When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) a lot of businesses focus primarily on the technical aspects of it. They want to learn how to optimize their title and meta description to perfection, how to configure their robots.txt file, how to create a sitemap, or how to develop an internal linking that will help with their search engine rankings. While all these are crucial components of an effective SEO strategy, there’s one tactic that can bring oodles of benefits to your business. We are talking about blogging.
As one of Australia’s leading digital marketing agency, it’s common for businesses to request for our help to improve their rank in search. Content marketing is one of the strategies we usually propose, and we almost always get the same reactions:
“Is blog content truly going to improve my ranking?”
“Isn’t it going to take a lot of time to show results?”
“Shouldn’t we focus on social media instead?
Let’s make some things clear right from the start: sure, you can’t expect to create fresh content today and see your Google ranking skyrocket tomorrow morning. Content marketing is a strategy that requires consistency, commitment, and meticulously. But, make no mistakes: high-quality content is one of the easiest, more reliable and cost-effective ways of scaling your business.
So, yes, blogging will help with search engine optimization.
Here’s how.
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The Relationship between Blogging and SEO
Blogging and SEO may seem like to different strategies, but they are, in fact, two sides of the same coin. Think about it this way.
Imagine that you’ve spent hours working on a new blog post. You did extensive research to ensure that the information you put out there is accurate, relevant, and interesting. And, you’ve tried your best to create something that will educate and engage your target audience. When you are finally happy with the result, you press the Publish button and wait for your readers’ reaction. But, in spite of your hard work and commitment, your article barely gets a few hits.
What went wrong?
Now, imagine a different scenario. You work your pants off to create high-quality websites. You ensure that everything, from the navigation to how you structure the information about your product or service is simple and intuitive. You launch with excitement, hoping to get some qualified traffic that you can then turn into leads. But, in spite of all your hard work, your website’s ranking falls flat.
What happened?
You see, in this day and age, your website can’t succeed without high-quality content, and your blog posts need SEO to rank high on the search engine results page. A relationship of symbiosis exists between SEO and blogging, and one can’t thrive without another.
How Will Blogging Help with SEO
We’ve explained why blogging is important for SEO (and vice versa.) Now, let’s get into the specifics of this relationship and present the ways blogging can help you improve your search engine ranking.
- Get More Visitors to Your Website
Be honest: would you rather spend time on a website that focuses on promoting its product or service or on one that wants to educate, engage, and entertain its visitors? Internet users are tired of the same old marketing techniques. Most importantly, they don’t want to be marketed to. Instead, they want authentic communication with brands that understand their needs and are interested in helping them, not just shove their products in their faces.
Blogging allows you to create a meaningful relationship with your prospects, build trust, and drive long-term results.
But, there’s more to it than just that.
Blogging enables you to create new pages on your website. Every time you publish a new article, the search engines index that page. That means that the chances that your site will show up high in search results for your keyword will increase significantly.
- It Builds Authority
As mentioned already, consumers don’t want to be bombarded with advertising messages anymore. They want someone who can educate and help them solve their problems. If they had to choose between a glossy website that adds little to no value to their lives and one that offers them the information they need to address their problems, they would choose the latter.
If you regularly create blog content that helps your target audience, then they will begin to perceive you as an authority in your niche. Not only that, but blogging can also help increase your bottom line. Just imagine how many more deals you can close if you send prospects an educational blog that answers their questions and clears any confusion or doubts that they might have about your product.
- Generate Links
Links are one of the most valuable currencies of search engine optimization. They are also one of the hardest to obtain. Google has become extremely picky about what constitutes acceptable link building practices and is quick to sanction the websites that dare to ignore or break the rules.
That’s where blogging can make a difference in your SEO strategy.
When you create fresh and relevant content regularly, you position yourself as a thought leader in your niche. Because you deliver value to your audience and focus on helping them, not sell to them, other content creators are likely to notice your blog and link back to it. Moreover, high-quality content also gives you leverage when reaching out to influencers in your niche and asking them to guest blog on your website.
- Increase Your Conversion Rate
High-quality content can increase the number of people that find your website in search results. Now that you have more people coming to your website through your blog, you can work your magic and convert visitors into leads.
Keep in mind, though, that your blog posts may not be enough to generate leads. You need to offer prospects an incentive to persuade them to sign up for your newsletter or purchase your products. Offer them freebies, such as eBooks, white papers, access to webinars, coupons or discounts in exchange for their information.
- Blogging Delivers Long-Term SEO Results
Content is like a gift that keeps on giving.
Imagine that you’ve spent two hours working on a compelling new blog post. You post it, share it on social media, and send it to your subscribers. You see a spike in traffic in the first couple of days. But, after a week or so, most of the cheering dies down, and the traffic rates stabilize themselves.
Don’t assume it’s over.
Your article is now ranking in search engines, which means that for weeks, months, and even years to come you will continue to get traffic and leads. Not bad for two hours of work, right?
Conclusion
By now, it should be clear that blogging can help with your search engine optimization efforts. But, where do you start from here? Well, if the prospect of creating fresh content on a regular basis overwhelms you, then let us give you a helping hand. At Australian Internet Advertising, you will find a team of dedicated SEO experts and content creators that can help your business rank high and generate lasting results.
