The 2021 Blogging Guide: SEO Tips, Formatting Ideas, and What Works Now
2020 was a disruptive year, so it’s no surprise that 2021 has a few SEO and blogging shakeups. Relax…Google isn’t reinventing the algorithm and blogging is still blogging, but there are some modifications for 2021 that every copy blogger, blogger, brand, website (you get the idea) needs to be aware of to rank well and prosper.
SEO Tips for 2021
Have a Strong Sense of Identity & Focus on Quality Content
For years, we’ve asked “what’s your story” and have advised on how to find your story. Now it’s becoming apparent that a solid sense of self—who you are, what you do, etc., strongly impacts SEO and behavioral analytics findings (more on that below).
Conduct Fastidious SERP Analysis
You’ll know if you’re striking the right tone by regularly conducting SERP analysis. SERP stands for search engine performance. SERP analysis allows you to see which keywords are ranking best, how your keywords rank with competitors, etc. It will help you make decisions on which keywords to optimize; though, importantly, these analytical tools are strictly informative; they aren’t a cheat sheet.
Focus on Behavioral Analytics
Hence, behavioral analytics give you more useful information than many other analytical tools in 2021. The focus on keywords won’t be as heavy and analyzing data about what people are doing on a site will have more priority. When you know how people are using your site, you can create content to meet your users’ needs.
Check Your Site’s Mobile Experience
Lastly, focus on your users’ mobile experience; in 2021, the algorithm is mobile based. Given desktop versions of websites sometimes have links that are dropped by the site’s mobile versions, it pays to do a side-by-side and to check things out. To get started, try this mobile friendly test of your site URL.
Blog Formatting Tips for 2021
Refresh Your Content
Comb through your website and start giving your aging content a makeover. Refresh and revise blog content, write new headlines, and update links with keywords that are consistent with your findings in Keyword Explorer.
Write in Your Natural Voice
A natural writing style is more engaging and easier to read than one that is put-on. Adapt your unique voice to whatever style of writing you have to employ for the overall brand to connect more authentically with readers.
Use Content Clusters
Content clusters not only boost your blog’s functionality, but it also boosts rankings. Content clusters are like mind-maps. Come up with a common idea or theme and then create several pieces of content around that central theme and idea. Thematically consistent content with internal links benefits your click-through performance.
Drop the Tabs
Another blog formatting tip for 2021 is to make your content visible on the page. If you use dropdown tabs, now is the time to drop them all together. People are less inclined to use those tabs, which negatively impacts your bounce rate.
Become a Header Hotshot
User experience continues to be important in 2021. Boost your users’ experience with headers and great formatting. Headers (H2s, H3s, etc.) need to be your BFFs. Here are some “headers up” for writing blog headers in 2021:
· Use the natural keywords you unearthed during keyword searches and SERP analysis in your headers
· Be grammatically consistent with headers. If you’re leading with a verb, lead with a verb. Don’t do something like this:
o Getting Fit Overview
o Changing Your Diet
o Lifting Weights
o Why Cardio Matters
· The last bullet in the sub-list is disruptive. “Doing Cardio” is much better as it’s consistent.
· Make sure your H2s and H3s relate back to the main header and the preceding header. So, if your primary topic is Getting the Body You’ve Always Wanted in 2021, then the above H2s work perfectly; an appropriate H3 for “Changing Your Diet” might be ‘Switching to Plant-Based Proteins’. The point is the connections are obvious.
· Use numbers in your headers when appropriate as this improves page rank.
Add a Little Long Form to Your Short Form
One aspect of SEO remains true, which is that the longer someone spends with your content, the better it will reflect. While nobody is hating on short form content, spice up your site with longform pieces as well.
Cut the Crap in Your Writing
In On Writing, Stephen King notes that roughly a quarter or more of any body of writing can be cut and nobody would miss it. People notoriously use filler words and verbose connective tissue that can be axed. You should only ever give your audience your best material. Every word and sentence should have a purpose and should teach your audience something new. Here are some revision strategies:
· Revise and edit every blog post
· Delete adjectives and superfluous text (ex: sat down…cut the down)
· Assess the writing for value; everything should add value to the reader’s experience
· Remove redundancies in the content
Remember, clean writing is readable writing.
Linking Tips for 2021
Click-Through Strategies (Baby Got Backlinks)
Lastly, let’s talk about some blog linking strategies working in 2021. Building quality backlinks in 2021 should be your focus; here are a few suggestions for doing so:
· Only link to highly relevant, keyword related content. In other words, if your page is about couch potato fitness, then don’t link to a more popular page about potato chips. Just because they both have the word ‘potato’ doesn’t mean Google isn’t going to know you’re trying to cheat the system.
· Link to pages likely to return the favor…while sure, it’s great to link to a giant fish, a small or medium-size fish is more likely to link back to you.
· Place links in body copy and apply them only to relevant verbiage. In other words, don’t just drop the link on the page like a hot potato. Give it some meat to go with it.
Clean Up Link Clutter
Speaking of links, declutter your page. You don’t want to use an excess of clickthrough links (really, less is more in 2021). So, as you refresh old content or create new content, only keep the links that really help and matter.
Getting Internal Linking Right
Lastly, declutter your own links. If you have a habit of including an internal link in the same place in every article, remove those and only include the essential ones.
But…don’t drop all of your internal links. In fact, to keep your audience engaged on your website, make sure the last link they click on, after they’ve read the content and have gotten everything possible from your post, circles back to you. (Just like that.)
As we look at the 2021 blogging guide to SEO, one thing we at The Storyteller Agency notice is that quality content and telling real stories are still as high-ranking, in style, and on point as ever. If you’re interested in having great SEO results in 2021, contact us, and let us help you rank high.
