7 Simple SEO Tips For Bloggers

by Matt (webmaster-source.com)

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization, most bloggers fall into three groups.

1. SEO Maniacs - They’re obsessed with improving their PageRank, and driving up their rankings using any means possible. A.K.A. John Chow before Google caught-on.
2. The SEO Disinclined - The sort who just blog and ignore the SEO aspect.
3. The SEO Neutral - Serious bloggers who do a little SEO, but don’t focus on it that much.

No matter which group you fall into, consider implementing the following tips.

• Use h2 tags for your post titles - Search engines like heading tags; the lower numbered the better. Use h2 tags for post titles, and h3s for sections inside your posts.
• Make your post titles into links - On archive pages, and on permalink pages, make your post titles link to the permalink page. Think about it. You have an h2 tag, which search engines place a high value on, with keywords relevant to the post, enclosed in a link pointing to the post. If you’ve heard of Google Bombing before, then you’ll realize the significance of this fairly quick.
• Optimize Page Titles - Your title tag should contain more than just your blog’s name. It’s contents are valued greatly by most major search engines, and it’s a great place to throw-in some keywords. Try this format: “My Cool Post - TheBlog.” Your average post title probably has good keywords relevant to your post, right? For your index page, you want something like the name of your blog, and either your tagline or just a list of keywords that relate to your site.
• Change Your Permalink Structure - If you use WordPress, don’t use the default permalink style! Pick the best option for your purposes, and stick with it. The default ?p=37 permalinks will always redirect to the ones you specifically set.
• Optimize Post Slugs - Many blogging scripts, such as WordPress, offer a “Post Slug” feature that allows you to tweak the URL of the post. By default permalink URLs are somewhere along the lines of “/2008/02/01/name-of-post/.” Using the Post Slug function, you can change “name-of-post” to something better, SEO-wise. This is useful for times when your post title has a lot of extraneous words like “of”, “the”, and the like.
• Use Meta Tags - While meta tags don’t have as much value placed on them as they used to, there still is some, and it’s a good idea to use them.
• ALT and Link Your Logo - Make sure your logo links to your blog’s homepage. This is more of a usability thing than SEO advice, but it’s still a good idea. On a SEO note, make sure you use an “alt” tag on the image, adding something such as the blog’s name to it.

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