Are you a one who get sick and tired of the number of audiences landing on your Blogspot blog? Are you desirous of making your Blogger blog jam-packed with enormous traffic? If the answer is yes, welcome to the Blogspot SEO tips 2018. Generally, Blogger doesn't provide enough SEO controls as the WordPress platform does. Let me not make a big deal about that. You can drive lots of traffic even on your Blogger blog too if you care each option of Search Engine Optimization. Blogger is simple yet powerful blogging platform with multiple hidden SEO options. You can use these options to drive good lots of traffic to your Blogspot blog. If you are a beginner, I recommend you to read about the advantages of creating a blog on Blogger.
I have been using Blogger for a few years now. During this usage, I did different experiments even changing the language of the blog to test the increment in Blogspot traffic. Some of these practices were worthless while the result of other was noteworthy. So, I planned to write a concise post about Blogger SEO to help other bloggers to achieve the maximum out of it. These guides may not follow the usual trends cause they are based on my experiments and experiences. Additionally, I have used simple terms on the tips described hereunder, so that you will actually get the things right way, even if you are a beginner.
Now, let me start with the first thing. What may be the first thing? Simple! You should have a blog on Blogger. If so, what are others?
In order to organinize your heading tags, you can simply create a table of contents for every blog posts you publish. Creating table of content for blog posts have several SEO benefits.
Also, Search Engines give priority to those blogs which have a sufficient number of media (Images, videos, Podcasts). So, never forget to insert images in every blog posts wherever necessary. Don't have skills in Photoshop? No more hassles. You can use Pixabay to find millions of free-to-use images. Also, you can use the online graphics editor Canva to add graphics to your images freely.
How to show up your Blogspot images in Search Engines?
It is a piece of cake. It can be done in two ways: through HTML or by plain text but, you should have uploaded an image at first. Here, I will show you the process which doesn't require any HTML skills.
At first, click on the uploaded image in your post body. You may see different options to insert the image in right way. Choose 'Properties' out of those options. You will see a floating window containing two boxes which are to be filled with title text and alt text. On the title text option, fill in the title (words or phrases to describe) of the image.The title has no much value to SEO but adds value to the image. The title text is only the hover-over text to your image. And on the alt text option, fill in the keywords related to that image. That's it. Now your blog images are visible to Search Engines.
I have been using Blogger for a few years now. During this usage, I did different experiments even changing the language of the blog to test the increment in Blogspot traffic. Some of these practices were worthless while the result of other was noteworthy. So, I planned to write a concise post about Blogger SEO to help other bloggers to achieve the maximum out of it. These guides may not follow the usual trends cause they are based on my experiments and experiences. Additionally, I have used simple terms on the tips described hereunder, so that you will actually get the things right way, even if you are a beginner.
Now, let me start with the first thing. What may be the first thing? Simple! You should have a blog on Blogger. If so, what are others?
Table of Contents
1. Content - is also the queen
There is a proverb 'content is the king'. You can notice the importance of quality-content with that phrase alone. You are on Blogger, you should not have to do enough SEO practices for Google as Google itself takes care of your blog.
Before jumping directly towards Search Engine Optimization, prepare quality posts which will be valuable for Search Engines and for the audience too. In my experience on previous blogs, blog posts having longer than 1000 words were ranked higher than those having 500-600 words. Some may find it difficult to reach that words count but, it is easier than you think.
Don't insert unnecessary/unrelated words within your post just to attract the search engine or visitors or even to reach the highest word count. They do not get satisfactory rankings on the search result pages. So to lengthen the content, you can follow some legit ways that would be beneficial for readers as well as Search Engines.
What may be these legit ways? Simple, include some interesting facts, your own experience, usefulness or badfulness (Is this a word?) and every other thing that match the content of your post. Avoid using extraordinary words that are far away from your post content. And if you are facing a problem with the English language while writing a blog post, give a short time to read: How to write a blog post for non-native Englisher?
The second thing you can do to optimize Blogger SEO is adding keywords to your posts. You may use some free keyword research tool available on the internet to find search keywords related to your blog posts.
After generating the keywords, don't insert them randomly into your blog posts. Instead, insert them in some suitable places where they don't affect the coherency of your content. You may include these keywords in:
Before jumping directly towards Search Engine Optimization, prepare quality posts which will be valuable for Search Engines and for the audience too. In my experience on previous blogs, blog posts having longer than 1000 words were ranked higher than those having 500-600 words. Some may find it difficult to reach that words count but, it is easier than you think.
Don't insert unnecessary/unrelated words within your post just to attract the search engine or visitors or even to reach the highest word count. They do not get satisfactory rankings on the search result pages. So to lengthen the content, you can follow some legit ways that would be beneficial for readers as well as Search Engines.
What may be these legit ways? Simple, include some interesting facts, your own experience, usefulness or badfulness (Is this a word?) and every other thing that match the content of your post. Avoid using extraordinary words that are far away from your post content. And if you are facing a problem with the English language while writing a blog post, give a short time to read: How to write a blog post for non-native Englisher?
The second thing you can do to optimize Blogger SEO is adding keywords to your posts. You may use some free keyword research tool available on the internet to find search keywords related to your blog posts.
After generating the keywords, don't insert them randomly into your blog posts. Instead, insert them in some suitable places where they don't affect the coherency of your content. You may include these keywords in:
- Meta description
- Begining of the post
- the ending of the post
- Title
- URL
2. Headings
Headings are the important factors that affect the Blogger SEO. If not used wisely, headings have the power to drop your blog down on the search pages. Most of the third-party Blogger templates come with fully functional heading tags, Blogger's official templates also provide this feature. The question remained is, how to use headings in Blogspot blog? Generally, headings are designated as H1, H2, H3 ... H6, this template also has 6 headings. Normally, your post title is your H1 tag on Blogger. For inserting the second title into your blog post, go to HTML editor (of post), insert title tag, title and close the title as demonstrated below:
<H2> Your H2 title </H2>
And shift to Post editor and start typing in normal ways. If you want to insert a tertiary heading, do it in the same way by changing H2 to H3 and so on. This can also be done within the Post editor by using the Heading option on top but it may not be accurate for all themes. But, don't use the same tag, again and again, it may again affect the presence of your blog articles on Search Engine Result Pages.
In order to organinize your heading tags, you can simply create a table of contents for every blog posts you publish. Creating table of content for blog posts have several SEO benefits.
3. Domain or Sub-domain?
Blogger provides a sub-domain blogspot.com. Some might say, using sub-domain of Blogspot harms the presence of blog in search results. But in my opinion, it doesn't, at least for Google. You might have seen some Blogspot blogs ranked #1 on Google while searching some things. Enough? But, for both types; sub-domain and custom domain, it is valid only when you have quality content that can beat similar contents of other blogs or websites all around the world. So, don't regret the sub-domain, just create great articles. As I mentioned earlier, content is not only a king, it is a queen too. Have a custom domain? Don't regret! It acquires more visibility for quality contents. But, if you are still on sub-domain, I recommend you to purchase custom domain cause it has many advantages over sub-domains.
If you are planning to purchase a custom domain on Blogger, don't be late because Google, Bing, and other Search Engines don't consider the newer domains seriously and rank these domains in 100th, 200th and even on infinite position. Search Engine users, even I, won't skip the first 10 or 20 or even 100 results just to find your blog. Obviously, your blog will receive lower traffic than the expected. So, if you are planning to set up a custom domain on Blogger, purchase it fast. If you are not planning then, it is OK.
Also read: How to register a free .com.np domain? (For Nepali citizens only)
Also read: How to register a free .com.np domain? (For Nepali citizens only)
4. Images
Images have a vital role in both increments of blog traffic and improvement on look and feel of the Blogspot blog. If you are using Blogger's new template (Soho, Emporio, Notable and Contempo Blogger template) Or third-party template, it probably has an image thumbnail feature. Imagine what your blog would look like if you don't insert even a single image within your blog post! The blog won't be eye-catchy and your blog visitors will not have interest in your blog. If your visitors don't like your content, it ultimately leads search engines to rank your Blogger blog lower in the search results.Also, Search Engines give priority to those blogs which have a sufficient number of media (Images, videos, Podcasts). So, never forget to insert images in every blog posts wherever necessary. Don't have skills in Photoshop? No more hassles. You can use Pixabay to find millions of free-to-use images. Also, you can use the online graphics editor Canva to add graphics to your images freely.
How to show up your Blogspot images in Search Engines?
It is a piece of cake. It can be done in two ways: through HTML or by plain text but, you should have uploaded an image at first. Here, I will show you the process which doesn't require any HTML skills.
At first, click on the uploaded image in your post body. You may see different options to insert the image in right way. Choose 'Properties' out of those options. You will see a floating window containing two boxes which are to be filled with title text and alt text. On the title text option, fill in the title (words or phrases to describe) of the image.The title has no much value to SEO but adds value to the image. The title text is only the hover-over text to your image. And on the alt text option, fill in the keywords related to that image. That's it. Now your blog images are visible to Search Engines.
5. Post URL
Blogger doesn't provide many options to create custom URL for blog posts. The only option available is with posted date (year and month). Blogger creates URLs automatically, based on your post title, however, these auto-created URLs may not contain all the necessary details about your post. Consider, you are creating a post entitled 'How to increase the traffic on the Blogspot blog?'.The auto-created permalink may exclude the target word (Blogspot blog) on which you are focused on and may include only the words as yyyy/mm/how-to-increase-the-traffic. Traffic of what? Certainly, not the road. So, it might lose the rankings on search engines results. The best solution to this problem is to enable the custom permalink on Setting option. Once you do it, you will get the freedom to create an own permalink of each of the blog posts. Though the post date in URL can't be edited.Don't insert crowded keywords in your posts' permalink. This will again lose the valuable traffic. Instead, put an appropriate keyword that can describe whole of your blog post. Recalling the example above, you can insert a simple keyword 'increase-blogger-traffic' there, not including whole title text. And, if you have already submitted your blog to Search Engines, don't edit the permalink. You will lose the blog traffic again. If it seems mandatory to edit URL, set up a URL redirection in setting options and redirect the previous link to new link.
6. Meta description
The meta description is another vital parameter to increase Blogger blog traffic. By default, meta description of the Blogspot blog is turned off. You can turn it on in Settings > Search Preferences > Meta description. What is meta description then? In simple words, A Meta description is a description or summary of your blog or blog articles. The one which you insert in Settings is your blog description which should not exceed 150 characters. You can mention a brief summary of your blog there. Search engines usually show the meta description rather than contents (Below title) in Search Result pages. So, it is better to insert an appealing meta description which can attract the searchers and make them click on your blog.
Once you enable meta description, Blogger will add a 'Search description' option to each of the posts and pages, and you will be able to insert a meta description in each of your blog posts or pages individually. Search Engine, at first, crawls your page's meta description. So, try to add post/page legitimate summary as well as related keywords in the meta description. Also, meta descriptions are often displayed in social media link description. So, never forget to edit the search description to each of your blog posts.
7. Meta Keywords
Meta keywords are another best parameters to tell Search Engines about your blog. Unfortunately, Blogger doesn't let us add keywords to the individual posts and pages. Neglecting this limitation, you can insert related keywords in your post content as discussed in 'Content' section above. Before inserting keywords in post content, make sure that your keyword placement doesn't harm the visitor's interest in your blog.
However, you can insert meta keywords for your whole blog by editing the blog template. To do this, copy the following code and paste before the ending of head tag.
<meta content = 'YOUR KEYWORDS' name = 'keywords'/>
Replace YOUR KEYWORDS with your blog keywords. You can also enter some of the post keywords here. Don't forget to insert a comma (,) between the keywords.
For Yahoo and Bing, you have only one option to verify your blog, that is for Bing Webmaster Tools only. Both the Search engines use same webmaster tool.
And if your blog has more than 500 posts, then:
Don't forget to replace 'yourblog' with your blog domain. If you have set up custom domain then remove 'blogspot' from that link. Now, copy that link and paste into the 'Submit Sitemap' option in both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Then you are ready to go.
First of all, wander around the sites having the same niche as yours. Give a short time to read the content of those sites and provide a link to your blog in comment section stating that readers can get more information about that topic on your blog. But, never comment on non-related contents. This will affect the reader experience. Also, some sites or blogs may not allow you to insert links in the comment. So, reading site's TOS is primarily recommended. However, you may involve in different blog forums to advertise your blog by inserting links either in Q or A.
Similarly, the another best method you can follow is social media to drive the traffic to your blog. Use Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc to promote your Blogspot blog. Search engines crawl each content of social media (even faster than that of the blog itself), so you should never miss the social media option to drive traffic to your blog.
Also read: How to upload profile picture frame to Facebook?
These were my top eleven picks to increase the Blogspot blog traffic. Do you have any other tips to Blogspot SEO? Let me know them via the comment section below. Let your friends know Blogspot SEO tips by sharing this post via social media.
8. Verify your blog
If you are not a beginner, you have probably verified your Blogspot blog in Search Engines. But if you have not verified your blog, you might have noticed your blog not appearing on Search Engines (other than Google) even after searching blog address. Google auto-index the blog created on Blogger but other Engines, Bing, Yahoo do not. Although not required, it is better to verify your blog on Google but, it is mandatory for other Engines. For Google verification, you can go through Blogger Dashboard > Setting > Search Preferences > Search Console and add a property. You don't need to insert any code into your blog's HTML to be verified by Google. Blog created on Bloggers are auto-verified by the Search Console.For Yahoo and Bing, you have only one option to verify your blog, that is for Bing Webmaster Tools only. Both the Search engines use same webmaster tool.
- Go to Bing Webmaster Tool
- Create an account if you don't have one
- Provide your blog address
- Get a verification code
- Paste that code into your blog HTML and save.
9. Submit Sitemap
Another most important thing you can do to increase the Blogspot blog traffic is submitting Blogger sitemap to Google and Bing. You can do this at Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster tool where you already verified your Blogspot blog. To submit your blog content to Search Engines, you should have to generate an atom feed URL of your blog (XML format). It looks like:http://www.yourblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=1&max-results=500
And if your blog has more than 500 posts, then:
http://www.yourblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml?redirect=false&start-index=501&max-results=500
Don't forget to replace 'yourblog' with your blog domain. If you have set up custom domain then remove 'blogspot' from that link. Now, copy that link and paste into the 'Submit Sitemap' option in both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. Then you are ready to go.
10. Forums and Social Media
After you fulfill your blog with quality content, the only thing you have to do is advertise your blog. Do not go directly to expensive Google AdWords and other advertising agencies. Just go with free methods.First of all, wander around the sites having the same niche as yours. Give a short time to read the content of those sites and provide a link to your blog in comment section stating that readers can get more information about that topic on your blog. But, never comment on non-related contents. This will affect the reader experience. Also, some sites or blogs may not allow you to insert links in the comment. So, reading site's TOS is primarily recommended. However, you may involve in different blog forums to advertise your blog by inserting links either in Q or A.
Similarly, the another best method you can follow is social media to drive the traffic to your blog. Use Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc to promote your Blogspot blog. Search engines crawl each content of social media (even faster than that of the blog itself), so you should never miss the social media option to drive traffic to your blog.
Also read: How to upload profile picture frame to Facebook?
11. Use SSL
Blogger's latest update allow you to associate a free SSL certificate for Blogger custom domain sites too. As Search Engines prefer a secured content, use of SSL for custom domain is mandatory. You can easily encrypt your BlogSpot blog at your Blogger Dashboard > Settings > Basic. For the full step-by-step tutorial on SSL certificate for Blog, read: How to associate an SSL for Blogger custom domain sites.
These were my top eleven picks to increase the Blogspot blog traffic. Do you have any other tips to Blogspot SEO? Let me know them via the comment section below. Let your friends know Blogspot SEO tips by sharing this post via social media.
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