SEO and Other Things I’m Learning

As I mentioned in my last post, I was invited to write a column on Patheos.com. The title of my column is Dreaming of Justice & Mercy. Although it’s on the WordPress platform, just as this blog is, I’ve been learning a lot of things I never knew about SEO (search engine optimization) and how to format photos for online publishing.

The Importance of Photos for SEO

It is important to have at least one photo and to properly tag the photos for search engines to find them. The Patheos interface provides more options for tagging photos than this version of WordPress does. But these are just three of the photos I’ve used for my latest articles on my column.

The Importance of Subheadings for SEO

One thing I’ve learned is that it is important to have subheadings throughout an article and to include keywords from the article in the subheads. The sections under each subhead should also not be too long. Apparently search engine bots have short attention spans like many people do these days.

The Importance of Links for SEO

Search engines are more likely to catalog a post or article if it has links to other reputable websites. It is also important to have links from other sites to that post or article. So to that end, I’m giving you all handy links to the articles I’ve posted so far (except the first one, which I already talked about in my last post). (Side note: internal links are also important, so I linked that last sentence to my other post.)

God Is Good: He Helped Me Defend My Child against a Bully

God is good. In the face of bullying, He gave me the wisdom and opportunity to be a defender for my child. Bullies come in all shapes and sizes; sometimes they are teachers. Read all about it in this article.

God Heals Shame: Hope for Victims of Rape

Women today shouldn’t have to be brave to say someone raped them. They shouldn’t wonder if they will be believed. Check out this article to find out why I think so.

Prayer Eases Fear: How You Can Conquer Aquaphobia

Fear is ubiquitous in our culture. I’ve struggled with it in many ways, buy my aquaphobia best illustrates how prayer eases fear. You’ll enjoy this encouraging story of how it happened.

Jesus Holds Your Tears: Know and Find Hope

Suffering and hope are two popular keywords searched by readers on Patheos. I wrote this post to answer that need. If you’re looking for hope in the midst of a difficult situation, I encourage you to read it.

None of Us Are Free When One of Us Is Chained

Patheos maintains an editorial calendar inviting columnists to write on specific topics, especially for various holidays. This post is my answer to a call for articles about Juneteenth in my faith tradition. It includes many links to informative websites about Juneteenth and modern forms of slavery. I hope you’ll read it and give me some feedback.

My Closing Prayers

One of my favorite things about Dreaming of Justice & Mercy is that in each article I include a closing prayer that relates to the topic of the article. It is a prayer for each reader, a plea for God to bless them and draw them closer to Him. If you subscribe to my newsletter, you are familiar with my closing prayers. Perhaps you have been encouraged by one or two of them.