Content
How to get more visitors to your blog
Sep 1st, 2023When you get it right, blogging can be hugely beneficial to your business. Crucially, it can be an effective way of driving relevant organic traffic to your site. It can also raise your brand profile and enhance your authority within your industry, plus it gives you material that you can use to boost engagement on social media.
But what if your blog just isn’t getting the visibility you want? There’s no point in pouring time and resources into this type of communication if it isn’t getting eyeballs to your site. The good news is, there are some simple steps you can take to attract more visitors to your blog and strengthen this area of your digital marketing strategy.
How to increase blog traffic
So, on a practical level, how can you drive more traffic to your blogs? Below we outline some of the key measures that will help you to get your content seen.
Make sure your content is high qualify
It should really go without saying, but especially in light of Google’s E-E-A-T update, it is always worth emphasising the importance of producing high-quality blog content. Gone are the days when bashing out sub-par, keyword-stuffed copy can do you any favours in the SERP battle.
For some time now, Google has been prioritising authoritative content that informs readers and genuinely matches their search intentions. This has been amped up under E-E-A-T, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trust. Although not an official ranking factor, Google uses these key elements to assess the quality of a page. To identify copy that meets these guidelines, the search giant looks at factors such as the quality of the writing itself, the expertise of the author, the credibility of the content and the authority of the website it is featured on.
It pays to always bear these factors in mind when creating content for your blog. In other words, make sure it is well written, accurate, draws on expertise and is useful to readers. The user focused content service we provide at Click is a great example of how blog content can be tailored to meet these criteria.
Write about what people are searching for
It’s often tempting to write about whatever interests you, or simply the latest industry developments or breaking news. But this can be a mistake. This type of content might fail to match the search interests and intent of your target audience, or it may have a short shelf life. To create blogs that have lasting impact and keep driving traffic to your site, it is important to target evergreen topics that readers are interested in. A good way to do this is to focus on common search queries that hold a good level of evergreen search volume. After all, as long as your content ranks in SERPs for relevant searches, you will keep receiving organic search traffic to your site.
You can get a flavour of what people are searching for simply by typing phrases related to your products or services into Google and seeing what the autocomplete suggestions are, and by looking at Google’s related search terms. However, to really drill down into the best terms to focus on, it pays to use SEO tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush and Keyword Planner.
Create headlines that grab attention
Blogs are only as good as their headlines. Even the most interesting and engaging articles can fly under the radar of readers if they are let down by uninspiring headlines. So, think carefully about how you can phrase this line to really grab the attention of your audience.
Steer clear of misleading and sensationalised clickbait-style phrasing that could irritate readers and see you penalised by search algorithms. Instead, focus on creating succinct, punchy headlines that encapsulate the most interesting aspects of your content. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different styles and approaches to see which work best on your audience.
Make use of internal links
Links can help to make or break the visibility of posts too. For example, linking from relevant high-quality existing pages on your site through to your blogs can improve their performance in the SERPs. This involves adding the links to these pages along with suitable anchor text. Although creating connections between pages in this way takes time, it is well worth doing.
Create shareable images and assets
No matter how well it is written, text on its own on a blog page can struggle to get the attention it deserves. To pique people’s interest, it helps to include engaging images and assets. This can be anything from infographics to cartoons, graphs or even simply photos.
The added benefit of including these visuals in your content is that you can make them shareable across social channels. This can help to boost engagement with your content on platforms such as X, Instagram and Pinterest.
Publish fresh content regularly, and refresh existing content
Most marketers understand the importance of creating fresh, new blog content on a regular basis. This is crucial not only as a way of keeping your audience engaged and staying up to date with the latest industry developments, but also as a way of boosting SEO.
What is often ignored however is the importance of revisiting existing blogs to check their performance and make improvements if necessary. If posts aren’t ranking or if their content becomes outdated, you can tweak or rewrite – and then republish. This can be a time efficient and cost effective way of getting more mileage out of your blogs.
Do original research
Journalists and bloggers are always looking for new facts and data to cover in their own work. By going to the effort of doing original research and publishing it in your blogs, you can become a resource for these people. In turn, this can earn you links – potentially from authoritative top-tier publications. This is a great way to increase exposure to your blog and your brand, and to get a welcome lift in the SERPs.
From running surveys, to drawing on your own business data, to creating roundups of industry information, there are various ways to generate your own news as part of your content marketing strategy.
Build a social media following
It’s no secret that a strong social media strategy is crucial for engaging your audience, and this applies to getting your blogs noticed too. As part of this, it is important to identify the platforms your audience are most likely to use, and to create unique sharing messages for these different channels.
Bear in mind that more isn’t necessarily better when it comes to social. Not all brands belong on every platform. By targeting the most suitable channels for your brand, you can spend more time engaging in discussions and integrating yourself into the communities.
Think about speed and accessibility
Even if you follow all the advice above, your blog could fail to get the hits you need if your site is slow or isn’t optimised properly for mobiles. If people have to wait for pages to load, or if the information isn’t displayed well on their preferred devices, they will simply go elsewhere to find what they’re looking for. This means it is vital to check the speed and accessibility of your site, and take action to improve these things if necessary.
The benefits of making your blog posts more visible are clear, and we hope the suggestions here help you to do precisely this. As a leading SEO agency, we are experts in optimising blog content.