Using blogs for SEO? Don’t fall into these traps.

If you’re planning on using your blog or a series of blogs to promote something, you’ll need to know how to spike your efforts with some solid search engine optimization ( seo) techniques. This is a portion of what I do for a living so all of the traps described here are things I’ve actually seen happen. Don’t let them draw you in.

 

Keyword stuffing

 

There’s been a lot written about this over the years and Google has periodically come up with their new updates that are generally named after animals we like and think are cute and/or cuddly. The point is if you don’t want to get penalized for misuse of the keywords you’ve selected, don’t overuse them.

Here’s a example of keyword stuffing for a imaginary plumbing store, although I’ve seen real examples like this.

 

Joe’s plumbing is a great plumbing store with all the features you’d expect from a top notch plumbing store in Ohio. This is a plumbing store you want to deal with and it has all the parts that you’ll need.

 

Good rule of thumb

 

When Google sees something like this, you’ll get penalized. Using keywords the right way means blending them in with the content so they sound natural and it’s also a good rule of thumb to apply them once ever 100 words or so.

 

So, the above bad example can be made good this way:

 

Joe’s plumbing is a great store with  all the features you’d expect from a top notch outfit in Ohio. This is a plumbing store you want to deal with and it has all the parts  you’ll need.

 

Text reads better

 

There’s another benefit to staying away from keyword stuffing and that’s the fact the text reads better. Sure, when you put too many keywords into the text you stand a better chance of attracting traffic until you get caught, but the text will read badly and that doesn’t present your company in the best possible light.

 

Don’t neglect the links

 

If keywords are the engine that drives your blog along, links are the gasoline. If you keep your reputation in mind here, it’s easy to understand why Google wants you to pay attention to where you’re sending these little feelers out.

 

Simply put, you need to link to quality, relevant sites. If Joe’s plumbing chooses a pet store to link to, that link might draw some negative attention. On the other hand, a link to one of their suppliers in the plumbing industry is a better choice.

 

It’s also a great idea to link to other posts you’ve written and use the keywords to increase both your exposure and ranking.

 

by Rob Starr

via  http://www.bloggingtips.com/2013/12/01/blogs-seo-dont-fall-traps/