Google’s recently updated “Farmer” algorithm prefers original and unique web content, favoring blogs with innovative posts in its organic search results. Additionally, to produce effective search engine optimization-friendly blogs, ecommerce practitioners should regularly post articles that are keyword-optimized and relevant to the topic at hand. While there are no exact formulas for blogs to rank high on Google’s search engine results, Paul Chaney of Practical Ecommerce provides helpful suggestions on how to make blog posts search engine optimization-friendly and effective.
1. Regularly-updated content – Ecommerce practitioners who have the goal of using blogs as a marketing and search engine optimization tool should post articles as often as they can. A rate of 3 to 5 times a week is advised and it is enough to have a 350-minimum word length per post.
2. Relevant keywords – Keywords help a site rank higher but it should be understood that keywords should be placed strategically and just being stuffed into blog posts. As mentioned numerous times, keyword stuffing a big SEO no-no. Search engine optimization works in such a way that written content is optimized for search engines to find and display as a relevant result for a given search.
To properly maximize keywords in blog posts, Chaney suggests the following:
a. Each post should have a different keyword.
b. Keywords should appear early in the post, rather than later.
c. Repeat keywords but it should be based on the total length of the post.
d. URLs should contain the keywords.
e. Hyperlink keywords to relevant content which could be found on previous blog posts or within the site itself.
f. Use relevant keywords when categorizing posts and including tags.
g. Avoid keyword stuffing and placing unnecessary keywords if they are already included in the URL, title, and body of the post.
3. Creating back-links is one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization. Google also factors in back-links when prioritizing search engine results. The more authentic links pointing to your site, the more importance it gets from Google. To create back-links aside from the usual hyperlinks on blog posts, ecommerce practitioners can also syndicate content to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. At this day and age, it is important to put out content to where Internet users gather. Press releases are also a legitimate means of linkbuilding.
4. If you find that you need have more than one topic you would like to delve in to, it is advisable to create a different blog so as not to confuse your readers.
When blogging with the main goal of search engine optimization, it is important to produce genuine, helpful, and interesting posts that your readers can relate to. In time, you can expand your network to fellow bloggers, friends, and colleagues in the search engine optimization business, improving your blog and making your SEO campaign more effective.
