So, blogging.

It’s 2019. We’re deep in the Age of the Internet. These days it seems like everyone, their aunt, and their aunt’s cat has a blog – but they might just be on to something.

Blogs are one of the most popular forms of online content, and for good reason. 

If done well they can be highly informative, highly entertaining, and highly shareable. A regularly-updated blog with quality writing and relevant topics can make a huge difference to how your entire website performs in search engine results. 

1. Blogging keeps you fresh

New and relevant content helps build trust in your site. Outdated content will make people think your blog is abandoned – and nobody wants that. Abandoned blogs signal to a visitor that a business is no longer in operation, or that the information they provide could have changed or been debunked since it was first published. 

They’ll turn to other sources of information that are more up to date, and you’ll lose site views. 

Google also really doesn’t like outdated information. Google likes to stay on top of things, and a regularly-updated site signals to them that you’re alive and offering fresh content. It also gives search engine algorithms more reasons to index your site more often, and keeps you on their radar.

This means that your site pops up more often in search results – and the more these algorithms grow to like you, the higher your site appears on the page. 

2. Blogs keep visitors on your site for longer

Longer visits are the key to a successful website. 

Google wants to please people. It wants to give them information that is the most relevant to their searches, in order to increase their usage of the search engine. 

If a user clicks a link on the first page of the search results, doesn’t find anything useful on that site, and immediately leaves, this tells Google that this particular site isn’t as useful as it had thought. This immediately lowers the site’s rankings in future search results.

On the other hand, if a user clicks onto your site and stays there for a considerable amount of time, this lets Google know that your site is indeed very helpful. And we all know how much Google likes to be helpful.

One way of getting users to pay longer visits to your blog is to write longer pieces. The longer a post, the more comprehensive it seems – bearing in mind that it does need to be well crafted, because no one wants to read a 2 000-word essay written in gibberish. 

Quality over quantity, we always say.

3. Blogs let you target long-tail keywords

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is super competitive. 

Short, relevant keywords are a great place to start when trying to gain traction on your blog, but they won’t land you in any exciting search result positions. 

To really get some attention, your best bet is to look for longer, more specific keywords that are relevant to your content. These are called long-tail keywords. 

These keywords are valuable because half of all search terms are four or more words. Fitting these search terms onto a product page can be super awkward, but they’re perfect for text-centric blogs. Get them right and you’ll get more site traffic than you would from shorter, standard keywords. 

4. Blogs are great for internal linking

Internal links point users from one page to another within your site. You can even start cross-linking related posts together once you have enough content on your blog. This increases the visit time per user and makes Google like your site a whole lot more.

Internal linking strengthens the connection between your blog and your desired keywords, increasing their prominence to the search engine algorithm.

5. Good blogs get link-backs

You want to have content on your blog that other sites will consider worthwhile to their viewers. Think Wikipedia and Dictionary.com. 

The more trusted and respected sites that link back to your blog in their own posts, the more trustworthy and authoritative Google will view your website as. Your popularity will skyrocket.

6. Blogs help you connect with your audience

Blogs give you the opportunity to be a little bit more personable and relatable to your audience, no matter what your industry is. You tone can be less formal and more conversational. Blogs give a more human aspect to a brand. If your readers love your posts, they’ll be more likely to come back for more. And spread them all over social media. 

Lots of traffic and repeat visitors to your site let Google know that people like what they’re seeing and want to see more of it. This boosts your performance in both their algorithm and search engine results. 

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From all of this, it’s plain to see that blogging really is your most powerful SEO tool. Google loves a good blog, and so do your site visitors. 

Make sure your content is engaging, well-written, and relevant to your audience – and you’re all set. The more informative and accurate your blog is, the more authoritative and knowledgeable people will consider your brand. Developing a strong online voice also helps you cut through the internet static. 

Get all of these variables right, and Internet stardom awaits you.