While a lot of blogs might look like a hot mess, one of the best things I like about blogging is that you really can take initiative and not only control your business, but manipulate it for better performance. When you visit a blog you see a lot of words and pictures on the page, but it’s not as random as it seems. Behind the scenes there are lots of things you can do to improve your search rankings with internal SEO so your business isn’t completely at the mercy of the search engines.
Analyze Your Stats
The first thing you need to do is take a look at your stats to find out which pages are getting the most traffic and what keywords searches are using to find those pages. These are the pages and keywords you’ll want to focus your attention on.
Be sure to notice odd, unrelated keywords, too. For example, if you compare your dog’s haircut to Justin Bieber’s haircut you might see traffic coming to your Dog Grooming blog using the keyword Justin Bieber. Of course, they’re not going to find what they’re looking for and click away, which lowers your bounce rate and has a negative effect on your rankings.
Keyword Research
Next, look at the keywords that are getting the most traffic and see where you currently rank for those words. Use a keyword research tool to see which of those words gets the most traffic and what the competition looks like. Now it’s time to start working on your content.
Internal Linking Structure
Look back through your archives to see if you’ve used any of these keywords in the past. If you have, build links between those archived articles. It’s also a good idea to create a new article or pillar post and link everything to that. Each new article you write on this topic should be linked to this pillar post.
Now, return to the original post that you want to rank higher. If the keyword is already in the article, make it bold. But only once, and do it near the top of the post. Also, if possible, consider adding a header somewhere in the body of the article that uses that keyword. Don’t go overboard and stuff it full of keywords because then it won’t be pleasing to your readers. But if you can add that header without hurting the quality, then do it.
Using headings or sub-headings and bold text shows the search engines that these terms are important. And the internal links you add help the crawlers and the search engines recognize relevant content and make it easier to navigate your blog.
Repeat this process with the other popular posts on your blog and improve your rankings across your whole blog. Now, each time you add new content, remember to use bold text on the first mention of your keyword and use at least one sub-heading that also contains your keyword. And as you add new articles in the same topic link everything to one main pillar post.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!