When you search for something online, you usually click on one of the first few results that pop up.

What is your site could be one of the top ones?

SEO helps your content show up in those top results, making it easier for people to find you.

Now, you might be wondering, "Isn't SEO just for websites?" Well, that's a common misconception.

SEO for newsletters focuses on making your email content more discoverable and engaging, which can help drive more traffic to your website and improve overall reader engagement.

James Clear uses an SEO strategy to constantly rank high and reach new audiences.

We’ve been using it for one of our publications and many of the articles have made it to the first page.

Not only that, we’ve also managed to be the first search result!

It can also help you attract organic visitors who are actively interested in your content.

Today, we’re gonna look at how you can apply basics of SEO in your newsletter, even as a beginner, to rank higher!

What are Keywords?

Think of keywords as the main topics or ideas that sum up the content of your newsletter.

When people use search engines, they type in these words or phrases to find information.

For example, if your newsletter is about healthy recipes, your keywords might be "healthy recipes," "quick meals," or "nutritious food."

Here’s how to find the most relevant keywords:

1. Think Like Your Audience: 
Consider what words or phrases your readers might use when searching for the topics you cover. What problems are they trying to solve? What interests them?

2. Use Keyword Research Tools: 
Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs can help you find popular keywords related to your content.

3. Focus on Long-Tail Keywords: 
These are longer, more specific phrases.
For example, instead of just "recipes," use "easy healthy dinner recipes." Long-tail keywords often have less competition and attract more targeted traffic.

💡Pro Tip: You can also analyze your competitors’ content to find the keywords they are targeting.

How to Choose the Right Keywords?

Once you've gathered keyword ideas from these tools, it's time to choose the best ones for your newsletter.

There’s two main types of keywords:

• Short-tail Keywords: 
  These are broad, general keywords like "recipes" or "marketing."
  They usually have high search volumes but also high competition.

• Long-tail Keywords: 
  These are more specific phrases like "quick healthy dinner recipes" or "email marketing tips for small businesses."
  They typically have lower search volumes but less competition, making it easier to rank for them.

💡Pro Tip: Check how many other sites or newsletters are trying to rank for the same keyword.
Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs provide a competition score that can help you gauge this.

After you select your keywords, it's time to put them to work:

• Titles: 
  Make sure your main keyword is in your newsletter title.
  This helps search engines and readers quickly understand what your content is about.

• Headers: 
  Use keywords in your headers (H1, H2, H3 tags) to break up your content and make it more readable. This also helps with SEO.

• Body Text: 
  Naturally incorporate keywords throughout your content.
  Focus on readability and making the content useful rather than just stuffing in keywords.

💡Pro Tip: Avoid keyword stuffing.
If you overuse keywords in an attempt to rank higher, it will not only makes your content less readable but can also get you penalized by search engines.
Aim for a natural flow in your writing.
If it feels forced, it's probably too much.

Technical SEO for Newsletters:

Technical SEO involves optimizing the backend aspects of your website or newsletter, like load speed, mobile-friendliness, and clean code, to help search engines crawl and index your content more effectively.

Here’s how you can do it:

1. Mobile Responsiveness:

More and more people are reading emails on their phones and tablets, so making sure your newsletters look great on any device is crucial.

A responsive design means your content adjusts to fit different screen sizes, ensuring a smooth and enjoyable reading experience.

2. Reduce Newsletter Load Time:

Nobody likes waiting for emails to load, especially on mobile.

Compress large images and remove unnecessary links to avoid the newsletter being too heavy.

💡Pro Tip: Overall, keep your newsletter clean and easy to operate, keeping only the essential and removing any fluff.

Internal and External Links:

Internal links are hyperlinks that connect one page to another within the same website, helping users navigate and boosting SEO by establishing a site structure.

Linking to previous newsletter issues can:

• Increase Engagement: 
  Readers might explore past issues, spending more time with your content.

• Build a Content Hub: 
  Create a comprehensive resource center by interlinking related content.
  For example, if you have several newsletters about email marketing, link them all in a "Email Marketing Resources" section.
  This makes it easier for readers to find related content and improves your SEO by creating a network of internal links.

External links are hyperlinks that connect to pages on different websites, providing additional information and boosting credibility and SEO by linking to authoritative sources.

External links to high-quality, relevant sources can enhance your newsletter’s credibility and provide additional value to your readers.

For example, linking to a well-researched article or study can back up your points and offer readers more in-depth information.

While external links are valuable, don’t overdo it. Too many external links can lead readers away from your content.

Aim for a balance, ensuring that internal links keep readers engaged with your own material.

💡Pro Tip: Build an archive of your past newsletters. It is both valuable for your readers and can significantly improve SEO.

And that’s about it!

If you want to learn and implement advanced SEO strategies, this is a good start:

But even if you want to keep it simple for now, apply the strategies above and let me know how it goes for you!

💡Pro Tip: Google takes some time to index content, so experiment with and apply SEO practices for at least 1-3 months to start seeing results :)

P.S. If you are stuck with your newsletter growth at any point, reply to this and I can help you out! 📈