{"id":5847,"date":"2018-12-16T10:03:57","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T15:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/blog\/?p=5847"},"modified":"2024-02-07T12:08:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T17:08:10","slug":"blog-post-checklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/blog-post-checklist\/","title":{"rendered":"SEO-Friendly Blog Post Checklist [UPDATED for 2024]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Following this SEO-friendly blog post checklist can help to ensure your content ranks every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Research<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Topic Idea<\/strong> \u2013 You know what your business is about but you need a topic to write about, right? Make sure you select a topic within your niche so that you attract potential customer\u2019s attention to your business. You could decide on providing detailed information regarding a recent customer\u2019s question asked of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keyword Research<\/strong> \u2013 Though Jaaxy is my preferred keyword tool (see free offer to try in right-hand sidebar below), for the purposes of this post, I will share a free online keyword tool with you.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Simply typing in your chosen topic, you will be presented with ideas to use for you title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) Competitor Research<\/strong> \u2013 To discover what your competitors are doing with this topic search your chosen keyword. If the SERP proves there are a lot of ads or several posts with titles like \u201c7 steps to…\u201d, then you will want to follow along with what your competitors are doing… BUT, use a title that will be more apt to have your post stand out and grab your reader\u2019s attention better than what is already being offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article Research<\/strong> \u2013 Do some research in order to write your article. Your researching could be done by reading over your competition\u2019s posts, Wiki site information on your niche or perhaps even a study that was conducted on a topic within your niche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Write<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Create Your Title Using Your Keyword<\/strong> \u2013 Your title needs to grab attention, using your keywords. Some SEO experts claim that we need to keep our title word count to 6, but apparently that is not counting conjunctions like \u201ca\u201d, \u201cand\u201d or \u201cthe\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pick Appropriate Category for Your Post<\/strong> \u2013 Make sure you use a proper category for your post to appear in. In other words, do not simply leave your default WordPress category set at Uncategorized. You can use one category at the start but once you start expanding on your chosen topic, you may find it easier for your readers if you add pertinent categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use a Featured Image<\/strong> \u2013 Making sure your image matches your topic… and be sure to create an image to grab the attention of your audience<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Create Meta Title<\/strong> \u2013 This title can be different than your blog post title if you want. The Meta Title is what will be shared in the search engine results pages. So… if your blog post title is waaaay to long, it may get truncated in search results. Using a shorter Meta Title will eliminate this problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Create Meta Description<\/strong> \u2013 Using approximately 155 characters as a rule of thumb, you can use this option to help describe your content as it will appear in an excerpt in SERPs. Write it in a way as to intrigue a searcher enough to click your link and read what you have to offer in your post.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Twitter Card Using Image<\/strong> \u2013 These are also sometimes called Social Meta Image and is the image that is displayed when sharing the URL to your post in the different social media accounts. You COULD use your Featured Image for your Twitter card<\/a>; however you can also use a different image if you wanted to… maybe an image with your logo on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

H2 Subheadings<\/strong> \u2013 Using H2, H3 values for subtitle headers is for SEO value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internal Linking<\/strong> \u2013 This helps to prove the value of your present content, helps add value to the pages you link to, and helps Google spider understand your content layout better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

External Linking<\/strong> \u2013 When linking to authority sites, it helps prove the value of your content when citing others posts as references.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use Supporting Images<\/strong> \u2013 Being sure to use relevant images helps improve your readers experience with your content. These need to be about your topic visually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ALT Tag Description<\/strong> \u2013 This should be a description of what the images is about and NOT used for SEO purposes. Screen readers for the visually impaired depend on ALT tags being filled in properly, so Google now rewards webmasters who comply with the new rules for using ALT tags properly<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embed a Video Where Possible<\/strong> \u2013 You don\u2019t need to do this on every blog post you write, but when you do include an embedded video it will help hold your reader\u2019s attention longer so they will stay on your website longer, reducing your site\u2019s bounce rate, which in turn helps your site rank better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a video can help break up the monotony of lots of text like images do. You can even use someone else\u2019s video to embed just so long as it is on topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Create a Call to Action<\/strong> \u2013 Nearer the end of your content you want to add a call to action (CTA). To decide on your CTA; what is it that you want your visitor to do once they are finished reading your blog post? So, do you want them to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n