SEO tips for bloggers that still work, according to Google

The SEO tips that still work for bloggers are the ones Google describes in its own documentation: write posts that fully answer a real reader’s question, give every page a clear and unique title, use descriptive headings and link text, link your posts to each other, make sure Google can crawl and index your pages, and stay well clear of the tactics in Google’s spam policies. Most other “tricks” either never worked or stopped mattering years ago.

This guide goes through each tip in order, explains what Google actually says about it, and ends with a checklist you can run on every post before you publish.

Last updated: 7 November 2026

What does SEO actually mean for a blog?

Search engine optimisation is the work of helping search engines find, understand and show your pages to people searching for what you wrote about. For a blog, that breaks down into three questions:

Can Google find the post? Google mainly discovers new pages by following links from pages it has already crawled.
Can Google index it? The page has to be reachable, not blocked, and worth keeping in the index.
Does it deserve to rank? Out of every page on the same topic, is yours a helpful answer for the person searching?

The first two are technical and mostly a one-time setup. The third is where you spend your time as a blogger, because it comes down to what you write.

Where should you get your SEO advice from?

Start with the source. Google publishes a free SEO starter guide on Google Search Central, plus separate pages on helpful content, title links, snippets, links and spam. Every tip in this post is based on those pages, and you can check each claim yourself.

Be careful with lists of “200 ranking factors” or posts that quote exact percentages for how much a factor matters. Google’s documentation does not publish weights for its ranking signals, so a precise number like that is a guess, not a measurement. A good rule: if a tip cannot point to Google’s own documentation or a test you could repeat, treat it as an opinion.

Why does helpful content matter more than any trick?

Google’s guide to creating helpful, reliable, people-first content is the closest thing to a rulebook for bloggers. It contrasts “people-first” content (written for an audience you already serve) with “search engine-first” content (written mainly to attract search visits).

It gives a set of self-assessment questions. Paraphrased, they include:

Does the post provide original information, research or analysis, or does it mainly summarise what others wrote?
Is it substantial and complete for the topic, or does it leave the reader needing to search again?
Would someone bookmark it or share it with a friend?
Is it clear who wrote it and why they know the subject?
Does it contain easily verified factual errors?

The same page lists warning signs of search engine-first content. These are worth reading as a list of habits to drop:

Writing about lots of unrelated topics in the hope some of them rank.
Using extensive automation to produce content on many topics.
Covering trending topics only because they are trending, not because your readers care.
Writing to a particular word count because you heard Google prefers it. Google’s answer on that page is “No, we don’t.”
Changing the date on a page to make it look fresh when the content has not substantially changed.

What does “people-first” look like in practice?

For example, a home-baking blogger writing about sourdough could publish a generic “what is sourdough” post that repeats the first page of results. Or they could write “Why is my sourdough flat? 7 causes and how to fix each one”, built from their own failed loaves, with photos of each problem. The second post answers a specific question, includes first-hand experience nobody else has, and gives the reader something to do. That is the kind of page the self-assessment questions are describing.

Does E-E-A-T affect your rankings?

E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. Google’s helpful content page says E-E-A-T “itself isn’t a specific ranking factor”, but that its systems use a mix of signals that line up with it, and that trust is the most important of the four. The starter guide also lists “thinking E-E-A-T is a ranking factor” as a misconception.

So you cannot add an “E-E-A-T tag” to a post. What you can do is make trust easy to see:

Who: show a byline and an author page with a real bio, where readers would expect one. Google’s page warns that inventing authors or credentials is deceptive.
How: explain how you tested or researched something when a reader would wonder (“we ran this on a fresh WordPress install”).
Why: the post should exist to help a reader, not mainly to collect search traffic.

If you write in a field where your name carries weight, this overlaps with building a reputation outside your blog. Our guide on how to build a personal brand covers the credibility signals that help both readers and search engines recognise you.

How do you choose topics people actually search for?

You do not need a paid keyword tool to start. Three free sources give you real search language:

Google’s own results page. Type a question your reader would ask and read the “People also ask” box and the related searches at the bottom.
Google Search Console. Once your blog has some impressions, the Performance report shows the queries people used to find you. Queries where you appear but rarely get clicked are ideas for new or improved posts.
Your readers. Comments, emails and questions from clients are search queries before they are typed into Google.

Aim each post at one main question and the follow-up questions a reader will have next. If you are starting a blog from scratch, our guide on how to start a blog includes a method for planning your first ten posts around search questions.

How should you write title tags and meta descriptions?

The title tag (the <title> element) is one of the main sources Google uses for the clickable headline in search results, which Google calls the title link. Google’s title link documentation recommends titles that are:

Descriptive and concise. Avoid vague titles like “Home” or “New post”.
Unique to each page. Avoid repeated or boilerplate titles across many pages.
Free of keyword stuffing. Repeating the same term several times adds nothing for the reader.
Branded concisely, for example with your site name at the end after a separator.

There is no official character limit. Google says there is no limit on how long a title element can be, but title links are truncated to fit the device width. Google may also rewrite a title link when the title is missing, inaccurate, obsolete or boilerplate, so the surest way to keep your own title is to write one that accurately describes the page.

Do meta descriptions still matter?

Yes, but not in the way many guides claim. Google’s snippet documentation says snippets are primarily created from the page content itself, and Google uses the meta description when it gives a more accurate picture of the page. Google’s page on snippets does not say the description is a ranking factor, so do not treat it as one.

Write a short, unique summary for each post that tells a searcher what they will get. Avoid using the same description on every page; Google says identical or similar descriptions on every page “aren’t helpful”. There is no length limit, but long descriptions get cut off in results.

How do you structure a post so readers and Google understand it?

Use headings for the reader, not for a quota

Headings break a post into sections a reader can scan. The starter guide says Google does not need headings in a perfect semantic order and there is no ideal number of them. Use them where a new section starts, and phrase them the way a reader would ask the question. Semantic order still helps people using screen readers, so it is a good habit.

Put useful words in the URL

The starter guide suggests including words in the URL that may be useful to users, and notes that a URL made only of random identifiers is less helpful. In WordPress, set Permalinks to “Post name” and edit the slug before you publish, so /sourdough-flat-causes/ replaces something like /?p=123. Our WordPress blog setup guide covers the permalink setting and the other settings to change first.

Describe images with alt text

Alt text is a short, descriptive line that explains what an image shows and how it relates to the page. It helps people who cannot see the image and helps Google understand it. Write “flat sourdough loaf with a dense, gummy crumb”, not “image1” or a list of keywords.

Do not chase a word count

The starter guide is direct about this: the length of the content alone does not matter for ranking, and there is no magical word count target, minimum or maximum. Write until the question is answered properly, then stop.

How should you use internal links?

Internal links are links from one of your posts to another. They help readers find the next useful page and help Google discover and understand your content. Google’s guidance on crawlable links and anchor text makes three practical points:

Use real HTML links. Google can generally only crawl a link if it is an <a> element with an href attribute. Normal links in the WordPress editor already work this way.
Write descriptive anchor text. “Click here” and “read more” tell nobody anything. A test from the same page: read only the anchor text and check whether it makes sense on its own.
Link every page you care about from at least one other page. A post with no internal links pointing to it (an “orphan” page) is harder for Google and readers to find.

There is no ideal number of links per page. A good habit: each time you publish, add a link to the new post from one or two older posts on a related topic, using a phrase that describes what the new post covers.

Which link attributes should you use on outbound links?

Link to good sources normally. Google says to use nofollow only when you do not trust the linked source, sponsored (or nofollow) on links you were paid to place, and ugc (or nofollow) on links added by users, such as in comments. Our guide to dofollow and nofollow links explains each attribute with examples.

How do you get new posts found and indexed?

The starter guide says most new pages Google finds every day are found through links. That makes internal linking and promotion your main discovery tools. On top of that:

Submit a sitemap in Search Console. A sitemap lists the URLs you care about. Google says it is not required, but it helps, and WordPress and SEO plugins generate one automatically.
Check new posts with the URL Inspection tool. It shows whether Google has indexed a URL and lets you request indexing for an important page. Google says a request does not guarantee indexing.
Do not block what you want indexed. Check your robots.txt file and make sure your posts are not set to noindex.

As an example of a working setup, we looked at this site’s own robots.txt file on 7 November 2026. It allows all crawlers (Disallow: with nothing after it) and points to a sitemap index at /sitemap_index.xml, both added by the Yoast SEO plugin. You can view any site’s file at yourdomain.com/robots.txt.

Indexing is rarely instant, and no one can promise it in minutes. Our guide on getting Google to index a new page covers what speeds it up and what does not.

Do you need an SEO plugin on WordPress?

WordPress already produces clean HTML, a basic sitemap (since version 5.5) and editable slugs. An SEO plugin adds control over title tags, meta descriptions, canonical URLs, noindex settings and sitemaps from one screen, which is why most WordPress bloggers install one.

The most widely used is Yoast SEO. When we checked its page on the WordPress.org plugin directory on 7 November 2026, Yoast SEO showed 10+ million active installations, version 28.8, last updated on 27 October 2026, and tested up to WordPress 7.1.4.

Pick one SEO plugin and use only one, since two plugins writing the same tags cause duplicate or conflicting output. Remember that a plugin’s green light is a checklist, not a ranking. A post can score well in a plugin and still be unhelpful. Our list of essential WordPress plugins covers the alternatives.

Which SEO tips should you ignore?

Google’s starter guide has a section on things that are not worth your time. These come up constantly in older SEO advice:

The meta keywords tag. Google Search does not use it.
Keywords in your domain name. They have hardly any effect beyond appearing in breadcrumbs.
Minimum or maximum word counts. Length alone does not matter for ranking.
A “duplicate content penalty”. Having the same content reachable at more than one URL on your site is not a spam violation. Google picks one version to show. Copying other people’s content is a different matter.
Subdomains versus subfolders. Google says to do whatever makes sense for your business.
Obsessing over PageRank. It is one of many signals, and there is much more to Google Search than links.
A perfect heading count or order. There is no ideal number.

Which tactics can get your blog removed from Google?

Google’s spam policies describe practices that can make a site rank lower or disappear from results. The ones bloggers run into most are:

Keyword stuffing: filling a page with keywords or numbers to manipulate rankings.
Link spam: buying links that pass ranking credit, or excessive link exchanges.
Scaled content abuse: generating many pages mainly to manipulate rankings, including with automated tools, without adding value.
Scraping: republishing other sites’ content without adding anything of your own.
Thin affiliate pages: product descriptions copied from the merchant with no original content.
Hidden text and links: content placed only for search engines, such as white text on a white background.

If you are taking over an older blog, or worried you made one of these mistakes already, our guide to the most common SEO mistakes shows how to find and fix each one in Search Console.

How long does SEO take, and how do you measure it?

Google’s starter guide says some changes might take effect in a few hours, while others could take several months, and suggests waiting a few weeks before judging whether a change worked. Change one thing at a time where you can, and note the date, so you know what caused any movement.

Measure in Google Search Console rather than by searching your own keywords now and then, because Search Console shows data from real searches over time. The Performance report shows clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position for each query and page. Look for:

Posts with many impressions but few clicks: improve the title and description.
Queries where you rank on page two: the post may need a clearer answer or a missing section.
Posts with no impressions after a couple of months: check they are indexed, then ask whether they answer something people search for.

Search traffic grows slowly, so pair SEO with promotion. Our guides on how to promote a blog post and how to increase website traffic cover the other channels.

What should you check before publishing every post?

The post answers one clear question, and the answer appears in the first paragraph or two.
It includes something original: your own experience, test, example or photos.
The title is descriptive, unique and not stuffed with keywords.
The meta description is a short, unique summary of what the reader gets.
The slug is short and readable.
Headings follow the reader’s questions in a sensible order.
Every image has descriptive alt text.
The post links to one or more related posts, with descriptive anchor text.
One or two older posts now link to this new post.
Paid or affiliate links use rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".
The post is not set to noindex, and the URL Inspection tool can reach it after publishing.
Facts and links have been checked.

Frequently asked questions

Is SEO still worth it for a small blog?

Yes. Search is one of the few channels that keeps sending readers to a post long after you publish it. The basics in this guide cost nothing beyond your time, and most of them also make posts better for readers.

How many keywords should a blog post target?

Focus on one main question and the related questions a reader will ask next. Use the words your readers use, naturally. Repeating a keyword to hit a density target is the keyword stuffing Google’s spam policies warn against.

Does the length of a blog post affect rankings?

No, not by itself. Google’s starter guide says there is no magical word count target, minimum or maximum. A post should be as long as it takes to answer the question well.

Do I need to pay for SEO tools?

Not to start. Google Search Console is free and shows your real queries, indexing problems and performance. A free WordPress SEO plugin covers titles, descriptions and sitemaps. Paid tools help with competitor research later.

How often should I update old posts?

Update a post when its facts change or you can genuinely improve it, then change the updated date. Google lists changing dates to look fresh, without substantial changes, as a warning sign of search engine-first content.