May 30, 2020

May’s Blog Audit Challenge 2020

Blogging Friends,

This year I’m participating in Blog Audit Challenge 2020 hosted by Jo Linsdell. The plan is to work on making our blogs even better and setting our goals for the coming months. Each month will have its own challenge to work through. Join us!

 I hope that if you are reading this that you continue to be well and that your area is starting to open up for business with social distancing precautions.

May’s Challenge focuses on Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

SEO is something I continue to work on, and I find it becomes more routine over time. Keywords are a critical component of SEO.

1. Key Words in Headlines

• Key words are the words that individuals put in the search bar to search for content.
• Key words are the most important component of SEO.
• Identifying key words is a critical first step in creating content. Think about what people would search for in order to find your content. Various apps are available to help you find optimal key words. I have never used this option, so I  can’t offer a recommendation. A search on Pinterest will result in more articles than you could ever use on SEO and Key Words.
• Reviewing books makes the selection of key words easier because the book title in my heading is also my key word(s).
• In addition to showing up in the title of the post, key words need to appear (naturally) throughout the content of the post. At first, it was easy to include my key word(s) in my post title but I had to make a conscious effort to sprinkle the key words throughout the content. So in place of using a term like “this book,” I had to form the habit of replacing these phrases with the book title. Using key words becomes even more effective when you can use them in subheadings.

2. Labels, Tags, and Descriptions

It’s important to use key words in captions, tags, “alt text” (see explanation of alt text here), and in the sharing and excerpt sections of the publishing options.

3. The Blog Post

Key words need to be sprinkled throughout the content of your post…especially in the first and last paragraphs. It’s important to use the key words naturally because google will notice key word “stuffing.” I try to use the key word(s) at least once for every two paragraphs.

4. The Comments Section

The comments section becomes part of your blog content in the eyes of google. Rich and thoughtful comments are beneficial to your SEO.

Do you always respond to comments? Thoughtful and substantial comments are most effective for improving SEO.

Key words are also important in comments! Sometimes a person who leaves a comment will bestow a gift and use a key word in the comment! If they don’t, you can use the key word(s) in your reply. Something kind you can do for other bloggers is to use their key word(s) in your comment! This is usually a word from the title.

I’m most lax about using key words in the comment section! I’m usually so excited to get a comment and eager to engage in a response that key words are not my focus. I intend to focus more on key words in comments for the remainder of the year.

SEO Checklist:

Key Words are the first most critical aspect of SEO, but there are other factors:

• Key words
• Content length (700+ words)
• Quality of content
• Internal and external links
• Alt text
• Descriptions
• Collaboration or guest posting
• Structure (headings that use H1, H2, H3, subheadings, breaking long content into small paragraphs or sections, bullet points, bold text, white space, etc)
• Images (and GIFs)
• Call to action in the conclusion
• Comments
  

Are Key Words an important part of your SEO strategy?

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Find January’s Challenge Here.

Find February’s Challenge Here.

Find March’s Challenge Here.

Find April’s Challenge Here.

June’s Challenge will focus on Links.

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QOTD!

If you are a blogger, have you thought about SEO?

If you are a follower and have always wanted to make a suggestion for improvement, now’s your chance! I’d love to hear feedback about the blog content and why you continue to follow or read my reviews and other blog content. I’d like to hear about what I could improve. I am committed to the genres I review, so that’s firm for now.

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ICYMI

Ten Favorite Book Quotes

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Happy Reading Book Buddies!

“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke

“I love the world of words, where life and literature connect.”
~Denise J Hughes

“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.”
~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text

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Unless explicitly stated that they are free, all books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library.

Book Cover and author photo are credited to Amazon or an author’s (or publisher’s) website.

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