A popular marketing tool for both small and large businesses is blogging. Blogs can give your consumers up-to-date news from within your organization, project insights that go hand in hand with the company’s mission or vision, and give visitors something interesting to learn. Another lesser known benefit of blogging is the SEO exposure it can bring to a business if done correctly. A few simple tricks to include in every blog post can boost search engine rankings and increase web traffic. This allows a business to better reach its target audience by knowing how to reach search engines. Knowing how to communicate with Google and other search engines can do wonders for where a website will show up in the rankings.
Search engines don’t read in the human context. A search engine selects the keywords and the pieces that it considers most significant. When Google “reads” a website, it automatically assumes that the first few words are the most important. It makes sense, then, to title posts with search terms that lead viewers to the website. However, make sure you don’t overdo it and stick to one search phrase per post.
Another easy way to increase traffic is to link words to previous posts. Search engines like Google place more importance on blog posts that contain links than those that do not, especially if those links lead to credible destinations. However, just like the headline, too many links can have the reverse effect, so stick with a few.
Tags are another great way to increase traffic to blog posts. Stick to 5-10 relevant tags for your posts and enjoy the extra traffic that comes from Google ranking your blog post in terms of, well, the terms. Try to tag terms that users would most likely be searching for to ensure maximum success.
Last but definitely not least, take advantage of Google Insights. This tool allows webmasters and SEO maximizers to see for themselves which terms generate the most traffic. With a tool like this at your fingertips, coupled with the knowledge of how search engines process information, you have a huge advantage when it comes to SEO efforts.
There you have it: something your business is already doing could be the key to more SEO exposure, and all you have to do is add to it! Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch?