As a small business owner, you may have thought from time to time, “My website content is good enough as it is… I don’t need a blog, do I?” But the truth is, if you care about SEO, blogging should be fairly high on your priority list. Here are 4 reasons why:
- Fresh Content– Blog articles keep your website dynamic by continually adding new content. The static pages you have on your website are good, too, but Google loves it when the content on your site changes and gets added to from time to time, and blogging is a great way to do that.
Improved Rankings– Blogging can help your website rank for more keywords on search engines. For example, if you only have a website page about kitchen renovations, then only that page is likely to rank for the search term “kitchen renovations”, but if you also have 5 blogs on your site about kitchen renovations, now you have 6 pages that could potentially rank for that search term.
- Long-Tail Keyword Rankings– Static website pages are typically more generic about a product or service, whereas blogs usually include a longer-tail keyword. For example, you may have a website page targeting the keyword “Renovations in Barrie”, and you may write a blog called “Top 10 Home Renovation Tips in Barrie”. The blog in this case would allow your site to rank better for variations of the keyword “renovations”, such as “home renovation tips”, “renovation tips”, “home renovation”, and more. The website page may not rank for these more specific keywords, but the blog often will.
Linkbuilding– Blogging allows you to easily use SEO-friendly links to your website pages, improving their SEO ranking. For example, you may create a website page about a certain keyword, and then you can write a few blogs about that keyword, too. If you include links in the blogs back to the website page, it will give that page more SEO weight, which in turn translates to a better ranking for that keyword. As a bonus, these are links you can completely control, which make them extra flexible and valuable.
So how can you use blogging properly to improve SEO on your website? Here are a few tips:
Use a Long-Tailed Blog Title- Blog titles should be as detailed as possible and ideally solve a problem a customer might have or something they may be interested in learning. Example:
- Bad blog title: Renovation Tips
- Decent blog title: 10 DIY Renovation Tips
- Good blog title: The 10 Best DIY Home Renovation Tips in Barrie
Include Visual Aids– Always include at least one relevant image or video in each blog post.
Not Too Short, Not Too Long- Length is somewhat flexible, but typically blogs shouldn’t be less than 250 words for optimal SEO value. On the other hand, if your blog is over 1,000 words, it can probably be broken down into multiple blogs instead.
Target Keywords & Locations- Include a target keyword in each blog and make sure it is present at least 3-5 times in the article, as well as in the blog title and meta description. You should also include a target location in the article whenever possible (the more localized your blogs are, the more likely they are to succeed in your local area).
Content Highlighting– Make the most important pieces of each blog post bold so they stand out more.
Post Frequently– Ideally, you should have a regular blogging schedule where you post blogs on a set timeframe. Once a month should be the minimum, but it’s even better to post once a week or every two weeks.
Don’t Hide Your Blog– Include a link to your blog in the navigation bar of your site or in the footer. Either way, it should be visible and easy to find.
Stay Relevant- Tackle topics with your blog that people are going to find interesting or valuable. In other words, don’t blog just for the sake of blogging—blogs should be catered to a specific user with a specific problem or question, which you can help them solve or learn more about.
