This content is a complementary resource of this post. Make sure to read it first until finish before continuing the read. Otherwise, you will not get the whole context to implement all the covered theories.
Ready? Go! ☕️
As I have mentioned in the post you have just read, search engines are the primary organic traffic sources for professional bloggers. And to get organic traffic from search engines, you need to master SEO — Search Engine Optimization.
Don’t overthink it. SEO is simple if you understand how search engines work. Many bloggers are struggling with SEO because they overcomplicate it.
I will narrow down this discussion to one particular search engine: Google. The reason is quite simple.
Because Google is the most-used search engine with market share close to 90%!
Also, based on my experience, if you win on Google, you will usually also win on other search engines.
Let’s continue our discussion by learning the history of Google algorithm first in order to make you have a better understanding of how Google works.
Shortcuts ⤵️
- A Brief History of Google Algorithm Updates
- Why I Don’t Recommend Link Building
- The Fundamentals of Content Optimization
- How Long Does It Take for a New Blog Post to Get Indexed?
- Two Fundamental SEO Techniques
- Writing Blog Posts for Affiliate Marketing
A Brief History of Google Algorithm Updates
Google has been the primary organic traffic source for bloggers since the early days of blogging became popular.
Back in the day, a blog post could easily be on the first page of Google if it had enough numbers of keywords within the content. To push the position even higher, you could build backlinks.
Both keyword and backlink used to be the primary determinants of a blog post’s position on Google. In the past, there was an SEO practice called keyword stuffing — the practice of intentionally repeating a particular keyword on a blog post to manipulate search engine results.
Bloggers who applied keyword stuffing, backed by building decent backlinks, used to be the winners.
Then Google released a major algorithm update in 2013 codenamed Hummingbird which changed everything.
The biggest change of the algorithm update was that Google now read and understood the overall topic of a page instead of just looking at the keywords it had.
Since the update, the keyword stuffing practice was practically not relevant anymore. On the other hand, link building was — and still — debatable.
Google Still Looks for Keywords, However
Just to clarify. Google still looks for keywords. People enter the keywords on Google to search for something, after all. Google then displays the results based on the given keywords.
That’s how Google works.
But Google, as mentioned above, is way smarter than before since the Hummingbird update. It no longer scans pages merely for keywords. Instead, Google looks for pages that cover a particular topic.
I want to further cover this shortly below.
I mention the Hummingbird update in order to make you understand that when writing a new blog post, you should focus on topic. Not keyword.
If you are interested in learning more about the Google algorithm updates, you can visit this useful page.
Why I Don’t Recommend Link Building
Above, I mentioned that link building is a debatable SEO practice. That’s because some bloggers get good results from link building. While others get absolutely nothing.
I personally don’t recommend link building if you are a blogger working solo because I am super convinced you have limited resources and time.
Let me tell you a story.
Google released another major algorithm update in August 2023.
With the August 2023 update, Google wanted to give websites that have good EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) a better ranking.
As a result of the update, websites that have more well-established brands and higher domain authority (DA) dominate the Google search results page because Google believes that websites with a strong brand and high DA are more trusted.
That’s why smaller blogs are really struggling since the August 2023 update.
A Lesson from My Own Experience
I have another blog project called Better Tech Tips. Before the August 2023 update, the project managed to generate around $2,000 per month. I make money from the blog by accepting guest posts.
The main motivation of someone asking for a guest post to be published on the blog is to get a backlink.
You know what?
Since the August 2023 update, the revenue of the project plumped to only $100 to $200 per month!
You know what it means?
People no longer look for backlinks because they know backlinks won’t help a lot to boost their site ranking on Google like they used to be.
So, instead of wasting your time and energy on link building, you can focus on one thing that matters the most: content optimization.
How About Domain Rating?
Domain rating (DR) and domain authority (DA) are two sexy metrics used by SEO agencies to sell their services. But you need to know that these metrics are not the official metrics from Google. Instead, these are the metrics developed by third-party SEO companies.
It’s true that both DR and DA are two ranking factors on Google, but the portions are not significant. Thus, I don’t recommend you focus on these metrics if you are a blogger with limited resources.
Why?
Because if you do, you will ignore what matters the most in SEO: content optimization.
Remember. You have limited time and resources. Use them wisely.
I will provide two examples to support my argument.
Take a look at the following screenshots:
For your information. UtilizeWP has a domain rating of only 18. I repeat. 18!
But as you can see on the screenshots, it has managed to outrank websites that have way higher domain rating.
- Authority Hacker: 78
- Thrive Themes: 90
- MotoPress: 78
- WPBeginner: 90
- AppSumo: 84
- WinningWP: 74
You know what it means?
Content optimization matters more than any SEO metrics.
The Fundamentals of Content Optimization
Until here you should have understood the approach you will use when writing a blog post. You should focus on the topic, not keyword.
In SEO, the approach of covering a particular topic in-depth is called Semantic SEO. But before we dig it deeper, let’s cover the fundamentals of writing an SEO friendly blog post.
If you use Yoast, you will see a green lamp to indicate that your post is SEO friendly. If you click on SEO analysis, you will also be guided which parts need to be optimized more.
It’s crucial to note that having green the lamp on Yoast doesn’t guarantee your blog will be on the first page of the Google search results page.
Yoast is just a tool. You, the author, are the one who determines the fate of your post on Google the most.
Here are 5 fundamentals you can stick to in order to make your posts SEO friendly.
Inverted Triangle
In this section, you have learned how to add the post sitemap to Google Search Console. Google will periodically check the sitemap to check if there is a new post on your blog.
If Google finds a new post, it will scan the content of the post to check the topic it covers. Google will then present your post on its search results page based on the particular topic or keyword.
What you write on the first sentence determines which topic/keyword your post to be presented on. Thus, in the first sentence of your blog post, you need to confirm what your post is about. You can then gradually elaborate the details on the following sentences.
Take a look at the following example:
You can read the full post of the above example here.
As you can see. I covered a review about MailPoet. In the first sentence, I mentioned that I had a personal experience with the plugin (MailPoet) and would share it with my readers.
I then further covered the details about MailPoet on the following sentences. Such as features, some pros and cons I found during my journey with the plugin, and so on.
From the above example, you can learn that Google placed my blog post in the first page of its search results page because it understood the topic I covered from what I wrote on the first sentence.
And most importantly, what I wrote in the following sentences align with the first sentence.
When writing a blog post, you can use the inverted triangle principle as shown below:
Always end your post with a summary section in order to help Google to have a better understanding about your content.
Proper HTML Formatting
Although it is not required to have HTML knowledge to write a blog post, it can be a great extra value if you have HTML knowledge.
Proper HTML formatting is crucial to write an SEO friendly blog post. You need to make sure your blog post is well-structured. From the title, heading (heading 2, heading 3, to heading 6), to paragraph.
Don’t overcomplicate it, though.
When you write a blog post in WordPress, regardless of the editor you use, everything is well-structured already.
For instance, when you add a title, WordPress will automatically add heading 1 tag (<h1>) to the title once the post is published.
A little note if you use a theme builder to create a custom blog post template. Make sure to use the element dedicated to post title. If you use Elementor Pro, for instance, you can use the Post Title widget for the post title.
If you use Gutenberg as your editor, you can click Outline tab on the Document Overview panel to make sure your post has the correct HTML structure. You will see an Incorrect heading level message if you use the wrong HTML formatting.
Here are two best practices you can apply related to HTML structure:
- Add the keyword you target on the
<h1>tag (the title field in WordPress editor) - Use heading 2 (
<h2>) to add the secondary keywords (clusters) you target
URL
URL is another aspect you can optimize. The best practice is that you can use the keyword you want to target as the URL slug.
Using the keyword you target as the URL slug can help Google to better understand the topic you cover on your post.
If you use Gutenberg, you can set the URL slug by clicking the link on the settings panel.
Internal Linking
An internal link is a link that points to another post on your website. Adding internal links is crucial for a particular purpose: to boost domain authority.
The more posts you have on a certain niche, the better you are from Google’s point of view in terms of expertise. Remember what I said about the August 2023 Google update?
Google now gives websites that have better EEAT a better ranking.
In order to make your blog has better EEAT (from Google’s perspective), you can write more posts in a certain niche.
And to let Google know that you are an expert on a particular topic, you can add links to posts that are related between one and another.
Internal Linking Best Practices
There are two crucial things you need to look when adding an internal link.
- Use a contextual anchor text
Anchor text itself is a clickable phrase you add your link to.
What about an example of a contextual anchor link?
Say you are writing a blog post about how to fix a slow website and you have an existing post about analytics plugins you want to link to. Instead of using an anchor text like “click here” or “read here”, you can use the anchor text “analytics plugins”.
- Add a title to the link
Contextual anchor text gives Google a glimpse about the content behind the link. The title can confirm the topic.
Link title is the text that shows up when you hover your cursor over a certain anchor text.
Here is how to add a link title in Gutenberg (block editor).
Edit a text block that contains a link. Edit it as HTML.
Find the link you want to add the title to and then add title="" right after it. You can add your title inside the quotes.
Image Optimization
There are two image optimization types: size and attribute. What I am talking about here is the latter.
When you write an article in any medium, images can help strengthen your story. While you, the human, can easily recognize what an image is about, Google can’t because it has no eyes.
To help Google has better recognition over an image, you can add some attributes to the image. Two attributes you can add are:
- Title
- Alt Text
The WordPress media manager already comes with built-in options to add the attributes.
Another thing you need to look regarding image is filename. This is especially crucial if you write a blog post that involves screenshots.
Never upload an image before you rename it. The best practice is that you use a filename related to the context of the image. For instance, if the image is about how to turn on the HTML editing mode in Gutenberg, you can use a file name like edit as html.jpg or html mode.jpg.
Never use the default filename generated by the screenshot tool you use.
How Long Does It Take for a New Blog Post to Get Indexed?
This is one of the most-asked questions by new bloggers. How long does it take for a new blog post to get indexed by Google?
As I mentioned above. Google will periodically check your post sitemap to check if there is a new blog post on your blog. But only Google knows when exactly it does it.
One thing for sure. The age of your domain determines how long it takes for your blog post to get indexed by Google.
Many “SEO experts” say that there is no correlation between domain age and how long it takes for a new blog to get indexed. But experience can’t lie.
For instance, if I publish a new blog post on this blog today, I can firmly say that it will be indexed by Google within at least 3 days.
Conversely, if I publish a new post on a brand-new blog, it may take weeks or even months for the post to get indexed.
The bottom line. The sooner you buy a domain and start your blog, the sooner you will see the results.
How to Know If a Blog Post is Indexed?
To check whether a blog post has been indexed by Google, first, open Google. Type site:post URL on the search box and hit enter. Example:
If you find your blog post on the results page (you should only see one post), it means that your blog post has been indexed by Google.
Performing the Manual Indexing Request
If you really can’t wait for your new blog post to get indexed, you can request for an indexing manually via Google Search Console. But keep in mind. There is no guarantee that your blog post will get indexed more quickly.
If you want to try this method, go to Google Search Console and login with your Google account. Paste the URL of your blog post to the search box at the top and hit the enter key on your keyboard.
Click REQUEST INDEXING and wait a second until the process is done.
Two Fundamental SEO Techniques
As I mentioned in this section. Ever since the Hummingbird update, Google now scans a page to understand the topic that the page covers before it presents the page to the search results page.
TOPIC is the main highlight here.
If you want to succeed long-term in the SEO game, you should focus on topic instead of keyword. When you focus on topic, you will win on multiple keywords with a single post. This is how you can work smartly as a blogger.
The SEO technique of focusing on topic instead of keyword is called Semantic SEO. This is the main fundamental SEO technique you can focus on.
Apart from Semantic SEO, another fundamental technique you can use to build a SEO strong foundation for your blog is Skyscraper Content.
Semantic SEO
Semantic SEO is the strategy of creating content for topics instead of keywords. The strategy focuses on understanding the search intent and providing comprehensive information that address the needs of users.
Understanding the topic is the key to succeed with this strategy. Also, you need to have a sit-still skill as you will spend more time sitting on your seat to write long-form content.
To better understand how Semantic SEO works, take a look at the following screenshots.
🚨 If you don’t see the same results, try to use a VPN and set your server location in the US.
Above are the screenshots of the search results on Google for four different keywords:
- MailPoet review
- MailPoet pro price
- MailPoet free vs pro
- MailPoet pros and cons
As you can see, my blog post (the same blog post), shows up on each screenshot.
You know what it means?
I’ve won four different keywords on Google with only one blog post.
How come?
That’s the power of Semantic SEO.
When you focus on a specific topic and provide comprehensive, high-quality content, you can win multiple keywords at once.
In the case above, the topic I cover is “MailPoet review”. The post itself consists of 2,468 words — which quite long for a blog post.
In the post, I also cover sub-topics like MailPoet price, the comparison between MailPoet Free and Pro, and some pros and cons of MailPoet. I cover these sub-topics in sub-headings under the main heading of “MailPoet review”.
That’s how Semantic SEO works. You win on multiple keywords by publishing one content!
The Steps to Write a Blog Post Using Semantic SEO Technique
When you write a blog post using Semantic SEO technique, you will implement what’s called Topically Relevant content. What is that?
Typically Relevant content is basically an SEO technique where you cover the intended topic in-depth. It is the main part of Semantic SEO.
Since you want to cover a particular topic in-depth, then you need more words. That’s what I meant when I said you need to have a sit-still skill to succeed with Semantic SEO because you need more time to spend on your seat to write a long blog post.
But how long the post should be?
2,00 is the minimum word count for a blog post if you truly want to optimize your blog post using Semantic SEO technique.
As I mentioned above, the example of the blog post where I win four keywords (more actually) consists of 2,468 words.
The argument for this is simple enough. You can’t cover a topic in-depth with 500-700 words!
Here are the steps to write a blog post using Semantic SEO technique.
Step 1: Build a Keyword List
You can win multiple keywords on Google with only one blog post. But before you really win, you need to build the list of keywords you want to target.
I have provided a clear example above with one of my blog posts where I target four keywords at once.
In my case, my primary keyword I targeted was MailPoet review. While the secondary keywords I targeted were Mailpoet pro price, Mailpoet free vs pro, MailPoet pros and cons.
How to know if a keyword has a search volume on Google?
There are a bunch of keyword research tools you can use. My favorite is Free Keyword Tool from WordStream because it is free.
Visit the tool’s page. Once the page is loaded, enter the keyword you want to target and click the Search button.
You can put together your keywords using a text editor of your choice. Such as Notepad for Windows, TextEdit for macOS, or Gedit for Ubuntu and other Linux distros.
Once your keywords are ready, you can move on to the next step below.
Step 2: Create Topic Outlines
Creating the topic outlines is super helpful in writing a blog post using Semantic SEO technique.
You can also use the default text editor of your OS to create the topic outlines, but I strongly recommend you use a Markdown editor or Google Docs because you can add heading elements with these tools.
You can use heading elements as the reminders that these are (the text on headings) the keywords you want to target.
Here is an example of my outlines when I wrote my blog post in the example above.
Step 3: Write a Long Post and Publish
You have conducted the keyword research and have put together all the keywords you want to target.
You have also created the topic outlines.
So, the next step is to go to your WordPress dashboard and start to write the content.
Remember again. The minimum word count is 2,000 words. The longer, the better.
Skyscraper Content
Another SEO technique that is good for the long run is Skyscraper Content. The technique was invented by Brian Dean from Backlinko.
Skyscraper Content is a great SEO technique to be implemented on listicles. The idea is to write a listicle that is longer than the ones already on Google. That is why the technique is called Skyscraper Content because you want to create a post that is taller than the other existing ones.
Is this technique really effective?
Take a look at the following screenshots:
You can try the search results above yourself using the following keywords:
- Elementor alternatives
- Affiliate programs with recurring commissions
- Amazon affiliate alternatives
You will even be surprised because I managed to outrank websites that have higher DA!
That’s the power of Skyscraper Content.
How to Write a Blog Post Using Skyscraper Content Technique
If you try one of the above search results using several keyword variations, you will still find my blog post on Google’s first page.
For instance, when you type “Elementor alternatives”, “free Elementor alternatives”, or “paid elementor alternatives”, you will see that my blog post always shows up on Google’s first page.
What I am trying to say here is that you can implement all the Semantic SEO theories on Skyscrapper Content.
To create a blog post using the Skyscrapper Content technique, you can do the same steps as Semantic SEO above.
One crucial thing. Notice all the headlines on Google’s results page. Make sure to write a listicle that is longer than the ones that show up on Google’s results page because you want to build a taller building.
An example.
I wrote a post titled “12 Best Elementor Alternatives (Free and Paid)” because I found that the posts on Google’s first page mostly had shorter lists (less than 10 items).
Just make sure that your title aligns with your content. For instance, when you have a post titled “20 landing page builders”, you should also have exactly the same number of items on your list.
Writing Blog Posts for Affiliate Marketing
Until here, you should already have the knowledge you need to build a strong SEO foundation for your blog.
Now, it’s the time to apply it on the field.
Before you write your first affiliate content, you need to have the very basic marketing theory: marketing funnel.
Understanding Marketing Funnel
Marketing funnel is the steps that a customer gets through before they make a purchase. Understanding every step in marketing funnel is super-duper crucial to succeed in affiliate marketing because every step requires a different content type.
There are three steps involved in marketing funnel as you can see on the following image:
Awareness
Also known as ToFu (Top of the Funnel). On this step, people become aware of a certain problem that they want to solve, but they still don’t have the solution yet.
A simple instance.
Someone runs an e-ecommerce site with WooCommerce. She/he wants to boost the sales volume by offering product bundles. In a case like this, since WooCommerce has no built-in feature to create product bundles, she/he will typically search for some ideas on Google of how to solve the problem (creating product bundles).
For this particular problem, you can write a tutorial (your solution) about how to create a product bundle in WooCommerce. In your tutorial, you can mention a plugin that you join the affiliate program to and demonstrate how to use the plugin.
Here is an example of the content for ToFu.
The best content type for ToFu: Tutorial.
Consideration
Also known as MoFu (Middle of the Funnel). On this step, people already know the solution to solve their problem.
In the example above, they already know that the solution to create product bundles in WooCommerce is by using a plugin. When you introduce Bundler to them (via your post), they may consider installing it and try the free version.
If Bundler turns out to be unfit with them, they may look for other alternatives similar to Bundler. For this situation, you can write a listicle that enlists WordPress plugins similar to Bundler.
Here is an example of the content for MoFu.
The best content type for MoFu: Listicle.
Conversion
Also known as BoFu (Bottom of the Funnel). On this step, people already know the solution to solve their problem. They also already have a good level of interest over the solution. They just want to learn more about the solution.
Let’s take the same example above.
People already know about Bundler and even have installed it. They want to upgrade to the pro version, but still have some doubts. In this situation, chances are they will look for some reviews on Google.
You know what it means?
Correct. You can write an in-depth review about the solution they are already aware of.
Here is an example of the content for BoFu.
The best content type for BoFu: Review.
That’s all. If you have any questions, feel free to reach me out by sending an email to aliko@totheweb.net. I will try my best to answer your emails.
Good luck!