Once upon a time, blogs were a way for people to post about their lives on the Internet, kind of like an online journal. They weren’t even called blogs until 1997 when the term “weblog” was coined.
Now it’s essential for businesses of all sizes to blog if you want to grow your following, increase website traffic, and boost visibility in search engines.
How Does SEO Work?
What do you do when you want information about a product, service, or industry? You probably start by Googling a few keywords to find what you’re looking for.
Did you know that over 90% of online search traffic comes from Google? Clearly, search engine optimization (SEO) has the power to drive millions of new visitors to your company’s website!
The ultimate goal of SEO is to get your business to appear as close to the top of search engine results as possible. Why? So, you can attract more traffic and then convert that traffic into leads and customers.
The main reason your company needs a blog is to boost your visibility and gain more leads. The more blog content you create, the greater chance you have to show up in search engine results and drive traffic to your website. In fact, having a blog on your website increases your chances of ranking higher by a whopping 434%!
That’s why blogs are a powerful way to strengthen your SEO strategy.
3 Reasons Blogging Boosts Your Website’s SEO
1. Provides Fresh Content
Google places a lot of value on fresh content being added to a website on a regular basis. This new content lets Google know your site is active.
Since your blog is probably the most updated section of your website, search engines regularly have fresh content to index. It also provides new information that your customers and visitors may find helpful. (Google likes this, too!) So, regularly updated blogs benefit your followers and your SEO!
2. Provides an Opportunity to Use Keywords
What’s the backbone of SEO? Keywords. In terms of SEO, keywords are the words or phrases that searchers type into search engines when looking for a product, service, or information.
What’s the best way to use keywords? Content!
If you want search engines to find you, these keywords need to appear on your website. Blogs are the perfect place to naturally use these keywords as you share information with your visitors and answer common questions they may have about your industry, products, or services.
3. Provides a Chance to Use Links
High-quality links make your posts more authoritative and helpful to your readers, and they also boost your SEO.
- Internal links are links within a blog article that take your reader to another page on your website. Instead of searching through your blog archives, they find the link they need in your content. These internal links help make your site more user-friendly.
Internal links to other posts show search engines that your content is valuable and relevant. They can also decrease your bounce rate and keep readers on your site longer. As they explore other blog posts and learn new information, they get to know you and your brand better.
- External links link your website to an outside study or article that you refer to in your blog. Linking to high-quality and trusted websites increases your digital presence.
Providing external links shows you care about your readers and want them to have access to valuable information without searching for it on their own. It also builds relationships with other sites and expands your reach.
Check out this blog post for more information about blogs and SEO.
Bottom Line
Creating a blog and updating it regularly kills two birds with one stone!
- You relay important and helpful information to your audience, and they begin to trust you as an authority in your industry.
- The content you create gets you noticed and helps you move closer to the top of search engine results. And you want to be as close to the top as possible since 75% of internet users don’t scroll past the first page of search results.
Do you already have a blog but want to make it more SEO-friendly? Try incorporating some of the things we mentioned above or let Impact Group Marketing help you. Our SEO experts have solutions that will get you noticed.
What if you just don’t have the time (or the desire) to write blogs on a regular basis? Our content marketing services can provide you with fresh, high-quality, and relevant blogs that will engage your customers and improve your SEO. Contact us today for a free consultation or to learn more about our services.