How to Write a Blog Post for SEO: 10 Recommendations

A blog is one of your business’s best assets. Writing on your own site is a real plus for your online visibility (and a cornerstone of any inbound marketing strategy). An SEO-minded blog gives your customers the information they need about your business, and blog posts are one of the most reliable ways to show up in Google’s search results.

So there’s everything to gain.

But how do you write a blog post if communication, marketing, or writing isn’t your day job?

Here are 10 recommendations from the Référenceur team for writing a blog post that works for SEO and holds your readers’ attention.

Recommendation 1: Start With Keywords

Writing a blog post is great. But if nobody sees it, you’ve wasted your time. So the first thing to do is to write around queries and keywords people actually search for, so your post shows up in the results for those searches. In short, that’s what SEO is all about.

Keyword research is the key. It shows what your audience searches for, what they care about, and roughly how many monthly searches each topic gets in your field. With that research in hand, you can focus your writing on the topics that matter most.

Pick the right keywords and you’ll show up on Google; show up and you’ll earn clicks; earn the right clicks and you’ll get leads and sales.

Work those keywords into your headings and naturally throughout your text, following the basics of on-page SEO. Use the exact phrases, but also related words and phrases from the same topic, so the post covers the subject the way a reader expects.

Recommendation 2: Structure Your Post With Headings

Your post needs clear headings: the H1, H2, H3, and so on are the titles and subtitles that organize your page, in order of importance.

Headings make your text easier to read and scan, and they help search engines understand how your content is organized and what each section covers. Someone skimming only your headings should be able to tell what the post is about. That’s why it helps to include your keywords in your headings, phrased naturally rather than stuffed in.

How Should You Order Headings in a Blog Post?

Follow this outline:

• H1 = the main title, here “How to Write a Blog Post for SEO: 10 Recommendations”
• H2 = the subheadings, here each recommendation
• H3, H4, H5, and so on = smaller headings, like our H3 “How Should You Order Headings in a Blog Post?”

As a rule of thumb, use a single H1 per post, followed by as many H2s and H3s as the content needs (see our take on multiple H1 tags and SEO).

Recommendation 3: Write Descriptive Titles

Putting a keyword in your title isn’t enough on its own. A good title tells both Google and readers exactly what the page covers and gives people a reason to click.

There’s no magic word count. Google doesn’t set a hard length limit for titles, but it truncates long ones based on the width of the screen, so keep the most important words up front. Your title also has to speak to your audience, not just to the algorithm. Our guide to title tag SEO goes into more detail.

Recommendation 4: Link Your Content Together

Once your post is written, it’s time for links. Links let visitors, and search engines, discover other pages of your site with a click. The goal is to keep readers on your site so they find answers to their questions and end up contacting you or coming back.

Links can be internal (pointing to other pages on your site) or external (pointing to another website; many sites open those in a new tab so readers don’t lose their place).

Your keywords come into play again here. Place your links on descriptive anchor text so Google and readers understand where the link leads. You wouldn’t put a link on the word “website” if the page it points to is about paid search.

Recommendation 5: Cover the Topic in Depth

Search engines exist to answer people’s questions. Google ranks the pages it judges most helpful and relevant at the top. So the real question isn’t “how long should my post be?” but “does it fully answer the question?“

Google has said word count isn’t a ranking factor, and there’s no minimum or ideal length. In practice, though, thorough, well-organized posts that cover a topic completely often perform well, simply because they answer more of the reader’s questions. Our SEO content writing tips show how to structure that kind of post.

If a topic keeps growing as you write, consider splitting it into two posts.

Just make sure every paragraph earns its place: padding a post to hit a word count won’t get you anywhere. Engaging readers with calls to action (more on that in recommendation 8) helps too.

One more tip: make your main topic clear in the first 100 words of the post.

Recommendation 6: Add Images and Video

What would a good blog post be without visuals? Images and videos illustrate your points and bring your words to life. They capture the attention of visual readers, and they give search engines more to work with.

Google can’t “see” your image the way people do, but you can tell it what’s in the picture. That’s what alt text is for: a short description of the image, which also helps visitors who use screen readers.

Combine alt text with a descriptive file name. Give your image a name related to its subject and your keywords so it has a better chance of showing up in Google Images. For more, see our guide to image SEO.

Recommendation 7: Make It Work on Every Screen

You’ll probably write your post on a computer. But in most cases, it will be read on a smartphone or tablet. Your post needs a responsive layout so it reads well on every screen size. Google indexes the mobile version of your site, so a poor mobile experience hurts everyone.

Recommendation 8: Include Calls to Action

You’ve written your post, but what do you want readers to do next? Contact you? Subscribe? Read another article? That’s what calls to action are for: “Contact us” buttons, “Request a quote,” “Read our guide,” and so on, placed throughout your site to prompt readers to act. CTAs won’t boost your rankings, but they turn the traffic your SEO brings in into leads.

Recommendation 9: Use Lists and Bullet Points

Lists, bullet points, and numbered steps (like the ones in this post) make a post easier to scan. They help readers see quickly and clearly where you’re taking them without wading through long explanations, and they make your key points easier for search engines and AI answers to pick up.

Recommendation 10: Publish on a Regular Schedule

A blog only works if you publish regularly: SEO articles, offers, company news, and more. Go for it, but follow the advice above.

Google doesn’t reward posting frequency as such. But a steady schedule (say, one or two posts a month), planned in a content calendar, builds a library of helpful content over time, keeps your site up to date, and gives you more chances to rank.

The 10 Recommendations at a Glance

Recommendation	What to Do
1. Choose keywords	Write around queries your audience actually searches for.
2. Use headings	Create titles and subtitles (H tags) that include your keywords naturally.
3. Write descriptive titles	Say exactly what the page covers, with key words up front.
4. Add links	Link to related pages on your site and to useful external sources.
5. Cover the topic in depth	Answer the question fully; no padding to hit a word count.
6. Add images and video	Use descriptive file names and alt text.
7. Work on every screen	Make the content responsive.
8. Add CTAs	Insert buttons that prompt readers to act.
9. Use lists	Add numbered steps, bullet points, and tables.
10. Publish regularly	Keep your blog active, for example once or twice a month.

Found these tips helpful? Sharing what we know is what drives us. Want help turning your blog into a steady source of leads? Référenceur is a French-speaking SEO and content team from Belgium and Luxembourg, working with U.S. businesses remotely. Explore our SEO services or get a free assessment.