Rhiza Oyos
Many conservative businesses still don’t see blogging as something to be considered seriously. Pre-social media era, blogs are mere online diaries where people share their personal thoughts and stories to connect with family and friends. Today, blogs have become reliable sources of information, education, entertainment, and are essential tools for online marketing.
When someone asks me what he can do to increase his website’s traffic and visibility, my quick answer is always, “start blogging!”
In the early days of SEO, industry experts already use blogging to improve search engine ranking and visibility. The ways we do Search Engine Optimization have evolved through the years, and many of the tactics we used to do before don’t work anymore now. And yet somehow, blogging (when done right) remains to be an effective SEO strategy. How?
Here are 5 important factors that make a site rank better in Google, and how blogging can naturally accomplish these 5 factors.
1. Relevant Keywords.
My first job was “SEO Copywriter”. Back then, we would be given a list of keywords to stuff into our content, it didn’t matter if our sentences made sense or not. SEOs would excessively place keywords all over a web page to make it rank better for those keywords, and it sure worked back then!
But Google has since improved its algorithm to capture and penalize these scheme-y SEO tactics, making it imperative for us online marketers to be more strategic in our keyword placement.
Through blogging, incorporating high-traffic keywords and long-tailed keywords into your website, and creating the right context around these keywords, come together naturally minus the excessive keyword stuffing.
2. Fresh Content.
Google loves fresh content! Back in 2011 and 2013 and 2014, we know this to be true. While there’s an ongoing debate on whether or not fresh content ranks better in Google, what we do know is that fresh content and the addition of new keywords to your site gives you new opportunities to be found; and essentially, fresh content gives your readers something to look forward to and a reason to keep coming back.
3. Social Signals.
There are two ways your site becomes more visible through Social Media. First, when you blog, you naturally want to share your work to your immediate network of family, colleagues, friends, and friends of friends. Second, when your content is relatable, relevant, or inspiring, the tendency is for people to like it or share it on their Google, Facebook or Twitter profiles. Google determines the authority of your site through the amount of social activity it generates. These social signals then increase your site’s authority, making you rank higher in the search.
You would want to have your blog shared on Google Plus too. As Google’s very own social network, visibility in Google Plus gives you extra points in the eyes of Google.
4. Increased Cached Pages.
Websites with higher page volume do not necessarily rank better in Google. However, with more indexed pages on Google, a website increases its chances of getting found through specific long-tailed keywords. More so, because blog pages are always accessible, old blog posts can potentially earn traffic several months or years after it was published.
5. Quality Links.
Links have always been essential in increasing search ranking. The way links are built, however, have also drastically changed through the years. Link farms, comment spamming, paid links, and links that are gained in scheme-y ways–in short, link building strategies that used to work–are not good for your website’s visibility since Google started penalizing them.
With blogging, you increase the chances for other bloggers to find you and link back to your site. That is if you publish high quality, relevant and informative content. That being said, when you blog, you have to set your mind on creating content that influencers and other bloggers would like to quote or link back to.
Blogging also makes you an authority or thought leader in your chosen niche. When you consistently and passionately create content in your particular field of expertise, people would naturally go to you for answers, allowing you to attract more social shares, backlinks, and interaction.
Aside from these SEO benefits, blogging is also good in pursuing brand awareness, customer retention, client acquisition, and other business goals. It’s no easy feat, but with a documented content strategy and consistent publishing of the right content, you can definitely make blogging work for you and your business.
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