<< Back to Blog page
It's not time to ditch blogs yet
Blogs do not just exist to improve your SEO, regardless of what you were told. Maybe you were advised to start a blog to improve your SEO. If so, you’ve probably been concentrating on keywords and search terms you want to rank for. And with AI Overview now appearing at the top of Google searches and video content becoming evermore popular, people are (again) questioning the point of blogs.
If you’re wondering whether blogs are really worth the effort anymore or thinking there’s no need to bother, it’s important to understand why blogs exist. And understand that they’re not just there ‘for SEO’. Search engine optimisation might be a key driver behind blogs, but it’s not the full story.
We’ve been told blogs are dead on and off for years. Most people will tell you they don’t read them, mainly because they don’t know they are. They don’t realise the answers they find on webpages are often blogs. And even with the AI overview reducing the ‘need’ to click on a blog page, not everyone wants it. And blogs can be cited as a source for the AI overview anyway. Videos might be an increasingly popular too – but again, not everyone wants to watch a video rather than reading something either.
In short, blogs are not just good for SEO.
What are blogs for, if not for SEO?
Blogs serve many purposes, and these include:
- Building trust and authority
- Engaging an existing audience
- Strengthening customer relationships
- Supporting sales and marketing initiatives
- Covering trending topics
- Entertaining, inspiring, or educating
- Creating the basis for social media posts
- Sharing thoughts and opinions
- Sharing company news and culture
Let’s take a look at these individually:
1. Building trust and authority
Blogs give businesses an opportunity to share valuable, well-researched content. If you can consistently provide insightful information that cites credible sources you show your company as an expert in your field. A go-to resource that reinforces trust can position you as a thought leader. These do not have to be written for the sake of searched terms.
2. Engaging an existing audience
Blogs are useful for growing organic traffic, or website traffic you haven’t paid for. However, they’re not all about capturing new traffic. Your existing audience wants to know what you have to say about things they care about too.
3. Strengthening customer relationships
Depending on how you interact with your clients, they may have little contact with your business beyond the transactional. Blogs about subjects your customers are interested in can showcase your knowledge and that you care. They can also highlight other services you offer they may not have been aware of.
4. Supporting sales and marketing initiatives
If your business is marketing a new service, a blog is a great way to inform your new and potential customers about it. They can be added to newsletters, emails, used as a resource by sales teams, and linked to via social media. Blogs might also be shared by your audience with others who might be interested.
5. Covering trending topics
New industry news, trends, and viral topics might be useful for SEO, but generally only for a very limited time. People tend to lose interest in trending topics relatively quickly. However, if it’s trending, important, and is something your business should have a view on, a blog is a great place to discuss it. It doesn’t matter if it’s unlikely to drive new traffic to your website for long. See points 2 and 3…
6. Entertaining, inspiring, or educating
If your blogs can entertain, inspire, or educate your audience, they don’t have to be designed purely to drive new traffic. Just make sure they have some relevance to your business. Otherwise you run the risk of confusing the search engines and potentially damaging your SEO.
7. Creating the basis for social media posts
You don’t often hear businesses complain they have too much content for social media. Blogs are an easy source of information that can be repurposed for social media posts, including podcasts They can be used both immediately once they’ve been published, as well as over the years they are still relevant.
8. Sharing thoughts and opinions
If you focus purely on search engine optimisation when you’re writing your blogs, you can miss out on subjects. Blogs where you share your thoughts and opinions can be useful for building trust and authority, and presenting your business as a thought leader. They can also be useful for sales and marketing and social media posts. They could be your thoughts on a trending topic, or related to how you work differently, for example – anything you think is relevant to your business and your readership.
9. Sharing company news and culture
Blogs that share company news and culture could be purely for internal use. While they don’t do anything for your search engine optimisation, they can help with morale, team building, onboarding, or communication. Equally, blogs that are about your company news and culture can often be valuable for your client base too.
Blogs are not just for SEO
Blogs are great for your search engine optimisation – but only if you do them properly. SEO should never be the only reason you create content. No matter the reason for your blog, it should always show your business as the professional and expert company it is.
Writing and publishing high-quality blogs consistently, whether their primary purpose is for search-engine optimisation or not, should be an important part of your content strategy. It’s unlikely your team will have the knowledge and skill required to create the sort of blogs you need. It’s not just about knowing your subject. Writing for websites is a skill, and so is writing valuable content. Investing in a good SEO copywriter won’t cost the earth and should pay dividends.
How’s your blog strategy looking? If you need regular, professionally written blogs please get in touch or book a call.