If you’re blogging, and are interested in search engine optimization (SEO), the first few sentences you write, are the most important. Your first sentence should not only tell your readers what your post is going to be about, but will also tell search engines, how to index your particular post. Search engines are looking for keyword density.
In my title and first sentence, you know I’m going to continue writing about “the first paragraph” of a post. I then proceeded to use the words, “search” ‘engine(s)’, three times, in my first paragraph. This means, my post will probably be indexed the highest, in searches, for “search engine(s)”. Or, maybe, for the word “first” (not a likely search term).
I know, from research, that search engine(s) or SEO, is a pretty popular “keyword”. I also know, there are many sites, with high Google rankings, that will have their posts indexed, before mine.
But today, I’m not writing this to rank high in the search engine results. I’m writing, to share what I have learned, about using keyword density, in the first few sentences.
Using keyword density can stifle the way you’re normally used to writing. But, with blogging, getting your posts indexed “high” (i.e. first page), and getting your blog “found”, are imperative to the success of a blog. If no one can find your blog by doing searches, you’re then relying on referrals.
Don’t get me wrong, a blog can grow, based on referrals alone. However, the growth of the blog, will probably be at a much slower pace.
So, the next time you’re writing a post, do a little experiment. Decide what your “keyword(s)” will be. Then, do a search using those keyword(s). What sites are ranking high for those same keywords? Do you think you can write your post, so that you can get indexed higher than others in the search engines? Or, should you change your keywords?
Take the challenge, by concentrating on that first sentence/paragraph.
Is it working? Drop me a line. Tell me what you did to get your post on the “front page’. Give me the link, and I’ll check it out.
This could be fun. 🙂
Great tip, Barbara. The past articles, I did not think about this, but for future, I will definitely implement this.
One thing I realized is that in the crowded search term field, even a great Search Engine Optimization can not get you to anything meaningful. Today, I googled every term I would like people to type into search engine, and tested how many items would come up. I was shocked to see a number like 43 millions, 8 millions, 120 millions, so on. It is rare to find the term that has less than 1 million. And imagine how many people are trying to compete on the term.
I definitely need to spend my time to think about my strategy here…
I am looking forward to more tips from you!
Yes, Asako, it is amazing to see the number of results for one simple search. For a blogger, it can be intimidating. But…to get your post on the first page, now that’s a rush.
When one is first beginning to blog, not using keyword density can create disparity, since your blog may never be found. Hence, even though a blogger is writing fantastic posts, they may begin to feel it’s all for not, since they are not getting any traffic. It would be a sad situation if they stopped writing, as undoubtedly, they are probably sharing tons of valuable information.
A new blogger is not only competing with 120 million +/- other blogs, but, now must learn how to “get found”. And then you read, blogging is easy…….I don’t think so.
Nice tip apart from seo values the first paragraph is one of the most important things to a post, and you need to be able to write one that truly kicks ass. The more you can tie it into the headline, the more effective it will be in keeping a user interested in your article.