Blog Content for SEO

Why the Content in Blogs Matter – How to Optimise for SEO

If you’ve made it a resolution to revisit and improve the blogs on your website for 2024, you could be on to a good thing. In fact, the first blog ever, credited to US student Justin Hall, was written exactly 30 years ago this year – so what better reason to revamp yours?

You no doubt already appreciate the numerous benefits of running a blog – from the increased traffic to your site and greater number of chances to convert visitors into leads, to the opportunity to establish yourself as an industry expert. Blogs can help you to grow and develop your business. Sometimes, a good blog post can keep attracting new customers years after it has been published.

Most importantly, if you optimise your blog for SEO, it can drive free traffic to your website from major search engines including Bing and Google. If this is done properly, you can increase the audience for your blog, get more sign-ups to your newsletter, and generate business leads, while enhancing your reputation as an expert in your sector.

Tips for getting Blog SEO right

  • Write about what web users are looking for

Clearly,  you need to write about the sorts of things web users come online to look for. Do this by using keyword research tools. Choose topics that you find interesting yourself, and which are relevant to your niche.

  • Understand search intent

Understand why people are looking for information relevant to your keywords. It’s then far easier to structure your blog in the way that’s most helpful to your searchers – for example as a listicle (an article written in a list format) or a how-to guide.

  • Quality content

By quality content, we mean blogs which are well structured and organised, original and easy to read with straightforward wording and short paragraphs and which meet the reason why the searcher was seeking the information in the first place. Google has more guidelines here.

You can improve readability with sub-headings, bullet points and numbering, or adding visuals such as photos or infographics. Avoid overly complex words and technical jargon. Don’t be afraid to read blogs out loud to yourself – this can help you to notice things you wouldn’t otherwise spot.

  • Building backlinks

Backlinks are a key Google ranking factor, so you need to include this in your SEO strategy, especially if you’re targeting highly competitive keywords.

  • Update blog content

Refresh your blog posts regularly – things change and content can become outdated. Consider adding new advice, updating facts and cutting sections which have become irrelevant. If you have to, rewrite a whole post.

  • Don’t forget the on-page SEO

This helps Google to rank your content. It includes things like good meta descriptions, having your target keyword in the title tag, H1 tag and body content, and using short, descriptive URLs. Additionally, incorporate links to relevant internal resources.

At the same time, monitor and fix technical issues so Google can index and crawl your posts. Equally, readers won’t want you blogs to take more than a few seconds to load, and will quickly leave your site if they can’t do this.

Get in touch

At Front Page Advantage, we have extensive experience of producing blogs for a wide range of clients, with access to professional writers and industry insiders. Talk to us today about revisiting, updating or creating your blog for 2024.