Is blogging really worth the effort?

Does blogging really help SEO? This question is commonly asked among many, and the answer is YES! Blogging frequently is one of the most powerful SEO tools to use. Each time a new post has been added it is indexed and ranked by Google. Search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo! are constantly on the prowl for fresh content. So how is this new content detected, monitored, and rewarded with over 644 million websites currently on the Internet? Simply put, Google sends spiders to crawl websites for content. Then the content is evaluated and measured by over 100 indicators and complex algorithms to deem websites as valuable or worthless.

What and why should websites have valuable content?

Website content that is considered valuable is when it is original and relevant to the service or industry and to its visitors. It also offers an opportunity to be an authoritative voice in a particular industry. For example, www.mynewsmile.com is a website that carries a lot of authority about cosmetic and general dentistry. It is very informative and helpful for people who have questions about dental procedures, or for those who are looking for a skilled cosmetic dentist.

Great blogs can serve up some tasty link bait and relevant backlinks.

Providing accurate and helpful information such as current news, problem solving, how to videos, and infographics are some examples of how to attract other websites to reference your blog and link to it naturally. However, any manipulative methods for getting links, such as link exchanges bartering for them, or linking to suspicious places will raise a huge red flag to Google and could cause website penalties.

Benefits of using internal and external links.

Another benefit of blogging is adding internal and external links. Internal and external links are basically hyperlinks that target specific pages on websites. Here is an example of an internal link being used to promote a specific page within the Infinity Dental Web site about dental blogs and to reinforce the page. An external link on the other hand comes from one website and points to another such as this web page on The Moz Blog. External links can offer credibility to your content as long as they aren’t overused and are relevant to the topic.

Keywords, another benefit to blogging.

Blogging also provides an opportunity to add more keywords to the site. A website will rank higher than another comparable one if it contains a higher amount of searched keywords.

When using keywords make sure they are relevant and relate to the topic and content. Also use them naturally and avoid keyword stuffing (repetitive use) to avoid any Google penalties.

Blogging builds online brand identity and trust

There are so many more benefits to blogging, but some really important reasons are to build and promote your services and brand identity in non intrusive manner. They are also a great platform for socializing, keeping customers informed, and building trust. And, if the blog posts are interesting and informative enough, blogs can be a great resource for attracting subscribers.