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SEO Benefits of Blogging
Search engine optimization nowadays has changed drastically since the Penguin and Panda updates; it has become imperative for genuine content and natural links to be the usual for your website, and this can prove to be very difficult. So, how can you consistently provide that genuine content and gain natural links? By providing fresh, linkable, and sharable content! Here’s exactly why those three things can help increase rankings and make your website much more attractive in the eyes of a search engine.
Fresh content = happy search engines.
Because it is [hopefully!] updated at least weekly, a blog is the perfect way to show search engines your site is active and engaging. Every post creates a new URL for engines to crawl, and the more new URLs there are, the more often your site is going to get crawled.
Not only does it make search engines happy, people like to read blogs! According to this infographic and article from Jeff Bullas, in 2012, there were on average over 25 billion blog pages viewed a month. People enjoy getting to know people and businesses on a personal level, so take advantage.
Because blog posts are fairly specific, there also lies a great opportunity to target long tailed keywords. SEOmoz tackles why long tailed keywords are important, but I’ll summarize: they make up about 70% of all searches! Another reason is that these searches are often performed by people who are ready to make a purchase. Woohoo!
Likeable content is linkable content.
Linkable content also makes search engines happy. When Penguin ravaged, annihilated and slaughtered (too much visual?) websites for their crappy links, SEO changed. You can’t rely on submitting your post about the variety of uses for Post-Its on beachbabes.com anymore. Now, we have to work for links *gasp*. This is where blogs become extremely useful in the realm of SEO. External links are the hardest metric to manipulate, making it one of the best ways for search engines to determine the reputation and popularity of a site. See the importance? The more popular the site, the higher it is going to rank. On top of the link itself, the anchor text of said link provides relevancy clues to search engines. Because these are written by humans, engines see this as reflective of the content being it is being linked to.
Specific content is sharable content.
This doesn’t need much explaining, just think about it. Which are you personally more likely to share on Facebook or Twitter: the homepage of a website or something of value for friends and followers to actually read? Exactly. An increase in social sharing will lead to even more legit and natural links for you website.
Not everyone needs a blog, but it is something to consider if you think your business is right for one. Remember though—a blog is ONLY beneficial if you are committed to it. If you don’t consistently write new content, it is worthless. Good luck!
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