4 Tricks to Get Your Blog Noticed on Google

 

Your blog is one of the most useful marketing tools you have. It lets you connect with an audience, build trust between you and your clients, and increase your online footprint.

But it ain’t worth much if no one’s reading it.

So how do you attract readers? While the Internet is chock-full of answers, we at LinkNow Media like to boil it down to one guiding principle: user experience. Make your blog easier to read, answer your users’ questions, and before long you’ll see your rankings climb.

Easier said than done, we know. To give you a better sense of how to improve the user experience, we’ve come up with these 4 SEO tricks designed to boost your blog’s searchability. Read on!

1.     Use Targeted Keywords

Every page you write must have a purpose. On a blog, usually it’s to inform, educate, or advise. Sometimes to entertain. Whatever it is, your purpose must always relate to the user.

Think about what your desired reader wants to know. What are they searching for? What are they typing into Google?

That’s your keyword.

Of course, it’s not always easy to predict what your potential audience may be thinking. That’s why SEOs use a practice called keyword research: studying what users are searching for to find the best keyword for their specific topic.

Here are three keyword research tools to get started:

  • Google Keyword Planner—Designed for Google Ads, Google’s Keyword Planner is a simple but effective means of finding appropriate search terms for businesses. Requires an account.
  • Google Trends—Another tool from the search-engine juggernaut, Google Trends lets you view how popular a keyword is over time, across different regions, and compared to other search terms. Does not require an account.
  • Quora—Quora is a Q&A website: users ask questions, and others answer them. What makes it so useful is that all results are filtered based on popularity. You can see—essentially in real time—what people are asking and what they want to learn about. Perfect for finding blog topic material! Requires a (free) account.

Once you’ve figured out your keywords, include them in your title, meta-description, and headers. But avoid keyword stuffing! It makes your writing stilted at best, unreadable at worst. Always opt for a natural style first.

2.      Make It Mobile-Friendly

In 2019, a mobile-friendly blog is an absolute necessity. In fact, Google’s Page Quality Guidelines emphasize mobile accessibility as one of the most essential criteria for the quality of a page. They’re looking for it, and you don’t want to be caught without it.

How to Check If My Blog is Mobile-Friendly?

Simple: pull out your phone and search for your blog. Is it easy to access? Easy to read? Or is it a chaotic mess? If you can’t navigate it, chances are your readers won’t be able to either.

You can also use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to see whether your website meets their expectations.

What Can I Do to Make My Blog More Mobile-Friendly?

If your blog is in WordPress, it may be as simple as installing a new theme for your website. Check that the theme is mobile-responsive, meaning the size of the page adapts to the size of the screen on which it’s displayed.

You can find plenty of high-quality mobile-responsive themes on WordPress. If, however, you’re looking for something unique, you could hire LinkNow Media to help you design a blog that’ll suit your taste and your budget!

3.      Speed Up Your Page Loading Times

Load speed is another crucial factor in how Google ranks a page. After all, if someone navigates to your page, but it’s taking an eternity to load, what do you think their reaction is going to be?

They’re going to hit the back button and find someone else!

Patience is a virtue, but not on the Internet. Here, speed is key.

In terms of load times, you want to be in the top 30%. At LinkNow, we believe the faster, the better!

How Can I Improve My Page Loading Speed?

A plug-in like W3 Total Cache can help. By optimizing a webpage’s cache ability, it can reduce load times and make your site more user-friendly.

If your blog is image-heavy, you can also use a plug-in like Smush, which re-sizes images so that they load faster.

4.      Write with Your Reader in Mind

What do all the previous tips have in common?

They’re all about the user.

  1. Find what users are searching for.
  2. Make it easier to read for users on their phones.
  3. Make it faster for users to access.

Ultimately, everything about your blog revolves around the user experience. And nowhere is that more true than in the content you write. Write what your reader wants know. Keep it simple, clear, and concise. Easy to read, easy to skim. Answer the user’s question at the beginning, then use the rest of the post to explain.

Once you start thinking about how to improve your reader’s experience, you’ll see the quality of your posts soar. From there, it’s only a matter of time before you have a blog worth reading.

 

Need help with the content for your website? Want help with your blog? The content team at LinkNow Media can help!

Give us a call at 1.888.667.7186 or shoot us an email at website@linknowmedia.com.

And, if you have a question or comment, let us know below!

Aubrey Grant

Author: Aubrey Grant

About Aubrey Grant

Aubrey is a copy writer and Head of Content at LinkNow Media. An expert content marketer, he is obsessed with developing strategic solutions that emphasize elegance and simplicity. Although generally mild mannered, he has been known to fly into rages at the sight of a semicolon.