Blogging: The first posts may have been referred to as “Online Diaries,” but today the practice has evolved into a powerful digital marketing strategy.
For small businesses in particular, a well-designed and regularly updated blog can be an effective tool in getting noticed locally.
Local SEO, that is, the efforts you put in to build brand awareness and favorable search results rankings within your geographic area, can benefit greatly from a blog. And, when it comes to simple and cost-effective, blogs are hard to beat.
Here is a look at some of the ways that blogging can boost your local SEO campaigns.
Blogging adds local content to your website.
As a local blog from a small business, your posts should cover content relevant to your geographic area.
For example, say you run a photography shop in Terre Haute, Indiana. You may want to use your blog to discuss the best spots for graduation photos in May and June, or offer tips on the best local areas for wedding shots during the fall.
By providing content that mentions local places, events, people, and even businesses, you send signals to search engines that your content, and your business, relate to a specific area.
In response, search engines are more likely to rank you favorably for local search terms, and you can enjoy an uptick in the effectiveness of your local SEO efforts.
Blogging adds indexed pages to your website.
Google's algorithms look for websites that consistently produce fresh, relevant content. The more frequently you add pages to your website, the more engaging and relevant your site will appear to Google's search crawlers.
Blogging is an easy way to add these indexed pages to your website. Every blog you produce is another page indexed on your site and available for crawling by the search engines. A website with a regular blog, then, will look better to search engines than a static website with no new content.
Fill your blog pages with relevant local content, and you have a recipe for local SEO success, because you will be presenting your business as an active and engaging presence in your area
Blogging encourages local engagement.
Don't blog just for the search engines. Instead, make sure that your material always provides engaging, useful information for your target audiences.
The more often you provide that content, the more likely you are to build a consistent following on your blog (and your social media). People will learn to trust you to provide the information about your industry and your area that they need to make decisions about the products and services you offer.
People may not purchase from your business the first time they read your blog, but guess what happens after they spend a year absorbing information from your website? When they need your products and services, they know just where to go: Your business.
Local engagement, through social media, comments on your website, website visitors, and more, also sends strong signals to search engines about the reliability and authority of your website.
If many of people like and use your site, thanks to your blog, then search engines are more likely to rank your favorably for local search results. That can lead to a winning cycle of success.
Blogging lets you target local keywords.
Keywords may not hold as much importance for your local SEO strategy as they used to, but they still have the power to affect your rankings in the search results.
Blogging gives you the opportunity to use multiple local keywords that you want to rank for. You can focus each blog post on a specific keyword, and over time, target all of the local keywords that relate to your business.
For example, you may want to focus blog content on keywords such as “Terre Haute wedding photography,” “Indiana senior photos,” or “newborn photo shoots, Greencastle, Indiana.” Each of those keywords can easily fit into a relevant, useful, and engaging blog post.
As you build a collection of content focused on useful local keywords, search engines have an easier time discerning where to rank your website, and how to rank it. That means you can see a boost in where you rank, and in the keywords your business ranks for.
Blogging lets you write about your business.
Ideally, the majority of your blog posts will focus on content that is relevant and useful to your target audiences. You don't always have to talk about yourself.
However, your blog also provides an ideal platform for occasionally discussing your business. For example, consider including these types of posts on your blog:
- Awards and accolades
- Customer testimonials
- Case studies
- Your company history
- Business anniversaries and milestones
- New products and services
Each of these subjects allows you to discuss your local area as well as your business. As a result, they provide signals to search engines about the relevance of your website to certain local search terms.
Use these types of blog posts sparingly but wisely to enjoy improved local SEO rankings that deliver more visitors, leads, and customers.
Local SEO has the power to boost your small business' visibility within your local area. Take advantage by using blogging to enhance those efforts.
By allowing you to add local content to your website, add indexed pages to your website, encourage local engagement, target local keywords, and write about your business, blogs make it possible for you to enjoy greater local SEO success.
If you are ready to embrace the power of local SEO, reach out to Distinct. Our local marketing advisors can help you create a marketing plan that boosts your small business success.
