Hey all,
A client of ours recently asked me about blogging, and more specifically an SEO tool “Yoast” (and did we have anything like that for our platform.).
Yoast is a cool beginner tool (there are many great SEO tools out there like Hrefs, Moz etc), and using any SEO tool (if you don’t have any SEO experience) will in fact help you get better at SEO.
But it’s a double-edged sword since these tools in my experience teach people to focus on the “wrong” things.
Clients end up obsessed with trying to make the tool happy (keyword density, word count, blah blah blah). When in fact the best organic SEO happens when you “don’t” obsess over the “overly” technical details, but instead focus on the quality of the content and user experience.
This is not to say there should not be good SEO fundamentals (there absolutely should!) < and I’ll cover those in a minute. But first let’s talk about what you really need to think about.
Google E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trust)
The whole purpose of every blog you write should be to show consumers that:
E - You have plenty of experience in the area you’re writing about
E - You have established yourself as an expert in the area you are writing about
A - Others consider you an authority (you are an authority) in the area you’re writing about
T - Write in a way that shows that people can trust you.
Until you do this, don’t worry about the technical details.
But let’s talk now about the more technical details (that was the crux of the question, he wanted to make sure his blogging team was doing it “right”
We’ve already written a tonne on “Page Titles, Meta Descriptions, Click Through Rates” etc so I won’t go there, but let’s get into the basics or fundamentals of your blog content.
This is actually quite timely, since @AmyPye and I are currently redesigning our own blogs here at Real Estate Webmasters as well. (screenshot of REW blog update)
The writing in a blog:
Headings: It’s a simply formula
You only use 1 H1 tag, it’s the biggest tag, goes at the top of the page and defines the overall topic of the post. Only 1, that’s it.
H2 Tags - it’s recommended that you organize your post into a few easily digestible sections (sub topics of the main topic). How many h2’s you use is determined by how many organically unique sub topics need to be covered.
For example, maybe I’m planning a blog meant to support Admirals Cove, Jupiter Florida.
I need to first decide what my “main” blog is going to be about.
Let’s pick an easy one with a logical structure: “The weather in all 4 seasons in Jupiter Florida” < This is my h1
What are my logical subcategories?
Winter In Jupiter (January - March)
Spring In Jupiter (April - June)
Summer In Jupiter (July - Sept)
Fall In Jupiter (Oct-Dec)
^^^^^ These are my 4 h2’s, they are logical and consistent sub-topics of the main topic. (I don’t live in Jupiter, don’t know anything about their seasons, I’m sure they would say they have 1 season, it’s summer! But humor me (it makes the article forum post easier to write)
With me so far?
Ok so what goes in the h2’s? Does it need H3’s? H4’s? Etc
Generally, since blogs are not that deep/complex, I’m going to say you typically don’t need "h3’s (and definitely not h4’s) in your blog. Why? Because they function is to truly separate sub sub topics, or sub sub sub topics < and a blog won’t have those (in general)
But if you love to write, and are planning an “in-depth” article, this is what that might look like
h1: “The weather in all 4 seasons in Jupiter Florida”
P: An intro about what the article is about, and maybe a picture
H2: Winter In Jupiter (January - March)
P Summary of Winter in Jupiter
H3 January in Jupiter
P summary of January in jupiter
h3: summary of Feb in jupiter
Do you see how h tags are used? It’s about how “deep” your content is on that single page and how it should be logically organized. But in general, for a real estate blog, you typically don’t go past h2.
My point is, there are no “SEO rules” about how many, or what types of heading tags etc you use, but rather you should follow content organization best practices (Google prefers this).
Teaching newer marketing team members is hard, giving them a formula does help.
So let’s do that:
What I like to do is teach people a consistent formula that they can follow to ensure consistency and quality in their blogging.
Each person/marketing team is different (some love short form, medium or long) and the reality is, there is no hard and fast rule. So it’s really about deciding on something and sticking to it.
So let’s say I was advising Waterfront Properties: (They are the client I’m consulting for in this case)
I think what we should do is this:
h1: Main topic:
p: Introduction of the main topic and since we’re using this opportunity to create content pillars (screenshot below) make sure you reference the main area, in this case Jupiter in the first paragraph or two, and link it using appropriate anchor text such as “Jupiter Florida” to the page it’s meant to help rank.
Unique, high-quality image (something AWESOME and eye-catching. Don’t cheap out here, take a frigging awesome photo! (your own photo) and then spend time cropping, and optimizing it. It should be in WebP format, and fit perfectly in your blog.
Below the image, make sure you caption it (Pictured above the Jupiter Tower with Rob Thomson) or whatever.
Filenames matter /jupiter-florida-tower-in-web-p
Alt tags matter for ADA alt = “Photo of Jupiter Florida Tower”
But here’s the thing: Is it one intro paragraph or two? I don’t care.
One photo or two? Doesn’t matter (what makes the most sense for the context of the article
How many words before the H2? Don’t count them (it’s not the point, make it awesome and read well)
How many times should you say the word jupiter? If you’re counting, or putting it in there “on purpose” past the first organic reference, you’re already losing at this game.
Since I love photos (and videos) for blogs.
I’d probably follow up with
h2:
P: Intro of sub topic
Photo: Photo of sub topic
Caption of sub topic photo
Bullet points on sub topic
P Summary of sub topic
then just do this over and over again
h2:
P: Intro of sub topic
Photo: Photo of sub topic
Caption of sub topic photo
Bullet points on sub topic
P Summary of sub topic
h2:
P: Intro of sub topic
Photo: Photo of sub topic
Caption of sub topic photo
Bullet points on sub topic
P Summary of sub topic
h2:
P: Intro of sub topic
Photo: Photo of sub topic
Caption of sub topic photo
Bullet points on sub topic
P Summary of sub topic
And there’s your format (or an example format)
Super simple to follow and replicate. And since you have many areas to write for, it’s totally fine to keep that same, high-quality format throughout.
2 Pro tips on real estate blogging (using the latest Renaissance site)
1: User FAQ’s (and add Schema)
2: Ensure you end with a call to action (what do you want your user to do next?)
Hope that helps 
