Now that your website has been custom-built by Saphera with all the correct SEO features, the next step is creating content that keeps it ranking high on search engines. One of the most effective ways to do this is through regular blogging.
But writing a blog post that drives traffic to your website isn’t just about putting words on a page. You need to ensure your posts are optimized for SEO (Search Engine Optimization), so they attract visitors, engage them, and help convert them into customers. In this guide, we’ll show you exactly how to write an SEO-friendly blog post that works for your business.
The foundation of any great blog post is its topic. You want to write about subjects that are relevant to your business and address questions or problems your customers might have. Think about what your target audience is searching for online.
For example, if you’re a chiropractor, you could write a blog post titled “Neck Pain After a Car Accident: How Chiropractic Can Help.” This topic is likely to attract visitors who have been in car accidents and are experiencing neck pain. By targeting this audience, you’re positioning your blog to show up in search results when people search for things like “neck pain after a car accident” or “chiropractic care for neck injuries.”
Pro tip: Make a list of common problems or questions your customers have and use these as inspiration for blog topics. The more relevant your posts are to your audience’s needs, the more traffic you’ll drive to your site.
When we talk about keywords in SEO, we don’t just mean a single word. Many business owners think that they need to focus on just one or two individual words like “chiropractor” or “neck pain.” However, keywords are usually phrases that people type into search engines, and the more specific these phrases are, the better. These are called long-tail keywords.
A long-tail keyword is a longer, more specific phrase that people use when they are closer to making a decision or looking for something very specific. Instead of just typing “neck pain,” a potential customer might search for “neck pain after a car accident” or “how chiropractic care helps neck pain.” These longer phrases help you reach an audience that is more likely to be interested in your services because they are searching with a specific intent.
For example, if you’re a chiropractor, a broad keyword like “neck pain” is highly competitive and may not bring you the right kind of traffic. Someone searching for “neck pain” could be looking for general information or treatment options that don’t involve chiropractic care. But if they search for “neck pain after a car accident treatment with a chiropractor,” they are much more likely to be looking for exactly what you offer.
Long-tail keywords tend to bring in less traffic than short, general keywords, but the traffic they do bring is more targeted. This means that the people visiting your site are more likely to be interested in your business and convert into customers. These keywords help you narrow your audience to those who are looking for exactly what you offer, which leads to higher conversion rates.
Now that you understand the importance of using phrases, not just single words, here’s how to implement them effectively:
By focusing on long-tail keywords, you’ll increase the chances of your blog post ranking well for specific, relevant searches, leading to more qualified traffic and better results for your business.
The title of your blog post is one of the most important factors for SEO. It needs to be clear, descriptive, and include your main keyword. A good rule of thumb is to create a title that tells both readers and search engines exactly what the post is about.
For instance, “Neck Pain After a Car Accident: How Chiropractic Care Can Help” is a much stronger title than simply “Chiropractic for Neck Pain.” The former is more specific and targets the exact keyword you’re focusing on.
Pro tip: Keep your title under 60 characters so it displays fully in search results. Include the keyword as close to the beginning of the title as possible.
Headings and subheadings (H1, H2, H3 tags) break up your content, making it easier to read for both users and search engines. Search engines use these headings to understand the structure of your blog post.
Your main title should be an H1 tag (this is usually done automatically by your website theme). Subheadings should be H2 or H3 tags, and they should include your keywords where appropriate. For example, if you’re writing a post about neck pain after a car accident, you might use an H2 tag like this:
H2: How Chiropractic Treatment Can Relieve Neck Pain After a Car Accident
This subheading includes your keyword while also explaining what the section will cover.
While SEO is important, your primary focus should be on writing content that your audience finds helpful. If your content is engaging and answers their questions, they are more likely to spend time on your site, which improves your SEO.
For example, in the “Neck Pain After a Car Accident” post, you might want to explain:
Make sure your content is clear, informative, and easy to understand. Avoid jargon unless you explain it, and keep paragraphs short for better readability.
Internal linking is a powerful tool for SEO. By linking to other articles you’ve written, you’re helping search engines understand the relationships between your content, while also encouraging visitors to explore more of your site.
For example, if you’ve already written a blog post about “Common Causes of Neck Pain,” you can link to that post from your “Neck Pain After a Car Accident” article like this:
“Many people experience neck pain for different reasons. You can learn more about the common causes of neck pain in this article.”
The phrase “common causes of neck pain” would link to your other blog post.
Don’t just stick to the obvious when linking between blog posts and pages—be creative! Think of different ways to weave your articles together, keeping your readers engaged and guiding them toward other helpful content.
The purpose of blogging is twofold: you’re providing valuable information to your audience, but you’re also establishing yourself as an authority in your field. The more your readers trust your content, the more likely they are to come back for more—and even convert into customers.
To build this trust, your content should be laid out in a way that’s not only informative but also intuitive and helpful. Even though someone may be reading a blog post on one specific topic, they could very well be interested in other related topics. This is where having well-placed internal links can enhance the user experience.
For example, if you’ve written a post about “Chiropractic Care for Neck Pain After a Car Accident,” you might mention “back pain after a car accident” or “how chiropractic adjustments help with recovery” in the article. These phrases can link to other relevant blog posts you’ve written, guiding the reader to explore more content on your site.
By offering these helpful links, you’re not only providing more value to your readers, but you’re also increasing the time they spend on your site—something search engines like Google pay attention to when determining your SEO ranking.
Remember, the goal is to keep your readers engaged, guide them to other valuable content, and help them find answers to all their questions. Properly placed internal links can create a seamless journey through your site, offering a positive user experience and establishing your site as a trusted resource in your industry.
Anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink that sends readers to another page, either within your website or to an external resource. Instead of using generic text like “click here” or “read more,” it’s important to use keyword-rich anchor text. This means that the words you hyperlink should describe what the reader will find when they click the link—and should include relevant keywords that help both your readers and search engines understand the context of the link.
Using keyword-rich anchor text helps in two major ways:
Let’s say you’re writing a blog post about “Chiropractic Care for Neck Pain After a Car Accident.” If you want to link to another post you’ve written about “Back Pain Treatment,” you should avoid generic anchor text like “click here” or “this article.” Instead, use more descriptive, keyword-rich phrases like:
This way, the linked text tells both readers and search engines exactly what the destination page is about. Additionally, including keywords like “back pain treatment” helps search engines categorize and rank that linked content for people searching for those terms.
A common mistake is using vague or non-descriptive anchor text like “read more” or “click here.” While these phrases may seem user-friendly, they don’t provide any context to search engines, and they don’t encourage readers to click as much as keyword-rich phrases do. Another mistake is linking entire sentences or paragraphs. You want your anchor text to be concise, so aim to hyperlink specific, meaningful keywords or phrases instead of entire chunks of text.
A meta description is the short snippet of text that appears below your blog title in search results. While this doesn’t directly impact SEO rankings, a well-written meta description can improve click-through rates, which helps your overall SEO performance.
Your meta description should:
For example:
“Learn how chiropractic care can help relieve neck pain after a car accident. Discover treatments, causes, and recovery tips in this detailed guide.”
Images are an essential part of any blog post—they make your content more engaging and visually appealing. However, images can also affect your website’s SEO, so it’s important to make sure they’re optimized properly. Optimizing images involves more than just uploading a picture; it includes using the right file names, compressing the image size, and adding descriptive alt text. Let’s break down these elements.
Before you even upload an image to your website, you need to give the image a descriptive file name. Many people make the mistake of uploading images with generic names like “IMG_1234.jpg” or “image001.png.” However, search engines can’t “see” images like humans do, so they rely on the file name to understand what the image is about.
Instead of using default file names, rename your images using words that describe the image and include relevant keywords. For example, if you’re a chiropractor writing a blog post about neck pain, and you have an image of someone getting a neck adjustment, you might name the file “chiropractic-neck-adjustment.jpg.” This way, search engines understand that the image is relevant to chiropractic care and neck pain.
Alt text (or alternative text) is a description of an image that serves two important purposes:
For example, if you’re adding a photo of a patient receiving chiropractic treatment for neck pain, the alt text might be something like:
Alt Text Example: “Patient receiving chiropractic neck adjustment to relieve neck pain after a car accident.”
This description includes relevant keywords like “chiropractic neck adjustment” and “neck pain after a car accident,” which are likely to be search terms for your target audience. It also makes the image accessible to users with visual impairments.
Large image files can slow down your website’s load time, which is bad for both user experience and SEO. If your website takes too long to load, visitors may leave before they even see your content, and search engines like Google may penalize your site for being slow.
To avoid this, it’s important to compress your images before uploading them to your website. Compression reduces the file size without sacrificing too much image quality. There are many free tools available, such as TinyPNG or ImageOptim, that can help you compress images without a noticeable loss in quality.
The format of your image files also plays a role in optimization. For most blog posts, you’ll want to use JPEG for photographs because it offers good quality at smaller file sizes. For images that need a transparent background (like logos or icons), use PNG. Avoid using BMP or TIFF formats, as these files tend to be very large and can slow down your website.
In today’s world, your readers may be viewing your blog post on a variety of devices—desktops, tablets, and smartphones. A responsive website automatically adjusts images based on the device being used. Most modern website builders, including WordPress, support responsive images by default, but it’s a good idea to double-check that your images are scaling correctly on different screen sizes.
Search engines love fresh content. By consistently adding new blog posts, you signal to Google that your website is active and relevant. A regular blogging schedule, such as one post per week, is ideal for keeping your site updated.
Blogging for your business website is one of the most powerful ways to improve your SEO, drive traffic, and attract new customers. By focusing on relevant topics, using the right keywords, optimizing your titles and meta descriptions, and linking between articles, you’ll create a solid foundation for SEO success.
Remember, at Saphera, we’ve already built you a website that includes all the right SEO features from the start. Now, it’s up to you to continue that momentum by writing blog posts that engage your audience and keep your website ranking high.
Happy blogging!