Why having a blog is important for boosting your organic rankings
Blogging can be time-consuming and on other occasions it can be a significant financial investment but the rewards mean that it is certainly worthwhile as it will improve your search visibility.
Often, it is the case that a client wishes to rank higher for their keywords but doesn’t really know where to start or have the inclination. Budgets are invariably an issue and this can lead people to favour pay per click (PPC) campaigns for their perceived faster results – this is a short-term approach.
Earned rankings are a long-term investment so the earlier you start, the quicker you will start seeing the benefits. Posting blogs on your website is likely to reap dividends for years to come and not just at the time that they are posted.
Why do I need a blog?
Regardless of what industry you operate in, there will be a limited amount of appropriate keywords. This needs to be considered when you write your blog, it needs to be relevant to your industry, there is no point writing blog about the latest sports cars if you are in the plumbing industry – although there may be exceptions that we will consider later!
You should always aim for your website to be the ‘go to’ place when people are looking for information on a certain subject and being perceived as an expert will help you meet Google’s Search Quality Guidelines. However, with everyone striving to reach the same goal, you must start to use your imagination and think outside the box.
In Laymen’s terms, blogs give you the opportunity to gain more Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rankings as providing new, additional and relevant content means that you will be expanding your keywords. Using tools such as a keyword planner can help you to obtain the best ROI as you can devise a strategy to utilise all your keywords over the space of a few weeks.
So where does SEO fit in?
It seems common sense that the more often you rank in SERP, the higher your click-through rate will be. Equally, it is important to appreciate the role that this has on your SEO conversion funnel. The landing pages that your blogs direct browsers to should contain more general keywords as opposed to long-tail keywords. As a result, consumers are more likely to stay on your page and begin the buying process – perhaps without even realising it.
There are generally two types of browsers, those looking to compare prices and those looking to obtain information and perhaps solve a problem. Both groups are potential customers who will be looking to make a purchase – you just have to make them choose you. The impact of organic search campaigns will depend on how consumers interact with them and this is where SEO fits in as it will help these consumers locate the information and the products that they require.
Expanding your content
It is important to put yourself in the mind of consumers – what will they be asking prior to making a purchase? Returning to our plumber for one moment, a common question could be “What type of hot water heating system do I need?” As you can see, the browser is trying to obtain information and this may be down to sheer curiosity or they may be looking to make a purchase. Your role is to create a blog that provides them with useful information whilst also pushing yourself to the forefront of their mind when they wish to make a purchase.
In order to reach out to more potential clients you need to expand the depth and breadth of your content so consider semi-related topics as this will expand your keyword relevance. You could look at what your competitors are posting to obtain some ideas about topics you had previously not considered.
Although we mentioned earlier that there would be no point in posting about sports cars on a plumbers website there is perhaps some potential – if you can make it relevant. The key here is understanding what you potential customers deem to be “useful”. To do this you need to create a user persona that understands YOUR clients own lifestyle and behaviour.
For example, if you’re a plumber who installs top the range bathrooms your client based is likely to be more affluent. The chances are they are a family and they are looking to stay in the property for the foreseeable future. They are prepared to spend money on something that they view as an investment.
So, from these assumptions, perhaps posting about a sports car does match your potential clients’ aspirations. Your strategy therefore, is to get in front of these people as frequently as possible and this means appearing on more SERPs. The more frequently consumers see something the more likely they are to make a purchase. In 60% of consumers buy products from brands that they are consciously or unconsciously aware of. It therefore all about appearing on more SERPs.
Featured Snippets
Feature snippets are the larger boxes that people gain quick answers from – you don’t need to be ranked number one to get these either but you will rank at the top of the pile. Creating a blog on a specific subject increases your chances of doing this.
OK, snippets may be dependent on structured data markup but regardless, they are pulled from on-page, organic content. With this in mind, you should be looking to write a blog that answers a specific query so have a look which site currently achieves this objective. You now need to write something that is better and more relevant.
Finally
There is no way to get around it, blogs are a fantastic way the expand your brand’s presence in SERPs. They also create new content and this appeals to Google when it crawls and indexes sites, which, in turn, will lead to higher page rankings. In addition, it creates a greater amount of content for your site which makes it more aesthetically pleasing to browsers.
We appreciate that it make be time-consuming and a big commitment but just posting a few blogs a month will have a significant impact. You will be creating backlinks that will improve your Domain Authority and increase your online exposure. All this is likely to encourage your clients to engage with you, your company and your brand.
