Mastering the Art of Blog Writing for SEO: Best Practices and Evolution

Here is what to expect in this article:

1. History and evolution of blogging

2. Intersection blog writing and SEO strategy

3. Key ranking factors for Google

4. Best practices for SEO blog writing

5. Blog writing minimums

6. Blogging frequency guide

7. Conclusions

8. A note on AI generated blogs

A blog post has many components, how do you focus on the right ones?

In the ever-evolving landscape of the internet, blogs have become a fundamental digital strategy tool for businesses, content creators, and individuals looking to establish their online presence. A blog provides websites with the ability to bake keywords into their pages while demonstrating authority in their fields.

As the digital world has grown, so has the importance of search engine optimization (SEO) for blogs. In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore the history of blog writing, its convergence with SEO, the evolution of Google's ranking factors, and the best practices for optimizing your blog posts to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

A Journey Through the History of Blog Writing

Before we dive into the world of SEO, let's take a brief trip down memory lane to explore the history of blog writing.

The Dawn of Blogging

Blogs, short for "weblogs," emerged in the late 1990s as personal online journals. Early bloggers used platforms like Blogger and LiveJournal to share their thoughts, experiences, and stories with a limited audience. These were simple, text-heavy websites with minimal formatting (like most of the internet was back in 1999)

The internet back in 1999 - most bloggers have probably never seen this.

Blogging Goes Mainstream

The early 2000s witnessed the proliferation of blogs across the internet. They became platforms for discussing various topics, including technology, travel, fashion, and more. As the popularity of blogging grew, so did the need for improved visibility in search engines. Search engines use complex algorithms to crawl, index, and rank web content based on relevance and quality, ultimately selecting the most suitable results to display to users. The methods that the search engines use to do this job are numerous and they change all the time, though the core mission of the search engines always stay the same: show the searcher the most valuable content.

(keep this concept of "value" in your mind as this is the most important thing when it comes to blogging - creating valuable content for your audience)

The Intersection of Blog Posts and SEO

The convergence of blog posts and SEO took place in the mid-2000s when marketers recognized the potential of optimizing content for search engines to increase organic traffic. This marked the beginning of a new era for bloggers, where writing engaging content alone was no longer sufficient. In the beginning, this simply meant posting A LOT! Companies flooded the internet with text about their products and services and for a while this was a sufficient "hack" to get a lot of traffic. Of course, today the search algorithms are not so primitive and this tactic is no longer relevant.

The Birth of SEO for Blogs

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) became a crucial aspect of blogging as bloggers realized that they could reach a broader audience by optimizing their content for search engines. This era saw the emergence of practices like keyword optimization, meta tags, and link building. If you are not familiar with those concepts, click the links on any of those topics and read a little more about them - they are a fundamental part of blogging for SEO.

The Panda and Penguin Updates

In 2011, Google introduced the Panda and Penguin updates, which aimed to improve the quality of search results by penalizing low-quality content and manipulative link-building practices. This forced bloggers to focus on producing high-quality, valuable content.

This is arguably the most important pivot in the short history of SEO and was the foundation for most of the updates we have seen in years since 2011. Ultimately since 2011 the algorithm developers have been focused on refining the search engine's ability to identify value for the searcher. Every year we get at least one big update to the algorithm, to start learning more about the 2023 update, click here.

In recent years there has been a big focus on what Google calls E-A-T. Here is quick excerpt from the Search Engine Journal about what E-A-T is:

E-A-T is one of many guidelines Google uses to determine whether the content is valuable to readers and whether it should rank well. The first mention of E-A-T occurred in 2014 when Google added the concept to their Search Quality Guidelines. Google search quality evaluators were instructed to pay attention to: The expertise of the creator of the content. The authoritativeness of the creator of the content, the content itself, and the website. The trustworthiness of the creator of the content, the content itself, and the website. Search Engine Journal - What Exactly is EAT

I advise you not to get too caught up in the specifics of core updates... To be honest, I see it as mostly hype - hype that keeps the SEO business ever relevant... But I digress. Having your thumb on the general principles of the algorithm will help you make informed choices, but getting consumed by the technical aspects of these algorithms will probably confuse you or just distract you from writing content.

The Mobile Revolution

With the rise of mobile devices, Google shifted its algorithm's focus towards mobile-friendliness. Blogs that weren't optimized for mobile suffered in search rankings. Responsive design became a must-have feature for bloggers. Luckily most blogging platforms like that on Wix etc. are automatically optimised for Mobile - so most bloggers do not have to think about this too much.

The first mobile phone with an internet connection - the Nokia 9000

Key Takeaways From The Evolution of Google's Ranking Factors

Understanding the evolution of Google's ranking factors is crucial for creating SEO-friendly blog posts, but understanding the details is not necessary, here are the main areas that Google considers important (inn no particular order):

Content Quality

In the early days of blogging, content quality was often overlooked. However, Google's algorithms became smarter, and content quality became a significant ranking factor. Today, well-researched, comprehensive, and authoritative content tends to rank higher.

User Experience

User experience (UX) is a critical factor in SEO. Google considers factors like page load speed, mobile-friendliness, and a clutter-free layout when ranking pages. Ensuring a positive user experience is essential for blog success.

Backlinks

Backlinks, or inbound links from other reputable websites, remain a crucial ranking factor. However, Google's algorithms have become more sophisticated in evaluating the quality and relevance of these links. Building natural, high-quality backlinks is vital.

Keyword Optimization

Keyword optimization has evolved from keyword stuffing to a more natural integration of keywords. Long-tail keywords and semantic search have become significant trends. Strive for relevance and user intent when using keywords in your blog posts.

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Best Practices for Writing SEO-Friendly Blog Posts

Now that we've covered the historical context and evolution of SEO for blogs, let's delve into the best practices to help you write SEO-friendly blog posts in the modern era.

1. Keyword Research and Optimization

- Keyword Research

Start by conducting thorough keyword research to identify relevant keywords and phrases that your target audience is searching for. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to discover high-traffic, low-competition keywords.

- Natural Integration

Once you have your keywords, integrate them naturally into your content. Avoid keyword stuffing, which can harm your rankings. Focus on providing value and relevance to readers.

2. Quality Content

- Comprehensive and In-Depth

Create comprehensive and in-depth content that thoroughly addresses the topic. High-quality, informative content is more likely to attract backlinks and rank well.

- Engaging Writing

Write engaging, well-structured content that keeps readers on your page. Use headings, bullet points, and images to break up text and enhance readability.

3. Meta Tags and Descriptions

- Title Tags

Craft compelling title tags that accurately represent your content and include your target keyword. Keep them concise (around 60 characters) and attention-grabbing.

- Meta Descriptions

Write informative meta descriptions that encourage users to click on your link. Include your keyword naturally while describing the content's value.

4. Mobile Optimization

- Responsive Design

Ensure your blog is responsive and mobile-friendly. Google prioritizes mobile-optimized websites in its rankings.

5. Page Speed

- Fast Loading Times

Optimize your blog's loading times. Users expect pages to load quickly, and Google rewards fast-loading sites with higher rankings.

6. Internal and External Links

- Internal Links

Use internal links to connect related content within your blog. This helps users navigate your site and boosts SEO.

- High-Quality External Links

Include relevant external links to authoritative sources. This can enhance your content's credibility.

7. Visual Content

- High-Quality Images

Incorporate high-quality images, infographics, and videos into your blog posts when relevant. Visual content enhances engagement and can earn backlinks.

8. Social Sharing

- Social Media Integration

Make it easy for readers to share your content on social media. Social signals can indirectly impact your rankings.

9. Long-Form Content

- Comprehensive Guides

Consider creating long-form content, such as ultimate guides or tutorials. Google often rewards well-researched, lengthy content with higher rankings.

10. Regular Updates

- Fresh Content

Update your blog regularly with fresh content. Google tends to favor active websites that provide up-to-date information.

Are you ready to write your blog?

The Blog Writing Minimums: Keywords, Word Count, Images, and Post Length

As a blogger, you might wonder about the minimum requirements for keywords, word count, images, and post length. While there are no strict rules, some general guidelines can help.

Minimum Keywords per Post

There is no fixed minimum number of keywords you must feature in a blog post. Instead, focus on using keywords naturally and ensuring they align with the content's topic and user intent. Aim for a primary keyword and a few related keywords.

Minimum Word Count per Post

While blog posts can vary widely in length, a general recommendation is to aim for a minimum of 1,500 to 2,000 words for informative, comprehensive content. However, shorter posts can be effective for certain topics or niches, as long as they provide value.

Minimum Images per Post

Incorporating images is essential for enhancing the visual appeal and engagement of your blog posts. Aim for at least one high-quality image per 500 words of content, but use images when they genuinely enhance the user experience or illustrate key points.

Minimum Post Length

There's no one-size-fits-all answer to the minimum length of a blog post. Focus on delivering valuable content that fully addresses the topic. If you can do that concisely in 800 words, that's perfectly acceptable. However, longer, in-depth posts often perform better in search results.

How often should you blog (blogging frequency)

Blog traffic spikes when a company reaches 11 blog posts per month, compared to less frequent blogging. - Hubspot study on b2b blogging frequency

This is a very common question for a lot of new bloggers, how often should I blog to see an increase in my traffic, or how often do I need to blog for it to have an effect on my SEO.

I want to stress here that there is no right answer to these questions and that before you focus on frequency of posting you should be focusing on the minimums that I wrote about above. If you post 100 "bad quality" blogs every week it will actually have a negative impact on your traffic and your SEO. The Google Algorithm is very complex; it not only looks at the quality of the content on a site but also how much interest that content garners from the website audience. If your content gets no attention from your audience, Google will start to see you whole site as potentially " not valuable". So again, I really stress the idea: QUALITY OVER QUANTITY.

Now, let's assume every blog post you write is a quality post - how often should you blog. According to a few studies that I have read there is a significant benefit in posting regularly with average optimum frequency being 1 blog post per week. That said, the peak advantage went to sites that posted between 10 - 12 blogs per week. After that, the benefit of regular posting plateaus dramatically and so most experts recommend scheduling blog posts in excess of 11 posts for the following week.

It has to be said that there seems to be a bigger benefit in being consistent over a long period of time rather than posting a high number of posts every week for a relatively short period of time. In other words, posting three times a week for 4 months and then stopping will not be as effective as posting 1 blog post per week for 1 year. Have a look at this post about Blogging Frequency to learn more on the topic.

I would rank the importance of these blogging factors like this:

1. Quality

2. Consistency

3. Frequency

The ultimate goal for a blog writer or website with a blog should be to post quality content consistently at a sustainable frequency over a long period of time.

Conclusion

In the dynamic world of blogging and SEO, staying up to date with best practices is essential. Understanding the history of blog writing, its evolution alongside SEO, and Google's ever-changing ranking factors can help you create blog posts that not only rank well but also provide value to your audience. By implementing the best practices outlined in this guide and adapting to future developments, you'll be well-equipped to excel in the competitive world of online content creation. Of course this guide is not an exhaustive list and there are other things like document structure or using quotes etc. that we have not covered - but I have purposefully left those out because no matter how your post is structured it should conform the best practices I have outlined within this post.

A note on AI generated blog post writing

You may have noticed that I did not touch on using AI to generate blog posts... This is because whether or not you use AI to generate your blog posts the fundamentals of effective blog post writing will stay the same. I discourage people from using AI because more often than not it makes the writer lazy. Any good writer knows the power of self editing and revisions - most people who use AI to generate blog posts don't even edit them (or even read them). If you are going to use AI to generate your blog posts, make you sure that you edit them and ensure that they include the "minimums" that I wrote about above. So long as your blog meets those minimum requirements, it doesn't really matter whether AI did the brunt of the work or not.

My final thought on Blog Writing for SEO

If you take one thing away from this blog post let it be this: Quality blogs provide value to your audience and Google is always looking to provide value to searchers.

Colour and Web Design and where the two meet

My passion for design and the way it speaks to our emotional selves is huge part of what informs my work. Design is made of many constituent parts, but one of the most impactful and immediately obvious is colour.

Colour is an instinctive stimulus that excites the most innate and ancient parts of our psyche and subconscious

Colour plays a crucial role in web design as it can impact the user's perception of a website, affect their emotions, and influence their behavior. A well-chosen color palette can help a business to create a brand identity, evoke certain feelings and emotions, and convey important messages.

Think about brands that want you to BUY NOW - they are all red... Coca-Cola, KFC, Mcdonalds - they use RED to stimulate that part of your brain that says "ACT NOW HUMAN! The fruit is ripe, the emotions are high, the energy is present". In contrast brands that use the colour blue want you to feel relaxed, like an ancient human might have felt while lying on their backs staring into the sky on a warm and peaceful day. Brands that use the colour green wants to convey a sense of wealth and abundance and so they choose a colour that is associated with the end of winter and the arrival of new life and fruitful gains. This is why fast food brands use red, financial advisors and investment funds often use green and banks and insurance companies love to the colour blue.

The psychological impacts of colours on the human mind are a well documented phenomenon and the use of colour in brand design is often informed by these theories.

When it comes to choosing the right color palette for a website, there are a few things that business owners should consider:

1. Brand Identity: The color palette should align with the brand identity of the business. If the business has a logo, the colors used in the logo should be incorporated into the website's color scheme. This will help to create a cohesive and recognizable brand identity.

2. Target Audience: The color palette should be chosen with the target audience in mind. Different colors can evoke different emotions and have different cultural meanings. For example, if the business is targeting a younger audience, brighter and more vibrant colors may be more effective, whereas a more subdued palette may be more appropriate for a more mature audience.

3. Contrast: The color palette should have good contrast to ensure that text is legible and the website is easy to navigate. Colors that are too similar can be difficult to distinguish, leading to a poor user experience.

4. Accessibility: It's important to choose colors that are accessible for all users, including those with color blindness or other visual impairments. This can be achieved by using color contrast tools or by using colors that are widely recognized as being accessible.

5. Trends: While it's important to stay up to date with current design trends, it's also important to choose a color palette that will stand the test of time. A website that is too trendy may quickly become outdated and need to be updated, which can be costly and time-consuming.

These days colours and colour palettes go through waves of changes as trends evolve and develop. From around 2014 to 2019 Gradients were all the rage online. All the hippest brands used colour gradients in their branding and on their websites. From 2020 to now we are seeing a influx of new generation using very vibrant, yet flat bold colours with a high contrast.

From 2014 to 2019 gradient designs were 'in". This trend corresponded with the development of updates to the CSS programming language which made these colours possible on websites using code.

Since 2019 we have seen an increasing number of sites using this kind "flat and bold" approach to colour palettes.

In summary, choosing the right color palette for a website involves considering the brand identity, target audience, contrast, accessibility, and trends. By carefully selecting a color palette that aligns with these factors, a business owner can create a website that is both visually appealing and effective at conveying their message to their target audience.

At Marshall Arts we are passionate about the use of colour (or the lack thereof!) in our work. As content marketers we are deeply rooted in our passion for design. I hope that this short article gave you some insights into the way that colour influences your customers impression of your brand and how choosing the right colors for your brand can affect the success of your website. Of course, this is a huge subject and we have only skimmed the surface of the conversation. Is there some element of colour that you'd like us to write about in future or perhaps is there a question that's on your mind now that you know what you know. Let us know your thoughts, questions and comments below and as always, if you enjoyed this post, why not subscribe to our site so that you can get first notice when we publish new insights and articles.

7 internet trends we noticed in 2021 (a 2022 retrospective)

The internet changed a lot in 2021. Here is what we learned as digital agency...

Two thousand and twenty one was a crazy year. We saw the rise of new and wonderful innovations on the web alongside a myriad of concerning and downright crazy trends. From online advertising to e-commerce, web3, NFTs, the metaverse and more - everything changed in 2021.

Instagram and Facebook are dead

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of what was once Facebook, even admits this fact himself. The days of social media in a traditional Web2 sense are over. In 2021 the Facebook founder launched the new direction for his monolithic enterprise and at the heart of it, is the abandonment of the internet we have all become so comfortable with.

The future of online interactions, according to Zuckerberg and the likes, lies in the metaverse; a virtual reality world where people can truly feel as though they are present online through their avatars.

Of course, such a shift away from Facebook is still years in the making, however already in 2021 we are seeing trends that spell the beginning of the end for this online tech giant.

Research shows that Facebook advertising has become less effective, not only because of the fact that Apple has waged war on the Facebook business model, but also because people are starting to trend towards more niche platforms. Gamers have their own social media - Twitch - and the younger generation views Facebook as "an old person's platform".

With social media companies like Tik-Tok and Clubhouse leading the way in new forms of social media, the web is about to take a new form and that form is no longer in the image of old Zuckerberg.

Relevance is King

Given the downward trend of generalised social platforms and the upward rise of niche online experiences, it is vital that any content put out onto the web has an exact relevance to the audience. Understanding relevance and audience has historically been much easier, but with all the data and user information we now have it gives large corporations an upper hand in understanding their audiences and developing content that meets their exact specific needs on the platform they are active on. Knowing your audience and understanding what content they need has never been more important and the proof of this is in the major core updates to the Google Search algorithm.

Websites are getting cheaper

Every year we see the development of new tools to help businesses get a website up and running fast. As a rapid development agency we are acutely aware of the plethora of tools available to create a viable website for any client - no matter the size of the project. Using tools like Wix, Wordpress, Shopify, Webflow, Weebly, Google and more it is a mere few clicks away to get your business online.

If you are needing expert advice or want an agency to build your site, get in touch today!

Canva is as good as photoshop (sometimes better)

Before you go mad in the comments, bare with me... In 2021, Adobe's flagship creation tool Photoshop acquired the internet company Canva. Canva allows users to create stunning graphics with just a few clicks and thousands of stunning templates to help fast-track the design process of just about any piece of content - be it for print, presentation, web or socials.

Photoshop will be a more powerful program and experts in photoshop will always have more design freedom that an expert in Canva, however for the average marketer, layman or designer Canva is an incredible tool.

As online tools like Canva become more mainstream it creates an imbalance in the eco system of designers with years of experience in programs like photoshop. Just like when Garage Band made it easy for the average joe to make an album in his bedroom, so too will Canva make it easy for the average Joe to consider themselves a designer. All of this has a profound impact in the industry rates for design... Only time will tell what the long term impact of Canva will be on the world of graphic design.

People are sick of MS Teams and Zoom

It's probably worth mentioning here that we are also sick of Google Meets, Slack, Monday.com and any other tool used for online collaboration and video conferencing. But, just because we are sick of it doesn't mean we won't still use it. According to most authorities video conferencing as a tool for remote work and meetings is here to stay. 2022 may see the return of workers to their office cubicles, but even in an office cubicle it is likely that at least one stakeholder in a meeting will dial in via Zoom and in all likely hood the entire meeting will take place there.

Metaverse

We briefly touched on this subject above, but it is worth mentioning here because in someways it is the answer to the above problem but in other ways it only makes it worse. If you are tired of 2d video conferences, what makes 3d virtual reality conferences any better? In our opinion and the opinions of many early adopters, the virtual reality world is still a headache - literally. If you thought screen time in front of your laptop was hard on your eyes, you're gonna hate a VR headset. Screen time aside, the biggest issue with VR is that too much time in the virtual world can cause severe nausea, headaches and other dissociative symptoms... Of course, the metaverse is not all bad - far from it. The metaverse will usher in the new era of the internet and lay the foundations for the billionaires of the next generation. We have already seen a steady increase in the number of metaverse related investments and businesses and 2022 will undoubtably continue that trend.

NFTs Web3 and Crypto

If you haven't heard of any of the above yet, don't worry. Although these are not new concepts, 2021 really brought them to the public attention. As 2022 continues we will see a heavy increase in the adoption of crypto and NFT based architecture.

An NFT (Non Fungible Token) is a digital asset that is making a huge impact on the art world. People are buying and selling NFT's at record high prices and the more people are spending, the more the world will pay attention. The future of NFT's will likely be more about assets that are usable in the metaverse or online games or even tradable assets that could be used as a means of exchange on Web3 applications and websites.

Web3 is the next buzz word you are likely to come across a lot over the coming months. Web3 is the next stage of the internet. Web3 application and sites will interact directly with Crypto wallets that store digital assets like cryptocurrency or NFTs.

Crypto, being at the centre of the next digital revolution will also make some pronounced developments over the next year as many countries race to legislate, legalise, criminalise, tax or other wise get involved with digital currency. Blockchain technology will pave the way for a new era of trading and purchasing online and the show has only just begun.

It has been just over a decade since the first BitCoin was mined and inn the coming years, we will see what the impact of decentralised finance really is. On top of the decentralised and community owned crypto currencies, 2022 will also see the real dominance of state backed crypto currencies called Stable Coins. Stable coins are backed by a physical currency and so their value is not tied to the runaway speculation that causes the BitCoin price to skyrocket and Fall (hence the name "Stable" coins).

Conclusion

2021 changed the web and the world that interacts with it. 2022 is bound to have new highs and lows. The world online is evolving and there is a heap of opportunity waiting those who have the mind to seize it.

What do you think the biggest trends in 2022 will be? We'd love to read your thoughts in the comments.