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The Blogger's Guide to Search Engine Optimization - by Aaron ...

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Saved by 69 people (-24 private), first by anonymouse user on 2007-11-26


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While we wrote a 300+ page book about SEO, only a dozen pages are needed to cover how to do SEO for a blog. Why? As search improves, Google and other search engines collect more data, which allows them to rank blogs based on how well people trust those blogs.

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Google knows how old your site is, how steady you have produced content, and how steady your link profile has grown.

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SEO for blogs is more focused on giving people something to talk about and creating something worthy of attention.

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  1. Optimizing a blog is more about capturing attention and getting credit for spreading ideas than it is about optimizing page copy to match search relevancy algorithms.

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Trend Related Keyword Tools

As a blogger, you are not only looking for what is historically popular, but also what is fresh. You can gain insights into what is going on right now by performing searches on Technorati, Google Blog Search, and Google News. Services like Google Trends and Yahoo! Buzz Index show you what searches were popular in the last day.

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use your keywords in your page title, preferably near the start of your page title.

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keywords, related phrases, and popular keyword modifiers in your page content a couple times,

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Meme Trackers

What ideas are spreading today? Who is at the center of the conversation in the blogging world? TechMeme and TailRank highlight recent popular blog posts.

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YouTube

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Social News Sites

The Digg homepage, Del.icio.us Popular list, and StumbleUpon Buzz show ideas that were recently popular amongst social bookmarkers. Pligg makes it easy to create niche social news sites.

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You only have to compete in your market.

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find out why ideas are spreading in related markets and past ideas that worked.

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Highlight Your Best Content

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highlight your most popular posts

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Place any piece of content in only one category.

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  • Use the Wordpress more feature to only show a small portion of your post on category pages.
  • Use robots.txt to block date based archives and other noisy/duplicate sections of your site.

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    Categories & Tag Pages

    Create categories that are well aligned with industry related keywords

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    Optimizing Site Structure

    Highlight Your Best Content

    Until September of 2007 my homepage was the most recent posts from my blog. While that helps to promote new posts on the blog, it is off-putting to people new to my field. If you create a popular blog, make sure that your homepage is appealing to people new to your field. Guide them through the learning process, show them where to start, and highlight your best content. If your site grows into a business re-invest to create tools, add forums, and other interactive features that keep people coming back to your site.

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    If you use both category and tag pages try to not let them overlap.

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    It also helps to limit your use of categories to a dozen or two dozen categories at the most, instead of having hundreds of categories and tags with only a few posts in each.

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    Neighboring & Related Posts

    Many blogs link to the previous and next posts on each page. These links are convenient from a usability standpoint, and they help search engines crawl deeply through your website.

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    Fix Page Titles

    Many blog content management systems place the site name ahead of the post name in the page title of individual blog posts. It is best if your page titles start with the most relevant information first.

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    Analytics:

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    If you know what your site ranks well for, then you know what topics your site is trusted for, and what related topics you should easily rank for

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    If you are remarkable the links will come, but not without a little push marketing first!

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    easy to contact, listing your business address, and publishing a unique well thought out about page listing your credentials makes it easier to trust your website.

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    Linking out to other useful related websites is one of the cheapest forms of marketing available. Don't just link to another blog and blockquote it, but make sure you add value by explaining why you think they are right or wrong.

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    submitting to general directories, and Loren Baker recently posted about the best blog directories.

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    Advertise Your Website

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    Fix Page Titles

    Many blog content management systems place the site name ahead of the post name in the page title of individual blog posts. It is best if your page titles start with the most relevant information first. There are numerous Wordpress plugins that make it easy to change the structure of your page titles. A couple popular ones are all in one SEO pack and SEO Title Tag.

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    You can bold your "leave a comment" line

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    Add Interactivity

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    Including pictures and video in your blog posts, and breaking up big chunks using bulleted lists makes it easier to consume (and share) your site.

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    Use Push Marketing After Launching Your Site

    Being Remarkable

    If you are new to internet marketing, read Seth Godin's Purple Cow to understand how to create remarkable ideas. Links are nothing but a citation. If you are remarkable the links will come, but not without a little push marketing first!

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    Participate on Popular Channels

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    Using a default Wordpress design might turn off readers.

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    Show Your Bias

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    Sharing Social Proof

    • Comments: If your site gets many comments people will be more likely to participate in the discussion. You can bold your "leave a comment" line or feature recent comments in your sidebar to encourage more comments. Replying to comments makes people more likely to leave additional comments. Some bloggers partner up, commenting on each other's stories to help make their blogs look more active.
    • Subscriber stats: If you have hundreds or thousands of subscribers you may want to publicly display those stats.
    • Borrow Authority: Ask authoritative people in your industry for feedback or input on a project prior to launching it. If they feel ownership in the idea they not only lend credibility to it, but they may also help you market it for free.
    • Publicize Your Publicity: If you or your blog were featured in the mainstream media displaying a "as seen in" section on your site helps build your authority.

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    Add Interactivity

    People read blogs because they would rather read them than read a whole book at a time. Including pictures and video in your blog posts, and breaking up big chunks using bulleted lists makes it easier to consume (and share) your site.

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    You need conversation. In practically every field of artistic endeavor, we see success stories grounded in artists who engage in some form of conversation with their audience.

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    Participate on Popular Channels to Build Trust & Exposure

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    Show Your Bias

    Having a consistent original bias and voice makes it easy for others who share your biases and worldview to trust you and spread your message. Most (perhaps all?) popular political blogs are heavily biased.

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