It’s an age old problem, how to turn those brilliant but largely unread blogs into top-ranking search results with thousands of readers?

So many companies have blogs full of interesting and insightful copy that is both useful for readers, and also helps showcase brand identity and expertise. Yet one of the questions we are most often asked is, how do we get that content out there into the world?

Well, check out our five-step guide to help you get started and ensure your blog posts start showing up on Google soon…

1. Do your research

First things first, make sure you’re writing blogs about things people are actually interested in. The best way to start figuring out what those things are is to narrow down a handful of topics that are relevant to your brand or company.

Then, use a tool like Keyword Planner, Answerthepublic, or SEMrush to find phrases or ‘keywords’ relating to those topics. Don’t just go after keywords based on them having high search volume, remember they also need to be relatable to your brand and not too competitive. We also recommend considering ‘long-tail keywords’ which are the longer, more specific phrases, as these are generally easier to rank for and can provide more qualified traffic. A good example might be, instead of writing about ‘beach holidays’ you could write about ‘family beach holidays in Greece’.

Once you have chosen your keywords, keep them in mind when writing, but don’t force them into your copy. Be particularly selective about which keywords you want to include in your headers and page titles as these play a slightly more impactful role for SEO, as well as helping with click through from search engines.

2. Everyone loves a list

How many times have you searched for ‘best bars in XX’ or ‘how to XX’? It’s a well-known fact that we turn to Google for easy to digest top tips and information, which is usually best presented in list format, or with lots of sub headers.

That doesn’t mean your copy has to be dull or informational though, in fact quite the opposite! You just want to make sure that your blog is laid out in an easy to digest format, and that it covers a range of topics or options, so that your readers can scan for the bits they are most interested in. If you’re looking for examples, look no further than the blog you’re reading right now…

3. Write relevant and detailed copy

One of our pet hates is the misuse of computer generated or irrelevant ‘filler’ copy to simply stuff keywords into a page. This has never been good practice, and Google has consistently updated its algorithm to penalise the ranking of this kind of content. Google’s latest algorithm update will now begin flagging it as unhelpful or basic, which will have a knock on effect for SEO rankings. Instead, Google continues its endeavour to surface content that is accurate, helpful and written by an expert or enthusiast with demonstrable topic knowledge. Which we think is a great thing!

So what is the takeaway? Essentially, before you put the metaphorical pen to paper and publish a blog, make sure you know your subject matter well, and that you are confident in your writing ability. If you can’t say that you 100% are, you probably need a subject matter expert or professional writer to help.

4. Share and link

So you’ve written your blog, made sure it’s well optimised for keywords, and it is accurate and helpful. Now what? One of the biggest mistakes companies make is writing brilliant blogs but doing nothing with them once they are published. Instead, get your blog out into the world by sharing it! The more clicks you get from from social media and emails, the better your content looks to Google. 

If you think your blog is particularly interesting or newsworthy, you might even want to spend some time doing some outreach with it. Send the piece to journalists, relevant publications and influencers, on social media or via email, and try and win some coverage. 

All these backlinks and post engagements will work together to show Google that your blog is a piece of trustworthy and helpful content, that it should consequently push up the search rankings. 

5. Look at the bigger picture

There’s no point producing an amazing blog if you’re going to share it on a site which you’ve done no SEO work on. Ultimately, you can write a blog which has been perfectly optimised and well shared, but if the host site is badly optimised, Google will likely miss this valuable content.

So, make sure you look at the bigger picture and work on an SEO strategy for your whole site before you focus solely on your blog. It’s worth remembering that you don’t have to get everything 100% right here. In fact, just a few changes can make a massive difference to your overall site health. Which, in turn means your blogs will have a better chance of ranking too. And if it all still feels rather daunting, we can help by carrying out a thorough SEO audit and providing a step by step plan of action.

If you’re looking to take your blog to the next level and need some help making sure your posts are both engaging and high-ranking, get in touch with our content team today.

We have worked with a huge range of clients, from Expedia to The Daily Mail, and have experience developing content strategies that are rooted in SEO, enabling us to produce copy that really will get your blogs ranking on Google.