Blog SEO is both a science and an art. There are many factors that affect blog SEO and many different opinions on which ones are the most important. I’ve established a few main points that I believe are vital to blogging success.
1. Dwell Time
Although there is no explicit ranking factor that can directly affect dwell time, the user experience is a critical factor in the user experience — and we know that user experience is king when it comes to SEO. Dwell time is the length of time a reader spends on a page on your blog site.
The time a visitor spends on your page is quite telling about how much value they find in it. With that, it makes sense that the longer they remain on the page, the more relevant it is to them.
The search engine algorithms don’t know your content strategy. Your blog could be focused on short-form content that takes just a minute or two to read. You might also include pertinent information at the beginning of your blog posts to give the best reader experience, which means less time spent on the page.
2. Page Speed
If you want your blog to be fast, be careful about what code you use and how many plugins you use.
If you’re having trouble with page speed, try using HTML-Cleaner. It shows you extraneous code that can be removed without any programming skills.
3. Mobile Responsiveness
Mobile-friendly sites are better for SEO since more than half of Google’s search traffic in the United States comes from mobile devices. It’s important to optimize a blog site for mobile since there is no way around it.
The industry rule of thumb is to keep things simple. Most pre-made site themes these days are already mobile-friendly, so all you’ll need to do is tweak a CTA button here and enlarge a font size there.
4. Index Date
Search engines update their records to reflect changes in content. In most cases, if you have a site that’s older than 2015, search engines will be using old indexes as opposed to the most current content.
One way to improve these on-page SEO factors is to implement a historical optimization strategy. This strategy works well on blogs that have been established for a few years and have a fair amount of content already.
5. Recent Data
This is another indirect ranking factor of SEO, should be included in blog posts. It also gives visitors relevant and accurate information which makes for a positive reader experience.
When you include a link to a credible site that has original, up-to-date data, you’re telling the search engine that this site is helpful and relevant to your readers.
