Gone are the days when you could just whip up a snappy post, throw it up to Blogger or WordPress and let your traffic come. These days, bloggers need to be savvy about things like analytics, SEO and managing traffic sources like Twitter.
But there is one, giant traffic source each of us know well…
If the Blogosphere had a Bible, Google would be the index… and the index to the index. Google is the way people search for things online. Things like your content on your blog.
I’m not going to talk SEO here, because that is a topic for another day, but I think it is important for all of us to see how Google – or any search engine for that matter- “sees” your blog. Because if more people are using Google than any other search engine to search and discover content, don’t you want to know how Google is looking through your site?
I am in no way a Google know it all. In fact, I know very little…{and if you want to add to this post, please leave a comment} but there are 5 things I think as a blogger, you need to be aware of and at least have a tiny bit of understanding about.
3 ways Google searches your blog
1. Web robots, crawlers spiders- Oh my!
Google calls them robots, I like to think of them as crawly spiders…but not creepy. These “fingers” or “legs” crawl over your blog, identifying searchable terms. It’s the way Google determines if there is new and/or updated pages and content on your site. Unlike a spider, the robot systematically looks through your blog. It’s programmed to look at text, links, and content like title posts.
2. Indexing your content
Once pages are crawled, Google processes the information it finds on your site and compiles a massive index of the content. What does it look for? Content tags, title tags and ALT tags.
Does those tags look familiar? They should. Each time you post, you have the option of not only categorizing your posts, but tagging your posts as well – or, providing relevant key words to describe what you are blogging about.
The ALT tags? Your photos. You know when you mouse over a photo, a small tag pops up with the title of that photo? That is an ALT tag and is searchable by Google.
So, for example, rather than call this photo what it is to me: A lot of work, if I want it to be searchable, I need to tag it as I would want others to search for it: Cupcake topper flag.
Everything you put on your site- be it video, photos or text content, should be tagged appropriately. What do I do? I think “How would I search for this on Google?” and that is my tag. Here is a great link for more information about tagging photos.
Perhaps the quickest way to optimize SEO {though we’re not talking SEO here today} is through meta tags. A meta tag is a hidden tag that lives in the <HEAD> of an HTML document. It is used to supply additional information about the HTML document. While we all use different themes in our blogs {I use Thesis and it is pretty explicitly labeled}, you should be aware of how to use meta tags in your blog.
3. Page Rank – more than a popularity contest
Or is it? Page rank, in Google’s terms, is:
the measure of the importance of a page based on the incoming links from other pages. In simple terms, each link to a page on your site from another site adds to your site’s PageRank.
-from Google
What does this mean to me and you? The more tag, the more you use Google’s guidelines to help you along the way, the better your page will rank and the higher it will show up in its search results.
But another thing to consider is, getting back to content, how Google views the overall content of your blog- not just your tags and meta tags. It also looks at fonts {using the headline font rather than just bolding important points in your post}, and placement of text to rank your page.
That’s pretty cool stuff, no? And pretty damn intimidating.
Personally, I can’t say I think about every single post like I should when it comes to tagging, but if I have a great post that I think can get a lot of traction, I’ll research keywords for tagging, I will choose photos that are appropriate and search-friendly,and I’ll take the time to really think about headers, font styles and titles.
For more information about Google, and for tools you can use as a site owner, visit their Webmaster essentials page. I found the links and information to be really useful and while I am still no expert on SEO and optimizing my blog for Google, I think I am on my way.
This is seventh in a series of blogging tips. A was for Audience, B was for Building your brand, C was for Creativity, D was for Design, E was for Evolution and F was for Fans and Followers.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This post is so informative – and so far, far over my head.
I can’t imagine having the sheer energy to make everything labeled and include SEO optimal words in every post – I use up all my moxie in simply writing a post!
I’ve never “tagged” a single post. Categories, yes. And, quite frankly, I get too confused over figuring out what are the good keywords and such, even using Google tools. One of these days I will. In the meantime I’m just grateful when I get the time to write….
All that said, THANK YOU for writing it up so that technologically-illiterate people like me can understand it. I’ve never tagged a single post. I’ve done the ALT tags for pictures, but, then, I don’t put a lot of pictures on my site. Guess I should go through all your posts (A-F) and learn some more.
Michele – The Professional Family Manager´s last blog ..Entertainer Isn’t In My Job Description