Bloggers who are interested in building
high traffic to their blog and maintaining a successful blog should pay
particular attention to search engine optimization techniques which can help to
improve the search engine rankings of their blogs. Search engines all employ
some type of ranking algorithm which is used to determine the order in which
websites are returned when an Internet user searches for information on a
particular topic. However, not all search engines use the same algorithm for
this purpose. As a result there is no simple solution to optimizing a blog for
high rankings on all search engines. There are a few tips though which can be
useful with most search engines. These tips include using relevant keywords,
generating back links to your blogs and using image tags in a beneficial way.
The Importance of Keywords
The use of relevant keywords in blog posts is
one of the most common and also one of the simplest ways to optimize search
engine rankings. However, not all bloggers agree on the best ways to use
relevant keywords to optimize search engine rankings. Some bloggers believe
keywords must be used often to create high keyword densities while others
believe using keywords at lower densities of 1%-3% and paying attention to
placement of the keywords is the most worthwhile strategy. Still other bloggers
argue that simply using relevant keywords as they come naturally in the flow of
the blog posts is sufficient to ensure search engines understand the content of
the blog.
Regardless of the keyword strategy a
blogger opts to employ all bloggers can benefit from researching relevant
keywords. They may have a blog which pertains to a general subject such as
gardening but may not be aware of the search terms typically used by Internet
users when researching this subject. Fortunately there are many programs
available which generate related keywords for a particular time which provides
the blogger with other keywords they should consider incorporating into the
blog. For the example of a blog pertaining to gardening the blogger may want to
use additional keywords such as container gardening or home gardening to
attract more interest from search engine users.
Generating Favorable Back Links
Back links are also another common factor
used in search engine ranking algorithms. Many search engines consider the
number of back links pointing to a website as well as the quality of the
websites which provide these back links. This means the search engine rankings
of the website which points to your blog could influence the amount of weight the
back link contributes to your own rankings. This is because some search engines
consider higher ranking websites to be more valuable than other websites which
do not rank well and therefore reward websites receiving back links from these
high ranking websites quite favorably.
Some search engine algorithms also consider
whether or not the back links are reciprocated or not reciprocated. In these
cases non reciprocal links are usually considered to be more valuable than
reciprocal links. Also, back links which come from link exchanges or link farms
are typically not considered to be very influential to search engine rankings.
How Images Can Improve Search Engine Rankings
Bloggers should also be aware that any
pictures used on their blog can be used to improve search engine rankings with
some search engines. This aspect of search engine optimization is often
overlooked because many bloggers believe the pictures are not viewed by search
engines. While this is true the search engines do crawl the code of the blog in
addition to the content on the blog. This means the search engine will view the
information provided in the image tags. Bloggers can take advantage of this by
using the image tags to provide relevant keywords which can bolster search
engine rankings. However, care should be taken to ensure the keywords used in
these tags also accurately describe the image because blog visitors will often
see the text included in these tags when they scroll over a picture on the
blog.
