WP Elevation Blog Post SEO Checklist

Know your keyword

Craft a blog post title using your keyword

Optimising the blog content

Optimise the Search Engine Result Page (SERP) snippet

Get awesome results in 100 days!

Know your keyword

Important: Optimise for 1 keyword or phrase per post!

If you are writing a targeted post, have your keyword in mind. Use the keyword consistently and include synonyms where possible. If you're not sure, use Google suggestions or Moz Keyword explorer to refine your idea. Other tools include:

https://www.semrush.com/

https://ubersuggest.io/

https://kwfinder.com/

Check the ranking of a keyword before you decide on it - use this for competitor/peer researchhttps://serps.com/tools/rank-checker/

www.google.com Use the google search bar to get suggestions for searches people commonly make - being unique here is not necessary as the search suggestions often shows better options.

https://serps.com/tools/rank-checker/ - to check who's ranking for what

Craft a blog post title using your keyword

Once you know your keyword and you've assessed that people are searching for it, craft a title for the post. Here are some page title tips:

Keep you page title to ~ 65 characters or less. Use the Yoast SEO preview to check
Use the keyword at the start of the title where possible
If it's too long, you can remove the brand from the end of the SEO title to ensure the user see's a neat preview
If you change the title for the post at any time, make sure you update the slug (URL) to ensure it's the same and still contains the key word

Write your title and ensure the Permalink (aka slug or URL) includes the key word

Check the Yoast snippet preview to see how it looks - this is what people will see in Google is they search 'starting a web development business' - remove the branding if it's too long.

Optimising the blog content

If you want your post to have a chance at ranking organically amongst it's competition, you need to be deliberate. But not a robot. Here are some rules, and some suggestions for doing this the right way on the WP Elevation blog

1

Do not use the H1 heading - the page title is the designated H1
2

Use the keyword consistently and the same way
3

Make your post at least 500 words
4

Ensure alt text is on every image and use the keyword eg 1. 'Zac Gordon Joins WP Elevation (where the keyword is Zac Gordon) eg 2. 'Selling WordPress Maintenance Plans | WP Elevation'
5

Link to any related content around the site
6

Use the keyword in a subheading where appropriate
7

Use synonyms of the keyword occasionally to avoid over saturation
8

Bold the keyword where appropriate
9

Keep each page and post unique - don't copy and paste from other content (ours or anyone else's!)
10

Check the Yoast panel to ensure your content is covering most of the easy wins

Anatomy of the SEO components on a WPE Blog Post

Optimise the Search Engine Result Page (SERP) snippet

The last step is to make sure that the SERP snippet is engaging and articulate. When done right, this can be the difference between your impression converting or not. This is done in the Yoast box below the content.

1

Check the title fits
2

Check the Meta Description fits and contains the keyword
3

Make sure you're using the keyword exactly in the title, url and meta description

When done right, your snippet should look something like this

Get awesome results in 100 days!

Search optimisation takes time. As we grow our domain authority our results will continue to improve but following the process will give our content the best chance. Here are some additional steps to help share the content.

1

Shared in facebook, linked in, google plus and twitter
2

Click to tweet are used
3

Comments are replied to and the conversation is encouraged
4

Encourage users to share our content
5

Check the results after a month - if they are poor, the keyword chosen might be the problem
6

If you change the URL's make sure there is a 301 redirect in place
7

Add it to newsletters and get our members to link to it