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Would you like to know how to write an SEO-optimized blog post?
Then you’re probably standing at the entrance to a dark tunnel, inside which everything is a bit hazy. Suddenly, it lights up. You can see what’s waiting for you at the end.

Traffic to your blog. At last. A conversion rate to make your competitors green with envy. Rave reviews from readers who are happy because your content is useful to them.

There’s traffic at the end, right?

Bam. The light’s gone. You’re back to square one. Back with your questions. Your doubts. But you’re still driven by the desire to move forward, to reach the end of the tunnel.

Finally, all you need is an instruction manual. An enlightened guide to show you the way. That’s what you’ll find in this guide.

After reading this post, you’ll know the 11 steps to writing a traffic-generating blog post from scratch.

You’ll see: we don’t just tell you to do this or that. We actually tell you how, with specific examples and sound advice.

Ready to see the light at the end of the tunnel? Let’s go: we’ll take you by the hand.

This article is sponsored and contains affiliate links to Semrush’s website. This means that WPMarmite will earn a commission if you decide to use this platform. At the same time, we’re offering a special deal with Semrush to enable you to test the Pro version of the tool free of charge for 14 days.
Affiliate income enables WPMarmite to remunerate the research and writing work of the blog’s editors. However, we remain impartial. If a product isn’t worth it, we’ll say so (or we don’t tell you about it). Find out more about transparency in our publishing policy.

What makes a good blog post (and why it’s important for your business)?

How to write a good blog post: Google’s criteria

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of how to write an SEO-optimized blog post, let’s take a look at the big picture.

To write a polished article, it’s important to understand the components of quality content.

And for that, let’s turn to Google, the most widely used search engine in the United States (88% market share at the time of writing). It’s where the vast majority of people will turn when they begin an online search via a search engine.

According to Google, its automated ranking system is designed to highlight “helpful, reliable information that’s primarily created to benefit people, not to gain search engine rankings, in the top Search results.”

If you want to have a chance of ranking well on Google, your article must be high quality, original, and provide added value over and above what your competitors are already offering.

It needs to convey your expertise in order to win the trust of your target audience (by citing your sources, for example).

In addition, the Mountain View company insists on three major aspects:

1. It indicates that it favors “people-first” content, i.e., content created “primarily for people, and not to manipulate search engine rankings.”
2. It rewards content that “provides a good page experience.” Here, Google refers in particular to Core WebVitals, a set of metrics we present in detail in different post.
3. The E-E-A-T score, which stands for “Experience,” “Expertise”, “Authoritativeness,” and “Trustworthiness.” The search engine uses these four factors in particular to prioritize the quality content it deems most useful.

Why are blog posts important for your online business?

Knowing how to write a blog post enables you to design excellent content that meets the guidelines of Google and friends.

As a result, you can boost your online visibility and ensure a lasting presence on search engines.

You’ll benefit in a number of ways:

• You reinforce your authority and position yourself as an “expert” in your field.
• You build trust with your readers thanks to useful, informative, and relevant content that focuses on helping them solve a specific problem.
• You generate more leads and new customers, and increase your sales. By using strategically positioned calls to action (we’ll come back to this later), you can encourage your visitors to perform specific actions (download a document, buy a product, fill in a form, etc.).
• You improve your search engine optimization (SEO), thanks to articles optimized for specific keywords. The more traffic you generate, the greater your chances of improving conversions.
• With a blog, you have a base of content that you can reuse on your other communication media.
  Use key passages, for example, to design targeted publications on social networks (Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, etc.).

After this general overview, it’s time to get to the heart of the matter. Find out right away, and in detail, how to write an SEO-optimized blog post, step by step.

How to write a blog post: 11 steps broken down

Step 1: Define your objective and audience

Strategy and SMART objectives

The first step in your “How to write a brilliant blog post” mission is to define your objective and target audience.

Start by identifying what you want to achieve through your content. Here are a few examples of strategic objectives you can pursue:

• Strengthen your brand’s reputation and position it as a benchmark in your industry
• Educate and inform your readers to position yourself as an expert
• Increase traffic to generate leads
• Promote a product or service to increase sales
• Build customer loyalty to maintain an ongoing relationship
• Get your reader to perform a specific action: download a PDF, request an appointment or a quote, fill in a contact form, subscribe to a newsletter, etc.

When defining the main objective of your article, use the SMART method, which is based on Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound indicators. An example of a SMART objective might be: “Thanks to this blog article, I hope to obtain 10 qualified leads in the first quarter of 2025.”

How to write a blog post: The importance of personas

Once you’re clear on your main objective, make sure you know exactly whom you’re addressing. To do this, draw up personas: fictitious representations of your ideal customers.

A persona includes different types of information:

• Demographic characteristics: first name, last name, age, gender, income, education/occupation
• The persona’s objectives and challenges
• Interests
• Hobbies and passions
• Etc.

An example of a persona generated with the Make My Persona tool.

Several free online tools make it easy to create your personas: Semrush Persona, Hubspot’s Make My Persona, Userforge, or UpClose and Persona.

If you already have an existing audience, you can retrieve valuable information from a number of places:

• From your Google Analytics account (or the analytics data tool of your choice, such as Matomo or Plausible)
• By analyzing feedback from your customer service department and your social networks
• Sharing surveys to get to know your audience better, using tools like Google Forms or SurveyMonkey

If you’re starting from scratch — you’ve got no traffic and no email list — and just launching your blog, don’t panic! You can also uncover valuable information in other ways:

• Analyze your competitors to understand who their customers are and what their needs are.
• Consult specialized reports and sector studies to better understand your target market.
• Join specialized groups and forums (e.g., on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Discord) to understand the needs, problems, and expectations of participants.
• Interview people you think are in your potential target group.
• Create online surveys and share them in the specialized groups you’ve identified and on social networks.

Google Forms makes it easy to create online surveys.

Once you have a good picture of your audience, burn it into your brain. Think of it every time you write. It’ll make your message all the more impactful.

Step 2: Come up with a topic idea

That’s all well and good, but you may have your first problem: what are you going to write about?

To help you, tell yourself that the overall subject of your blog should be related to your expertise. This will enable you to position yourself as an online authority. And remember, that’s crucial for Google!

But what does expertise mean? It could be:

• Your profession or occupation. For example, if you’re a plumber, you’ll write about plumbing-related topics.
• Your passion. If you’re an inveterate board game enthusiast, your blog will cover topics related to chess, backgammon, card games, and so on.

Is this making sense? Continue by applying these three methods to come up with a topic idea:

1. Brainstorm. Write down what your target audience would like to read, starting with your main theme. For example, if you have a WooCommerce running store, potential topics to cover could be: training for running, different types of running shoes, nutrition and hydration for runners, or equipment to use (GPS watches, shorts, socks, hats, etc.).
2. Analyze your competitors. Note the topics covered on their blogs and the themes addressed on their sites, for example in their menus.
3. Scour social networks and specialized platforms. Visit forums and Facebook groups that specialize in your core business, relevant YouTube channels, podcast platforms, and so on.

You can get ideas for topics by browsing the headings of this bakery forum: recipes, techniques, equipment, decorating, etc.

To compile all your ideas, use a spreadsheet like Google Sheets, or even organization tools like Trello or Asana. You can then come back to these topics when searching for a keyword, which we discuss just below.

Complete your search using Semrush’s Topic Research tool. You can enter a theme or general keyword, for example, and you’ll find yourself with dozens and dozens of topic ideas and their monthly search volume. It’s a great way to get lots of content ideas.

Step 3: Identify a relevant keyword

How to write a blog post: The components of a good keyword

If all goes well, you now have a nice little stash of topic ideas. Now it’s a question of refining all these ideas by connecting them with specific keywords, with a minimum of search volume.

Always target one main keyword per blog post, but include secondary keywords in the content.

A relevant keyword has several characteristics:

• It must be related to your business theme.
• It must be searched for, i.e., typed in by your target audience on the search engine they use.
• It must respond to a web surfer’s need.
• It must be precise and understandable.

After brainstorming and analyzing what your competitors are offering, it’s crucial to determine the monthly search volume for your keyword. If your keyword isn’t being typed by Internet users, it won’t bring you any traffic.

What tools can you use to assess search volume?

You can rely on free tools such as Google’s Keyword Planning Tool, or Ubersuggest.

The Ubersuggest interface

However, you’ll quickly be limited in the number of searches you can carry out (with Ubersuggest), or you won’t have a precise view of the number of monthly searches for a keyword with the Google Keyword Planner (unless you use a Google Ads account).

For a more exhaustive and precise view, a premium tool such as Semrush, Ahrefs, or Mangools will be more suitable.

Semrush, for example, offers the “Keyword Magic Tool” for finding keywords relevant to your business.

After entering a generic expression in the search bar, you’ll get precise information on search volume, keyword difficulty (KD), search intent, and cost per click (CPC).

Semrush also offers other useful tools such as “Keyword Overview” and “Keyword Gap” (to discover strategic keywords on which your competitors are already positioned).

To find out how to use this information to your advantage, we recommend that you read our practical guide to Semrush, which explains everything you need to know.

When you start out, prioritize long-tail keywords. These are phrases made up of several terms (“nike air force one 39 sneakers”), as opposed to generic keywords (“nike sneakers”). Long-tail keywords are less sought-after (lower monthly volume), but they’re less competitive, which means you’re more likely to rank with them. They’ll also bring you more qualified traffic, who are more likely to take action. On Semrush, long-tail keywords will most often have an easy keyword difficulty (KD) (green dot).

Step 4: Create a detailed plan

Key elements of a detailed plan

At this stage, you should have identified a main keyword on which you’re going to write your next blog post.

Determined, you’re probably ready to throw yourself into the writing. Just a minute — wait a little longer!

We recommend that you first create a detailed plan to structure your ideas, prioritize information, and make sure you don’t forget anything important in terms of SEO content.

Thanks to this roadmap, you’ll also be able to overcome the notorious “blank page” syndrome. All you have to do is fill in the key sections you’ve identified.

You can create this detailed plan using a word-processing tool like Google Docs. If you’re working as part of a team, you can collaborate on it by leaving your remarks and other comments.

Wondering which elements should be included in your article’s outline? Every writer has his or her own way of working and habits. Nevertheless, you can note:

• The main keyword you’re targeting, as well as your secondary keywords (the surrounding semantic field)
• The delivery and publication date of the article
• Your references
• Links to images and other visuals (remember to check that they are free of copyright)
• Any instructions given to an editor, if you’re subcontracting this part (tone, editorial line, length of content to be respected, etc.)

In addition, take the opportunity to structure your plan with headings at different levels (Heading 2 for h2, Heading 3 for h3, Heading 4 for h4). This will also facilitate integration with WordPress.

When you copy and paste your Google Docs text, the formatting will be preserved on the CMS.

For each part and sub-part, include bulleted lists in which you add the ideas to be developed, in the form of notes (no need to write full sentences).

How do I know which parts to include in my plan?

To create a solid plan, it’s crucial to understand the notion of search intent associated with a keyword.

This is the objective a web surfer wishes to achieve when typing a keyword into a search engine.

Traditionally, there are four types of search intent:

• Informational: The visitor is looking for information on a given subject.
• Navigational: The visitor wants to find a specific page of a company he or she already knows.
• Commercial: The visitor wants information before making a purchase.
• Transactional: The visitor wishes to carry out a specific action, such as purchasing a product or service.

Most of the time, a blog post responds to an informational research intention. To indicate if this is the case, Semrush flags keywords with a letter (I, N, C, or T) when you search for information on a keyword:

To find out exactly what Google expects in terms of search intent, type the keyword you’re targeting into its search bar. Then consult the results that appear to see what is highlighted (product sheets, tutorials, tests, videos, etc.).

If Google displays a majority of product sheets for the keyword you’re targeting, don’t create a blog post. You won’t meet search intent!

Let’s take the example of the keyword “Thrive Leads” (an email marketing plugin for WordPress). In this case, we can see that Google gives priority to content in the form of reviews.

Open the first 3–4 results, and analyze how each article is constructed. You’ll probably notice similar elements, titles, and sections.

Include these in your outline, and try to do better in order to overtake these competitors on the SERP. Offer even more useful, in-depth, and documented content, for example. In short, add value.

Step 5: How to write a blog post: The text-writing phase

How to write a blog post: Body, conclusion, and CTA

You’ve now reached step 5 of this content, which explains how to write a blog post.

After all this preparatory work, it’s now official: you can start writing! To do this, start with the body text and expand on the notes covered in your bulleted lists.

Remember to cite your external sources to reinforce the credibility of your statements. Continue with the conclusion. This generally contains a summary of the ideas discussed throughout the content, as well as a CTA (call to action).

The latter should encourage your visitors to perform a specific action: buy a product, download an ebook, subscribe to a newsletter, fill in a contact form, or request a quote.

To help you, here are some of the characteristics of a persuasive CTA:

• Write it in the active voice with an action verb (“Download our PDF guide”).
• Make it stand out, for example with a specific color that contrasts with the rest of the text (without deviating too much from your style guide, mind you).
• Propose a clear benefit (“Receive a free guide”).
• Make sure your CTA is mobile-friendly (responsive) and easily clickable on small screen sizes.

Without going overboard, you can add CTAs in other places in your blog post, not just in the conclusion. For example, WPMarmite uses banners designed with the Elementor Blocks for Gutenberg plugin to highlight third-party tools we recommend, like Elementor itself.

How to write a captivating introduction for your blog post

Then finish by writing your introduction (unless you feel you’re better off writing it first). It’s often easier to write an intro with an overview of the finished article.

A good introduction should introduce your main keyword no later than the first 100 words. It also needs to attract your reader, with a hook that makes them want to know more.

To captivate your reader, you can use:

• Storytelling, to tell a fictional story or a real event that happened to you
• A compelling quote
• An attention-grabbing figure or statistic
• Copywriting techniques such as the PAS model (Problem — Agitation — Solution). To put it simply: you start by detailing a problem (“Do you want to stop smoking?”), you make it worse (“If you don’t, you risk lung cancer”), then you give a solution (“Discover natural techniques to stop smoking in this article”).

Still stumped after building a detailed, tailor-made plan? Semrush’s ContentShake AI tool helps you create your text from scratch. Thanks to artificial intelligence, you can also reformulate, develop, or simplify your text.

Step 6: Find a catchy title

It’s impossible to explain how to write an SEO-optimized blog post without mentioning the importance of the title.

But we can overdo it on the title too. Yes, it’s important, but it’s not THE most important part of your content either, as I’ve been hearing people say.

More than your article’s h1 title (the one that appears at the top of your blog post when you read it), you must above all take care of your title tag.

Accompanied by the meta-description, it’s this title tag that will be the first thing your target audience sees on the Google search results page.

Like your hook, it must be sufficiently enticing to encourage clicks. Once readers have clicked on it, they’ll land on your article.
Frankly, even if your h1 title isn’t mind-blowing, they’ll start reading your content if they think it’ll be useful.

But make no mistake. Don’t neglect your h1 title! Here are a few tips to make it effective:

• Be clear and concise. Try not to exceed 50 to 70 characters.
• Choose a unique title.
• Include your main keyword, preferably at the beginning of the title.
• Take inspiration from the titles used by the best-positioned articles on your query and adapt them to your own style.
• Use numbers (“12 tips to optimize your SEO”).
• Use the adverb “How” (“How to make a chocolate cookie”).
• Propose a concrete benefit (“Improve your site’s SEO in 3 months, even if you’re starting from scratch”).
• Include catchy adjectives like “ultimate,” “incredible,” or “essential” (“The ultimate guide to WordPress plugins for your site”).

Don’t hesitate to create several versions of your title, then select the one you find most engaging. You might ask an outside eye (such as a coworker or family member) to give you their opinion.

Step 7: Integrate and format the article

Well done! Your “How to write a blog post” assignment is coming along nicely.

You’ve just completed your work on Google Docs. Now it’s time to integrate it into your WordPress CMS.

As you read above, simply copy and paste your article from Google Docs into the WordPress content editor.

The formatting will be preserved. You’ll see: your 2, 3, and 4 headings on Google Docs will normally be transformed into h2, h3, and h4 headings on WordPress. For SEO, this is perfect.

You should still check manually to make sure you haven’t skipped any chunks of text.

On the other hand, don’t copy and paste your images directly from Google Docs to WordPress. Do it manually, image by image. It’s a bit more tedious, but it’ll save you from having images that no longer display if you ever delete your Google Doc!

When integrating your text, make sure it’s readable:

• Frequently skip lines and create short paragraphs.
• Add bold to highlight certain key words or passages.
• Use bulleted and/or numbered lists to present your ideas.
• Integrate images and other illustrations (graphs, infographics, etc.) whenever you see that too many text blocks are forming.

Step 8: Optimize on-page SEO

Now that you’ve integrated your text, it’s time to work on your on-page SEO. This is the practice of optimizing your content for SEO by modifying various elements.

Speaking of which, here are a few best practices to follow:

• Integrate your main keyword naturally in strategic places: title and meta-description tags, h1 heading, introduction, body text, slug and hn headings. A plugin like Yoast SEO will tell you how dense your keyword is, and if it’s over-optimized.
• Optimize your images for SEO, in particular by filling in their alt tags, and compress their weight using a plugin like Imagify.
• Add internal links to complementary content, as well as external links to authoritative sources (Wikipedia, major news sites, etc.).
• Pay particular attention to loading speed and mobile ergonomics, in particular with our guide to speeding up your WordPress site without breaking the bank.
• Integrate YouTube videos to illustrate your points and increase the time spent on the page by your reader (this is a good signal sent to Google).
• Write optimized title and meta-description tags, containing your main keyword (preferably at the beginning for the title tag).
  Use your favorite SEO plugin or a free SERP simulator (e.g., Mangools or Ranktracker) to check their length and display on the SERP.

That’s not bad, but it’s by no means an exhaustive list. To expand on the concepts mentioned above and discover other techniques to implement, read our guide dedicated to on-page SEO on WordPress.

To improve the on-page SEO of your posts and pages that are already online, turn to Semrush’s “On Page SEO Checker” tool. To get started, enter your site’s domain name and let Semrush do the work. The platform will identify areas for improvement in terms of on-page SEO, and suggest workarounds in a number of areas: strategic ideas, backlinks to seek out, new semantic and content ideas, technical problems to correct, improvements to the user experience, etc. Click on the point that interests you to benefit from a detailed analysis… and start solving any obstacles to your SEO!

Step 9: Reread, correct, and publish the article

Your blog post is almost ready for publication. Before you click on the “Publish” button, though, make the final checks by re-reading your text. In particular, look out for:

• Spelling and grammatical errors. There are a number of freemium and paid tools available for this purpose, including LanguageTool, QuillBot, and the classic Antidote. Most of them even offer free extensions so you can use them on your web browser.
• Reading difficulties. First in terms of style. Check that most of your sentences respect the SVO pattern: subject, verb, object. Make sure you’ve written short sentences and concise paragraphs. Check your sentence structure. Ideally, use the active rather than the passive voice. A plugin like Yoast SEO will also tell you how legible your text is, thanks to its famous traffic lights.
• Lack of illustrations. Though there’s no rule set in stone, add a visual element (photo, video, infographic, graphic, etc.) every 250 to 300 words or so.
• Social media sharing buttons. If you want your visitors to share your blog post on their accounts (and maximize the visibility of your content), add sharing buttons with a plugin like Social Warfare, Super Socializer, Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons or MashShare.

The LanguageTool interface.

If possible, leave your text to rest for at least 24 hours between the finishing the writing and starting the proofreading.

Mistakes and typos are easier to spot when your brain is rested and “fresh.” Consider asking a third party to proofread your article, too. If they’re not familiar with your subject, even better.

They’ll easily be able to tell you if any passages are hard to understand or too jargony.

When you’ve finished, it’s time to publish your article. To do this, click on the “Publish” button.

If you’d like to publish your content at a later date, WordPress lets you schedule it for the day and time of your choice. In the editor’s top toolbar, go to the “Post” tab. Then click on the “Immediately” link in the “Publish” section. Finish by choosing the publication date and time of your choice.

Step 10: Promote your content

Well, congratulations. Your article is online, ready to be devoured by many readers. In order to reach as many people as possible, though, you can’t just publish it and wait for traffic to pour in.

You risk waiting a long time… especially if your blog is brand new with few or no followers.

So it’s vital that you stand out from the crowd and get the word out about your prose. For the record, users of the WordPress.com platform publish 70 million new articles a month.

And that’s just on WordPress.com! If you don’t do anything to promote your article, it’s likely to end up drowned in a vast ocean of posts.

With that in mind, here are a few things you can do to make your article known to the world:

• Mention it in a dedicated newsletter sent to your email list (if you have one).
• Share it on your social network accounts (Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) and on forums and groups dedicated to your theme.
• Forward it, via a personalized email, to influential bloggers you’ve mentioned in your article. But be careful: don’t beg them to share your article with their community! If they think it’s relevant, they’ll do it themselves.
• Use paid advertising (e.g., Facebook Ads or Google Ads) to share your content with targeted users.

Sharing an article on the WPMarmite X account.

Step 11: Analyze article performance

You’ve reached the end of this marathon of how to write an SEO-optimized blog post.

There’s one last step to take: analyzing the performance of your content. This is an important step. It enables you to check that your actions are going in the right direction and to rectify any shortcomings.

Your favorite analytics tool (Google Analytics, Plausible, Matomo) will give you access to a number of key metrics to keep a close eye on:

• The total number of visits to your blog post (sessions)
• People who have visited your site one or more times (users)
• Bounce rate
• Average reading time
• Best-performing pages (those receiving the most traffic)
• Conversions

If you’d like to track your article’s position in the Google SERP, you can also use Semrush’s “Position Tracking” tool. With it, you can monitor the rankings of your articles and your competitors on a daily basis.

You can even set up personalized alerts to notify you of any changes in position.

How to write a blog post: The conclusion

At last, it’s all done! You now know how to write a powerful blog post.

From researching a topic, to identifying a relevant keyword, to on-page SEO optimization and promoting your content, you know all the steps you need to take to craft high-quality content that’s likely to bring you qualified traffic.

Now all you have to do is get to work! Take action as soon as possible. Try, test, and, above all, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. That’s how we learn and progress.

To find all the tools you need in a single dashboard, rely on Semrush, which is offering an exclusive 14-day free trial of the Pro version:

Finally, remember that SEO doesn’t produce immediate results. But if you’re persistent and committed, you’ll reap the rewards of your work in the medium-to-long term, after a few months.

So hang in there and don’t give up. Do you have any tips or tricks to add to make this article-writing process even better? Let us know by posting a comment!

About the author

WPMarmite Team

WPMarmite helps beginners get the best out of WordPress with in-depth tutorials and honest reviews. Meet the founder, Alex, and his team right here.

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