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For all websites, having as much content as possible on your pages means you have a greater chance of showing up on Google. But blogging can go even further than that, if you get the content just right. In this article we’re going to explore the best ways to improve SEO – search engine optimization, while also improving your website and selling your business at the same time using relevant and interesting blog articles.

Blogging is a handy tool for accomplishing both of these tasks, because with only a little creativity, and maybe a pinch of tech savvy through getting backlinks right, you can market your business, entertain and woo potential clients, as well as make sure your site appears on Google as much as possible. Blogging is a win-win-win on so many fronts and it’s exactly why 61% of marketers say improving SEO is the top priority for their inbound marketing strategy.

Google Algorithm

The beginnings of SEO came at a time when search engines were nearly new, but in more recent times the practice has become exceedingly popular. Websites use SEO in order to stand out, attract customers, and build prestige for their business. For businesses that struggle with conventional marketing because the market is saturated (such as accounting, legal, publishing and many more), SEO offers a unique opportunity to court the Google algorithm as well as show the business in a positive light.

The way the Google system works is all to do with keywords. Searching for a keyword yields results, and results are brought in in real time via the page ranking algorithm. Before this occurs, the algorithm makes its way around the internet, searching for pages which fit the criteria for inclusion on Google. It’s at this stage SEO is important – in fact statistics show that sites with a blog have around 434% more indexed pages than ones that don’t. Your pages need to be a certain length, include the right links, and not link to disreputable, spammy or otherwise badly made pages.

There’s a lot more to it than this, and we’ve discussed the algorithm at length in other posts such as this one here, but the main points still stand. Create content, link to good sources and other pages, avoid linking to competitors’ sites as it gives them a boost too, and use your best sense of judgement when choosing what to publish.

Pages And Linking

Blog pages are the best way to attract the attention of Google’s algorithm. The more pages with the most relevant content you have, and the more links of course, the better this artificial intelligence can ‘flow’ through your website. Your blog’s web design will benefit your SEO by making sure your pages are linked not just to external websites with relevant facts or information, but also internally to other articles which are similar or provide additional information. SeoTribunal reports that blogs can help marketers gain a whopping 97% more links to their website, so there’s very little to lose and a lot to gain with blogging, for minimal investment.

Of course, it doesn’t stop there. Many blogs utilise ‘categories’ and category view pages, as well as tagging the articles with one of a set range of category tags, which make it easier for the person viewing the site to select a category or tag and view every article of that nature in a list., Again, all of this makes it easier for Google to traverse your site, and by creating more pages with more through links it helps the site-map profile of your pages grow.

It’s always better to include multiple links to a blog article within a site. If possible as many as you can, but also be warned that excessive overuse of this can be intrusive. One of the most difficult but rewarding parts of an SEO-designed blog is making sure to balance utility with usability and aesthetics – don’t sacrifice the site’s look to add more features or SEO, and vice versa. Ideally you’ll want to keep these in harmony, and have a site that appeals to both form, function and Google.

How Content Stands Out

At the core of blogging is content. All your articles that you post on the blog must have some form of value to the reader as well as simply including links and keywords and pictures to get your site better indexed. The main appeal of blogging is providing slice-of-life insights into your business, fun or creative content, or providing casual snippets of information and current events in your industry to the viewer. It’s all about ‘inform, educate, entertain’ – a classic mantra which first appeared in the BBC charter, but nonetheless it’s highly useful for your blog. But don’t forget that top marketers prioritise generating traffic and leads above all else.

As you are going to post informative content, make sure you reference properly and provide links to information on the subject matter you are speaking about. These types of links help SEO, but also your credibility and your ability to provide the next point, education. Again, it’s critical that you don’t spread ‘false news’ or inaccurate facts, something many people are aware of recently, so keep the research to the point and link from relevant sources.

As for entertainment value, this is one of the hardest to master, particularly for firms in legal, accounting, and other services such as publishing. Serious companies may want to show off a serious side, but don’t be afraid to include something interesting that’s got a mild entertainment value. Accountants, for example, may want to post interesting articles about maths puzzles, or number based challenges, anything that’s relevant to number crunching. This sort of content looks and feels engaging and can help a lot with SEO rankings for certain keywords.

Selling Your Business

Your standout content also has a bigger role to play, especially if you manage to get it high in search rankings for a specific keyword, or keywords. It is through your content that your business can ‘sell itself’, providing an almost showroom-like quality for your business to display how it stays ahead of technology trends and uses the most up to date tools and software, has an equal opportunity hiring outlook, and other concerns like whether your business is environmentally conscious and conforms with certain industry standards and practices.

All of these seemingly small aspects can be hinted at, or engaged directly, via blogs – and these concerns can often change your customer’s view of the business from ‘just another firm’ to ‘a firm that cares’ or ‘a firm that stands out’. This is all very useful for driving sales and helping a potential client feel like they know what it’s going to be like dealing with your company before they even first get in contact. It’s setting the foundations for a rapport from the very beginning, which for companies that pride themselves on customer service is hugely important.

Where To Go Next With Blogging

Getting your blog out there takes a lot of work, but it also can be incredibly rewarding. Here’s a checklist of a few simple ideas for your blog that’ll help get your articles the most hits possible.

  • Check other businesses in your sector and take note of how their blogs look.
  • Subscribe to feeds, social media accounts, and all sources of blog-related news.
  • Take the time to update the look, design, and formatting of your business site.
  • Brainstorm with your team how to get the most SEO hits as possible.
  • Define the SEO keywords you want to target most on your web pages.
  • Link your blog to your social media presence, and start cross posting articles.
  • Plan out a calendar of content to go on your blog, and have it ready to go.

Keep up with our blog, which is about blogging, here on our site – and for all your digital marketing needs don’t forget you can always send in your enquiries by getting in touch above. We are happy to help with more than just blogging, and all your digital marketing needs.