How to Write SEO-Friendly Blog Posts about Health and Wellness that People Want to Read

Health and wellness professionals often have a challenge attracting readers to their blogs. Are you struggling to attract readers to yours? Do you find it challenging to rank your blog posts on search engines like Google? In my experience, the solution often lies in writing SEO-friendly blog posts people want to read.

It’s time that your products and services go from obscurity to helping those who need you most. So, I’m going to share some of my favorite tips and tricks on how to write blog posts that are optimized for search engines and engage your readers.

What is SEO?

Just to make sure we’re all on the same page, I’m going to explain what SEO is. SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is the process of optimizing your website and blogs to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). When you write SEO-friendly blog posts, you’re making it easier for search engines to understand what your content is about. This can translate to higher rankings in search results.

The thing is you don’t just want to have Google understand what your blog posts are about, you also want readers to read them!

Why is SEO important for your blog?

And believe it or not, SEO really is the first step in getting people to read your posts. It helps you to reach a larger audience. When your blog posts rank higher in search results, more people are likely to click on your post and read it.

And SEO can help you to establish yourself as an authority in your niche. When people see your blog posts ranking higher in search results, they are more likely to trust your content.

Now that we’ve established the importance of SEO for your blog, let’s move on to the tips and tricks for writing SEO-friendly blog posts.

1. Conduct keyword research.

   Keyword research is the first step in writing SEO-friendly blog posts. It’s the process of identifying the keywords that your target audience is using to search for content in your niche. (Keep in mind that keywords can be either a single word or a phrase.)
   
   For example, if you’re writing a blog post about “yoga and sciatica,” you could use a keyword research tool like SEMRush to find a keyword such as “yoga pose for sciatica” or “yoga stretches for sciatica.”
   
   Once you’ve identified the primary keyword you want to use for a blog, you’ll use it in your blog post title, subheadings, and throughout the body of the post. However, the important thing is to use the keyword effectively and naturally. Otherwise, it can seem that you’re stuffing the keyword into the post, which can harm your SEO efforts and discourage people from wanting to read your post.

2. Write engaging and informative content.

   Writing engaging and informative content is crucial for your blog’s success. Your blog post should provide value to your readers and answer their questions. The more informative and engaging your content is, the more likely people are to share it on social media, which can lead to more traffic to your blog and more people learning about how you can help them.
   
   Writing engaging and informative content is crucial for your blog’s success. Your blog post should provide value to your readers and answer their questions.
   
   Let’s return to the example of writing a blog post about “yoga and sciatica.” For this blog post, you’d want to provide a detailed description of each of the poses or stretches you’re recommending.
   
   The more informative and engaging your content is, the more likely people are to share it on social media, which can lead to more traffic to your blog.

3. Use internal and external links.

   Using internal and external links in your blog posts is another way to improve your SEO efforts and give your readers more information. Internal links are links to other pages on your website or blog. External links are links to other websites. Internal links can help search engines understand the structure of your website. External links can help establish your blog as a reputable source of information.
   
   For the “yoga and sciatica” blog post, it would make sense to link to other blog posts on your website that provide additional information about specific yoga poses or link to external websites that provide additional resources on yoga.

4. Optimize your meta description and title tag.

   This is where things get a little technical but stick with me here because this is important.
   
   The meta description and title tag are two essential elements of your blog post that can impact your SEO efforts. The meta description is a summary of your blog post that appears in the search results, while the title tag is the title of your blog post that appears in the search results.
   
   You’ll want to optimize both of these elements with your target keyword to help search engines understand what your content is about.
   
   The meta description for the “yoga and sciatica” blog post could be “Suffering from sciatica? These easy and effective yoga stretches for sciatica will give you relief.” Your title tag could be “5 Yoga Stretches for Sciatica to Ease Your Pain.”
   
   If you have a WordPress website, I recommend Yoast SEO to all of my clients. It’s an easy-to-use, SEO tool that can help you optimize your blog posts for both SEO and readability.
   

5. Prioritize your readers’ experience.

   While SEO is crucial, it’s equally important to prioritize your readers’ experience. After all, they’re the ones who will ultimately determine the success of your blog. So, make sure that your blog posts are not only optimized for search engines but also provide value and engage your readers. For example, you could ask your readers for feedback or include a call-to-action at the end of your blog post to encourage them to leave a comment or share your post on social media.
   
   And when people want to engage with your post or even just read to the end, it also helps your SEO rankings.

6. Promote your blog post.

   Promoting your blog post is essential to reach a larger audience. After all, if no one knows about your blog post, how will they find it? Promote your blog post on social media, email newsletters, or other channels to increase its visibility. Additionally, you could reach out to other bloggers or websites in your niche to see if they would be interested in sharing your blog post with their audience.
   
   And, yes, increased visibility also helps your SEO which, of course, helps to raise your practice from obscurity.

Writing SEO-friendly blog posts that people want to read is one important way to grow your online presence. The 6 tips and tricks above can help you optimize your blog posts for search engines while keeping your readers reading your valuable, informative, and engaging content.

But you need to know one very important thing. SEO is not a quick fix, it’s an ongoing process. So, it may take time to see results. My recommendation is that you stay consistent with your efforts and continue to optimize your blog posts for search engines and your ideal client’s interests.

Need help blogging for your business? We’re here for you. Schedule a free consultation to discuss your needs with one of the KJ Content Marketing experts. Or download our free Content Marketing Wheel & Planner Checklist for DIY content marketing guidance.