7 Blog Best Practices to Get You Ranked on Google

Bold statement: A blog is the best way to improve your website SEO. When Google sees that you’re constantly updating your website with new and valuable content, it will rank you higher in search results. I encourage all business owners to have a blog page on their website for this reason. However, there are a few blog best practices that you should follow to give yourself the best chance to be ranked on the first page of Google.

1. Write at least 300 words

There’s a bit of debate on blog best practices around word count. Google likes to see pages that have at least 300 words, but the best performing blogs are over 1,000 words.

And now, Google also wants to see multi-media added to your blogs.

So this is a two-part blog best practice 😉

Now that Instagram posts are being indexed on Google, try embedded relevant posts or reels into your blogs for additional value. Or if you have a YouTube video or podcast episode that’s relevant to the blog topic, embed them!

You know I’m a huge fan of repurposing content. Now, they can all work together to improve the reader’s experience and your chances of ranking on Google.

2. Identify a target keyword and add it to your blog

You’ll want to have one main keyword that you use in the title of your blog, metadata, URL slug, and images. This one keyword guides your content and SEO strategy for the blog post.

I prefer to use Ubersuggest for keyword research, but there are a lot of SEO tools out there to help you find a good keyword for your blog. Look for one that is high in search volume, but low in competition.

Extra Tip: Don’t keyword stuff – meaning don’t purposefully add a bunch of keywords just for the sake of it. Integrate them in your blog naturally.

3. Break up the text with header tags

Header tags help you to break up big chunks of text to make it easier to read and skim through. For example, notice how the title of each of the sections in this blog is bold and bigger? They are header tags. They are organized in a hierarchy: H1 is the blog title, H2s are headers within the blog, and H3s are headers under the H2s.

You’ll also want to add keywords to your header tags when it makes sense. It’s even more of an indication to Google of what you’re talking about. 

4. Add images

Images are another way to break up the text. People love to see different forms of media in blogs. You can add images, gifs, or embed videos to support your main idea. They will help attract more attention to your blog and help your audience understand your content.

From an SEO perspective, Google is ramping up its virtual search feature. That means optimized images could be ranked highly when an image search is performed on Google.

Extra Tip: Edit the alt text of your images. Describe the image and include keywords if it makes sense!

5. Edit titles and descriptions

When you enter your blog title, most websites will automatically apply it as your slug (URL) and SEO title. You’ll want to edit both of these, so they are optimized.

Remove filler words (such as a, the, to, etc.) from your slug and include keywords. See the URL for this blog as an example.

The SEO title is what appears in search results (see below). It’s important that it’s not too long, or it’ll get cut off in search results. It’s the first thing people see, so it needs to be easy to understand and enticing.

You’ll also want to add a meta description when editing your backend SEO. It’s a 155 character summary of your blog. It’s the little paragraph that shows up under search results (see below). You’ll want to be clear about what your blog is about so someone searching knows if it’s right for them or not. An unclear meta description may lead to a high bounce rate, which will hurt how you’re ranked on Google. 

6. Add internal and external links

Internal links are links to other pages on your website. External links are links to anything else on the internet. Both types of links will improve your SEO. Google likes to see a mix of internal and outbound links in blogs.

I’ll also mention that backlinks can hugely help your SEO, but you have little control over that happening. You can always approach other businesses in your industry to collaborate on content to get backlinks, but it needs to be mutually beneficial. It requires a little more work than simply adding a link, but it can really benefit your SEO ranking.

Here are a few ways to build high-quality backlinks!

7. Include a call-to-action

Call-to-actions can be your inbound link. ALWAYS have at least one call-to-action in your blog. You’re telling people what the next step is after reading your blog. Here are a few ideas that you could include:

• Subscribe to my newsletter
• Book a discovery call with me
• Read this blog
• Download this freebie
• Connect with me on Instagram

How many call-to-actions do I have in this blog? Are they included naturally? You tell me!

Implement These Blog Best Practices

I hope these blog best practices help you understand how to get your blog ranked on Google. It does take some thought. You can’t just throw words on a page and be done.

I recommend implementing these best practices in future AND past blogs. It’s worth it to go back and edit past blogs with these best practices. In fact, just the act of updating past blog posts will improve SEO, too. 

If you want help implementing these blog best practices, view my blog management services. I’d be happy to help get your blog and website seen by more people!

FAQs About Blog Best Practices

What is the structure of a well written blog post?

A well written blog post is easily skimmable with headers, bullet points, and elements that call text out (bolding, italics, emojis, etc.)

What type of blog is most popular?

A few types of blogs that drive the most traffic are listicles that are easy to skim. People love those! From an SEO perspective, blogs that perform well directly answer questions. Literally copy questions from search engines or SEO research tools and answer them in your own words in your blog post.

Do people still write blogs in 2025?

Of course! Blogging is still a valuable strategy to bring more traffic to your website in 2025. It’s worth investing in an organic, long-term growth strategy.