Search engine optimization (SEO) is a term that sounds technical, and it may seem like a complicated strategy for marketing.
A few aspects of SEO will require some understanding of how websites and search engines work. However, by having a well-designed website in the first place, the work to improve search ranking will become a lot easier.
Provided that your website’s architecture is search engine friendly, the next step is to add more pages of content into your website. This often means that you should write a blog for your website.
How does a blog help to improve search engine ranking?
A blog increases the chance for your website to be discovered by search engines. The blog provides additional information which is not covered by your homepage, product pages, and other pages that are typical of business websites.
Since search engines are designed to help users find information, the more information you post into your blog, the more likely that one of your posts will be featured as a relevant web page in the search results.
In other words, a blog acts like a net that captures search traffic. It is a powerful strategy to drive traffic into your website, and has the potential to drive business goals.
What is keyword research and how does it relate to blogging?
To blog effectively is to deliver information that searchers are likely to look for, but not covered by many websites. Keyword research is one of the ways to help you find the right topics to write about, although this is not the only way.
Keywords are phrases and terms that are used by people when they use search engines. Many keyword research tools claim to know the exact number of certain keywords used at a given month, and they have their own system to measure the ‘competitiveness’ of keywords.
For example, the keyword “shoes for sale” is a competitive keyword, which results in a long list of links to marketplaces like Amazon and to websites of famous brands. The keyword is deemed competitive because high authority sites will rank for this keyword. In addition, there are 2,410,000,000 web pages that Google deems relevant for this keyword in 2021.
If your website is new, it’s not recommended to use highly competitive keywords as a topic starter for your blog. Instead, try finding keywords that are low competition and niche. If, for example, you sell handcrafted shoes in Bali, it makes no sense to target “shoes for sale”. Instead, you should write a blog post for “Bali handcrafted shoes for women” (2,340,000 web pages in 2021).
How to find great topic ideas for writing a blog post without keyword research tools?
Keyword research tools are paid services, and not many people have access to them. However, it’s not too difficult to generate content ideas without keyword research tools.
Google often provides hints on what people are searching for. Google Suggestions and People Also Search are two features that Google would include in the search results. These can be used as inspiration for your blog content.
Furthermore, look up for interesting topics in forums like Quora, Reddit, and some other ones in your industry. Social media mentions, like Twitter’s trending hashtags, can give you a hint on what your customers are interested to know.
Finally, ask your customers or sales representative directly. If one customer is asking a specific question, there is a chance that your other customers are asking similar questions.
Without keyword tools, how to know if a topic or keyword is not too competitive?
The search results can give some subtle hints to help you determine whether or not your blog post has a chance of ranking in search. This is not an exact science, and to be used only as an estimated measure of how likely your post will rank.
First come up with a list of topics based on the topic research technique explained above. Then simply type in the keyword for that topic into Google or other search engines. Compare the number of search results found by the search engine. If you could reduce the highest number by a factor of 1000 or more, you could choose that topic. Otherwise, just use the topic that yields the lowest number of search results.
However, don’t just focus on the numbers. Open the top web pages and try to ask yourself, “Can I provide more information than what is already being served on this web page?”
Furthermore, if on the search results page you see links to articles on web forums or social media posts, you may have a chance to outrank them. This is because they have a lower credibility score in the eyes of Google. Your new site, focused on a cluster of related topics, is likely to have a higher credibility score, which meant a higher SEO ranking.
How often should you blog?
When your site is new, you should blog at least once a week. Don’t focus on the word count, but rather on how thorough you are at explaining the topic to your future web visitors.
The secret to ranking in search is not to worry too much about keyword volume, credibility scores, and word count. Your focus should be to create content that is helpful, thorough, relevant to the problems of your customers, and shareable.
Don’t forget to promote your content through your social network. Search engines can recognize quality content from the number of people who visit your site.
Blog content and web copywriting service in Bali & Jakarta
Juicebox is a Bali-based digital marketing agency that can help you achieve your business goals through digital communication technologies. We build websites, manage social media, and optimize your website for search engines. We can help your brand deliver the right message.
