Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the key to the success of any blog or website. Blogs boost your SEO if they’re written consistently and about relevant topics. Whenever you write, you’re always writing for people who skim, people who really dig into the piece, and Google. We’re going to go over how to write a well-optimized blog using SEO.

Google recognizes consistency. I recommend updating your blog once a week. But it’s not just enough to slap 500 words on a page and post it. You need to be strategic. Your posts should be over 1,000 words or else Google won’t recognize them. You need to use keywords. You should have meta descriptions and alt text for images that include your keywords. The blog should be formatted using H1s and H2s. 

Wanna know more about what I’m talking about? Read on!

What Is SEO?

As I mentioned, SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s how you rank in a Google search. There are a lot of components to writing a well-optimized blog. One of them is knowing how to use SEO keywords.

Keywords are the words that people type into Google when conducting a search. Most people type in phrases and questions, not just one word. You should use long-tail keywords, which are the phrases people might be using.

The tricky part is knowing what keywords you should use. Try Googling a keyword or long-tail keyword and see what pops up. You can go to the bottom of a search page and see what other people are searching for. It will give you ideas for how to optimize a blog for SEO using keywords.

How Does SEO Work?

SEO is a difficult thing to understand because Google doesn’t release any information about its algorithms. Even the experts, like Neil Patel, don’t know exactly how SEO works. 

There are a lot of components to an SEO-optimized website copy. Let’s focus on blogs. A well-optimized blog includes keywords, but it also includes other things like meta-descriptions and alt text for images. 

Meta descriptions are the 2-3 lines of text that show up under the title tag of a website or blog. The meta description describes what the page is about. It should include keywords relevant to your blog.

You should also be including at least one image in your blog. That image has what’s called alt text. This describes the image and should also include keywords.

It’s also important to use your keywords a few times each throughout the blog. One way to use SEO keywords is to make sure they’re organically placed in the text. Be careful not to overuse a keyword. That’s known as keyword stuffing, and Google doesn’t like it.

You also need to have H1s and H2s. Those are headers. The H1 is your title and the H2 is your subheader. Your keywords should show up in your H1s and H2s. That tells Google they’re important.

Why Is It Important To Have a Well-Optimized Blog Using SEO?

There’s no point in writing a blog these days if it’s not SEO-optimized. A well-optimized blog includes all the things I mentioned above. But writing in this way isn’t just about Google. It streamlines your writing and makes you a stronger writer. 

Yes, SEO is important. If you want to get found in a Google search, you need to know how to use SEO keywords and how to optimize a blog for SEO. Writing with SEO in mind makes your writing stronger and more relatable. 

Copywriting is fueled by SEO. It’s also all about writing the way you talk. If you’re writing blog copy in a conversational tone, you’ll come off as approachable. Your personality will shine through.

At the end of the day, you’re writing blogs as resources for clients and potential clients. Don’t you want them to feel like they know a little bit more about you and how you work? I write weekly blogs not just to boost my SEO, but to connect to my audience (you)! My blogs are for you, my wonderful mental health professional friends. 

How To Optimize a Blog For SEO

It’s ok if you don’t know how to write a well-optimized blog. That’s why you hire a copywriter who can do it for you. Your mental health copywriter will understand how to optimize a blog for SEO and how to use SEO keywords. We know how SEO works. We also know how to do all this so you don’t have to.

But if you do want to take a stab at writing a well-optimized blog, you need to know how to optimize it. We covered a lot of this earlier in this blog, so some of this may be repetitive. However, I can’t stress enough the importance of these things. I think it’s important to mention them again.

When you write with keywords, they should be keywords that people are searching for. Get in the mind of your audience. For example, when writing this blog I thought about what people might be searching for when it comes to writing an SEO-optimized blog. So I’m using keywords like “how to optimize a blog for SEO” and “how does SEO work?” You’ll notice that these keywords show up in the text and in the title. They’re also going to show up in my meta description and my alt text.

I’m sure there are more websites out there that do this, but if you use WordPress there’s a plugin called Yoast that allows you to check your SEO. You type in the keywords you want to rank for and it goes through your blog and tells you how to optimize the blog for SEO. I’m pretty sure Squarespace has its own version of this.

What You Can Do To Optimize a Blog For SEO Without Doing It Yourself

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the idea of writing an SEO-optimized blog or, like many of you, you just don’t have time, have no fear. That’s what I’m here for. If you’re ready to take the leap and hire a mental health copywriter to write well-optimized blogs for you, contact me to set up a free consultation. We’ll work together to create some SEO magic and write well-optimized blogs tailored to your needs.