Step by Step SEO Optimization for Hubs - A Beginner's Guide with Samples

So you want to write a hub (or blog or web page) that allows you to be creative and share your knowledge – but you'd still like it to earn some money? There is nothing wrong with taking your passions and interests and learning how to search engine optimize your ideas. This is what makes hubbing and other forms of internet writing not only fun, but profitable.

What follows is a step by step guide from gathering your ideas to the final product. I hope you will find it useful and that it will help you to write hubs (and other online articles, blogs, etc) that are fun for you to create and useful to others. Don't just throw out fodder for search engines, it hurts all of us in the long run. Instead, turn your passions into SEO optimized content that truly matters! That way when the next Google smackdown – er um, “algorithm update” occurs, you don't have to worry because your high quality content won't be affected.

Gather Ideas

This is how you come up with a pool of knowledge to glean hubs from. Do some brainstorming. Place a broad topic in the center of your paper that you know a lot about. An example I might use “Metaphysical”. This is a broad subject I have a lot of interest in. The next thing you do is branches for your subtopics so branches here might be “universal laws”, “Tarot”, “Paranormal” etc. From that you branch down even more and come up with even more subtopics. After you have an extensive list of subtopics start to think like your potential reader. If I wanted to learn more about this subject what questions would I have?

Brainstorming in this matter will help you in several ways: it is great for harvesting tons of ideas so you'll never run out of things to write about. Secondly it gives you some direction and helps you learn how to “drill down” your topics into niche subjects you can write about and place well for, and last but not least, it helps you get organized. There's nothing worse than a disorganized blog, hub, or website.

Choosing Your Subject

When you are choosing topics to write about consider how evergreen the subject is. Your topics should be something that people would still find interesting a year or two from now. If you are writing on the release of the latest gadget or Hollywood gossip etc. that content will not generate income long-term and will fall into obscurity pretty quickly. However, there are ways you can turn current events into far-reaching topics.

For example, take the recent event with the Susan G Komen foundation removing funding from Planned Parenthood. You could add this to an evergreen subject perhaps by investigating the following questions: How does Planned Parenthood get it's funding? Or What organizations fund breast cancer screenings for low income women? Those topics will likely hold interest for readers long after the Komen story has stopped generating buzz. The key is to tie current events into evergreen topics should you want to use them.

If your true interest is in the latest gadgetry, that doesn't mean you can't write about them, but consider changing your angle. An example might be how to maintain your device or how to optimize it for best performance etc. These subjects are more evergreen than the release date for the next iPhone.

When choosing a subject do NOT choose to write fluff about a topic you really don't know about. If you have to use Google for research for the bulk of your hub, chances are your writing on the subject is going to be subpar. Learn about a topic, do something to experience that topic first. For example don't just look up an article about how to create something without doing it first and interlacing your experience and direct knowledge into your hub.

If I choose to do an article on redecorating a room for example – a great hub would include information on how to do it and where to buy the supplies etc. (which you could look up on Google), but a GREAT hub is going to have my advice and experience from actually doing the project. It will also allow me to add original photos or even video which can take an “OK” hub and make it outstanding.

**Important**

Why is personal experience and great content important? When you write for Hubpages you are not just writing for yourself! You are representing an entire community and if you write low quality articles it hurts Hubpages and in turn all of us. Low quality content reflects bad on the entire site. If someone does a search for something and a hub comes up in the listings and it is garbage – the next time that person searches for information on another subject when she sees “Hubpages” in the URL of that search result she'll move on to the next link. There are multitudes of reasons to not write and publish crap – this is the biggest one. SEO optimization does no one any good if people skip over hubpages links in search results!

The Nuts and Bolts of SEO Writing - Keyword Research

You have some topic ideas in mind and now you are ready for the often talked about keyword research.

The first thing you want to do is become a searcher again. If you were searching for information about this topic what would you type into a search engine? Make a list as these are your potential keyword phrases that will later help you SEO your piece.

Now it's time for keyword research and there are a couple of stops you'll be making. The first is Google Insights. This tool helps you to determine if your topic is growing in search results and by how much.

Google Insights & Google Keyword Tool Basics

When you type your keyword or phrase into Insights a page comes up with a graph and statistics that tell you if the topic is popular, if it is experiencing growth and in what areas. If you type in a subject and it has little to know growth or search statistics here – chances are it may not be the best topic for you to write about in terms of SEO (or you may need to approach your topic in a different way)

On the bottom right it also lists related keyword phrases and their search growth and/or decline. This is an excellent way to pick up variations on your keywords which you will take with you to our next stop which is the Google Adwords Keyword Tool

This tool is used to help you determine search volume, competition, etc.

For my examples I used making soap. This is a hobby I have that I love and I know a lot about it. In order to come up with some ideas for different hubs I could write about making soap I used the Insights tool you can see in my screenshot above. According to Insights soapmaking is a relatively popular topic that is growing. They also listed “Castile Soap” - that's a narrower subject and something I could consider writing a hub about potentially. This has me moving towards a more niche topic - Castile soap will obviously be less broad than making soap.

My next stop is the Google Keyword tool (shown below). I entered search phrases into this tool that I would use if looking for information on making soap. I also entered some of the new ideas I received from Insights. This tool then compiles a list of 100 keyword variations.

The number we look at is the “global search”. If that number is reasonably high – say 30,000 or more it may be worth my time to write hub(s) geared to that search phrase. The next step is to look at the competition. If it is low or medium competition chances are it will be a good keyword phrase. High competition tends to mean that many sites are already going to be targeting that phrase and you'll have to fight harder to get noticed. Ideally you want to stay in the low/medium range.

Sometimes you can even combine two phrases together. I see soap recipes has 90,000 and Castile Soap has 60,000 – guess what hub I am going to write now?

Soap Recipes – Castile Soap a to the point SEO optimized title and hub idea.

Ok so I have my title down and my hub is going to be a strongly written "kick tushy guide" that provides the recipe and how to do it for Castile Soap. If I'm really ambitious I may video tape the process. I'll definitely snap some pictures of things like the ingredients and the soap after it's completed etc. These should be your own original photographs! Anything original to you is more search engine friendly so do use originals when possible!

As you write your hub you will want it to be broken down into steps that follow a logical sequence – much like this hub you are currently reading. You should use subheadings, short paragraphs, lists when appropriate, and other things that break up the piece into chunks, rather than one very long piece. Look at your hubs and see if they make use of subheadings, sections, lists, etc. If not consider reworking them a bit.

Why are Subheadings important for SEO?

Your subheadings should also be search engine optimized. The way to do this is to refer to your original list where you pretended to be a searcher looking for information on your hub subject. What keywords or questions did you come up with? Turn those into bold subheadings and that will help your on page SEO by making it easier for search engines to “read” your piece and rank it.

Google and other search engines give love to pages that are sectioned out and easy to read. Subheadings are a big plus not only for SEO ranking, but for organization and ensuring people will read what you write. Remember, people who view you as knowledgeable and trustworthy will be more inclined to follow you and click on any links or products you happen to recommend. Followers on social media in particular lead to shares and more traffic – so you want to be a trusted source of information.

Other Important Ways to SEO Optimize a Hub

• Original Pictures

• Polls / Questions – get your readers involved!

• Encouraging Insightful Comments (do not approve non-meaningful comments it will hurt your SEO) answer those meaningful comments!

• Video

• Links to other valid resources! - don't link a hub on soapmaking to another hub on car engine repair – your links should complement your hub and be strong links (don't link to spammy websites etc.)

• Build backlinks by linking like hubs. For example, my hub on Tarot numerology can link well with my hub on Tarot astrology – they are closely related.

• Consider linking to hubs of other hubbers if the information complements your hub (it helps you both out)

• Less is More – use – but don't overdo all of the above! Cluttered hubs are passed over hubs.

The Importance of Proofreading

Nothing is a bigger turnoff than hubs with multiple errors in spelling and grammar. The occasional “whoopsie” is not so bad, but if it is habitual people will not listen to what you have to say. Use spell check, read and re-read what you have written and make necessary corrections. If you ever want to be successful as a writer or online marketer you MUST get strong in this area.

Your spellchecker is especially important for things like subheadings, sidebars, and other areas that are going to get the most attention from readers. Misspellings, bad grammar, keyword stuffing etc. will all get you slapped by Google (and other search engines) so get in the habit very early of proofreading.

You never want to be “spammy” when promoting your work online. There are no real shortcuts and doing things “black hat” style will get you in trouble in the long run. That being said you should be active in social media. Have fan pages where people can follow you. I tweet out my latest hubs, but I also share interesting tweets from my followers and tweet things that are not self-promotional. If you sign up for Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or any of the others and everything you share is self-promotion you will lose followers quickly. Engage your readers, value them and respect their time. If they are taking time to read your work routinely that is a great honor – treat your readers with the respect they deserve!

Backlinks are links from other relevant websites to your hub (or blog/webpage etc). Backlinks should always be on the same or similar subject. A backlink from an animal site to a hub on how to make lace is not a good backlink. A link from a crafting website to my hub on how to make lace however is a stellar backlink.

You can use your own websites/blogs for backlinks. I do this regularly, but do not abuse the process. If you link every hub you do to your website for example this can be interpreted by Google and other search engines as Spam and it will result in lowered rankings or even delisting by Google. You don't want that to happen. However, if you write a hub on “How to choose the best wine for dinner” and you have a food blog – that would be a great way to cross-promote because both obviously go well together. Linking your hub on “rewiring your attic” to your food blog would be seen as not only irrelevant, but spammy.

Use discernment when backlinking and never underestimate the power of a great hub to be shared and bookmarked by others. Also, consider other writers when you write. If someone has a stellar hub that really shines and it's related to what you are writing about – link it to a hub of your own, share it on your Facebook, or even post a link to it in a related or complementary blog post. Quality hubbers help each other out in ways that are beneficial to all concerned, because it's a nice thing to do, not because they expect something in return!

For example in this hub I have linked to other hubs I feel are excellent in regards to SEO and earning money with writing. This adds value and meaningful content to your hubs and is also loved by search engines :)