows?

For those that want to read on, Oya, let’s get started.

Let’s take a look at the Outline

• Introduction
• What is SEO?
• Solve existing problems
• What is SEO potential?
• How to write high-quality and SEO-optimized content
• How to do a keyword research
• How to source for seed keywords
• How to write quality content

Introduction

It is a well-known fact that SEO is one of the best marketing tools you can use to grow your blog startup: where you write about lifestyle, business, relationships, E-commerce, marketing, news outlet, freelancing, or anything you write!

You already know that there are existing blogs that have already written some of the things you want to write about, and you sure know that some of these platforms have millions of monthly active visitors – that’s why they are your target anyways. I am sure you know (judging from your experience) it is very difficult to infiltrate this market as a newbie startup. The space is tight wella, because no be only you wan make money. Interestingly, there’s always a way out of things that seems difficult, and I am here to show you just that. Read carefully.

What is SEO?

SEO is the acronym of “Search Engine Optimization”

Solve Existing Problem

As I said above, there is a proven method you can use to drive traffic to your blog site, and that’s what I will show you in a minute or two

Among all the things you already incorporate into your writing, I think one of the things remaining is to rank high on Google search and to drive traffic to your blog site is to solving existing problems that your leads or users have.

People often use Google to find answers to their questions, so it’s important to provide clear and updated information on your blog site. You can do this by including guides, how-to articles, and other useful information like;

• How to use or navigate the sites
• How to use a particular feature
• How to debug an issue

In fact, research shows that 90% of surfers only click on one of the top 10 results that pop up for their search queries. It is also a known fact that less than 2% of the world’s population amass over 90% of the world’s wealth. The same applies to search query results.

Google search gives an average of 10,000,000 results per query, and only a fraction gets over 90% of the clicks. As you can see, it’s important to re-strategize your content in order to make sure you’re getting the most out of your SEO and to make sure your website is seen by many people as possible.

Optimize for SEO Potential Queries

Using these platforms and making research, you will discover that some of the existing contents on these queries are;

• Either outdated or
• Has Poor content quality

Here is the catch: some of these queries have huge SEO potential, and

What do I mean by SEO potential?

SEO potential means a keyword or queries with high search volume but low-ranking competition

Since these keywords have low competition, there’s a good chance your website will rank at the top of these questions on Google search. All you have to do is solve the queries/keyword problem by writing high-quality and SEO-optimized content.

Now to the main task….

Read also: How to Rank high on Google SERP above your competitors

How To Write High-Quality and SEO-Optimized Content?

1. Do a Keyword research

Just as having a brief is the first rule of writing, the first step to writing SEO-optimized content is to identify common queries/keywords that could be targeted to drive traffic.

How do you do keyword research?

1. Find a list of seed keywords: seed keywords are queries, topics, or even broad themes that are related to a niche.

How do you source for seed keywords?

• Google autocomplete: You know the queries that pop up whenever you input a keyword in the Google search box? Those are examples of seed keywords and can be used to drive traffic to your site when you write something about one of them and optimize them with SEO.
• Use SEO keyword planners like Ahrefs and SME rush: These SEO tools will give you keywords suggestions that are able to rank high on Google search engines. The only downline is that they are premium tools which means you have to pay to get access to them. They are a goldmine if you can subscribe to their premium list.
• Search on Quora and Reddit: Look for common questions people ask in relation to a product on these forum sites.
• Come up with a list of possible related keywords on the topic that you can think of.

  2. Competitor research: Another way to get a list of keywords is to check your competitor’s website to see the keywords they already rank for; one of the ways to search for keyword competitors is looking for sites that ranked high on Google for the keywords you desire to use.
  3. Filter the keywords: Now that you have a variety of keywords you will like to use it’s time you have to choose from the best of the best keywords. There are 3 main filters on SEO keyword tools

1. Volume – number of people searching a keyword in a month
2. Keyword difficulty (KD) – shows how difficult it is to rank for a keyword
3. Domain Rating (DR) – decided based on the number of backlinks to a website

It is of great importance to filter these keywords based on the above metrics to have a better chance of ranking high on Google searches. As a startup, you are thereby advised to filter your keywords with queries with

1. High volume.
2. Low keyword competition (KD).

For example, a query/keyword might have a 5k search volume, and has a keyword difficulty of less than 20%; you’ll have a great chance to rank high on these keywords if you do come up with quality content much better than the existing ones.

2. Determine how much you have to write

You can do this by looking at the average word count of keyword competitors and try to exceed them with a slight margin. Don’t be tempted to over or under-write.

3. Write quality content

You have seen me nail on this particular phrase. Why? It’s one of Google’s algorithms for ranking. Google’s search engine has got competitors like Bing and Duckduckgo, so Google is more concerned about its readers and wants to improve the quality of content available to its readers – at least top 10 results. So, while you optimize for the Google algorithm, you must always write for humans.

How do you write quality content?

• Research: Digest existing content and find a way to solve the query result uniquely
• Outline: Write an outline of the content before you start writing, and insert hyperlinks that transport readers from the outline to the content.
• Insert images: It’s a proven fact that images improve readability and it also signals to Google that your content is extensive and interactive
  

  4. Optimized for readability:

  Make sure readers can easily scan through your content

Here are a few general guidelines we follow:

• Powerful headlines: This is what attracts and drives traffic to your page. If your headline is poor, no one will click on it, even if you rank high on Google.
• Clear subheadings: Explain in fragments what your readers will get from reading your content.
• Short paragraph: Make sure the reader gets a quick idea of what the paragraph talks about.
• Short sentences: Don’t bury the verb in the sentence.
• Make use of bullet points as you see in this article.
  

  5. Optimize for SEO:

  Add title, Meta tags, Meta description, and “alts” for images. Title and Meta description are key elements of on-page SEO. Also, add a mix of internal & external links to your content.

• Internal links help Google know your website structure and allows the authority to flow across pages. Internal links increase the click-through rate on your site.
• External links connect you with other quality websites in the same niche. You’re hereby advised to add links to the references in your content. Wiki does this well.
  

  6. Add writer’s profile:

  This is one of Google search’s most important algorithms. In a bid to vet and filter search results, Google wants to know the author and how they came about the info. Adding a writer’s profile – as you see beneath this post, will signal to your readers and assure them you know what you’re talking about and portrays you as an authority in your niche.

  7. And of course, avoid grammatical errors: you can use Grammarly to edit your work.

What other SEO tips do you know? Tell us in the comment section below.

I’m so happy to see African startups doing well in the market. We can create our own Silicon Valley, with thousands of unique businesses that solve Africa’s problems with African solutions. Let’s hack from within and make Africa unstoppable.

African solution for an African problem.