7 Business Blogging Tips For Better Google Rankings
Gone are the days where “black hat” practices such as dodgy link building and spamming forums gets you on the first page of a search engine. These days, it pays to do it right or you could suffer penalties that will move your website to the back of the queue and take years to recover from. Blog content is an essential ingredient in getting your website found in search engines.
Here are 7 ways you can make the most of your business blog and gain higher Google rankings:
1. Useful Content
We use search engines like Google to conduct “searches”, seeking information to answer a particular problem or query we might have. If you understand Google, you’ll understand that they are a business in their own right, and as such, they care about their customers. Google wants to give us the most relevant information so that when we do a search, only the “best” information comes up first. So when you create content that is well-written, detailed, and includes valuable information that the searcher will appreciate and share with their networks, Google will reward you by improving your rankings. There content you produce that is “relevant” and is well-received by users, the more Google “juice” you will receive.. So don’t try to cut corners, focus on creating valuable, relevant original content and let Google do the rest.
2. Post Regularly
There’s no doubt that creating content such as writing blog posts and recording videos is time-consuming, however you will need to create regular content if you wish to rank highly. Google prefers fresh content to stale content and if your website is consistently creating high-value content on a regular basis, Google rewards you for it. You needn’t create content on a daily basis, but whatever the frequency, you should stick to it. If you decide to publish one post a week on a Monday, then do so on a consistent basis.
3. Include Keywords
What words and phrases do you want to be found for on Google? If you’re a brand that specializes in ethical fashion, you may choose to rank highly for the words “ethical fashion”, “fair-trade fashion”, and “eco fashion”. So do some brainstorming and choose your top keywords and longer tail keywords. Once you’ve decided what they are, make sure to write articles that are relevant to these keywords, and then use these keywords and phrases in the blog post title and in the body of the post. Use anchor text when you link to previous posts that you’ve made. Doing so will help search engines understand what the page (and post) is about, which effectively helps them to rank your website accordingly.
4. Don’t Forget Your Metas
In addition, you should include your keywords and phrases in title tags, meta tags, meta descriptions, and meta keywords. If you have outsourced your internet marketing to an SEO company, this should be second nature. If not, you can manually do this. If you use a Wordpress template, there are free plugins you can use to help, such as Wordpress SEO by Yoast.
5. Outbound Links
If you're writing an article, it makes sense to link to other authoritative websites and blogs. Linking to other websites allows readers to click on a link if they wish to learn more about a particular subject. Linking to research studies, interviews conducted with other publications and videos helps to enhance your content, which Google will reward you for.
6. Social Share Buttons
Your blog should have social share buttons to encourage people to share your content with their networks. You can even go a step further and ensure that the number of social shares for each individual platform is displayed on the post. By doing so, people will see how popular it is and feel the need to share it within their own networks, too (“herd mentality”).
7. Promote Your Posts
Gone are the days of “build it and they will come”. It is essential that you market your posts on all your social media platforms and include links to your content in your email newsletters to encourage your subscribers to visit your website. If your time is limited, consider using automation programs such as Buffer to schedule and publish posts. A business blog is one of the best free tools you can use to achieve better rankings on Google. Allocate some time, create a content plan and editorial calendar, and execute.
In the comments tell us: What 2 or 3 tasks will you prioritize this year?