Introduction
In the previous two parts of this series on "Steemit SEO", we talked about:
- Planning your infrastructure of your blog
- Publish high quality content and
- Formatting and styling for SEO and readers
Today, following on the theme of on-page SEO optimization by talking about images, videos, alt text and inbound/outbound links. If you enjoy the content of this series, I suggest that you follow me as I am trying to publish daily on the topic of SEO.
DISCLAIMER: This article is for advanced blogger who want to optimize their blogs because they have a use for ranking their articles on Google/Bing. You don't need anything that I share here to make more money writing articles on steemit.com
Images
For Users First
Text need to breath on the internet! Adding images really make sure that your readers enjoy the experience of reading your article. Also, when it comes to steemit.com, the first image of your article will become your thumbnail which has a huge impact on the click through rate to get readers. Consider buying a subscription to something like Graphicstock or Shutterstock to get great images (legally) for your posts.
Filename and Alt Text
The search engine doesn't see what you see on the page...it sees HTML code. Changing the name of the file before you upload it to your target keyword is a little extra you can do to optimize your on-page SEO. Nobody will notice, but the search engines.
Also, whenever you upload a file directly on your post, it will appear like this
Consider changing the text that are between the [ ] as it is your alt text for your image as follow:
Consider Adding Videos If Appropriate
Another thing that the search engine is looking for is how long people spend reading your article and/or website. Adding a video that adds value to your article will increase the time spent on page which in turn will increase the value the search engine gives to it.
Inbound / Outbound links
Inbound Links
Inbound links are links that are going to other page of your blog. They will help your article rank for your targeted keyword.
First thing, revise what I said yesterday about anchor texts. You have to consider what will be the anchor text linking...should you use your target keyword for that particular article? Or a more generic anchor text? Your choice.
How many inbound links is too much to a particular article? That's a long standing debate. Moz has a great article on the topic if you want to know more but the consensus is that 100 starts being too many inbound links from your own domain to a particular page.
Outbound links
Outbound links are links to another website.
Each DoFollow links on an article is leaking "link juice" meaning that, the more outbound links you have, the more diluted that "link juice" is.
Link to Authorities
Is it good practice to link to a authoritative piece of information on each article. The search engine recognize that your article naturally draw it's information from reputable places on the internet.
Link to What You Want to Rank
Let's say you have a client or a website you want to rank. Steemit is one of the best source of amazing backlinks for them. But don't overdo it. I would say, don't go beyond 2 outbound links per articles to your client's website.
Conclusion
These article are like cliffnotes study guides. I don't go too much into depth about the why of the matter. I hope this is good for you readers. If you enjoy the content of this series, I suggest that you follow me as I am trying to publish daily on the topic of SEO.