Having a blog on your company website is essential for various reasons. In addition to disseminating company news and promotions and establishing trust with customers while enhancing your reputation as an industry expert, blogging also plays a crucial role in elevating your search engine optimization (SEO) rankings.
If you think you can achieve success by simply blogging or publishing blog posts without any strategic approach, you are mistaken. The first five organic results receive approximately 67.60% of all clicks, and a significant 70-80% of users disregard paid advertisements in favor of organic results. To effectively engage with blogging, you must understand the fundamental elements and adopt a scientific and tactful approach.
Below are ways in which blogging can enhance and elevate your SEO game.
1. Fresh, unique content
Guess who else loves fresh, unique content aside from your audience? It’s none other than Google and other search engines. These platforms strive to offer their users with relevant and up-to-date information, which is why frequently updated pages indicate that they are likely to have the most timely content.
Furthermore, regularly publishing content provides more chances for search algorithms to index your site and maintain its visibility. Thus, blogging is undoubtedly the simplest, quickest, and most cost-effective method to publish new pages and content on your website.
Conversely, 30% of consumers believe that quality content is the foremost factor that contributes to the credibility of a blog. Generating content that is both new and of excellent quality increases the likelihood of retaining readers for longer periods, greatly benefiting your search rankings.
Additionally, it enhances your capacity to be recognized as an industry ‘authority’ for the primary keywords, thereby increasing the likelihood of Google and other search engines recommending your page as a reliable source of expert information on relevant subjects.
2. Target more keywords
Assuming you have a website offering online SEO Courses and digital marketing services, blogging provides an excellent chance to focus on keywords that are not possible to target using your landing pages.
Despite having optimized landing pages for each of your services and an optimized homepage for your main keywords, your organic traffic is expected to remain low. The reason for this is the high likelihood of numerous older and larger websites that have already targeted those keywords.
What can you do when you realize it’s challenging to naturally acquire backlinks from other webmasters to enhance your SEO and rankings? Blogging is the solution that can come to your rescue.
You have the option to begin a blog and conduct keyword research to identify related search terms used by people seeking your products and services. Subsequently, you can commence publishing content. By employing various techniques, depending on the selected SEO keywords, you can strive to achieve high rankings.
You have the option to either pursue long-tail keywords, which are more specific and simpler to rank for, or target more popular keywords through the publication of comprehensive content and development of content silos.
3. You create more opportunities for natural link building
Blogging is an excellent method to obtain high-quality backlinks and enhance the domain’s authority, aiding a website in achieving a high ranking on Google.
Rather than linking to a product or service page, bloggers are more inclined to link to a well-written blog post. Although these links may not directly impact your rankings, they will strengthen your domain, benefiting all pages on your website.
According to statistics, companies that engage in blogging receive a 97% increase in links to their websites.
4. Great way to get more Brand mentions
Brand mentions are often overlooked when it comes to off-page SEO techniques, even though they offer an alternative method to demonstrate to Google the value of your website in search rankings, aside from relying solely on incoming links.
By blogging, you can effectively showcase your brand to a larger audience, gaining Google’s favor and increasing the likelihood of social media engagement (such as receiving likes, comments, and tweets) as well as mentions of your brand in previously inaccessible platforms.
5. A great method to demonstrate your expertise (EAT)
Maintaining an active blog provides you with the chance to demonstrate to your visitors (as well as the world) your expertise in the chosen subjects, which is one of the aspects Google considers in assessing a website’s value – Expertise – Authority – Trustworthiness (EAT).
Blogging is the most secure and efficient way to boost your SEO when it is filled with incoming links and brand mentions, resulting in the A part (Authority) and eventually gaining Google Trust (Trustworthiness). By ensuring all EAT factors are in place, your SEO will be enhanced.
6. Social media sharing
If a website experiences a rise in traffic and recurring visitors, it demonstrates to search engines that the page is dependable and elevates its level of authority within their algorithms. In modern times, when devising optimal SEO strategies, digital marketing strategists should factor in the influence of social media. By producing exceptional content, there is a higher likelihood of readers sharing it, revisiting the page, and subscribing to a mailing list.
To facilitate the sharing of your blog post, include social media sharing buttons on the page. By allowing people to share quickly, you can boost your SEO ranking more effectively. Moreover, if your brand already has a presence on social media, it is advisable to implement new tactics to enhance the promotion of your content across different platforms.
In addition to increasing website traffic, building connections with your target audience and fostering relationships can significantly contribute to achieving your other business goals.
7. Images and videos
It is widely known that incorporating a captivating visual element in your blog post can enhance its impact and appeal. This can contribute additional significance to the content and retain visitors’ interest, encouraging them to remain on the webpage. Given the increasing popularity of platforms like Pinterest and Instagram, which heavily rely on visuals, it comes as no surprise that 22.6% of search queries on Google yield image results.
Blogs can take advantage of this growing trend by enhancing the optimization of their content’s images and including a keyword in both the filenames and the alt-text HTML tag. By doing so, search engines will be able to interpret your images as relevant keywords, ultimately aiding customers in discovering your blog.
You can also enhance traffic by utilizing distinct search terms that your customers commonly employ to search for information online when tagging your videos. Moreover, just by refreshing and republishing older blog posts with newer content and images, you can potentially witness a traffic surge of up to 106%.
8. Guest bloggers
By inviting a thought leader to contribute a blog on your website, you not only gain access to their followers but also enhance your company’s standing within the blogging community. Guest bloggers are regarded as authoritative figures in their respective fields.
Inviting beauty bloggers to create how-to posts and videos can greatly enhance your content strategy for makeup or lifestyle brands and give you a competitive edge in terms of SEO. Similarly, in the hospitality industry, collaborating with travel bloggers to share their personal experiences through blog posts can significantly increase your visibility online and improve your rankings.
Bloggers are well-known for promoting their own posts on social media, resulting in an increase in website views from their followers.
However, your brand can offer valuable expertise in your niche industry by contributing to other blogs. This not only enhances your credibility but also generates traffic to your website through reputable backlinks. Nonetheless, it is crucial to note that all bloggers are not equal. Therefore, it is advisable to thoroughly evaluate potential guest bloggers and hosting platforms by reviewing their portfolios before accepting any offers.
Ways to use blogging to improve your SEO
If blogging is done correctly, it can be beneficial for SEO. Creating a blog and publishing arbitrary blog posts will not provide any assistance.
Don’t target the same keywords as with other pages on your website
When it comes to blogging, a common error people tend to commit is utilizing identical keywords for both their landing pages and blog posts. Consequently, it is advisable to conduct proper keyword research and identify related keywords that are unique to your main keywords, prior to commencing your blogging journey.
It is important to avoid targeting the same keywords as this can lead to confusion for Google, making it difficult for them to determine which page holds more value for you.
Capture users at all stages of the buying cycle
Having a blog offers the advantage of being able to engage users at various points in their purchasing journey.
For instance, when operating a website offering snorkeling cruises, it is advisable not to solely focus on blogging about snorkeling. Instead, broaden your scope and attract individuals seeking activities in the area where your business is located.
If you find yourself in Florida, you have the opportunity to focus on keywords such as “Fun activities to try in Florida” in your blog posts, and include snorkeling as a notable option.
By adhering to this method, you’ll always have ideas at your disposal, and through consistent implementation, you’ll generate numerous valuable posts that encompass all relevant subjects regarding your products or services. This is the identical approach we employed in the aforementioned websites, and it greatly contributed to our success.
Don’t ask questions in your titles but provide answers
Instead of asking users a question, provide the answer in your blog post titles. Take this blog post’s title as an example – “Here is the Proof: Blogging Significantly Enhances SEO”.
Now everyone clicking the title to read the blog post knows what to expect in terms of content and makes your titles stand out from the rest. Doing this with your blog post titles, will make your titles more interesting and encourage users to click when they see them in the SERPS or in social media.
Blogging and SEO
Blogging offers the advantage of being regarded as new and original when it is posted. By implementing a suitable blogging campaign or approach, companies can establish their own blogger identity to enhance user satisfaction. For instance, in the customer service sector, SEO is naturally influenced by influencers, experts, and peers in the same field who share or connect to the published content.
By consistently updating a company blog, one can generate an ever-expanding collection of cached pages that contribute to enhancing user experience. Each of these blog entries presents an opportunity to incorporate keywords relevant to your products or services, aligning with the search queries of your target audience. Ultimately, blogging aids in strengthening your authority by building valuable content and generating backlinks, addressing the question of whether blogs are beneficial for SEO.
Side notes
Without a doubt, blogging is an excellent SEO resource. Upon consistently posting superior, focused articles, you can acquire numerous advantages that extend beyond SEO. It provides an exceptional method to interact with your audience, ensure your content remains up-to-date, and provide search engines with increased incentives to frequent your website.
Blogging plays a crucial role in SEO as it aids in boosting your search engine visibility through broadening your keyword research. Moreover, it facilitates link building and brand mentions, aspects that can have a positive impact on your organic rankings.
Ensure that you begin blogging with a well-thought-out strategy, optimizing your blog posts for SEO, effectively promoting them, and correctly evaluating their performance. If you are skeptical about its effectiveness, test it out for a minimum of 6 months and observe the outcomes. Undoubtedly, if you execute these tasks accurately, you’ll be astonished by the results.
