Lesson 1: Part 2: Optimizing Your Post For Google

This lesson is so big, I had to split it into 3 parts:

LESSON #1, Part 1: Quick & Easy Keyword Research For Blog Post
LESSON #1, Part 2: The Right Way Of Optimizing Your Post For Google
LESSON #1, Part 3: Building Links Like A Champ

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Before we tap into this section I want to make sure you now clearly understand how to pick the best keyword for your post. Otherwise everything else won’t be of much help.

So let’s assume you have a very relevant descriptive keyword that perfectly fits what your post is about and the front page of Google for this keyword is not too competitive.

What you want to do next is make sure your post is perfectly optimized for this very keyword.

Part 2: The Right Way Of Optimizing Your Post For Google

There’s a super cool free plugin called WordPress SEO by Yoast that I really enjoy. And I encourage you to install it on your blog, since this part is purely based on this very plugin.

WordPress SEO by Yoast

Once you install the plugin, right after the post editor you’ll have a new block, which looks like this:

Let me break it down real quick:

Snippet Preview – this is how your post will look in Google.

Focus Keyword – this is the keyword you want to optimize your post for. After you enter it the plugin will list all the essential parts where the keyword should appear and notify you if it’s there (see the screenshot).

SEO Title – by default WordPress will use your post Headline as your Title. But in this field you can specify a Title, which would be different from your post Headline.

Meta Description – SEO guys say that Google loves it when different pages of your blog have unique meta descriptions. So invest a minute and write a brief post recap there.

So the first thing you do in optimizing your post for Google is put the desired keyword into Focus Keyword field and…

1. Keyword In The Title (Headline)

Like I said before, when you enter the Headline for your post, WordPress automatically uses it for the Title.

In the previous section we’ve already discussed that you should have the keyword in your Title as Exact Match:

“20 HDR Photography Tutorials to Learn This Technique in One Day” – RIGHT

“20 Photography Tutorials to Learn HDR Technique in One Day” – WRONG

We’ve also discussed that Google values Titles that start with the exact keyword as opposed to those that contain it somewhere in the middle or at the end:

“HDR Photography Tutorials to Learn This Technique in One Day” – GOOD

“Learn The New Awesome Technique In Just One Day: 20 HDR Photography Tutorials” – BAD

Sometimes you can’t just start your Title with a keyword. But the closer it is to the beginning of your Title – the better!

2. Keyword In The Page URL

The URL is usually auto-generated from your headline, but you can easily adjust it to contain just the exact keyword and nothing else:

Just about a year ago all the bloggers were keeping their URLs intact – meaning they were reflecting what was in the headline. But now I see that almost everyone is adjusting their titles to contain just the focus keyword and nothing else. And from my own experience it really works!

3. Keyword In Content

It’s obvious that the keyword should appear a few times in the content of the article. In my opinion you should have at least 1 Exact Match keyword for each 400-500 words of content.

Google also values articles that have the exact keyword in the very first paragraph.

You might also consider using different grammatical forms and synonyms as Google seems to love them as well.

4. Keyword In Meta Description

Just like I said earlier, the keyword in Meta Description of your post does not directly influence your rankings in Google. But if you’re able to stick it there naturally – go for it!

Double Check Yourself

Once you do all that, I suggest you to click on the Page Analysis tab of WordPress SEO by Yoast and see what it says there:

Pretty self-explanatory, right? I told you this plugin is cool!

Steal This Post Optimization Checklist

1. Make sure you place the exact keyword in your Headline/Title. Ideally at the beginning of it.

2. Put the exact keyword in the URL.

3. Check if you have at least one keyword or some synonym for every 400-500 words of your content and in your first paragraph.

4. Fill in unique Meta Description and throw the keyword there as well if possible.

That’s it! Nothing fancy in this part of the lesson.

PS: those of you, familiar with SEO might have noticed that I’ve skipped the optimization of images. That’s because I have an approach slightly different from what others say. I’m going to share it with you in my future updates. Stay tuned.

 

Ok, to finish LESSON #1 you have to read last part – Part 3:

Part 3: Building links Like A Champ >>>

Or maybe you want to go back to Part 1?

<<< Part 1: Quick & Easy Keyword Research