How to Write Blog Posts that Rank on Google

Google is one of the largest search engines in the world. Billions of people use it every day to search for answers.

You have an idea for a blog post that you know will solve a problem for your audience but how do you get Google to show it to them? How do you get your blog post to rank on Google?

It’s not a mystery. It’s actually quite easy. The process just takes time.

So if you want to drive traffic to your blog through Google, or any search engine for that matter, here’s how to write blog posts that ranks on Google. You can also think of this post as a Beginner’s Guide to SEO for Bloggers.

Watch my video below or scroll down to read the transcript

In my video, I talk about things like:

Why you would want to rank on Google
How to rank on Google
What is SEO?
Step-by-step guide on how to write blog posts that are SEO-friendly
How long you should wait before you get traffic
Why your content isn’t getting any traffic
SEO tips and more!

Links & products mentioned

Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin – Use the free version, no need for premium
How to Choose Profitable Niche for Your Blog

Download the Bold Blogger Launch Checklist

If you want to make sure you don’t skip a few steps when you launch your blog, you can use my Bold Blogger Launch Checklist. I broke down the checklist into steps and let you know how much time is needed for each step. So you can schedule it to your planner and know exactly how much time you need to commit to it. Click the button below to download.

Ask me questions in my Facebook group

If you have any questions about blogging and need support, I’m here for you! I have a Facebook group you can join where we can talk about it. Click here to join!

What do you think?

Let me know the biggest topic you learned here! I hope you now know how to write blog posts that drive traffic!

Transcript

First of all, why do you want to rank on Google

When you rank on Google, you get traffic to your blog. The more traffic you get, the more followers you’ll have. And the more followers you have, the more you can do whatever it is you want, grow your community, make money, whatever it is.

And getting traffic from Google will sustain your blog so that you can continuously get traffic for years and years as long as people are searching for your content and as long as your content solves a problem.

An example of unsustainable traffic is through Facebook or Instagram. These posts will only last for a couple of days before it gets buried beneath thousands of other social media posts that aren’t even searchable. That said, you should still share it on these channels.

Second, how do you rank on Google?

You rank on Google by optimizing your blog posts for SEO.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization
- A process to optimize your website to make it easy to find through search engines
SEO-friendly blog post
- A blog post that you optimize so that people can find it on search engines
- Or your blog post speaks the same language that search engines understand

How to Write Blog Posts that Rank on Google

#1 Start with Keyword research

This might sound techy but it’s very important that you do this first step.
So once you have your blog post idea down
A tool you can use is Ubersuggest.com
- Type in your topic and see if it gets at least more than 1000 searches/month
- Then you’ll see a list of related keywords people use to search for articles based on your topic. Write those down
- You can even use these keywords as a main point in your blog post since you know people are already for searching it
So now that you have your list of keywords, you’ll want to make sure to use these keywords within
- The title of your blog post
- The introduction & conclusion
- The headlines and within the body of your post

#2 Use an SEO-friendly title

Use simple words
- You want your blog post to speak the same language as search engines so don’t use slang or fancy words
Include 2-3 keywords

As you write your blog post, use an organized writing structure

Title
Introduction paragraph
First main point
- 1 supporting paragraph to expand on that main point
Second main point
- 1 supporting paragraph to expand on that main point
Third main point
- 1 supporting paragraph to expand on that main point
Write as many points and supporting paragraphs as you need to explain your blog post topic
Conclusion
- A paragraph that wraps up everything you said
- Can be a recap too
- Call-to-action
All while including keywords within your main points and paragraphs

#3 Format your text

Automatically, the title of your blog post will be Headline 1 or H1
So you’ll want to make your main points smaller than your title so H2
Introduction, supporting & concluding paragraphs are normal/paragraph format
- And within those paragraphs, you’ll want to bold the main sentences
- Plus points if there are keywords in those main sentences
Formatting your text not only helps Google read your blog post, but it also improves your readers’ experience. Some people get turned off from reading large blocks of text or are skim readers, so you’ll want to break down your paragraphs with headlines and bold the main sentences so that they can easily read your content.

#4 Use a keyword-rich post URL

So whatever the title of your blog post is, make sure your URL matches that
It can be a shortened version of your title too
NO – blog.com/2020/06/01/1094

#5 Make your images SEO-friendly

Now if you have any images in your post, which is also a good way to break up large blocks of text, make them SEO-friendly images

Simple filename each image the descriptive words
Like “intermittent fasting before and after.jpeg”
Instead of Photo-1.jpeg
That your your photos are also searchable by visual search engines like Google Images
WordPress users: In the Alternative text: include a description of your image
Make sure your photos are less than 1mb so that they load fast. Nothing is more annoying than a slow-loading blog. So make sure to resize your photos first. Usually a max length of 1500px is good but it depends on your blog’s design.

#6 Change the meta description

If you have a self-hosted WordPress, download the YOAST SEO plugin so that you can edit the Meta-description of your blog post

Is a 1-2 sentence snippet that shows up right below the title of your blog post on Google search
If your introduction is long or your keywords don’t show up within the first 1-2 sentences of your post, you can edit your meta-description with 1-2 sentences describing what your blog post is about.
For example: “Ever looked at the travel minis section while waiting in line at Sephora? Well, these are the best toiletry products you can get with reviews from actual travelers!”
YOAST SEO will give you a preview so you’ll know if it’s too long or too short.

#7 Interlink your blog content

If you went over a topic that you go more in-depth in another blog post you wrote, make sure to link that in your post so your readers can visit that post too.
If they’re already getting so much value from your blog post, they’re more likely to check out your other content that’s in a related topic
Which increases your pageviews

SEO tips for Bloggers

Don’t expect Google to immediately drive traffic to your post

It takes 3 months for your blog post to continuously get traffic. It does take a while but this type of traffic will sustain your blog. As opposed to social media, when you share your post, people will forget about it because it’ll be buried. BUT you still want to make sure to share your blog post in every channel you have, like Instagram, your Facebook page, your personal Facebook profile, on TikTok. Any channel you know your audience hangs out. You still want the people in your circles to know what you’re doing. The more you share your blog to them, the more they’ll share it with others.

If at the end of 3 months, you’re still not getting traffic, do an audit. Assess those posts.

Was it valuable? Was there a takeaway in the title?
Does it solve a problem your audience has? If it doesn’t solve a pain point or speak to their desires, they’re not going to search for it
Is it a story? Stories don’t perform well if you have no audience because no one has a reason to read it if they don’t already know you know first. Stories are also not SEO-friendly. You can rewrite your story in the form of a how-to guide or step-by-step guide and assess it again.
Or does the design of your website provide a good/bad reader experience? That’s also a deal-breaker too.

Don’t stuff your blog post with keywords

Google will rank you lower if they see this. You want your blog post to still read like a person is talking. Not a robot saying intermittent fasting, intermittent fasting benefits, intermittent fasting lose weight, intermittent fasting weight loss.

If you’re using a free website builder like Blogger, Wix, Squarespace, and wordpress.com, the SEO strategies I taught you will help but there are SEO limitations that will make it harder for your blog to rank. Especially when you’re competing against other blogs that are self-hosted, meaning they have their own domain. Like travelingpetitegirl.com, instead of travelingpetitegirl.wix.com.

With self-hosted WordPress blogs, you can also download plugins like YOAST SEO that will really make it easier for your blog to rank on Google.

Conclusion

Alright, so that is how to write a blog post that ranks on google. I hope you liked this beginner’s guide to SEO. Please let me know in the comments what your biggest takeaway was.

And if you need support on starting a blog, I have a checklist you can refer to on everything you need to do to launch your blog called the Bold Blogger Launch Checklist. You can download it for free at travelingpetitegirl.com/bblc

And come and join my free Facebook group, the Bold Blogger Mastermind, where we have all sorts of conversations about blogging. I also offer feedback every Friday if you need help with your blog posts, website design, Instagram profile, and everything else.

Thanks for watching! Don’t forget to like this video if you learned something and subscribe for future videos. I’m Jojo Lebouef and I help people grow their blogs and work from home.