As a digital marketing agency who works with companies from very different industries, we often notice that some clients are surprised when we start telling them about adding a blog section to their websites. How does a blog benefit the business of an electrician, or a plumbing company and should all types of companies start adding blogs to their websites?
In a lot of cases, the answer is yes. Here are a few reasons why blogging is important for SEO, and for your business generally:
Quality Content
Search engines, and especially Google, put a lot of importance on a concept which they call E-A-T, or expert, authoritative, and trustworthy. Websites which prove that they do have high quality content which satisfies the user intent and provides useful content and information, have a much better chance of having better rankings and more traffic.
Blogs are a great way to explore the topics your customers are interested in and also to prove your expertise to potential customers. Blog posts might help them solve problems, provide clarity on some topics they were unsure about, or include tips to make their lives better or easier.
Steady Stream of Fresh Content
When planning or writing blog posts, it’s important to focus on topics which will remain relevant in the future as well. This is called evergreen content, which only requires small updates or changes with time, but still remains valuable.
Furthermore, regularly posting new articles signals that both your business and the website is active. Adding new pages can lead to targeting more keywords, more traffic, and, with time, higher “authority” in Google’s eyes. It’s a win-win-win situation.
Blogs Can Be a Good Resource for Link Building
Even if you’re new to SEO, you have already probably heard about the importance of link building. Search engines use links to discover new pages, determine the relationship between pages, and also to determine if that page has what it takes to rank well in search engine results.
Links from trustworthy, authoritative websites can be seen as a vote of confidence for your page. Thus, getting high-quality links to your blog post can lead to more traffic and, in the long run, to better rankings. Backlinks can usually be obtained by frequent outreach to other relevant websites or blogs in your industry, guest blogging, or from companies with whom you have existing relationships.
Blog posts are also a great opportunity to add internal links, meaning links which lead to other pages and sections of your website. This helps search engines understand the relationship between the content on your side, but also helps users navigate your website.
Integration of Long-Tail Keywords
Blog posts are a great way of integrating long-tail keywords into your keyword strategy and into your content. A big part of all searches are four words or longer, and even though it might be difficult to target these keywords on a homepage or a product page, they are perfect terms to target in a blog post.
Even though these terms might have a lower monthly search volume, they also have lower competition, which makes it more probable you could rank well for it. If you’re running low on keyword ideas or are not sure how to start building your strategy, check our blog post on effective SEO keyword research.
Keeps People on Your Website for Longer
Even though Google has never confirmed that the average time spent on a site is a ranking factor, there’s definitely good reason to believe that little time spent on the site, along with a high bounce rate, can negatively affect your rankings.
A well-structured, informative and comprehensive blog post is a great way to keep visitors on the site for longer, and even encourage them to visit other pages and sections of the website.
The Bottom Line
Blog posts are a great SEO tool which not only boost your SEO and website performance, but also help you engage with users and create a connection with current and potential customers. If you don’t have a blog on your website yet or are unsure of how to start one, our team of digital marketing & SEO experts are here to help.
