In today’s digital age,  consumers are searching the web to find specific information. From health-related questions to purchase-driven searches, online users are leveraging the wealth of information available on the internet to get answers and solutions.

That’s where you come in. You’re a business owner who offers a product or service, but today’s consumer has higher expectations. They want content – content that provides them with value and actionable advice that will improve their lives in some way. Well, how can you deliver that? Through content marketing, which involves creating content to inform your target audience.

Within your content, you’re adding relevant keywords your target audience is using in the search engines. If you rank for these keywords, you’ll drive meaningful traffic. But that’s not the only benefit a regular blog will reap in terms of search engine optimization (SEO).

5 REASONS WHY PUBLISHING A MONTHLY BLOG IS CRUCIAL TO YOUR SEO STRATEGY

Be aware that blogging isn’t in and of itself a ranking factor. Other than basic on-page SEO, regular blogging is also important for SEO because it helps with a variety of things that are key ranking factors.

1. PUTS OUT FRESH AND CURRENT CONTENT

Search engine bots crawl sites to find new and updated content. That’s because search engines want to deliver results that provide up-to-date information. Therefore, putting out fresh and current content signals to Google and other major search engines that your site is alive and active. This will give search engine algorithms more reason to index your website more often, which gives you a greater chance of ranking.

2. KEEPS USERS ON YOUR SITE LONGER

Dwell time, or time users spend on a website, is a major ranking factor. If your site doesn’t have quality content or just has a few key pages like the Contact page, About page, Product/service pages, etc., consider a website redesign because your current site doesn’t offer much content that’s going to make visitors stay.

Do you know what happens if lots of visitors click on your site and quickly leave after a few seconds? Search engines will start getting the idea your site isn’t helpful to users and may, therefore, rank you lower in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

If your content is high-quality and provides value, users are more likely to stay on it longer, which not only means better conversions but also higher rankings. That’s because high dwell time signals to Google that your content is of great value to users.

3. ATTRACTS BACKLINKS

Companies that have a blog on their website earn up to 97% more inbound links, a.k.a. backlinks. When credible sites link to yours, search engines will begin to see your website as authoritative and trustworthy. By creating link-worthy blog posts, you’re showing search engines that your content contains valuable information. As a result, your website is more likely to rank in the SERPs.

Backlinks should also be a major part of your SEO strategy because:

• They entice users to come to your website. When a high-authority site links back to yours, it’s leading users to pay your site a visit. This not only signals to Google that your site can be trusted, but it can also drive traffic.
• They boost your credibility. Google wants to find the highest quality results for a user’s search query, so if a site has high-quality backlinks, it’s likely to be authoritative. Higher rankings will result.
• They help search engines find new pages. Backlinks act as a map for search engine spiders. They help search engines find, crawl and index pages on your website. Therefore, Google and other search engines use backlinks to find your site more quickly, which means faster indexing and higher ranking in a shorter amount of time.

4. HELPS YOU TARGET LONG-TAIL KEYWORDS

Planning your content around keywords is a great strategy. Targeting keywords that get a lot of searches is even better. However, some keywords with high search volumes can be difficult to rank for, especially if so many content creators are trying to rank for those keywords. Trying to rank solely for broad search terms is one of the biggest digital marketing mistakes you can make. Long-tail keywords are great for SEO because it increases your chances of ranking for them. These highly-specific keywords show that searchers are nearing the end of the buyer’s journey and could be making a purchase soon.

Long-tail keywords might be awkward to fit into your product pages, but they’re the perfect kind of terms to target in a blog post. For example, a plumbing company can use their blog posts to provide information on terms like “best tools for DIY plumbing” or “how do I unclog my toilet?” That’s a lot more specific than “plumber near me” or “plumbing services”.

Sure, more specific terms won’t attract as much traffic as more general keywords, but at least you’ll be targeting an audience that knows what they want. Plus, if you make it to page one, you’ll get way more traffic for long-tail keywords than you would on page five or ten for broader, more popular terms.

5. CAPTURES USERS AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF THE BUYER’S JOURNEY

Blogging opens up a lot of opportunities to reach prospects at different stages of the buyer’s journey. The more you publish on your blog, the more content you can create. You might think that publishing content regularly can cause you to run out of things to post about, but that isn’t the case. You can post informational and how-to articles for users at the awareness stage. More in-depth educational content works well for the evaluation stage.

These different types of blog posts can help guide prospects down the funnel and give them that final nudge to make a purchase, thus, increasing your conversions. Since user behavior is a ranking factor and conversions represent user behavior, aligning your content with the multiple stages of the buyer’s journey can be a big positive from an SEO perspective.

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