Ciao tutti!
Today I have a little bit of a different post, but one I’m sure other bloggers out there will appreciate. Since creating my own blog, I’ve done so much research about how to best drive traffic to it and I have acquired a few SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tactics that I do regularly now. Some of these tricks only take a couple extra minutes, so it’s definitely worth it to give your new post you’ve worked so hard on an extra push!
1. create relevant image titles and alt texts for all images
This is something that most people completely overlook. The image title is actually something that Google “scans” through when determining how to rank your site. So if your file names are “IMG3045.jpg”, that’s not going to help your blog. Create a naming convention like “your blog’s name-post title(-01,-02…).jpg” and use that for all the photos. Having your blog’s name in there will help Google rank your post higher.
While you are in there renaming your photos (which you can do before uploading them or after in WordPress) you should also add “alt text” to them. Alternate text in photos allows search engines to understand what your image is. When images cannot load properly on a page, the alt text appears. Alt text is also used by visually impaired people to understand what is in the image.
For my photos, I use a more descriptive alt text than I do for image titles. I still include my blog’s name but I’ll had more description of the photo itself. For example, “Bellezza Corner Fashion Post Walking Outside”. Also the alt text does not need to be separated by hyphens and can be written more like a sentence.
2. utilize all the features of the *amazing* Yoast plugin
For those using WordPress.org, you can use the game-changing Yoast plugin for SEO. There is so much information to get out of it, and it appears at the bottom of every post. After writing up your post, scroll down and read through all the points it suggests to correct, and which it says are good. Often times, Yoast brings to your attention that you don’t have certain image titles/alt text in place, your post title is too long or short, or that your links are broken. It is an awesome tool for optimizing your post, and it’s even free.
3. check your word count
Search engines scan for word count so make sure your post has at least 300 words in it. 500 words is better, but anything below 300 will be detected and ranked lower. The Yoast plugin brings this to your attention as well, which is very convenient.
4. add subheadings
Make sure that your post has some use of subheadings. This is another quality that Google and other search engines look for in your post. They want to see the structure of a proper post. Now, sometimes I don’t even necessarily need subheadings. But just since I know this information, I try to incorporate them in some way. I like to use H4 headings because they are smaller and more subtle in my posts than H1-H3 ones.
5. create a relevant meta description
Another huge help that only takes about a minute to add. Again this is something you can do with Yoast. At the bottom of your post, the Yoast plugin area shows a little Google snippet preview with your post title and a little description below it. This is called a meta description. The meta description should be 155-160 characters and you should try and use all the space possible. If you don’t set a meta description, it is pulled automatically using the first lines of your post. For most blog posts, this is not helpful.
In this case of this post, the meta description would read, “Ciao tutti! Today I have a little bit of a different post, but one I’m sure other bloggers out there will appreciate. Since creating my own blog, I’ve done…” Not so useful for describing what my post is even about. So I take the extra couple minutes to make a great sentence or two explaining why you should click on this link.
6. throw some links out there!
Getting your link out there is the best thing you can do for your SEO ranking and for traffic. One of the easiest ways to get your links out is with Pinterest. You can upload all your photos from your blog post to Pinterest and have them shoot back to the corresponding post. Search engines take into account how many links you have out there on the world wide web, so get linking!
Do you guys already optimize your posts? What other techniques do you incorporate?
Buona domenica!
Amanda 🙂
Awesome! Thanks for the tips
Author
Thank you! 🙂
thanks for the great ideas!
Author
Thank you for the read! 🙂
Good tips. Thanks for sharing!
Author
Thank you! Glad you got something out of it!
You are welcome!
This is so greatly informative! Thank you so much for sharing all of that in such detail. I do not currently use any of those tactics but will begin to implement them thanks so very much to you! xo
Author
Awesome! So happy to hear it 🙂
This is so insightful and well written Ms Amanda, great post and many things to learn even for savvy bloggers
Author
Thank you!
Truly interesting and informative! Thanks for sharing 🙂 💐 ✨ ❤
Author
So happy to hear that, thank you for the feedback! 🙂
This is so helpful – thank you! Xx
Author
Awesome! That makes me so happy to hear 🙂
Thanks for this <3
Author
Thank you! 🙂
Thank you for the helpful tips!
Author
Thanks for the read, lovely!
Very helpful indeed…love that the post is so user friendly, too. Sometimes info about the technical side of blogging feels over whelming but your post is really useful and encouraging. Many thanks!
Author
Aw I’m so glad to hear that, that’s what I was going for! 🙂
Yes, I also have to say that this really is great post! Good information which is easy to understand and take in use! Thank you so much!
Author
Thank you so much, I’m so happy to hear that! :)!
Thank you so much for the tips! So, so helpful! You’ve made SEO much easier to understand, although the annoying part is now I feel like writing alt-text for all my images and renaming them too!
Author
hahaha you can definitely go back and add alt-texts to older photos! I’m so glad to hear this feedback, thank you very much! 🙂
Well done—excellent tips!
Author
Thank you! 🙂
These are great tips! It’s more encouragement to upgrade my site, so that I can have my own domain name and have access to the Yoast plug-in.
Author
Thank you! Yes actually there is a guided transfer service that wordpress provides for about $120 that transfers all your stuff to wordpress.org if you are interested in doing that but don’t know how. 🙂
I’ll have to do that! Thanks for the tip 🙂
Author
Yay! Happy to help! 🙂
Very Useful, I am going to take care of this right away. Thank You 🙂
Author
Awesome, happy to help! 🙂
Incredibly useful thank you. My current blog is more for fun so I’ve never been too bothered but I’m about to launch a new business and was wondering what SEO was all about. So thank you for the timely information!
Author
That’s great, I’m so happy to help! 🙂
I had no idea about the photos. I must take that advice from now on at least when naming them. If the image is already part of WordPress can you still change the names and description is it? Also I must try the whole thing with Pinterest!! 👍🏻👍🏻
Author
Oh yeah it’s a super easy way to boost your SEO! Yes you can add those things to photos from exisiting posts if you go into the editing area of your post and click on your photos. 🙂
Does this only work for blogs that use .org or for .com also?? I use the later so I was just wondering. Thanks!! ♥
Author
Some things you can do on wordpress.com too like image titles and alt text! The plugin stuff you can’t do with wordpress.com but pinterest and linking in general you can!
Thankyou! This is so helpful! I’ve tried to get my blog to show up on search engines but get so confused by technical terms I have no clue what I’m doing, so thanks for these great ideas! 🌸💖
Author
I’m so happy to have helped 🙂 I know it can be confusing, but there are actually a few really easy things you can do to get ahead of game!
Yes some of your tips were so simple to start doing but I’d just overlooked! I’m guessing you self host your blog? I have a couple of questions about this because I’m just starting out, would it be okay to send them to you to get some help? No pressure! 🌺💖
Author
I do self host my blog. Sure I could answer a few questions. You can email me at amanda@bellezzacorner.com 🙂
Thank you for the tips! Great information, you’ve made this look so simple. Definitely gonna keep this in mind. 🙂 xo
Author
Thank you so much! It is pretty simple and you’ll see a nice boost! 🙂
Thank you – this is a very useful post. Much appreciated! 🙂
Author
Thank you, so happy to hear you got something out of it! 🙂
Where is the like button?! 🙂 x
Author
Thank you so much!! I don’t have one any more since changing my blog layout! ahha <3
Oh my gosh! Super helpful! Thanks.
Author
Thank you!! 🙂
How do you get paid more if you do get paid ? I’m currently trying to figure that out! I see you have no ads
Thanks for this post…. I’m trying my best to lead but it’s taking a while, this was really helpful though, thank you!!
To learn! Not to lead! 👀
Author
Yeah! It seems like a daunting task but there are several really easy things you can always do! 😊
Yeah.. I’m getting there I think! Really enjoying learning about it all too!!
Author
It is kind of fun in the end! And exciting to get ahead of the curve! 😊
Absolutely! Thanks for advice!😃
Great post. Helpful information for those of us still learning! Thx Holly
Author
So happy to hear it! Thank you love <3
Good tips! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Author
My pleasure! Thank you for stopping by! 🙂
Thanks for the tips!😘
Author
My pleasure, happy to help! 🙂
This was actually so helpful !! Thanks for the tips 😀
Author
I’m so happy to hear it, my pleasure! 🙂
Thanks for the tips, this will definitely help new bloggers to get the word out!
Author
Thank you for stopping by! 🙂
This is so great! I am still getting my head around this but it definitely makes a difference 🙂 Thanks for the useful tips! xx
Author
Thank you so much, I’m happy to hear it makes sense 😊 ❤️
Great tips. Thanks for sharing.
Author
Thanks for stopping by!
Really interesting article … Thank you ! 🙂
Author
Thank you! 😊
I am a blogging newbie and already feel like I am failing miserably at expanding my blog because I am SO not tech-savvy! I really appreciated this post, so thank you 🙂 you are also absolutely gorgeous, woman! I wish you all of the success in the world 🙂
Author
Thank you so much for your sweet compliments!! I’m happy to hear that you got something out of my post and I wish you the same success! 🙂
You’re welcome! Ah, thank you girl 😀
Awesome post! Thank you for the tips, very helpful!
Author
Happy to hear it, thanks! 🙂
Thank you so much for the amazing tips.
Author
Thank you, glad to hear it!
I’ve only just started blogging myself, thanks for the advice x
Author
Thank you for stopping by, I’m happy to help! 🙂
Thanks for sharing this helpful post!
Author
My pleasure! I’m happy to hear you got something out of it! 🙂
Thanks for the tips!! I just followed you. Please can you help share my fundraiser? https://www.generosity.com/education-fundraising/final-year-of-medical-school–2
This is amazing and super helpful…love your blog too.
Cheers,
Sandy
http://www.beautyandreview.com
Author
Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it! 🙂
This is so great! Thanks for the tips Xx
Author
Happy to hear it, thanks lovely! 🙂
Great tips, I’m a super beginner at blogging and I need all the advice I can get! I love your blog! <3 Cammy
Author
Thank you so much, I’m happy to help! 🙂
Thanks a lot. I’m just starting out so that really helped a lot.
Author
So happy to hear you found my post helpful! 🙂 Good luck!
These are awesome tips! Thank you so much! 🙂
Author
So happy to hear it! Thank you! 🙂
This is so infighting. I just learnt. Lot from it. Thanks so much. Can I repost this while giving credit to you?
Author
Thanks for the feedback, so happy to hear you got something out of it! Yes you can definitely repost 🙂
Thanks dear
That’s the first time I’ve had the meta description explained so that I actually understand it. I have the yoast plugin and have been struggling with all the red dots! lol You just never know who might need this info, so keep them coming. Thanks.
Author
I’m so glad to hear that! Yoast is awesome and does so much of the work for you. So happy to hear that you found some useful info! xo
Hello Bellezza, May seem dumb but I just cannot deal with the stupid colored circles that Yoast has. Like The Ink for All SEO text editor, it’s fun. You’re working to get the Optimization Score up to 100 points. It is dedicated to helping you bring up your Content Relevancy Score with extremely helpful recommendations.
hai
I think this is an informative post and it is very useful and knowledgeable. Most useful editor that I don’t see here but am hearing other blogers raving about is INK for All. Between writing sometimes three to four blog posts five days a week and raising my family, being able to rely on one content optimization app is just incredible. So far, so good, I wanted to share it: https://seo.app/XzTXZsUH9