Very basic SEO for food bloggers

If you’re just starting out, or if you were just blogging for fun to this point, to start achieving your goals, you’ll have to start understanding SEO.

SEO is constantly changing, so the learning will never stop. But the basics are actually very simple: write things that people want to read about, and write it in a way that makes sense and is easy to read. Google is serious about wanting you to write for your readers, not for Google.

On the content side:

1. Get clear on what makes your blog unique
   This is some pre-work that will help you as you build (or rebuild) the foundation of your blog. Having a niche is important for many reasons, but one of them is so that Google knows specifically what your blog is about, so that they know who to send your way.
   It will also help your visitors connect with you more quickly, and remember you.
   Some quick examples of bloggers who are clear on this:
   – Well Seasoned Studio says “Elevated Meals with Minimal Effort”
   – I Heart Naptime says “Easy Family-Friendly Recipes”
   – Coco Cake Land says “Modern and cute cake designs”
2. Learn how to use keywords for your posts.
   This is going to be the foundation for writing blog posts that rank on Google.
   Cooking with Keywords course is highly recommended if you don’t currently do any keyword research, or if you’re not seeing good results from what you are doing. (And if you have concerns about it before purchasing, just reach out to Aleka, she’s very kind and very helpful.)
   If you have no idea what keywords are, start with this free webinar, then you can advance to the course.
3. Create a content strategy.

On the technical side:

1. Make sure your blog is loading pretty quickly and is accessible to people with disabilities.
   Test a popular blog post here.
   If it should be faster, make sure you’re using a quality host like BigScoots (a low-quality host will keep you slow!). Then make sure you’re using a quality speed plugin like WPRocket (and read how to set it up here).
2. Use a quality theme and make sure it’s not too old.
   Technology changes fast, so even great themes that are more than a few years old could be holding you back.
3. Set up your Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
4. Install the Yoast plugin and go through the basic setup.
   (But as you’re writing each post, don’t try too hard to get to their green light as that tends to be overkill that can actually set you back.)

For further learning, all of the webinars from TopHatRank are fantastic.

And if you’re looking for one-on-one SEO audits to get to the next level, Casey Markee is highly recommended (get on his waiting list early, because it’s usually pretty long), as well as TopHatRank.