SEO TIPS: 10 Steps to Blogging Responsibly

In our last post we mentioned blogging responsibly as a way to gain good links. What does blogging responsibly mean?

1. Write great content. A weak, nonsensical blog that manages to get your main keywords in a few dozen times isn’t going to cut it anymore. Google has cracked down and now considers links that come from bad content as not good at all. Develop a clear, crisp writing style and create 300-700 words blogs with at least one takeaway that is of value.
2. Don’t over-use anchor text. In the past, anchor text seemed like the number one way to create links that would boost up the content being linked to. No more – Google is not rewarding sites based on anchor text links and in fact finds sites with over use of anchor text links to be suspect. (Use Read more about *your topic* here, instead!)
3. Limit your links to 1 per 200-400 words. Don’t spam links in your blog text. Several websites were penalized in the recent updates for blogs that linked back 15 or even more times per post. 1-3 links per 300-700 word post is ample.
4. Add images or video. Using visuals in your blog posts, and captioning them can make them much more interesting to viewers and encourage sharing – especially if the caption is funny. Internet memes can cause a post to be shared just for the meme!
5. Ride on the back of the news. Finding a way that your niche or topic relates to big news stories can help you piggyback on interest in those stories, increasing traffic and possibly getting your links shared to a wider audience.
6. Use social sharing. Have all the buttons available on your blog to get your message out there. If you use WordPress, follow other bloggers and see if they will follow you back. Getting reblogged on a regular basis can help boost your visibility.
7. Blog regularly. Going for a few weeks with no blogs then pounding in a dozen overnight is not a good plan. Post every other day, or twice a week, and keep it consistent.
8. Re-blog relevant content. This can help keep you blog going strong on off days when you don’t have a new original post. It also brings you to the attention of other bloggers who may return the favor.
9. Turn off pingbacks. If you are blogging regularly, Google will index you and you really don’t need these – plus, some think they are now looked on unfavorably by Google.
10. Moderate comments. Spam comments can hurt your blog, so check before you approve! Delete comments that are only using you for a spam backlink to their own site.

By following these ten tips, you can blog responsibly and help your cause, not hurt it. A lot of the tips apply to guest blogging and commenting as well – if you wouldn’t want it on your own blog or in your own comments section, be courteous and don’t put it on someone else’s blog or in their comment section.  Now you are ready – let the power blogging commence!