Are you having a tough time trying to optimize your article content for the search engines?

I have the same or similar problems on an on going basis.

So this morning I have a few quick links to some articles containing some of the better information about getting your articles and blog posts ranked in the search engines with some optimization tips for your blogs and article content.

I often check to see how my this blog ranks on the search engines and then try to figure out from there how to get it to rank better. Lately I have been trying to figure out how to do it by content optimization. So I plugged my main keyword into google to see what the top ten results are.

On the top of page 1 in Google is steve pavlinas blog post how to make money from your blog with Probloggers blog post How bloggers make money from blogs occupying the number 2 position

For my main keyword: make money blogging

How am I ranked by google? Currently on page 4 for the broad term make money blogging

Page 3 for “make money blogging”

Page 1 for “how to make money blogging”

Page 2 for how to make money blogging

When I typed in the primary keyword make money blogging I found as I said steve pavlinas article on top. I clicked through to see what he was doing with the article itself. I found a HUGE post over 7,000 words.

And probloggers article post is 1,359 words.

So just looking at those two criteria for article optimization we can see that article length is an on page SEO factor that influences the search engine placement for your blog post.

Dr Andy Williams of Ezseo has a great newsletter post with a few case studies in PDF format (free download by the way) about google ranking case studies.

The two reports he gives you lay out some interesting conclusions about article optimization for the search engines. Which seem to hold true for both the pavlina and problogger posts.

When you’re writing blog posts or articles for that matter I know you have read and been quoted that they should be between 350 and 800 words. The reason for this is apparent upon close examination. The longer the article or blog (not that longer is neccesarily better - depends on the context of course) the more opportunity you will have to theme the content for your keywords.

It’s not that longer is necessarily better, its just that longer

articles can contain more relevant content.

Again if you follow this conclusion and read the pavlina and problogger posts you find this:

That the longer articles do better in more competitive markets because there is more opportunity on the page to theme your content with your keywords. Andy Williams theory about this is that google just finds these long well themed articles more relevant. He backs up his claim in the case studies.

This is a screen capture of the problogger post, Ive highlighted in

Yellow the keyword term make money

in blue the term Blog and blogging related terms

and in other colours terms related (synonyms) to money ie: earn money, revenue, interest(s), eggs, basket, options, income. There are others that could be considered as synonym terms for example advertise(ing)

If you aren’t listed well on the search engines, you probably will not do well online in general.

Most people don’t know how to get their sites listed on the engines (while others, unfortunately, know too well!). This is a problem for both the merchant or in your case the blogger and customer or the reader. Like me You’ve had the experience of searching for something, finding what looks like a good relevant website/blog on Google, and clicking it - to find a huge article or blog post as good content squatting.

Why do they get ranked high instead of you? Because they know the secrets of search engine placement.

Search engines look for keywords.

These keywords are placed in strategic spots on your page that tell the search engines what your web site is all about. Google and other major search engines are seeking out content on your website/blog relevant to the searches that their customers enter.

For instance, if you sell or blog about Rubik’s cubes, your keyword would be “Rubik’s cube” (okay, it’s sort of a a phrase, but I think you get the idea).

You want people looking for “Rubik’s Cube” to come to your blog.

So does Google. Google makes their money on people being able to find what they’re seeking. And what they’ve found is that most people selling “Rubik’s Cubes” have that phrase sprinkled liberally throughout their home page, and often on subsequent pages of the site.

If you ensure that “Rubik’s Cube” shows up on your page frequently and in appropriate places, Google will rank you higher than your competitor who doesn’t do this.

They would place those keywords everywhere - having perhaps a 50% usage of the keywords. It turned out to be text like: “The Rubik’s cube of the Rubik’s cube go through Rubik’s cube to Rubik’s cube .” Ok that is a bit overblown, but no doubt you have seen BS keyword stuffing done that way.

GO deep or wide with your keywords? 

SO when considering keyword optimization for a blog post or a website should you go deep or wide?

“A broad keyword list is one that has lots of related and lateral keywords, and not just variations of one root keyword”

“it’s so important to go wide FIRST before you go deep, it will assure that you get the maximum amount of traffic and allow you to identify the most profitable sub niches in the market you’re in For this reason, search engines have learned that a really high keyword mention is a sure sign of search engine spam, and they won’t list these sites. Don’t do it.”

Amits post is more tailored to PPC marketing and campaigns but the same applies to writing blog posts and optimizing your content in those blog posts.

So follow the above steps read the linked posts and start thinking more about optimizing your blog posts and website for the search engines and watch your blog or website move up the pages. Hopefully and with a little more attention to detail and some extra work you’ll find your self at number one !!


make money blogging