What New (and Old) Bloggers Need to Know about SEO
In today’s episode we talk about search engine optimization, and in particular, the five mistakes bloggers make with SEO and what to do about them.



My guest today is Jim Stewart from Stewart Media. Jim has years of experience with SEO and has helped me with my SEO for ProBlogger and Digital Photography School.

He is currently helping us with SEO while we move ProBlogger to a new domain, and he is also going to be a speaker at this year’s 2016 ProBlogger event.
In This Episode
In this episode (which you can listen to above or on iTunes or Stitcher) we discuss the five SEO mistakes bloggers make, and then we move on to some reader questions from our Facebook page.

Jim adds that one thing that bloggers are getting right is creating great content. Here are the five mistakes and how to correct them:

Understand what Google is crawling on your site, so you can eliminate duplicate content. Type SITE:domain.com in the Google search bar to see what pages are being crawled. The number of pages being indexed should be equivalent to your number of posts. If additional pages are being indexed such as archives, tags, etc., install and configure the Yoast plugin to prevent this.
Setup Google Search Console (previously called Google Webmaster Tools) This will tell you everything Google sees on your site. You can use it to find and fix errors and submit sitemaps.
Optimize your permalink structure. You want DomainName/PostName. If you change your structure, you have to go back and 301 redirect old posts.
Use good post structure. The page title should be in the URL and enclosed in h1 tags. Use descriptive names in images.
Interlink your posts using a series of posts or sneeze pages. How to Create a Page That Propels People Deep Within Your Blog

Reader SEO Questions Answered

What is keyword stuffing and how to avoid it?
What is the best beginning blogger SEO tool?
What to focus on when using Yoast?
What numbers to measure and how to check volume in search console?
How many keywords to target on a blog and a blog post?
How important are onpage ranking factors, and should I bother focusing on them?
How popularity may be replacing linking factors in search results?
Is there value in getting links from social media?
Should time be invested in getting links from other sites?
If a site scrapes your content, should you issue a DMCA notice?
What are some tips when moving from Blogger to WordPress?
How to look for change of address settings in search console after a 301 redirect?
What to expect time-wise when ranking a new domain?
Why speed is such an important factor when choosing a host?

Tools and Resources Mentioned In This Post

Yoast Plugins for SEO
Google Search Console
Screaming Frog SEO Tool
Moz Tools
SEMRush
Google Keyword Planner
Hosting Recommendations
Stewart Media
BloggersSeo.com
ProBlogger Training Event 2016

How did you go with today’s episode?
If you have any additional SEO questions for Jim, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

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