Ready to start working on a series for your Christian blog but just aren’t quite sure how to do the SEO part?
Implementing SEO for a blog post series works in exactly the same way it does for a single post. The fact that it is a series of posts is actually quite irrelevant to getting SEO to take effect. Each post in the series needs to have a very specific keyword phrase to rank for.
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How to Implement SEO for a Blog Post Series
If you are wondering how exactly to apply SEO (and pick the right keyword) for a series of blog posts centered around a specific topic, the answer is quite simple!
You SEO each individual post of the series for the specific point of that post. Oftentimes, Christian bloggers will simply choose a keyword to describe the series as a whole. This doesn’t help focus in on the actual point of the individual blog posts in the series.
The most important thing to remember is that each post in the series has its own URL to be indexed. The Series isn’t indexed – the posts in it are. As such, each individual post needs to be SEO’d for the exact purpose of that post (not the series).
Research the Series Topic to Find Individual Post Ideas
Writing a series of blog posts uses the same SEO strategy as any other blog posts on your site. You must research to see what people are typing into that Google search box in search of the content of your post. You may think individual posts about certain things are interesting but the point is to offer content based on what people are searching for. If they aren’t searching for it, they won’t find your post!
Let’s say you were thinking of doing a Gratitude series. You would first need to figure out exactly what ABOUT gratitude you want to write about. Examples might be
- ways to show gratitude
- things to be grateful for
Start by simply typing your main concept into Google’s search box and see what comes up in the dropdown recommendations. You can then look into each one as well as what displays over on the right side of the page (Keyword Surfer or Keywords Everywhere).
You can use these ideas to come up with the focus topic for each individual post in the series.
Choose a Focus Keyword for Each Individual Post
From the research for the series, you decided on a 5-part How to Show Gratitude series where each post focused on one of these areas.
- Showing Gratitude to Your Spouse
- Showing Gratitude to Your Kids
- Showing Gratitude to Strangers
- Showing Gratitude at Work
- Showing Gratitude to God
You wouldn’t SEO the post for the word “gratitude” because that is too broad. Remember, you should choose long-tail keywords that are as specific as possible to the exact thing someone is looking for. When someone goes to Google, they most likely are not typing in “gratitude” but will ask Google something like “how can I show my husband that I’m grateful for him?” or something like that.
You’ll need to do keyword research for each individual post to determine the best keyword choice based on the topic of that particular post.
I did keyword research for “showing gratitude to your spouse” and found “ways to show your husband you appreciate him” to be a good keyword choice to draft the post around. In this scenario, the keyword doesn’t even include the word “gratitude” but conveys the same concept with “appreciate”. This keyword phrase could easily be used in headings and throughout the content of the post without much effort and without going overboard.
Use Related Keywords in All Posts
When you write your post, in this case, “XX Ways to Show Gratitude to Your Spouse” (keyword: ways to show your husband you appreciate him), be sure to include some of those other keywords that are listed in your research results (all those other ones showing in that image above). Of course, don’t use them if they don’t make sense for your particular post, but having these additional related keywords help to back up your focus keyword to let Google know what the post is about.
These can be used as headings, as well as just being in the content.
Also, if you use one of these words as the focus keyphrase for a post (in the focus keyphrase box, as a Heading, and in the content), you can still use that keyword as an additional keyword in the other posts where it makes sense to do so. You just don’t want to choose the same keyword as the focus keyword for more than one single post.
Use a Tag to Identify the Series
Be sure you’ve chosen the most appropriate category for your series. Then, you can add a tag for the series name and use it to tag all of the posts in this series. Of course, you can use other relevant tags that make sense. For example, in our example Series, you could have a tag for “gratitude” because you most likely have written or will write other posts over time on the subject of gratitude.
Not sure exactly how tags work or should be used? Read about how to properly use categories and tags.
Use Internal Links!
Be sure that you are including links to the other posts in the series in each post. This way, you are dropping “SEO-juice” between the posts in the series (common topic for SEO). But it also let’s your readers know you have more content on the topic.
Make Pins for the Series URL!
In addition to making great pinnable images for each individual post, you can also create a pin for the Tag URL! While this doesn’t necessarily help with SEO, it does help in generating more traffic to these posts.
If you go to the left side of your WordPress dashboard under pages you’ll see “Tags.” Click on the tag you’ve created to associate with your series. Each tag has a defined URL (yourblogname.com/tag/tag name).
When you go to this URL, it will list all of the posts that have that tag (just like a blog feed) so your readers can see all of them.
Use this link for pins that promote the series as a whole (not just the individual blog posts).
Also, if you have the premium version of Yoast or are using RankMath, you can upload a custom image for that URL for when it is shared on Facebook and Twitter!
Final Words of Wisdom
It is important to understand that not all series (or posts for that matter) will do well from an SEO perspective. There are times when you want to simply write a series to offer encouragement to others but you just can’t seem to find keyword options that relate to it.
This is totally ok! In these situations, you can rely on Pinterest and social media to get traffic to it (as well as sharing it with your email subscribers).
But more often than not, if you are truly trying to reach more people, you must write content they are actually looking for online. This is the basis of how organic (Google) traffic works.
Also, make sure you have a clear idea of who your target audience is and what the purpose of your blog is as far as serving them. This will help you stay focused on topics that they are seeking and will engage with.
