SEO stands for search engine optimization. It helps your website get more views and clicks by ranking it higher in search engine results. In short, a blogger picks a few keywords and repeats them several times in their blog. The HubSpot Blog has good factual insights in SEO: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-seo.
BackLinko identified eight points of SEO advice (https://backlinko.com/seo-tutorial):
- Find keywords that people search for
- Choose a high-value keyword
- Publish content that Google searchers want
- Optimize your content for UX
- Implement on-page best SEO practices
- Promote your content
- Build backlinks for your site
- Monitor and improve your technical SEO
Blogs are very important for SEO. Blogs are very popular because they are easy to write and they gain a lot of traction from consumers. It is important to think about these two things to make your blogs SEO-friendly: 1. What topics do your personas want to hear about? 2. What do your personas need help with?
Long tail keywords are essential when it comes to search engine optimization. Long tail keywords or key phrases are more specific and longer than commonly searched words and phrases. Because these words and phrases are so specific, they get less search traffic but have a higher conversion value. Some examples of this would be pajamas vs. women’s Christmas pajamas, paint vs. pale pink paint, and crafts vs. canvas painting supplies. The longer the keyword or phrase, the higher the conversion rate because there is a genuine reason why that person is visiting your page. They are more likely to engage in your service or product.
A blog’s purpose or main message should be its keyword or phrase. It should be incorporated into the blog at least for search engine optimization times (https://auburn.instructure.com/courses/1590198/discussion_topics/8919126) .
According to Niel Patel, the companies who do long tail keyword and phrases the best are Amazon, River Pools and Spas, KISSmetrics, SaaS Company, WPBeginner, Clambr, and Glenn Gabe. Each of these companies benefitted greatly from this technique. Sales, engagement, and awareness skyrocketed (https://neilpatel.com/blog/7-brilliant-examples-of-brands-driving-long-tail-organic-traffic/).
Before this class, I had no experience with SEO and long-tail keywords and phrases. It makes sense to want your company, service, product, etc., to be at the top of every Google or Yahoo search, but I never understood how they got there until now. It is logical to think that the longer and more specific your search is, the fewer options that show up on Google. So, if my blog is about “best boardgames to buy my toddler for Christmas” instead of “boardgames to buy,” there is a much more specific and narrow range. If my boardgame product was designed for toddlers, it is much more likely to come to the top of the search page than if someone just searched for board games. Although there would not be as many visitors on my page because it is so niche, I would have a higher conversion rate of page visitors to buyers. I am glad that I learned about this cool technique to ensure that anything I am making or selling in the future can be more successful.