SEO or search engine optimization is very important for blog sites to increase following and attract new readers. Through SEOs readers can actually know that your blog exists.  Here are some tips that you can utilize to increase readership. Otherwise, it will remain invisible and it will be buried along with the many blog sites out there.

Strategic keyword placement is a common technique, for the reason that search engines such as Google and Yahoo, rank sites based on keywords. Your title must have a primary keyword which you can use in headings or other tags in your content. Ensure that image text descriptions or alternate tags contain keywords that are used in your blog posts.

When you link to other pages or websites use keyword-rich links. Make sure that you have the right keyword count. Use these keywords as often as possible, but avoid overkill. A keyword density of 3% should be safe. Use synonyms for your keywords because search engines give attention to them. It also helps reduce monotony and keep readers interested.

Link your blog to blog search engines or other websites and even competitors. It is even better if you can get them to link you. It makes search engines think that you have great bearing. Search engine algorithms give websites different ranks and indexes. Google for example has a unique algorithm which detects additional SEO tips and techniques. Sitemaps and robots.txt files are also other common ways to make search engines aware of parts of your site that you want and do not want to be indexed.

Image from FindYourSearch

My answer is simple and complex at the same time – you can do everything! From linking to keywords to networking – all these things and more can help you go up the ranks in search engines. For this post, I’d like to go back to keywords. I know that many SEO experts say that keywords are a thing of the past but I believe that they still have weight. Just like PageRank, though, keywords are not the end all be all – they are merely a part of the larger (much larger) picture.

Darren Rowse wrote something about this many years ago, when keywords were still the “in” thing. He proposed asking yourself some questions when thinking about keywords:

• How do I want people to find this post in Search Engines?
• What will they type into Google if they want information on the topic you’re writing?
• How would I find information on this topic in the Search Engines?
• What results come up when I do plug these keywords into Google?
• What other keywords are other sites using?

These are very good questions to consider when thinking of the keywords to use in your blog. And remember, do not fall for stuffing your posts with keywords. Google is wise to this and you will be better off leaving it alone.

As I also mentioned in the previous post, no one really knows the exact algorithm that Google uses to determine PageRank. There are, however, some things that you can do in order to help increase it. Perhaps the most popular is gaining inbound links. For more information on how to build your link network, visit some of the recent posts I have on this topic. The bottom line is that the more inbound AND quality links that you have, the better your chances of getting a PageRank increase.

I think that traffic has a lot to do with the PageRank as well. The reason I am saying this is that my PageRank got slapped suddenly even if I do not think that the number of my inbound links had gone down. I do know that the traffic to my blog during that period of time was not as high as it was before. It makes sense but I am not really sure about this. In any case, it would not do any harm to step up your efforts in traffic building, would it?

How else do you increase your PageRank?

PageRank is NOT everything
In spite of the fact that a lot of people pay attention to PageRank, you should not fall prey to the temptation of focusing solely on it. Trust me, I have been there, I have done that. It really is satisfying to see the green mark go up in your Google Toolbar but having a high PR does not necessarily mean that you are doing well in the SERPs. In fact, some web pages with low PR rank higher than those with high PR. The algorithm to determine PageRank is all but a secret so we really do not know the specifics. What is clear is that if you get high rankings, you gain more visibility. At the end of the day, that is what matters.

I do understand, however, that some bloggers NEED a decent PageRank at the very least. This is particularly true for those who use their blogs in pay per post activities. Based on personal experience, a PR of at least 3 will ensure a steady and decent stream of income – paid post-wise. If you see your PR drop to 1 or even 0 (this happened to two of my personal blogs in the last PR update), do not dwell on it too much. Think of other ways by which you can improve your blog in terms of SEO. You just might find it surprising – PR will not bear much weight in your mind sooner than you think.