Blog Posting and SEO: Your Questions, Answered

By Gretchen Halpin posted 06-25-2021 10:44

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According to Google Statistics, there are about four billion unique users who use the Google search engine.

Of course, you probably already knew that — we all use Google to find answers to just about any question we can think of, whether it’s work- or life-related. And believe it or not, Google has a significant impact on the success of your business. Why? If you want to gain more traffic and attract more visitors to your financial advisory firm’s website, then you need to rank high on Google.

Blog posting is one of the best and easiest ways to improve your Google search rankings. It’s fair to say that all successful websites have blog pages that not only provide them with higher search engine rankings, but also increase their credibility in the eyes of leads and prospects.
Blog posts, SEO, search rankings…it can all feel a little overwhelming. Below, we answer some of the most basic, frequently asked questions you may have about this area of digital marketing.

Do blog posts help with SEO?

The simple answer is yes, they do — but you have to keep in mind that simply writing a blog and publishing it to your website isn’t necessarily a ranking factor without a smart strategy. While consistent blog posting is undoubtedly good for SEO, it’s important to incorporate strong keywords into your posts that prospects and leads will search for, or for which your firm will rank for in Google; this will vary depending on your firm’s specializations, expertise, and geographic location, among other factors.
Once you’ve published your blog posts, regularly update them with relevant and high-quality content — for instance, new regulatory changes, data, or statistics — as this can increase your website’s performance substantially in search engines.

Do I need to make regular website updates, or is my site fine as is?

Even if you have a modern, visually appealing, and SEO-optimized website, it’s still important for your site to evolve in response to trends and your leads’ and prospects’ preferences and needs. The general trend is that people lose interest and trust in the content if a website is outdated. They immediately perceive that either the content on an outdated website has completely changed or debunked, or the company has gone out of business.
Additionally, search engines don’t provide outdated information to users —fresh and reliable content provides search engines’ algorithms with more reasons to index your website favorably. When it comes to keeping your website updated (aside from the usual changes, such as the addition of new team members or service lines), your blog is a great place to start — so long as you maintain a consistent posting schedule and create strong, relevant, and keyword-optimized content.

I don’t have time to write content consistently. Am I really missing out by not blogging?

Blog posting allows you to target the most valuable and relevant keywords to better rank your business’s website. The top priority of search engines is to provide people with the information they need. If a person searches for something specific, opens up the very first search result, and then closes it immediately after finding it unhelpful, the search engine will register that the first page wasn’t helpful. Search engines, especially Google, consider the time that a user spends on a website a ranking factor. Blog posts with high-quality, reliable content keep leads and prospects on your website for longer to improve your overall search engine ranking, while simultaneously increasing the chances of them taking action to contact you for more information. And if you’re still having trouble finding time to write, check out this blog post to learn efficient, time-saving tips for creating content.

People have such short attention spans these days. What are the chances of them reading my blog posts, anyway?

Blogging isn’t just a strategy for improving your search engine ranking; you can also use internal linking to improve your website SEO. Internal links that redirect leads and prospects to other blog posts or service pages on your website increase the opportunities for conversion. Keep in mind that you’ll need to use the “anchor text”— the words that are hyperlinked in your post to lead to another document or location on the website — strategically to strengthen the connection with the most relevant and valuable content.

What other ways can my targeted audience interact with my blog content?

When your prospects and leads read something informative in your blog posts, it’s more likely that they will share it with others. This “word-of-mouth” sharing drives more traffic to your website and boosts your chances for receiving more referrals from new prospects and leads, as well as existing clients who share your blog posts. Eventually, your prospects, leads, and clients will get more familiar with your site and will think of you first when it comes to finding information, knowledge, and expertise about a financial need — allowing you create an authentic, loyal following.

Once you’ve cultivated a strong library of content and a unique brand voice, opportunities abound to share your expertise with the larger digital community — including syndication opportunities with reputable financial publications and guest blogging appearances on sites you and your audience admire. All of this activity increases your SEO authority and ranking in search engines like Google.

What are your biggest challenges related to tackling a robust blogging strategy?

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