How to Rank Your Blog Posts on the First Page of Google

If you want to learn how to rank your blog posts on the first page this is the comprehensive guide you’ve been looking for. However, as you probably already know, ranking on the first page of Google is hard work. In fact, most bloggers quit long before they ever get their first page one ranking on Google. But the good news is with the right strategy, ranking your blog posts on the first page of Google is not impossible.

It is normal to feel frustrated when no one is commenting, sharing, or giving feedback on your posts. And much more saddening when you can’t find your blog posts on the first page, second page, third page, and sometimes even on the fourth page of the search engine results.

But for everything, whether it be a passion, a calling, or a hobby, there are always a set of strategies that can help you reach the top. You can be a seasoned writer, pass the right information in a soft cashmere tone softer than the voice of Frank Sinatra, and yet no one will find your posts. But this is no time to succumb to the taunting tentacles of discouragement. It is time to follow the principles in this nitty-gritty content on how to rank your blog posts on Google and any other search engine.

Keyword Research and Search Terms

With new improvements with AI and Google algorithms, you can find a lot of resources undermining the importance of specific keywords. But this part of the ranking process should not be overlooked because when you research keywords, you achieve a lot of goals. Apart from telling the web crawler what your article is about, it gives your piece a direction and helps you tailor the headlines and sub-headings using those keywords.

During your keyword research, you will discover that there are two significant kinds of keywords, which are short-tail keywords and long-tail keywords. It is advisable to use a good number of less competitive long-tail keywords and short tail keywords with higher search volume. Long-tail keywords are there to tell Google’s algorithm exactly what your article is about, and short-tailed keywords are more likely going to be searched by readers.

To find the keywords that are most relevant to your brand, there are keyword planners and tools like the google keyword research planner, and SEMRush. Keywordtool.io. Some of which can help you with access to the ranking keywords of your competitors. Compile these keywords and incorporate them without stuffing to help your blogpost ranking on google. 

Long tail keywords are a great way to improve your blog post ranking on google. They are more specific and tend to have lower search volume than short-tail keywords, but they are essential for helping Google’s algorithm understand what your article is about.

To find the right long-tail keywords for your blog post, you can use keyword planners and tools like Google’s Keyword Planner and SEMRush. These tools will help you research the keywords that are most relevant to your brand and competitors.

Once you have a list of potential keywords, incorporate them into your blog post without stuffing or overusing them. This will help Google understand what your article is about and rank it accordingly.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is as simple as checking for the frequency of your selected keywords. You should have the main keyword appear in the first 100 words of your article, then again in the body as frequently as possible and then at the end. The keywords should be incorporated and flow naturally with the article and should not create speed bumps when your readers read. Here are a few places where you can use your keywords and related phrases for your blog posts to rank on search engines.

• Title
• URL or in this case, your Permalinks (www.xxxxxxxx.com/keywords) separated with (-).
• Headers and their tags
• Alt image tags
• Image captions
• Alt text
• Meta description

The main aim and purpose are not to throw the keywords in a lot of sentences and phrases. Overstuffing keywords will get you penalized by Google. Instead, provide real value through your content that shows you’re an authority on the subject matter using the keyword only when it flows into the writing naturally.

Make sure to internal links within your posts whenever possible. A good idea is to link to both your posts and pages.

Share Triggers

Wonder why some blog posts are shared over another, wonder why you will read a blog post, and find a lot of shares to different social media platforms? Well, the truth is there are share triggers that can spur someone to share your blog posts online. When your content gets shared, you increase some of your chances of ranking that blog post on the search engine.

Also, trying to get a post to be a one that can be shared by people takes you on a path that produces content that is search engine friendly. Now, what are share triggers and how can you get them in your blog posts.

There are a lot of things to consider as share triggers, but here are a few of the most important ones.

• Utility: the importance of creating value cannot be overemphasized; you need to create content that offers value to the readers. The benefits become a two-way blessing because algorithms will rank it for its value, while readers will likely share with friends and colleagues.
• Length: there is a myth that the length of words determines the ranking of a blog post on search engines. There is some truth to this, and there are a lot of myths around it too. If you write long blog posts that means utter rubbish to your readers, you may be starting off wrong. But a long blog post that answers many questions of your readers is likely to be shared and rank more on search engines.
• Memory glue: can you remember the last content you read online? Well, me neither. People are so used to blog formats that it is almost a cliché to them. But there is nothing wrong with getting creative, authoritative, opinion-forming, and original (of course, innovative thinkers rule many spots in the world).
• Positive: In a society where people are mindful of what brings them happiness, you really should stay away from passing a message with negative emotions. Just throw in some humor here and there, and try to change “serious” concepts into simple analogies. People want to be identified with positivity, and it will help your online presence if you can help them with that.

Backlinks From High-Quality Sites 

Off page SEO is just as important as you on page SEO. One of the best way to improve your on page SEO and organic traffic is by link building. Getting backlinks is a way of embedding your links to a post that is related to yours on an external website. In doing this, make sure that your external backlinks are from authoritative sites. Your content must be of high value to build links. Consider these options to get high-quality sites to link to your website.

1) Guest blogging

Many blogs and news sites accept guest authors. Search for guest blogging opportunities and submit them. When your article gets accepted, you will almost always get a backlink to your website.

2) Get quoted in an article

Another great way to get high-quality backlinks is to be an expert source for a writer in their article. When you get quoted in an article, the author will usually link to your website. To be quoted in articles, think about where your expertise lies and where you can add value to a writer’s column.

Pitching the media takes time and effort, so while DIY efforts can be successful. If you don’t have the time to put towards PR, consider hiring a PR agency to help you pitch the media on your behalf.

3) Get interviewed podcasts

While podcasts can live on a variety of different platforms, most show hosts will put them on their website in addition to all the streaming sites. When they put the episode on their website, they will give a description of the episode and an introduction to their guests. This is when they will usually link to your website. So, make sure the podcast host has your website and social media sites before you go on the air!

And if SEO authority figure Neil Patel is endorsing podcasting as an SEO strategy, I highly recommend you consider it. Check out his tweet and blog post for more.

1,083,219 People Per Month and Counting: My New Favorite SEO Strategy https://t.co/mYlP9K84Wf

— Neil Patel (@neilpatel) March 3, 2020

Blog Format

The heading and subheadings are the first things you need to get right when formatting your post for SEO. Make sure to include your keyword in either the title or subtitle of the post. A well-structured blog post contains both internal or external links.

Take the extra step to make your blog posts in-depth, well researched, and have a strong hook in the first paragraph to keep the reader’s attention. If not, readers are likely to click off the page almost immediately, which gives the page a high bounce rate and signals to Google that the quality of the content is low.

If they read until the end, it shows Google and other search engines that the quality of the content is high. For best results, make sure to use H2 tags for your subheaders. Not every reader will want to read your entire post. So they will use the subheadings to scan the post for specific information they are looking for. If they don’t find what they are looking for after scanning your post, they will quickly move on.

Promote Your Blogs on Social Media

A key metric for Google regarding page rank is how many times the page gets shared on social media. So, make sure you share it on your company’s social media pages. Then, ask your employees to share it on their LinkedIn and Twitter. If it’s excellent content, it will get shared by readers to their social media accounts. The more your article gets shared and viewed, the higher your page rank will improve, and you will be climbing the search rankings towards the first page on Google.

Blog posts can be time-consuming and resource needy. But if it is worth doing, then it is worth doing well. Just take your time through the whole process. Of course, your 100th blog post will always be better than the 1st one. Follow the above principles and get the keyboards clattering till search rankings become the next growth engine of your business.

User Experience

When it comes to SEO, user experience is important. This has been true for a while, but it’s even more so now as Google continues to evolve its algorithm.

A big part of providing a great user experience on your website is making sure that your content is easy to read and digestible. No one wants to read a wall of text, so make sure that your blog posts are broken up into smaller paragraphs with subheadings. This will make it easier for readers to scan through your content and pick out the most important points.

Another part of providing a great user experience is making sure that your website is mobile-friendly. More and more people are using their smartphones and tablets to browse the internet using their mobile device, so it’s important that your website is optimized for these devices.

Content Marketing

In addition to user experience, one of the best ways to improve your SEO is to focus on creating high-quality useful content. When you create informative, well-written blog posts, people will naturally want to link to them.

Google also values freshness when it comes to ranking content. This means that you need to regularly update your blog with new and relevant content. One way to do this is by writing evergreen content—content that will remain relevant and valuable for a long time. This can be difficult to do, but it’s worth it because this type of content will continue to bring in traffic long after it’s published.

Long-form content is often more successful in this regard, as it provides more value to the reader. However, even shorter posts can be successful if they’re well-researched and offer something unique.

SEO Tools

Now, let’s talk about what tools a blogger should have in their tool bag in 2022. If you’re serious about ranking your blog posts, then you need to be using SEO tools. These tools will help you to optimize your website and content for the search engines.

There are a lot of different SEO tools out there, but some of the most popular ones include:

– Google Analytics: This tool allows you to track your website traffic and see how users are finding your site.

– Google Search Console: This tool helps you to submit your website to Google and track its performance in the search results.

– Yoast SEO: This is a WordPress plugin that helps you to optimize your blog posts for the search engines.

– RanqIQ: Tells you what to put in your post and title, so you can write perfectly optimized content in half the time. There is also a hand-picked library of the lowest competition high traffic keywords for every niche.

If you want to rank your blog posts on the first page of Google, then you need to make sure that your website is optimized for the search engines. Use SEO these super handy tools to help you with this process. Doing it manually is like a full-time job!

Use Google Ads

If you want to get your blog posts in front of people who are searching for the topics that you write about, then you need to use Google Ads. This is a paid advertising platform that allows you to target specific keywords and phrases.

With the right ad strategy, you can get your blog posts in front of relevant people who are already interested in what you have to say.

Search Intent

One of the most important things to keep in mind when it comes to SEO is search intent. When someone types a query into Google, they have a specific intent in mind. It’s your job to make sure that your content matches that intent.

If you can do that, you’re more likely to rank higher in the search results. There are four main types of search intent:

– Navigational: The user is looking for a specific website. For example, if someone types in “Facebook” into Google, they’re looking for the Facebook website.

– Informational: The user is looking for information on a specific topic. For example, if someone types in “SEO tips”, they want to learn more about SEO.

– Transactional: The user is looking to buy something. For example, if someone types in “buy shoes”, they’re looking to purchase shoes.

– Local: The user is looking for something nearby. For example, if someone types in “pizza delivery near me”, they want to find a place to get pizza that delivers to their location.

Keep search intent in mind when you’re creating content for your blog. If you can match your content to the right type of search intent, you’ll be more likely to rank higher in the search results.

Improve Your Domain Authority

Domain Authority (DA) is a metric created by Moz that measures how well a website is likely to rank in search engine results. The higher your DA, the better your chances of ranking on the first page of Google.

There are a couple key strategies to improve your DA:

– Publish high-quality content: This is one of the most important things you can do to improve your DA. Make sure that all of your blog posts are well-written and informative.

– Build backlinks: A backlink is a link from another website to yours. Backlinks are an important part of SEO because they help to improve your DA faster than just about anything else.

Don’t Ignore Your Page Speed

One of the most important ranking factors for Google is page speed. If your blog posts take too long to load, then Google will penalize you in the search results.

There are a few ways to improve your page speed, but one of the easiest is to make sure that you’re using a caching plugin. This will save a copy of your pages and posts so that they can be loaded faster for repeat visitors.

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI)

Latent semantic indexing is a way of understanding the relationships between words and phrases.

Google uses LSI to understand the context of your content and to match it with relevant queries. To make sure that your blog posts are properly optimized for LSI, focus on using related keywords and phrases throughout your content.

Landing Pages

A landing page is a specific page on your website that’s designed to convert visitors into leads or customers.

Creating a well-optimized landing page can help you rank higher in search results and improve your conversion rate.

To ensure that your landing pages are effective, make sure they’re relevant to the keywords you’re targeting, and include a call to action that encourages visitors to take the next step.

Avoid These Common SEO Errors

Not all SEO advice is good advice. Following the wrong SEO advice can lead you down the wrong path and do damage to your page rankings. Making these errors will likely prevent you from ever being on the first page of search results. With that in mind, here are a few SEO tips to avoid:

– Don’t stuff your keywords. This is an outdated SEO practice that will actually hurt your ranking.

– Don’t use too many affiliate links. A few affiliate links are fine, but if you have too many, it will look like spam and hurt your ranking.

– Don’t buy links. This is a big no-no in the world of SEO. Buying links will get you penalized by Google.

-Don’t post duplicate content. Posting duplicate content can cause your website to be penalized by Google. Make sure to write original content for your website.

You should now know how to rank your blog posts on the first page of Google in 2022. Just remember to focus on creating high-quality content, building backlinks, and improving your DA. With a little bit of effort, you should be able to achieve great results. Thanks for reading and reach out to us with any SEO questions you may have!