So I don’t have some big research project here nor do I have anything to back up what I’m about to say. Is that like committing a blog crime? If so, sue me…or jail me…or ticket me…whatever you feel! 😉
Blog SEO Tasks
I received a comment on my last article pertaining to blog SEO and I need to hear what others thinks about this.
Here is the background info for you. I stated in my article that without SEO, no one will find you. You will wither away in the vast Outernet wasteland. The comment I received was the following from David:
“But no one will know you even exist without seo” – This is simply not true. SEO can help your blog tremendously, even put your blog on the map if you do it right, but to say a blog can’t blow up without SEO is ridiculous.
There are lots of blogs that get very little traffic from search engines. I guess these blogs are more of the exception than the rule, but the #1 thing you can do is create quality content and you won’t ever need to “build links” or know what a “meta tag” is.
Okay, so here is my thought on this. Uh,,,you really didn’t think I was going to keep my big trap shut did you?! While I feel David is correct on the content piece, I would pose the following question: Isn’t writing great content an SEO task in and of itself? Or just writing content at all?
What Is Seo?
For those who don’t do seo for a living (LIKE ME), I can simplify it. It’s optimizing your blog or website for search engines. So, doing things to improve your search results. Easy right?! NOT!!
There are tasks associated with seo and they range from design, link building, anchor text, keyword research, etc. I would venture to say however, that after you design your site, content is the first thing you need.
So wouldn’t it be safe to say that content is the first task to be completed with regard to seo? Am I crazy? Okay…refrain from answering that. 🙂
This is why I said I don’t have some big test I completed with solid results for you. I just have my opinion and the comment I received made me think. (That’s why you see smoke.)
Now, for a complete A-Z on SEO, grab this free book from seoMoz.
But before you do, answer this question for me! I said, wait, don’t go yet!! Do you consider content writing a part of seo’ing your blog/site?
I would love to hear your thoughts and feel free to pass it on to others! Happy Friday my friends!
Well said Lisa. I believe that SEO is not a fast blaze to the top spot in search engine result. It needs time. There is no magic in SEO but it can definitely help you rank up once all the “ingredients” are there like clean codes, great content and so on.
Thank you Paul. Nice to know others see the journey is not instant!
Haha you state the indesputable point that writing publishing quality information is, in and of itself, an SEO tactic. I am entirely against David’s opinion. SEO is the only way to get recognized.
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Great Blog about SEO. I am new in SEO field. I want to know about robots.txt file and sitemap. How we make these (Robots.txt and Sitemap)
Can you tell me more about Robots.txt and Sitemap.
I hope you tell me soon as soon
Thanks. Good Post
We’ll do! Welcome to my blog!
When I first started my blog I was putting up solutions to Joomla and 3D art problems that were plaguing me at the time.
As such, I wrote the articles with specific phrases in mind that other desperate people might search on. So I guess I was writing for both search engines and people.
Reading Copyblogger and the like you see that writing good content with good info is important, but it should be structured in a certain way to make things easier.
I agree with others that my first pure SEO task on a blog is to change those permalinks. I also chuckle to myself when I see those article ID numbers in the url, especially when it’s some IM guru service or something.
Thanks for posting the ebook, I’m gonna check it out!
Well you obviously are doing something right John! 🙂 You have a TOP NOTCH site that is getting a lot of attention!!
I have been having trouble with feedburner.
When i try to start an account, it comes up with this answer:
“The URL does not appear to reference a valid XML file. We encountered the following problem: Error on line 35: The element type “link” must be terminated by the matching end-tag “”.”
is there any way you can help me?
Hi there:
I am not sure of what that issue might be. I would suggest you get in touch with Davesh over at Technshare.com. He has a contact form there and he is the “mechanical” guru!!
Hope this helps,
Lisa
To answer directly, the first peeve I have is seeing a default permalink.
I can’t tell you how many “professional SEO’s” I’ve LMAO at because the permalink is p134 and the like.
They ruin the rep of all of you.
LMAO Dennis!!! I love it!! :0 seo “guru” right?!
Is content in and of itself, SEO…..this is the basic question, yes?
I know very little more then the basics here, I outsource my SEO, but, while you wrap it very intriguingly above, I’m going with no.
I write, she optimizes it.
I know very popular blogs, A-list blogs, with little to no SEO at all, at least not done on purpose.
In using your example though Dennis, actually writing the content would be the first “unknown” seo move though dont you think?
How is simply writing it optimizing it at the same time?
It’s not necessarily “optimizing” the content….but writing is optimizing your site. Writing or adding product, whatever your site entails. In my opinion anyways. You complete keyword research (some of us anyways 🙂 then you write. Now, you may not add proper anchor text or inter link or any of that…but if you have no content, then search engines cant find you either. Hence, writing is an SEO task.
OK, I’d call that taking the long way around, but I see your point. 😉
Excellent Dennis! And yes, sometimes I take the scenic route!! 😉
Without SEO no blog exist. For me, first step in SEO is to add title and Meta Description tag
ATUL
excellent and thanks for the feedback!! 🙂
I fully concur with the views of this post on SEO.
Whilst this activity can sometimes seem tedious the work put in will ultimately reward your business
My point exactly! 🙂
Some time ago, I was discussing about King in Blogging. Why we are electing Kings? Content is King, Community is King and now its time for SEO is King. There can’t be multiple Kings in a country? OK, then lets make them different Kings of different Countries, conflict solved?
I’m not an SEO Expert or Guru but whatever I’m experiencing over these years running websites and blogs – Without SEO Killer content is a lion inside den. And perfect SEO without worthy content are the power glasses for a blind. Hope, the analogies work find 😉
Regarding first SEO step, I think about a topic and look how I can make good title with keywords in it.
I guess the friend who wrote that comment (you quoted) is also not against these established beliefs.
I like that analogy! 🙂 similar to:
too many chiefs and not enough Indians! Well said
Hi Lisa, writing and publishing quality contents on my blog is my first and basic SEO task. Without quality contents, even if we do SEO and get traffic, we can’t make the visitors stick to our blog or subscribe to our email list.
Sathish
you are 100% correct Sathish! Well said
For me, the first SEO task will be the targeted keywords choosing. It is important since the other SEO strategies will do around the keywords.
Dana:
I didnt even think of it that way, but you are correct! Research first!!!!
Your post makes a lot of great points, but I often get tired of trying to explain SEO in order to teach people to write for optimization. There are lots of great writers out there who can’t write SEO at all, and there are lots of crappy writers who properly optimize their garbage. I think if you write truly high quality content, it’s likely to at least partially optimize itself. Ultimately, you don’t need to know much about SEO in order to write highly optimized articles. I have a very simple strategy that I have been using quite successfully that I would like to share with you here: http://www.contentforconversions.com/article-writing-tips-how-to-write-seo-articles-right/
It’s a simple SEO article writing strategy, but it has brought us great success here for our own needs and the needs of our clients. Thanks for the post and keep up the great content.
-Russ
thanks for the feedback Russ and I will check this out