If you want free traffic from Google, you need your content to rank. This episode delivers 14 practical SEO tips (plus a bonus) that cover on-page optimization, keyword strategy, backlinks, and more. Mark also shares a downloadable blog post SEO checklist you can use every time you publish.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

How to target the right keywords for every piece of content
Why keyword variations matter more than keyword density
How to write SEO titles and meta descriptions that earn clicks
The role of outbound authority links, internal linking, and image optimization
How to build natural backlinks with varied anchor text
Why social sharing signals are growing in importance
How to detect and prevent duplicate content problems

Episode Summary

Mark opens with a quick update on the new LateNightIM.com theme built on the Divi framework, then launches into the main segment: a comprehensive on-page SEO checklist for bloggers.

The 15 tips cover the full spectrum of on-page and basic off-page optimization. Know what keyword you are targeting. Use natural keyword variations instead of repeating the same phrase. Create the best content available for your keyword. Write longer, more comprehensive posts than your competition. Place your keyword in the title tag and post slug. Write compelling SEO titles and meta descriptions. Include outbound links to authority sites. Link to other pages on your own site. Optimize images with keyword-rich alt tags. Place keywords in section headings. Build backlinks with varied anchor text from relevant content. Create social sharing signals. Check for duplicate content using Copyscape.

Mark emphasizes that this is a white hat approach focused on creating genuine value for readers. Google's algorithms are moving toward understanding intent rather than matching exact keywords, which means writing naturally for your audience is both the ethical and the strategically correct approach.

Key Takeaways

Every piece of content should target a specific keyword phrase that matches searcher intent
Write for readers, not for Google. Natural language with keyword variations performs better than keyword stuffing.
Your SEO title and meta description are your ad copy in search results. Make them count.
Two outbound authority links per article signal editorial quality to Google
Internal linking passes authority between pages and improves site structure
Long-form content that is genuinely the best available for a keyword will outrank thinner content over time
Run all content through Copyscape before publishing to catch duplicate content issues

What's Changed Since This Episode

Mark recorded this in October 2016, and while SEO has evolved significantly, the core principles in this checklist remain sound.

Google's algorithm is now AI-driven. RankBrain (2015), BERT (2019), and the Helpful Content system (2022-2024) mean Google understands search intent better than ever. The natural language approach Mark advocates is more important now, not less.

E-E-A-T has become a central evaluation framework. Google's quality raters assess Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Author credentials, first-hand experience, and topical authority across a site all factor into how Google evaluates content quality.

Core Web Vitals are now ranking signals. Page speed, interactivity, and visual stability directly affect rankings. Site performance was not part of the SEO conversation in 2016 but is essential in 2026.

AI-generated content has raised the quality bar. With AI making it easy to produce content at scale, original research, personal experience, and unique perspectives are the primary differentiators for ranking. The advice to have the “best content” now requires demonstrating something AI cannot replicate: genuine expertise.

Keyword research tools have expanded significantly. Semrush, Ahrefs, and KWFinder by Mangools offer sophisticated data well beyond what was available in 2016. The Yoast SEO plugin Mark recommends remains popular alongside Rank Math as an alternative.

Resources Mentioned

Ubersuggest — keyword research tool
Yoast SEO Plugin — WordPress SEO optimization
Copyscape — duplicate content detection
Divi by Elegant Themes — WordPress theme framework

Related Episodes

If you found this episode helpful, you might also enjoy:

Listen and Subscribe

Listen to Late Night Internet Marketing on Apple Podcasts or subscribe at latenightim.com/internet-marketing-podcast/. Have a question for Mark? Call the digital recorder at 214-444-8655 or drop a comment below.

2 Comments

stephencross on October 16, 2016 at 6:24 pm

Hey Mark –

I enjoyed this episode. I particularly like how you described #3, which could be positioned as the golden rule which no other rule should break.

In reference to images being keyword rich (#9?) and how they are used by screen readers, alt tags should only be used on images that provide value to the content and don’t have supporting content describing them. Often images are used for esthetic purposes, which is fine, but it provides no value to have an alt tag with keywords in it. You want to avoid bombarding visually impaired readers (and Google, which is also a visually impaired reader) with a bunch of keywords with no valuable content. A blank alt tag (alt=“”) is valid and acceptable. Webaim has a great tutorial on writing appropriate alt text – http://webaim.org/techniques/alttext.

I’m not speaking from an SEO perspective, but from the good content creation perspective.

-S
stephencross on October 22, 2016 at 5:58 pm

Mark –

I enjoyed this episode. I particularly like how you described #3, which could be positioned as the golden rule which no other rule should break.

In reference to images being keyword rich (#9?) and how they are used by screen readers, alt tags should only be used on images that provide value to the content and don’t have supporting content describing them. Often images are used for esthetic purposes, which is fine, but it provides no value to have an alt tag with keywords in it. You want to avoid bombarding visually impaired readers (and Google, which is also a visually impaired reader) with a bunch of keywords with no valuable content. A blank alt tag (alt=“”) is valid and acceptable. Webaim has a great tutorial on writing appropriate alt text – http://webaim.org/techniques/alttext.

I’m not speaking from an SEO perspective, but from the good content creation perspective.

-S