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Search engine optimisation: if you're not a blogger this is a term that will possibly sound like Spanglish to you and even if you ARE a blogger this is still possibly a term that will sound like Spanglish to you, but not anymore!

If there's something that I don't know (and ooh, there's plenty), I will usually deduce that it's likely that someone else out there is pulling their hair in frustration over (or, on a less dramatic scale, curious about) the exact same thing. So when I finally do find the answer to what I've been looking for? Naturally, I have to share it!

So. Search engine optimisation! What is it? The process of making your blog or website as search engine-friendly as possible, so that, you know, if you're writing about maps of South America, people will actually FIND your posts about maps of South America. Have you ever wondered how Google decides which particular websites appear on the first page of results after you've searched for a certain topic? Through search engine optimisation! Have you ever written a magnificently informative post about the virtues of pot plants only to feel marginally deflated because nobody ever seems to find it? Become friends with search optimisation!

Allow me to make the introduction:

When Giving Your Posts A Title, Think Like Somebody Who's Using A Search Engine - And Label Them Accordingly!

Okay, so perhaps you've just penned a piece on how to style a technicolour vest. Terrific! Now, if the aim of your blogging game is to draw as many people to that particular post as possible through search engines, think like somebody who's actually going to be USING one: what are they likely to be typing in when they're hunting for information? How to wear a technicolour vest? What to wear with a technicolour vest? There's a HUGE difference between a post that's titled 'I Like Technicolours Vests So Here's What I'd Put With Them' and 'What To Wear With A Technicolour Vest'; the latter is far more likely to be searched for!

Not sure what people are actually querying? Type a keyword into a search engine such as Google (as demonstrated in my screen shot above on the far right hand side: hello!), and allow it to sit there for a moment. Within seconds, the most popular searches worldwide containing that word will be shown. You see those? That's what people are searching for!

Pay Attention To The URL OF Your Posts

It's one thing to name your article 'What To Wear With A Technicolour Vest' but another to have your url look something like http://www.hello.com/technicolourvestsarethebest/ - search engines read these words and think ''huh? Is your post about what to wear with a technicolour vest or why they're the best? Nuts to that confused website, it can stay on page 80,000 of the search results for technicolour vests!'' T-r-u-l-y! But having the two synchronised (for example,  'What To Wear With A Technicolour Vest' and http://www.hello.com/whattowearwithatechnicolourvest/) improves your chances of climbing your way to the top of search engines for those keywords IMMEDIATELY, because you're almost telling them exactly where to go! (But on a side note, oh, the perils of screen shots: why yes, I DID have to Google how to do a screen shot on a Macbook!) 

♥

I'll be splitting my lessons in search optimisation into two parts because by gum, I have some more tips and tricks to share! But in the meantime, tell me: questions? Comments? ''Corrine, this makes absolutely no sense, explain it again''?! (It's okay, I can take it!) What's something that you've always wanted to know about search engine optimisation or blogging in general that would help you to feel less hair pull-y?

xoxo

(Image one thanks to Fashion Victim Baby.)

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