Do blogs actually help with SEO? Here at Dental Design we certainly think so. If you do it right.
Content marketing is a big buzz word in the marketing world right now and blogging is one of the best ways to do it. How else are you going to provide patients with a steady stream of content without scaring them away?
It has been found that companies with blogs typically receive 97% more enquiries than companies without blogs. Patients might ignore your ad, but your blog? That’s something they want to read. Blogging creates a human side to your website and dental practice.
Quality, quality, quality
We know that search engine bots are looking for sites with authority and trust.
They want to know that your site knows what it’s talking about and that others in the dental industry agree. This can be a collection of other sites, businesses, social media influencers, and the like. So, if they’re sharing your content, the search engines will take notice.
When writing your blog, use normal language. If your blog doesn’t make sense, is written as if its target audience is for a five year old or equally is so complicated that it needs a professor to understand it, Google will know. And so will your site visitors.
Google bots will also know if your site has duplicate, repetitive, or mass-produced content. When it comes to content, quality is far better than quantity.
Keep it fresh… and keep it coming
Google loves fresh content.
Google scores ‘the freshness factor’ of a web page from the date it was first discovered by the bots or the date it was last updated substantially enough to warrant notice.
Content needs to be fresh – not wilted, stale, outdated content that’s been on your site since 1999. To solve this dilemma, you can repurpose existing content by putting a new spin on it. Or you can create completely new content via your blog. A new blog = a new page on your site.
A blog is an excellent platform for all manner of content – articles, infographics, podcasts, videos, news updates, how-to-guides, white papers, case studies, memes – anything that keeps you in front of the faces of current and potential patients.
Linking – a fine line
Every good blogger knows that a site with multiple, quality links is going to gain kudos with the web crawlers.
However, due to link schemes (a practice where links are used to manipulate search engine rankings) links coming into your site (backlinks) are scrutinized by the search engine bots.
Where are your links coming from? Are they coming from trusted sites?
You can build quality links by guest posting on sites with a high authority (or high trust) rating. Just make sure they’re in the dental industry and you’re writing is on topic.
Commit to the long haul
Blogging won’t necessarily get you to the top of Google overnight. It’s a long-term strategy to build trust, value, and momentum.
While not every blog post may be sensational, every post does need to provide value to the reader. Ultimately, that’s what you’re after. Because more engagement and more shares lead to higher rankings, more visibility, and more customers.
If you would like more information about search engine optimisation and blogging, speak to a member of our team on 01202 677 277 who will be happy to help you.
Thanks to search engine watch for the inspiration for this post