How to Write SEO Blog Posts for Beginners in 11 Steps

This is a guide to teach you how to write SEO blog posts for beginners.

Key Takeaways

In it, we are going to start with the basics of good SEO writing so that all the hard work you put into writing content will be rewarded with traffic and eyes on your website.

That is what we want, so there is potential to gain true fans and monetize those fans.

SEO is easy to learn, but takes time to master.

Let’s get started with the right foundation.

a desk with a cup on it, a laptop and a woman's hands, one holdng a pen and writing in a notebook the other typing on a keyboard.

11 Steps on How to Write SEO Friendly Blog Posts

Writing an SEO-optimized blog post might seem daunting for beginners, but following a few straightforward steps can significantly improve your content’s visibility and ranking.

Here are 11 essential steps to help you create blog posts that attract more traffic and engage your audience effectively.

1. Establish the Goal of the Article

Ask yourself, “What is my goal for this article?”

There can be several outcomes to writing a blog post; here are just a few:

Do you want to get lots of traffic
Build your email list
Offer a free resource tool like a downloadable guide or a checklist
Create an affiliate post to earn high commissions
Build brand awareness with a content marketing
Generate backlinks

Once you define a goal, the following steps are easier to complete.

2. Do Proper Keyword Research and Choose a Target Keyword

Once you’ve defined your goal, find the best keyword to describe.

Your keyword will be used in your title, meta description, image alt-text boxes, URL, and throughout the post.

Use keyword research tools like Ahrefs or Keysearch.

I use Keysearch.

Every. Single. Day.

I also use Ahrefs.

Keysearch is a better bang for your buck. But once you’re making a good income from blogging, Ahrefs is invaluable.

I LOVE it, but it’s pricey.

Get Keysearch, the best and least expensive keyword research tool. The one I use!

Evaluate their relevance to your content and niche, ensuring they align with user intent.

Tools like Keyword Explorer and Keyseach’s color difficulty score can help in assessing difficulty scores and competition.

Keysearch uses a color code system to distinguish keyword difficulty.

Ideally, you want a keyword with a high search volume and low competition, which increases your chances of ranking higher in the search results in search engines.

High search volume = a lot of people are looking for that specific term.
Low competition = fewer sites are trying to rank for that keyword.

In the below example, “What are snippets,” Keysearch gives this keyword a 45 difficulty (medium to hard to rank for), with a search volume 1,300.

A screenshot of the Keysearch dashboard, to learn how to write seo blog post for beginners a keyword research tool is invaluable. — Keysearch’s dashboard on the “Keyword Research” tab. Keysearch is truly the best keyword research tool.

3. Know User Intent

Understanding user intent is often overlooked, but it is probably the most important aspect if you want to rank on Google.

If you don’t know the intent behind the search, your post will never see the first page of Google.

The first step is to open a private or incognito window in your browser and search for the keyword on Google.

Using a private/incognito window ensures that Google doesn’t display personalized results influenced by your search history and behavior, allowing you to see the most unbiased and clean results possible.

The content in the top ten results Google has deemed as answering the user’s intent.

You want to analyze them and write better, more informative content.

4. Analyze Your Competitors

Now, it’s time to analyze the posts ranking on the first page of Google.

Although a tedious step, it’s an important one, and many bloggers skip this crucial part of writing an SEO-optimized blog post.

The top ten in the SERPs are ranking for a reason, and by understanding why they are, we can unlock the potential for our own content.

Once you’ve analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of each article in the top ten, it’s crucial to focus on improving the weaknesses.

As Steve Martin once said, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

That is a good quote to carry with you in your blogging journey.

Be so good they can’t ignore you.
— steve martin

Make your post better and more digestible than the top ten, and that should be your unwavering goal.

How do you do that? It doesn’t always mean more words.

Often, the most clear and concise content wins, especially with how-to articles like this one.

Sometimes, better formatting will help a post rank higher.

When analyzing the top ten, ask yourself the following questions, and remember to put on your reader’s, not writer’s, hat.

Is the information out of date?
Have they left out crucial information?
Can I add graphs or charts to illustrate the point better?
What does the post do well?
What other keywords can I optimize for?
Is the article formatted properly with a lot of white space?

5. Create an Outline

Creating an SEO-optimized blog post outline will increase your blogging success and keep you focused and organized.

An outline is a framework that streamlines the process of writing an article.

It helps organize your content to increase its readability for your reader.

Having an outline before you start to write makes the writing process much easier.

An SEO blog post outline is more technical.

A well-optimized SEO outline will help you rank in search, get you more organic traffic through “rich snippets,” and help you monetize faster.

Here is our guide to How to Write an SEO-Optimized Blog Post Outline 🤗

6. Write Quality Content That Adds Value and Out

Bring value to your target audience. And, of course, answer the topic’s question.

A few ways to stand out are adding charts, researching the chosen topic, creating a short video, and speaking to your true fans.

Once you have a few loyal fans, double down on the content they respond to.

What doesn’t work: clickbait titles and burying the lead. When the query is something you can answer right away, answer it.

Don’t make your audience wade through content that doesn’t directly answer the question.

They. Will. Bounce.

7. Optimize for Keywords (But Not Too Many)

Determining how many keywords you should use for SEO is not easy and one that has changed…often.

You want to target your main keyword primarily, but you can also target LSI and long-tail keywords.

Thanks to the Google Hummingbird update in 2013, you can now rank for 1000s of similar keywords with the same blog post!

That means more traffic for you.

A well-optimized page can rank for hundreds of keywords.

Studies indicate that the average top-ranking page is visible for nearly 1,000 related keywords.

This is possible because search engines understand context and relevance, ranking pages for additional related queries.

Focus on a primary keyword, but also optimize for closely related terms to maximize your reach.

LGG Thoughts: Since Google’s Helpful Content Update (HCU) of September 2023 wiped out thousands of smaller blogs, light optimization is the way to go. I could be wrong, but making headlines less keyword focused and more Google Discover-like is the way to go. This could change. Test it for yourself.

8. Practice Sound On-Page SEO Tactics

Headers, such as H1, H2, H3, etc., provide a clear structure to your content, making it easier for readers to follow.

This improved readability keeps visitors engaged longer, reducing bounce rates and positively impacting SEO.

Headers make it easier for search engine bots to crawl and index your page.

They act as signposts that guide bots through the content, highlighting the hierarchy and main points, which aids in proper indexing and ranking.

Add lots of white space to make your content more scannable.

The hard truth is that readers only stay on content for a short time, and the average adult’s attention span has decreased since the arrival of the smartphone.

Making content scannable with solid on-page SEO will help search engines understand your content more easily. Search engines will always prioritize articles that favor UX.

Use bold text sparingly on words you want highlighted
Use line and paragraph breaks
Include relevant images
Utilize hierarchical heading structure (H1, H2, and H3 headings)

9. Optimize Your Images for SEO

Google can’t interpret images directly, so it relies on the surrounding text and the image’s alt tag to understand its content.

Search engines can’t see images, even if they have text in them.

But…avoid keyword stuffing your alt image texts.

Add them naturally and only to about 1/3 of photos per post.

Alt tags are mostly for visually impaired users, not just a chance to insert keywords.

Overuse of keywords can lead to penalties from Google.

10. Choose the Ideal Title

Choosing a title is a vital step. You need to consider blog post title length and URL structure.

Keep it concise.

Aim for a title length of 50-60 characters, as this is the optimal range for readability on search engines and social media platforms.

This character range not only improves visibility on Google search results, but also aligns well with Facebook’s link preview feature.

By staying within this range, you can prevent your title from being truncated, ultimately improving your post’s click-through rate (CTR).

A longer title may get truncated in the search engine results pages (SERPs), reducing its effectiveness to entice users to click.

Conversely, a brief title might need more information to interest readers.

11. Hit Publish and Submit to Google Search Console

After hitting publish, my next step is to submit the article to Google Search Console.

I take six other steps, all of which are included in Best SEO Practices After Hitting Publish.

By submitting your post to GSC, your post can get indexed and rank faster.

Final Thoughts: How to Write SEO Blog Posts for Beginners

By following these 11 steps, you’ll be well on your way to creating SEO-optimized blog posts that rank higher on search engines and attract more readers.

Remember that SEO is an ongoing process that requires regular updates and adjustments to keep your content relevant.

The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Blogging

Lyrical Host — The fastest hosting platform with the best customer service. I use Lyrical for all three of my blogs. The customer service is amazing and responds within the hour. They never leave me hanging.

Keysearch — This is the best and cheapest Keyword Research Tool. I use it every single day. I would be lost without it. Keysearch may be the number one essential blogging tool.

Link Whisper — interlinking is an essential part of blogging. Link Whisper streamlines this very important but time-consuming practice.

Interact Quiz — the money is in the list. Creating quizzes for your blog is one of the fastest way to grow your email list.

Active Campaign — this is one of the best email marketing platform. I’ve also used Convertkit, but I find Active Campaign more intuitive when creating and sending email campaigns.

Short Pixel — This is a plugin that compresses your images at increasing site speed and load times, essential for ranking.

RankIQ — RankIQ helps bloggers and content creators optimize their posts for search engines by providing AI-driven keyword research and content analysis tools.

Jasper.ai — Increase your content output with AI. I use it every day. It streamlines my blogging process and allows me to create content for three sites.

WP Rocket — Use this caching plugin to speed up your site. If you have Lyrical, you don’t need it. Lyrical provides a free caching plugin with one of their three plans.

How to Write SEO Blog Posts for Beginners in 11 Steps