Blogging for SEO: Why it Still Matters
Blogging for SEO: Why it Still Matters
Is blogging for SEO still relevant? The short answer is yes!
The only way to rank a website on search engines is through creating high-quality content and backlinks. Blogs are still a popular medium on the internet. In fact, 77% of internet users read blogs. In other words, video didn’t kill the blogging star.
However, Google Trends says general interest in blogs has declined globally over recent years. Studies show that more customers engage with videos than they do with blogs.
Blogs still work to deliver effective SEO results, including brand visibility and customer engagement.
In today’s post, we’ll explain five reasons why blogging works and how to optimize your blog post for maximum effectiveness.
Blogging Builds Trust
Blogs give you the opportunity to provide reliable information that consumers can use.
By doing this, you become an authority on that subject. This makes Google more likely to rank you higher for certain search queries.
Blogs don’t just build trust because they’re blogs.
To build trust, the writer has to display some authority on the subject matter.
That’s where E-E-A-T comes in. It’s an acronym that stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust. Google uses this concept to ensure that the websites it serves to users are high quality and relevant.
If someone writes a blog on troubleshooting an HVAC pilot light, search engines want to know that the author is qualified to write on it. The person should have some first-hand experience working on HVAC systems or have some other qualification. Creating an author page on your blog is one of the best ways to display authoritativeness to Google.
The same concept of E-E-A-T holds true for those writing about product reviews. Google wants to know that you’ve had personal experience with the product. The best proof is photos. It doesn’t require a large personal investment. Quality images can be taken with most iPhones these days. Doing this will dramatically improve the quality of your blogging and help build trust for readers and search engines.
Blogging Increases Visibility
Blogging gives your company more opportunities to be seen online and helps you obtain more search engine traffic. This increases the chances of turning user searches into paying customers. The more authentic and unique your blog content is, the better chance you’ll have of being seen for relevant search results. Plain and simple.
Despite AI-generated content being relatively easy to publish, it’s not helpful. Rewriting similar blog topics that have already been written by most websites doesn’t help either. Why? It doesn’t have a unique angle. Ensure your content has something unique to say, and you’ll have an easier time outranking the competition on Google search results pages.
Blogging Creates Brand Awareness
The more your company is visible for related customer searches, the better chance it’ll have at ranking, and the more visible your brand name will be to the general public.
Even if a user stumbles upon a featured snippet that links to your website or reads a lengthy how-to guide on something relevant, they might not make a purchase today. But they are considerably more likely to remember your brand. This means your brand will be fresh on their mind the next time they’re in the market for that product or service.
Blogging Helps to Identify Customer Needs
Whether it’s dwindling attention spans or dwindling free time, people don’t want to read through lengthy blogs. People skim through headlines and key points that jump out at them.
Users want to get useful information and then leave. Very rarely do these people directly become buyers. Why? Because that wasn’t the intent of the keyword.
The intent was to garner information, not necessarily to purchase a product or service. It’s easy to identify the intent behind web searches. Examining search results, the comment section of your blogs, and your business’s user analytics gives you insight into your customers’ needs.
The stuff consumers are searching for is what you should typically write about.
Blogging is Usually Faster than Video
Writing and editing articles also have its perks over creating video content. Scripting, recording, editing, rendering, and uploading video content is a time-consuming and expensive endeavor. Ask anyone who has done it; they’ll tell you. Blogging can often take less time, depending on the subject matter.
Whether you choose to focus on a blog or video depends entirely on what Google serves users for a particular query. Examining the search results for the keyword you’re writing about is often the best place to start when considering what type of online content to create.
For example:
If it’s a hands-on tutorial on how to build something, you’ll want to use video. If you’re explaining the history behind a certain product, write a blog post.
Blogging Tips for SEO
Don’t use the keywords that your service pages are using.
This is an easy way to create keyword cannibalization. You’re confusing search engine crawlers with what page is more important for the keyword. This leads to an internal competition for the same phrase.
Obey Google.
Do a manual analysis of the SERPs. Look at the search engine results pages. Identify what Google is promoting.
If you find that there are more videos popping up on the search engine results when you type in a particular keyword, you’ll need to make a video, not a blog.
If you find many products and price ranges, you’ll want to shift your keyword focus to something more informative when crafting your blog. Otherwise, you run the risk of uselessly competing against e-commerce product sites, even big names like Amazon.
In other words, your blog will never gain traction.
Prioritize quality over quantity.
One good piece of content can generate traffic for months or even years. It can also build your authority and your industry relevance.
Shoot for quality content that serves as a resource for your users rather than a shallow, low-information blog post.
Avoid keyword stuffing.
You want to optimize your blog for a focus keyword. That’s good. Just don’t overdo it. Make sure the blog post title, meta description, first paragraph, and final H2 include your primary keyword.
Look at related keywords for your other subheadings, and try not to repeat the same core phrase throughout every single paragraph. It’s not just unreadable; it also looks spammy and suspicious to Google.
SEO Tips on How to Optimize Your Blog
It’s a common pitfall to begin writing content for search engine rankings instead of writing for clarity and customer value. Write blog content for your users, not for search engines, and the users will follow.
If you don’t, you might end up with a keyword-stuffed, robotic piece of writing that nobody wants to read. Avoid this by creating an SEO-friendly blog post that reads like a normal person wrote.
Follow these SEO tips for optimizing blog content:
- Write an engaging blog post title
- Place internal links (link to related content that helps your user understand the topic further)
- Find and include external links (link to authoritative sites, like .edu or .gov web pages)
- Create a descriptive, yet brief, meta description and title tag
- Write subheadings using related keywords
- Create content that targets the search intent of the main keyword
- Make sure you have valuable content (quality over quantity)
- Target keywords that are long tail keywords that have lower competition (don’t always shoot for high search volume)
- Make your blog posts snappy, to the point, and readable
- Reduce your reliance on plugins, especially on a WordPress site (it slows your page speed)
Let Keyword Research Guide Your Blog Content Strategy
Keywords are the foundation for all of your online marketing efforts. They are effectively what people are searching for. Conduct keyword research before you start writing!
There are plenty of SEO tools to get keyword ideas for your blog:
By using such tools with an eye for data and traffic analysis, you will be able to identify trends and content subjects that are likely to gain more traffic for your website. If you want your SEO strategy to succeed, you’ll need relevant content about your core service, product, or industry.
You’ll also need to choose which specific keyword search terms to target.
Take a Multi-Channel Approach to SEO Blogging
Once you write a blog, you’ll need to promote it. Unlike the Kevin Costner film, Field of Dreams, if you build it, they won’t come. Rarely do people stumble upon a business’s blog, start raving about it, share it, and turn into customers the next day.
You’ll need to boost your content with a platform like social media or email blasts. Choose a medium where your target audience is already spending their time.
If it’s a B2B business, try creating a LinkedIn post informing people of your blog.
If it’s a B2C company, try Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.
Measuring the Results of Your Blog SEO Efforts
Identifying direct conversion success from informative, engaging blogs can be difficult. But you can get really close. Google analytics data goes a long way in identifying whether or not your blog has performed positively or negatively.
We can also create traffic and conversion funnels to track a visitor’s movement throughout the site. For example, many customers may read your blog, go to your contact page, and then give you a phone call. While this wouldn’t normally be tracked as a conversion from the blog, this is what has actually happened.
Get SEO Results with Red Crow Marketing
Do you need help creating a content strategy that results in effective website rankings? Red Crow Marketing in Springfield, Missouri, can help. Contact us today to get started.