How to Improve Search Engine Rankings of Your Blog Posts

Would you like free traffic to your blog, but don't know how to improve search engine rankings for your blog posts? Most of us have heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but getting our blog post listed on page one of a Google search can seem a little daunting, if not something of a mystery!

Getting into Google's "head" and working out how it's algorithms work is not easy and the rules are constantly evolving to combat anyone who might dare to try manipulate the system in order to get their page ranked. However, with just a few simple guidelines it is possible to improve search engine rankings and get your articles ranked on that coveted page one.

SEO Is Based On Four Major Priciples

1. Page Rank - Google ranks pages on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being a top ranked site.
2. On-Page Optimization
3. Linking Structure and Inbound Links
4. Time a site has been established

Start With Your Keyword Research

Find a keyword you want to rank for. Look for keywords that have around 1000 to 2000 searches per month and not too many competing pages. Long tail keywords, that is to say a short phrases, are more likely to fulfill this criteria. To help with your keyword research try "Google free keyword tool" or "Micro Niche Finder".

The Heading

Google's spiders start at the top of the page and work their way down......So, the higher up in your article your keyword appears the sooner it will be picked up. Your heading is a good place to start. Use your keyword at the beginning of the heading and repeat it a second time if you can. For example, if you are trying to rank for the key word "XYZ Company" your heading might look something like this....."XYZ Company Review - Is XYZ Company a real business opportunity?"

Body Text

As the spiders work their way down your article, you want them to find your keyword in the first paragraph, so weave your keyword into the text once or twice. Make it as natural as possible and mix up the keyword with other words. So in our example of "XYZ Company" we could use "XYZ Company Research", "XYZ Company Review", "XYZ Company Products" and so on.

Always highlight the keyword throughout the article, either by underlining it or putting it in bold. Again, this will bring it to Google's attention. Mention your keyword again from time to time in the rest of the body text, but be careful not to keyword load your entire article....Google will pick this up and it could be counter productive.....you could well be penalised for it!

Include Anchor Text Links. Google loves these, but make sure you are rotating your Anchor text and not using the same text each time, or Google will once again penalise you.

Submit Your Article To Top Ranking Sites And Create Back-Links

Your site may not have been around for that long, nor is it likely to have a top ranking. These are two things Google looks for. A simple way round this is to submit your article to various highly ranked sites. EzineArticles, HubPages and ArticlesBase all have a ranking of 6 and Squidoo has a ranking of 8, which means Google likes these sites and your article is more likely to get ranked through one of these sites. There are hundreds of sites you can submit articles to, but these are the top five:

EzineArticles.com

Squidoo.com

HubPages.com

ArticlesBase.com

Blogger.com

Google loves back-links and submitting your article to various sites also allows you to create backlinks to your original blog site. So do not forget to add these.

One final tip, when submitting your articles to the various sites, remember to change them a little, so Google does not pick up duplicate text. The changes do not need to be significant. Changing the title and a little text should suffice.

Follow the above guidelines and you will improve search engine rankings for your blog posts. But note, SEO does not happen over night. Give it time and remember you are sowing seeds for the future. Once ranked, your site will be there for ever more, bringing traffic to your site.

If you have any tips to add to my list, I'd love to hear them...please leave a comment here or on my blog.

Louise Steiner is a Network and Internet Marketer with a passion for learning and teaching. She loves helping others grow and reach their goals.

If you have enjoyed this article, you can find more of her work on her blog LouiseSteiner.com/Improve Search Engine Rankings