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Definitive Guide to Blog SEO Best Practices - Firebrand

Most B2B websites maintain a core set of site pages (Homepage, Product / Services pages, Contact us, etc.) and oftentimes some form of landing pages (resources / asset downloads), and blog content. Most of these groups of pages remain relatively static without new pages added frequently to the mix, but blogs are the exception. They are typically updated much more often as companies offer new, insightful content, oftentimes longer in form. Blogs are where brands have a bit more flexibility in their voice and tone and are easily distributed across marketing channels. For the reasons listed above, blog content is often a top driver of website traffic from both paid or organic channels.

In order to get the most out of blog content, it is essential to employ the blog SEO best practices detailed in this guide. You will get to know how blogs impact SEO, what are blog SEO best practices (including a handy checklist), examples of blog SEO in action, and a breakdown of blog SEO performance measurement analytics in Google Search Console and Google Analytics (GA4).

Blog SEO Best Practices FAQs.

How Do Blogs Impact SEO?

Blogs: Fueling the SEO Fire

Blogs are often referred to as “content engines” because they are geared to generate fresh, insightful content at a frequent clip. Content recency and relevance are key indicators to Search Engines when ranking content on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Google’s latest Search algorithm update reveals that content creators should aim to demonstrate E-E-A-T for the best chances at higher rankings in the SERPs. E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, all of which are tenets of well-developed blog content.

Also, regularly updated website content gives search engines new material to index, including the URL, meta data, page content, keywords, and more. Learn more about E-E-A-T and Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines (QRG): \\\_(see image E-E-A-T)\\\_

Optimizing Blogs: What to Consider

Key areas of focus for blog post optimization include the quality of the content, strategic keyword usage, the user experience, and technical SEO aspects.

Considering content quality, first and foremost, you want blog visitors to find value in your content. Entice them to engage deeper with your website, using the content and site-links to funnel visitors ultimately toward conversion events. Content and SEO teams often strike a balance between the marketing message and the SEO optimization of the blog.

Regarding user experience, blogs (vs. other types of site content) are frequently listed as the top drivers of on-site behavior metrics in GA4 (Engaged Sessions, Engaged Sessions per User, Events per Session, etc.). Successful metrics here indicate a valuable user experience and are rewarded by search engines with better rankings in the SERPs. Blogs also lend well to boosting site navigation and accessibility.

Technical SEO aspects include indexability, page load speeds, and mobile responsiveness, to name a few. Find more information on technical SEO optimizations and more in this insightful blog on Holistic SEO.

What Are Blog SEO Best Practices?

Blog SEO best practices should be applied to each stage of the content development process. Starting with keyword research provides an idea of what keywords and phrases you want to ensure are included in the blog content. When reviewing keywords, look at monthly search volume, the keyword difficulty percentage, the average Cost-per-Click (CPC), and the competitive density. Along with other tools, Firebrand uses SEMrush for keyword research and position tracking.

As you create the content, you’ll want to structure headers and use hyperlinks (internal and external) to create clear and relevant copy blocks. Once drafted, create a concise Title Tag, Meta Description, URL structure, and optimize for any images or other media formats you’ve included. Be sure your blog page is optimized for mobile devices where content is more frequently consumed. For easy reference, we’ve included a checklist below of the primary blogging best practices to adhere to.

SEO Best Practices Checklist for Blogs

Keyword Research: Conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant and high-ranking keywords for your blog niche. Identify target Seed and top Support keywords to use in headings and metadata.

Quality Content: Prioritize informative and engaging content that addresses user queries and pain points, and provides value.

Optimized Titles and Headings: Develop a compelling title and headings that incorporate target keywords while maintaining readability.

Meta Descriptions: Craft concise and compelling meta descriptions that encourage clicks and accurately reflect the content.

Internal and External Linking: Include relevant internal and external links to enhance the credibility and authority of your blog. Use internal links to funnel traffic through the user journey.

Optimized Images: Use high-quality and relevant images, optimizing them with descriptive alt text.

Mobile Responsiveness: Ensure that your blog is optimized for mobile devices to accommodate the growing number of mobile users.

User-Friendly URL Structure: Create clean and descriptive URLs that are easy for both users and search engines to understand.

Blog SEO Best Practice Examples

Here is an example of blog best practice for SEO in action. Let’s use this blog post that you are currently reading, for instance. The blog is broken down into key areas relating to blog SEO best practices, delineated by headers and complete with short to mid-length consumable copy blocks, providing an easily navigable and informative experience. Our insights into Google’s algorithm and how to measure in Google Search Console and GA4 provide a sense of expertise. Authoritativeness comes through how the content is positioned, and the trustworthiness is related to the author and the overall website the blog appears on.

To get started, we conducted keyword research and outlined the content. We developed a title and headers, included internal and external links, and structured the meta data. Throughout, we’ve integrated keywords related to “blogs and SEO” and have ensured our seed keyword “blog SEO best practices” is used in the page title, headers, and metadata. If you’re getting some Pimp My Ride vibes, fret not, this was intentional. What kind of SEOs would we be if we didn’t take our own advice?!

Once you’ve employed the SEO best practices for blogs listed above, you can now turn to measurement. The good news is that there are two measurement platforms (Google Search Console and Google Analytics) that provide all the data we need to analyze how well our blog posts are performing and how they are supporting the overall marketing goals of the website.

Measuring Blog Performance Data in Google Search Console and Google Analytics

Understanding how to measure blog performance is essential for getting the most out of your blog SEO strategy. Google Search Console provides data on front-end metrics, including Impressions, Clicks, and CTR. These awareness metrics measure visibility in the SERPs where traffic is driven to the website. Once on the site, GA4 provides data and insights on blog visitor engagement.

Google Search Console (GSC) metrics

Impressions: The number of times a user saw a link to your site in search results.

\\- Analyzing this metric helps you understand the visibility and reach of your blog content.- Clicks: The number of times a user clicked through to your site. \\- Analyzing this metric helps you understand how well your search result content aligns with the keywords used in each blog post.- Average CTR: The percentage of impressions that resulted in a click. (Impressions/Clicks) \\- Analyzing this metric can provide insights on how well you’ve optimized your blog page title and meta description.- Average position: The average position of your site in search results. \\- Analyzing this metric can provide insights on how well you’ve optimized your blog page title and meta description.

Google Analytics (GA4) metrics

Sessions: The number of sessions that began on your site.

Analyzing this metric helps you understand how many people came to your blog pages in a given period.

Engaged Sessions: The number of sessions that lasted longer than 10 seconds, or had a conversion event, or had two or more screen or page views.

Analyzing this metric helps you understand how people interact with your content when they visit your blog.

Average engagement time per session: User engagement duration per session.

Analyzing this metric tells you how long users spend on your site per session. Higher engagement times can signal site content relevancy for users.

Engaged sessions per user: The number of engaged sessions per user (Engaged sessions/Users).

Analyzing this metric tells you how engaging your blog content is per user. Higher Engaged Sessions signals can also signal blog content relevancy.

Events per session: The average number of events per session.

Analyzing this metric helps you understand what blog posts are engaging users most, and which are not.

Engagement rate: The percentage of engaged sessions (Engaged sessions/Sessions).

Analyzing this metric helps you understand the percentage of users who engaged with the blog. Higher engagement rates are rewarded with higher SERP rankings.

Event count: The number of times your users triggered an event.

Analyzing this metric helps you understand the total events triggered in a time period and what blog posts are driving the most event conversions.

Conversions: The number of times your users triggered a conversion event (sometimes referred to as a “goal.”)

Analyzing this metric tells you how many conversions (leads) were captured during a timeframe and what blog posts are driving the most.

In Summary

As the digital marketing landscape continues to evolve, new tools and ways to measure blog content performance will continue to arise. Emerging technologies such as ChatGPT, Google Bard, and others have brought efficiencies to content development, but they don’t completely replace the blog best practices discussed throughout this guide, which remain tried and true for getting the most out of your blog content development efforts. From initial keyword research to creating metadata, integrating internal and external links, to performance measurement, strengthening in each component makes each of the other components stronger.

SEO is not a one-time effort but an ongoing process that takes a consistent and dedicated focus to get the most out of your blog content. Utilize the best SEO practices outlined in the blog post and let out a “\\\_ROAR!\\\_\\\_”\\\_ as you watch your blog SEO metrics ascend. Since “Content is king,” use blog SEO best practices to strengthen and expand your marketing kingdom.

Original source: https://www.firebrand.marketing/2024/01/blog-seo-best-practices

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