Portland Bloggers Learn SEO (RE: I've Come a Long Way, Baby)

I could have posted a new poem today, but I'm going to give you the shorter-than-short version of key points I learned at the SEO workshop organized by Portland Bloggers. Though I'm not going to give a play-by-play, be assured Google continues to change the world.

So, how do you optimize your blog? First, google (verb: to look up online) Authorship to find the steps to verify yourself as a real, live Google author (and I'm not talking about telling the big G you are a novelist). Once you've done that, blog smarter by linking out, promoting others and being unique. Offer GOOD CONTENT. I'm being lame today with BAD CONTENT because I want to skip the blogging and go on to the real writing, but GOOD CONTENT is essential.

The two Js: me (L)
and Jenni Bost, Portland bloggers.

SEO and Google

But SEO is a game. Making Google like you is the trick. (See my heading trick? You've got to use the <h2> HTML code for that one.) To be exact, you must be liked by the Google algorithm geeks. You need to be obvious about your content's message, but not too obvious. So if I'm writing about Fifty Shades of Gray, I need to mention Fifty Shades about Fifty times. (Can you hear my sarcasm through the computer?) More accurately, you should only mention key words about 3-5x, otherwise the Google spiders don't likey you very much and think you're mooching for clicks. Hey, if I were mooching for clicks I'd start writing a fan fiction thread that's an erotic takeoff on Katniss and Peeta. Don't kid yourself, it's probably already been done. Granted, I have no room to talk, except that my characters are older.

Thanks to SwellPath.com for the workshop. It made me take a hard look at a few things, and by doing so, I reflected on where I've been over the course of two years of blogging. Whew, some of those first posts are scary. I'm moving on.