If you’re using business blogging to build a reputation, it is imperative you understand critical factors influencing your SEO (search engine optimization). Too many bloggers create a blog for audience outreach without a clear understanding of factors impacting the reach of their site. Failure to focus on SEO performance can significantly impact your long-term blogging goals. If you want to supercharge your blog’s outreach, consider the following blogging SEO mistakes you might be making.

Sitemap

Do you have a sitemap on your blog? Do you even know what a sitemap is or how to create one? Bloggers who fail to add a sitemap to their blog not only make it harder for readers to discover their content, but could be making it more difficult for search engine crawlers to effectively index their blog. Use a tool like WriteMaps (writemaps.com) or ScreamingFrog (screamingfrog.co.uk/xml-sitemap-generator) to make a sitemap for your blog and you’ll rectify this potentially harmful SEO mistake.

Too Many Plugins

Did you know that having too many plugins on your blog can decrease your page speed load time? While adding extra bells and whistles to your blog might initially seem like a good idea, you might be doing more harm than good by adding numerous plugins to your blog. In an era of increased focus on data privacy, do you really need all those analytics trackers on your blog? Review each plugin you’ve added to your blog and consider removing any that aren’t absolutely necessary. You can increase how quickly your blog loads and potentially offer your readers more data privacy at the same time.

Social Media Connections

Many bloggers don’t realize that have a limited presence on social media can influence their search engine optimization. Search engine crawlers can look at social media mentions and social media profiles as a sign of an active blog (search engines index social media networks like Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest). If you’re not integrating social media marketing into your blogging strategy, there’s a good chance you’re impacting your blog’s SEO.

Understanding the critical blogging mistakes influencing your SEO performance is a must for bloggers who want to attract more attention to their websites. Review the above-listed SEO mistakes to ensure your blog is optimized for maximum performance. The more effort you put into search engine optimization for your blog, the likelier it is you’ll achieve your desired blogging results.