6 Tips for Better SEO on Blogger

SEO. I know it freaks me out a little too, but it is so very important. Christine from The So-Called Homemaker recently hosted a Blogger Pow Wow and taught us all a little about SEO. However, she's a WordPress blogger and it's a little more complicated for them. Being a Blogger blogger, Google takes care of a lot of it for us, but there are a few things you can do to give your blog posts a little boost!

For your individual posts:

1. Labels/Tags

These are the easiest things to use. Just click the "Labels" option in the right sidebar of the Post Editor Screen and add some labels or tags that apply to your post (you'll need to separate each one by commas). These labels are displayed in the footer of your posts (if you have this option turned on) and can also be used for grouping together similar posts, like recipes, for a Categories button on your sidebar.

2. URL

Sometimes you have a clever title that doesn't describe your post fully. This is where the custom URL comes into play. Say you titles your post "Here's lookin' at you kid" but your post is really about classic movies that everyone has to see at least once, then you'll want to change your URL to match the theme of your post rather than your clever title. Here's how you change the URL.

In the right sidebar of the Post Editor Screen, choose the "Link" option. Chose the "Custom Permalink" option and enter the last part of the URL you want your post to have. Then click Done.

3. Search Description for Your Posts

This little gem will help you in a couple of different ways. Firstly this will be the text that will be previewed when a search engine pulls your post. You'll want to include key words and phrases in this little snippet for those search engines. This is also the text that will show up when you post or share your blog post on Facebook.

If you don't already have the "Search Description" option available in the right sidebar of your Post Editor Screen, here's what you'll need to do to get it:

From the Blog Overview page, you'll want to choose the "Settings" option in the left sidebar. Under settings you'll see several suboptions, choose "other". Make sure the following selections are chosen:

Allow Blog Feed = Full
Enable Title Links and Enclosure Links = Yes

Now you want to choose the "Search Performance" suboption. Here you want to make sure your Meta Tags have been enabled. Then click Save Changes.

Once this is done you should see the "Search Description" Option in your right sidebar of your Post Editor Screen.

Photos and Images within posts:

4. Image Titles

These are basically little titles for your photos that search engines will use to filter results. Here's how you add them.

Add your photo to your blog post, then click on the photo and choose "Properties" from the little menu that pops up.

Add the title for the image in the "title text" box using a "_" in place of the spaces.

Add the title of your post or something similar according to what your post/image is about in the "alt text" box.

5. Image Links

If you have a "Pinable" image for your posts, like for a recipe or DIY project, then you'll really want to make sure that the image link is changed to the link for that particular post. So when your readers pin the image, it will link back to your post rather than the image itself.

To change the image link you click on the photo and choose "Edit Link" from that little blue menu this time.

Then paste the URL of your post in the "Web Address" box. If you haven't Published your post yet, you can grab the URL from the "Links" menu on the right sidebar of the Post Editor Screen.

For your blog as a whole:

6. Search Description Blog

Remember when we enabled your Meta Tags? Well there was a text box there. This is where you'll want to put a very brief description of your Blog overall. Think like a Tweet type description. Like the post Search Description, this text is what will show when search engines pull your blog in a list of results, so make it good.

And there you have it! I hope this helps explain a little bit more about how you can use SEO to help your blog stand out.

Is there anything I missed??