Lessons from My Weight Loss Blog: How I Do My SEO

I’ve been trying to rank pages on my websites for various keywords and I’m achieving success with my approach so I have decided to share some results. One keyword I’ve been trying to rank for is the best weight loss programs, something I’m already rank #1 for.

I’m not an SEO expert which is why I believe the tips I’ll be sharing with you below will be easy to implement and as a result you will easily get ranked well for keywords you plan to rank for. I’d also like you to know that the techniques in this article aren’t the all in all when it comes to SEO, but they are something that works for me.

I’d also like you to know that the fact that I used these techniques in the weight loss niche doesn’t mean they can’t work in other niches, so let’s go straight into the article.

Finding Valuable Keywords

When I want to optimize my blog for the search engines the first thing I do is to “find valuable keywords”. Try to reread that first sentence again and you will notice I’m not talking about keyword research or finding keywords, but finding “valuable” keywords.

What is the Difference between Valuable and Ordinary Keywords?

I think this is an important question that should be answered before we continue. In SEO terms, keywords are terms and phrases people use to discover our websites but the problem is that most people just try to rank for any keywords for the huge boost in traffic. There are keywords that will only send you around 100 visits a day and make you thousands of dollars, and there are keywords that will send you 1,000+ visits a day and only make you tens of dollars. This is not an exaggeration and you might want to test it out yourself.

The key to SEO success for my weight loss blog isn’t in ranking for ordinary/generic keywords but in ranking for valuable/paying keywords. For example, instead of trying to rank for keywords like weight loss my main aim is in raking for keywords like best weight loss programs, Bistro MD coupons, medifast coupons etc. The difference is that the first keyword (“weight loss”) is to generic and competitive while the rest are more specific and product related, and as a result easier to rank for. In other words, someone who discovers me through the keyword “weight loss” might be interested in free articles about weight loss, in weight loss programs or in any other aspect of weight loss, but someone who came searching for “best weight loss programs” wants just that, is a more targeted visitors and will potentially become a subscriber and make me money.

You will notice the huge difference between both keywords but even though the keyword I’m trying to rank for gets fewer searches it will end up giving me better results.

Key point: Don’t go for a keyword because it gets lots of searches; only go for a keyword because it will contribute to your downline.

Keyword Research Tools and Resources You Should Use

Trying to cover everything I know about keyword research will make this article boring and too long so I’ll be sharing some of my favorite resources online. Here are top keyword research tools and resources you should check out.

Google Adwords Keyword Tool: This is currently the best freely available keyword tool provided by Google itself and it gives you insights into how many searches a particular keyword gets, how tough the competition is and what kind of traffic variations of the keyword gets.

The SEOMoz Keyword Research Guide: Who better to show you how to do keyword research than the industry leader itself? SEOMoz is currently one of the foremost resources online when it comes to keyword research and this article is like an ultimate guide to keyword research.

Copyblogger’s Keyword Research Guide: Copyblogger also has a comprehensive resource on keyword research so make sure you check it out!

Techniques to Give Your Pages an External SEO Boost

Once you’ve determined which keywords you want to rank for the next step you should take is to give your pages a boost.

It is one thing to write quality content well-optimized for the search engines and it is another thing to get your content to rank. Most of the ranking decisions happen outside of your content so you should take necessary steps to increase your chances of being ranked well. There are several steps that can be taken to help your rankings but I think two metrics are currently the most important off-page metrics at the moment and I’ll be explaining more about them below.

1. Social Sharing: Social media recently surpassed search in influence and this is a huge sign as to what the future of search will be. Major search engines online are already starting to place emphasis on how social media can influence your results, and a lead example is Google itself that recently launched the Google+ social network. Personally, I have noticed that it takes a few hours to get most of my articles indexed but whenever I tweet an article immediately after it is published it will be indexed immediately. We all know search engines love content, and social media gives them a lot of content so they spend a huge chunk of time monitoring what goes on there. The more social media activity you can get going on around your blog the better and the higher your chances of giving your content a push.

2. Quality Links: Links have always been the number one metric when it comes to writing content that get shared and I’m sure they will still be for years to come.

One thing you should consider when it comes to link building, though, is that not all links are equal. A link from inside the content of an authoritative blog will make a whole lot of difference when compared to generic links from blog comments. In this regards, after thinking of a way to get quality links that benefit both I and the blog owner I want to be getting links from I decided to follow the guest blogging approach. In other words, I write quality guest posts for big blogs and get good links and I notice huge increase in rankings for my blog. This approach has landed me on Problogger and JohnChow.com and the result is more increase in rankings.

There are several articles online on the subject of guest blogging but my favorite is this guest blogging article on YoungPrePro.com.

Data Mining and Effective SEO

The above are steps to help you rank for keywords you desire in the search engines but quality SEO doesn’t end there, you also have to work through a process I like to call “data mining”. Essentially, what you have to do is rank for basic keywords and then monitor keyword variations and try to rank for them.

For example, as someone ranking for the keyword “best weight loss programs” I’ll also get other keyword variations such as “best weight loss programs 2012”, “best premium weight loss programs” etc., and by taking look at these variation keywords I can see where I rank for each and then try to rank #1 for them all. The better my rankings for each keyword the more results I’ll get on the long run.

John Smith has been leveraging SEO to build his weight loss blog and he helps people find the best Bistro MD coupons and Diet to Go coupon on his WeightLossTriumph.com blog.