I am so thrilled to introduce you to Kara Duncan from The Kara Report on today’s podcast. This episode is absolute gold. I just finished listening to it myself and walked away with a to-do list full of important SEO updates I need to make in my own business. I was literally taking notes as I listened. In this episode, Kara is sharing eight SEO blogging strategies most business owners are skipping—or, honestly, may not even be aware of. I personally learned a ton from what she shared.
These are not the usual SEO tips you hear everywhere; Kara goes deep and gets really specific. She’s someone who has helped me rank better on Google for my website and especially for blog posts related to this podcast so trust me, she knows her stuff.
Fun fact: Kara is actually also on my podcast team. She’s been my podcast manager for about a year and a half now. When I came up with the idea for these guest episodes during my maternity leave, I pitched it to her and added, “By the way, would you also be one of the guests?” I had several topics in mind that I thought she’d be perfect for (and this one especially stood out!).
Kara’s been a long-time listener of the show, a Showit template customer, and she’s also taken my Podcast Success Blueprint course. Like I mentioned, she’s now a vital part of my business and is so sharp when it comes to blogging and SEO.
She also talks about how blogging is changing because of AI, and I really loved her perspective on how we can adapt our strategy as business owners (even if you’re not using AI yourself).
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Hey there, friends! I am so excited to be coming at you from this side of the mic. I'm Kara, and my business is The Kara Report. We’re a content marketing agency that specializes in done-for-you blogging and Pinterest services for creative business owners just like you!
I also have the absolute privilege and delight of helping Elizabeth behind the scenes with some of her podcast work, so I’m really excited to be chatting with you today. And hey - we already have one thing in common: we both love The Breakthrough Brand podcast.
Today, I’m going to share eight things to consider with your SEO in 2025. These are underrated SEO blogging strategies or things that most business owners tend to skip over. I feel like we’re all trying to diversify our marketing in 2025, right? We’re trying to stop relying so much on algorithms and if you’re not there yet, trust me, it’s only a matter of time. We’re all working on building more authority and creating marketing that lasts. Let’s get started!
1. Introduce yourself at the top of your blog post with a keyword that explains what you do.
This sounds so simple, but you’d be surprised how often I see blog posts where, if I landed on the page without context, I would have no idea that the writer offers a product or service. It might look like just another informational site.
Instead, I start every blog post with a quick intro to the topic, then I introduce myself. For example: “Today I’m sharing X, Y, Z. By the way, I’m [name], and I specialize in [what you do].” Then I move into the main content and end with a clear call to action.
Including that quick intro does two things: First, it adds another keyword to the page, which is great for SEO. But more importantly, it reminds us that a blog post is often someone’s first interaction with your brand.
A lot of us design our websites with the assumption that visitors will follow a linear path: they’ll land on the homepage, read the about page, check out the services, etc. But that’s not always how it works. If you’re blogging regularly or using SEO strategically, people are often landing on a blog post first (totally bypassing the homepage).
And because we live in a world overflowing with content, a lot of blogs are purely informational. They exist to make money through ads or affiliate links. But that might not be your goal. You might be trying to sell a service, a digital product, or something else, and your blog post might not be doing that effectively if you don’t introduce yourself.
So, that’s the first of the SEO blogging strategies, and honestly, it’s also a human-first tip: Always introduce yourself in every single blog post. Yes, it might feel repetitive to you, but it’s not for your audience. Because again, for many people, this will be their very first touchpoint with your brand.
Read more: 5 Ways to Leverage the Power of SEO to Build Your Email List
2. Clearly Lay Out What You’re Going to Cover At The Beginning
The second thing I recommend doing when you're writing a blog post is to clearly lay out what you’re going to cover right at the beginning. I already mentioned having an introduction, but this goes a step further. Too often, we end up burying the lede.
It kind of reminds me of looking up recipes on Pinterest back in 2016—remember when you'd have to scroll through eight paragraphs about someone’s life story before you even got to the actual recipe? It’s the same thing with blogs today. We're still doing that, and people just don’t have the patience for it.
So, in your first paragraph, make the topic super clear. Then, go one step further and include a little list of what you're going to cover. For example: “In this post, we’ll go over X, Y, and Z.” Make sure those points are keyword-rich and specific (not vague!).
Because here’s the thing: if you write something like “The #1 secret business owners miss,” no one is typing that into Google. It might be catchy, but it’s not helpful for SEO.
If you don’t want to manually list the topics, you can also use a tool like Rank Math’s table of contents plugin (or another one compatible with your platform). It can automatically pull in your headers to generate a table of contents, which helps surface your keywords at the top of the page.
Read more: 3 Tiny Website Updates to Maximize SEO and User Trust in 2025
3. Optimize Your Images
The third thing I want to talk about is optimizing images. Some of these SEO blogging strategies might sound basic, but they really matter.
I recently read a study that said 78% of SEO issues are image-related. That’s huge! And I think it's because image optimization seems like a small detail—something we either don’t know how to handle or don’t think is that important. But images actually play a big role in helping Google understand what your content is about.
That’s true whether you’re a photographer with tons of images in a blog post, or a business owner who includes just a few. So here are three easy ways to optimize your images:
- Rename your image files before uploading.
Don’t wait until after they’re uploaded—some website platforms let you rename them afterward, but that doesn’t always carry through in a way that Google recognizes. When renaming, use dashes between words, like: website-copywriter-nashville.jpg
You can use keywords related to your overall niche or the specific topic of the post. - Add alt text that describes the image.
Alt text is important for accessibility and also gives you an opportunity to naturally include a keyword. If you're a photographer and you have, say, 100 images in a post, don’t overdo it. Maybe aim for around 20% of the images to include keywords. For fewer images, maybe 40%. Keep it natural and descriptive, not just stuffed with keywords. - Resize your images before uploading.
This keeps your site loading faster and improves user experience. I like to resize based on width—800 pixels wide is usually a good starting point for blog layouts. You can always adjust if things look blurry. A tool I recommend is bulkresizephotos.com—it's free and really fast, especially if you're not using editing software like Lightroom.
So to recap: Rename, add alt text, and resize your images.
4. Add Internal & External Links
The fourth thing that’s often underrated but is super effective when talking about SEO blogging strategies is using links strategically. There are three types of links to think about for every blog post:
- External links to high-authority websites.
If you reference a study or helpful resource, link to it—just make sure it’s a trustworthy site (not spammy). Google sees this as a credibility signal. - External links to your other online platforms.
Send people to your Instagram, Pinterest board, YouTube channel—wherever else you show up online. These are technically still external links (since they’re not on your domain), but they keep people in your orbit. Pro tip: always set external links to open in a new tab so you’re not sending people away from your site entirely. - Internal links to your own content.
Link to your services page, your contact page, your email opt-in—anything relevant.
Also, don’t forget to link to older blog content! If you've been in business for even a year or two, you likely have a lot of helpful posts you can resurface. Link organically when it makes sense. For example, if you mention optimizing images and have a whole blog post about that, link to it right there.
Think of it this way: people reading your blog are likely in different stages of their buyer journey. Some are ready to contact you now, others are just starting to realize they might need your help. Linking in different ways throughout the post helps serve all those readers and keeps them engaged.
5. Add The Most Important Keywords For Your Website To Your Footer
Now, this won’t make sense for every business, and sometimes you’ll make design choices that don’t prioritize SEO—and that’s okay. You don’t want your site to feel robotic or overly optimized.
But if you have a high-value blog post, say, a software review you’re an affiliate for, or a post that explains your unique process, it can be smart to include that in your footer. Even just a short list of key blog posts is helpful.
We see big software companies do this all the time. Their footers are full of links to help with SEO, and while most small business owners don’t need to go that far, you can still apply this strategically.
And while you're editing your footer, it’s also a good idea to include a short, 1–2 sentence description of what you do. This helps both with SEO and with clarity for first-time visitors.
And if you’re a location-based business, definitely make sure your location is included in your footer. The footer is kind of an SEO hotspot because it appears on every single page of your website. That makes it a great place to be intentional. It’s worth investing a little extra time there because it can have a real impact on your overall SEO.
Read more: SEO for Showit Hacks: Optimize Your Site to Be Found in 2023 with Sara Dunn
6. Increase Your Word Count
Now, I’m not saying you need to write a 5,000, 6,000, or 7,000-word blog post—but I do think we need to push ourselves beyond the typical 500 words. A good sweet spot is usually somewhere between 1,000 to 2,000 words, depending on how competitive the keyword you're trying to rank for is.
However—and this is important—if you’re using AI to help write your blog posts, there's a good chance the tool (like ChatGPT) may just bulk up your content with fluff to hit a word count. And we don’t want that. Humans don’t want to read it, and search engines are smart enough to see through it.
So, here are three simple ways to add both word count and value to your blog post:
- Add a Frequently Asked Questions section at the end.
With the rise of AI, people are getting very specific in their searches. Instead of just searching “website copywriter,” someone might now search for “website copywriter who’s been in business five years and works with service-based businesses.”
Including FAQs helps you target these long-tail keywords and answer real questions your audience might be asking. - Introduce the topic more thoroughly.
For example, if your post is “8 Tips for Better SEO,” don’t just jump in—start by briefly answering, “What is SEO?” It adds useful context, naturally includes keywords, and gives real value to someone who may not be as familiar with the topic. - Explain why the topic matters.
This helps frame the content and engage the reader. For instance, I could say: SEO is important because I want you to get leads for your business or sales on autopilot. I want you to invest upfront and reap long-term rewards. I want you to build a system that doesn’t rely on constantly fighting the algorithm.
Adding this kind of "why it matters" context can make your blog post richer and more compelling—and it gives you more space to use relevant keywords naturally.
7. Pin Your Blogs on Pinterest
Pinterest isn’t exactly a social media platform, it’s more of a search engine, and it’s a fantastic place to build free backlinks to your website.
Even if you don’t want to dive into a full Pinterest marketing strategy, I still recommend creating a few graphics for each blog post and pinning them to relevant boards. Be sure to use keywords in your pin descriptions too.
Doing this sends great signals to Google:
- People are linking to your content
- People are clicking on your content
- Your business is active across platforms
All of that helps your SEO. So even if Pinterest doesn’t feel like a major platform for your business, or if your audience isn’t super active there, it’s still worth using it for the SEO benefits alone.
8. Use Bing Webmaster Tools
And then last but not least, I told you I was going to share something super fresh and relevant to SEO in 2025—and that is: signing up for Bing Webmaster Tools and making sure to submit your site there.
So, as of right now, ChatGPT is actually using Bing’s index instead of Google’s to search the web. If you have Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools is basically their equivalent, just for a different search engine.
A lot of times when we talk about SEO, we’re only talking about ranking on Google. But the reality is, in 2025, we want to rank on multiple platforms. We want to rank on Bing. And more importantly, we want to “rank” on ChatGPT.
There’s more and more evidence that people are heading to ChatGPT first to search for things. And if ChatGPT is searching Bing’s Rolodex, we want to make sure that we’re on Bing’s Rolodex.
And hey—if you’re not using Google Search Console, just as a quick aside—it’s super easy and free to set up. It’s basically like Google Analytics, and you definitely should have it. You’ll be able to see how your website is performing SEO-wise, what keywords you’re ranking for, what pages are showing up, and all of that good stuff.
So definitely worth setting up both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Also, when you publish a new blog post, you can submit it directly to these search engine tools to get your content indexed faster. Google is pretty good, and I should say Bing is pretty good, at finding your site organically, especially if you’re a regular content creator.
But if you’re not publishing consistently, if you’re new to blogging, or if your content has been a little inconsistent, then submitting your blog posts to these tools manually as you publish them is a great way to make sure your site isn’t getting ignored.
So that’s kind of my last of the SEO blogging strategies (and one that’s super relevant for blogging and SEO in 2025!).
Recapping What You Need To Know About SEO Blogging in 2025
Okay, I don’t know about you, but that just flew by for me! So I’m going to recap really quickly with my eight SEO tips:
- Always introduce yourself at the top of a blog post.
- Include a list of what you’re going to cover or a table of contents that includes your keywords.
- Optimize your images every single time.
- Add internal and external links throughout the page.
- Put your most relevant blog posts in your footer.
- Increase your word count (but make sure it’s valuable).
- Get your content on Pinterest.
- Submit your site to Bing Webmaster Tools.
That seriously felt like it flew by!
Thank you so much for spending time with me. Again, I’m Kara, and my business is The Kara Report. I also have a podcast, very creatively named, The Kara Report. I’d love for you to come hang out with me there.
If you head to my website, you’ll also find my private podcast called Build It Once, Get Found for Months, where I break down more of how I do this: how I create content that you build and invest in upfront and that can keep working for you over the long term.
I’d love to see you there. Thank you again, and a big thank you to Elizabeth for having me—this was so much fun!
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