Does Blogging Help SEO?

Posted by: Josh Astete Comments: 0 Post Date: August 23, 2019

Does Blogging Help SEO?

How would you like to earn 3.5x more traffic than your competition? Sounds too good to be true, right? Actually, it’s not. You can get there by blogging. Turns out, companies who publish at least 16 blog posts a month get more traffic than those who publish less. Along with that traffic comes more leads as well. 4.5x more to be exact. However, that brings up a very important question. Does blogging help SEO? The simple answer is yes. Why it’s that way is what we’ll go over below. Ready to get started? Let’s dive in!

How Does Blogging Help SEO?

We know that blogging helps SEO, but how? We’ve outlined a few ways underneath.

Valuable Information

For starters, your blog posts need substance. Simply posting your day-to-day operations with few words won’t get you far.

Google is the hub of information. Type in any question and you’ll find a multitude of answers. Your blog posts should answer your customers’ questions.

For example, if you’re a web design company, a blog post about choosing the best color scheme for their website is valuable. You want to steer them away from using the rainbow and to settle on a more sophisticated palette—as not to overwhelm users. At the end of your blog post, you can slip in a CTA pointing to your free consultation signup page.

Anytime you’re stumped as to what to post, take a look at what your customers are posting online. Check Facebook, Quora, even Reddit for blog post inspiration.

Consistent Updates

Blogging is popular because it’s an easy way to keep your website updated. New content equals love from Google. They want to see you’re providing quality content to readers often.

It keeps readers coming back as well. Eventually, these readers can turn into customers.

One way to nail a regularly updated blog is to create a schedule. Map out days to which you’ll spend writing the content, optimizing it for search engines (more on that later), and posting it.

Keyword Usage

One way to separate yourself from the competition is to rank for certain keywords. Use keywords that are relevant to your company. This takes some research, but there are plenty of tools available, such as Google’s Keyword Planner.

Where you place these keywords is equally important. Use it too many times and you’ll be getting a penalty from Google for overstuffing.

To avoid that, here’s where to place them for the best results:

Title/headline
Headers (at least one)
Body
URL
Meta description

Another thing to keep in mind is readability. Google cares about how your content comes off to readers.

If it’s illegible because you used too many keywords, you won’t rank as high. Place them in the most natural way possible. If it sounds bizarre to you, chances are your readers will think the same.

Tips to Optimize Blog Content

There’s more to blogging than words and pictures. Now that we know the answers to “how does blogging help SEO?”, let’s dive deeper. Listed below are more ways to optimize blog posts.

Utilize Long-Tail Keywords

As we know already, keywords should be used sparingly and thoughtfully. When you do, you rank high organically, no paid ads or shady tactics required.

To increase readership and lessen the competition for certain keywords, opt for the use of long-tail keywords. They’re exactly how they sound: a longer phrase.

Most of the time, these are question-based. Users typing these phrases into Google are more likely to read the whole post. They know what they’re looking for and want answers right away without much research effort.

The only downside? These types of posts take longer to rank for.

Since it’s a specific keyword, not everyone will be searching for information on it. They may use shorter, more common keywords.

However, don’t let that deter you. Generating this type of content means you’ll land more visitors who’ll convert.

Optimize Images

Keep readers engaged by adding images to your blog posts. They help convey your story or serve as a nice break in between paragraphs.

How can they be optimized for SEO?

By editing the image’s alt text. Since Google can’t see pictures, alt text is there to describe in words what the image is.

It’s not only for Google, though. Those who use screen readers, for example, can’t see the image but can read what it’s supposed to be. Another instance is when the image doesn’t download correctly.

It’s worth taking a minute or two to change the alt text. Be sure to use keywords as well.

Link Internally

Internal links, also known as inbound links, communicate relevancy to search engines. It’s a way of making them aware of other authoritative pages on your site.

Not only is it good for SEO, but it’s also good for readers as well. You can guide them to other valuable content, all without leaving your website. Instead of blog posts (especially when starting out, you may not have many), consider pointing them to a product page or service signup form.

However, go about adding internal links wisely. Use them only if they’re helpful to readers.

Make Your Blog Mobile-Friendly

Not everyone reads blog posts on their computer. With the use of smart devices, readers get their information while on the go.

This is where mobile-friendliness comes into play. Simply put, this means your website shows up clearly on mobile devices. There are no walls of text, buttons are of appropriate size, and zooming is not required.

A mobile-friendly blog starts with a responsive design. This allows your blog pages to have only one URL, not two.

It’s helpful to make the switch to a responsive design because of internal links. They won’t be divided between two separate URLs.

Update Old Content

Frequently posting new content is one thing. Updating old content sends good vibes from Google your way.

Instead of adding a new paragraph, look for ways to optimize the post instead. Are there any internal links you can add now? How about your title and meta descriptions, do they include the right keyword(s)?

Taking a minute or two to optimize old content proves beneficial in the long run. After you’re finished optimizing it, go back through and see if any statistics need updating or if there’s new information you can add.

Build Your Social Media Presence

You just wrote the best blog post of your life. Now, where do you share it?

If a group text with friends and family is your answer, you’re incorrect. The first place to promote your blog posts should be your business’s social media pages.

You alert followers and potential customers to your new post. You create curiosity by enticing them with a well-written summary and you keep them engaged by continuously sharing new posts.

As for the SEO aspect, Google takes into consideration your social media presence. It’s just like your blog—keep it updated and you’re golden. Not only that but it increases referral traffic as well.

Build Backlinks

Backlinks, also known as outbound links, are when another website links to yours, whether it’d be blog posts or product pages. Having someone else point to your website tells Google your site is authoritative and has content worth sharing.

That’s where the importance of quality content (as mentioned in the beginning) comes in. You want to encourage people to share your content with their own audience.

The most important takeaway of building backlinks is not to focus on the number of links. It’s all about quality.

Turning to shady blackhat tactics to quickly gain links isn’t the way to go. Links from shady sites won’t help you rank, instead, it does the opposite. Your site has a chance of being banned from search engines for these practices.

Your focus needs to be on making quality sites aware of your content. This can be done by a simple email outreach campaign to popular bloggers, influencers, and other business owners.

Optimize the Meta Description

Another good place to add keywords is the meta description, as we went over earlier. However, there’s a right way and a wrong way to write a good meta description.

The wrong way is to not do anything to it. What’ll come up in Google is a mish-mash of where your keywords are. It doesn’t read correctly.

The right way, on the other hand, is to write a summary of your blog post. Give readers a taste of what to expect and leave them wanting more. Be sure to incorporate your keyword(s) without overstuffing and use all the space given.