Blogs are a superb way of placing content before new audiences. There is also the benefit, for search engine optimisation purposes, that blogging is such a sociable medium. It is natural for bloggers to link to one another and comment on each other's posts, which means that an online reputation can be established, and numerous links might be acquired. All of this is extremely positive from an SEO viewpoint.

Blogging platforms are generally easy to use and provide a quick and simple way to publish content. The most popular choice for bloggers, WordPress, is frequently used to create an entire site. Once the platform is in place, expert knowledge of HTML is not required in order to publish posts, which makes it a perfect solution for those who are mainly interested in creating a constant stream of articles.

The sociable, community-oriented nature of blogs is a major part of their contribution to SEO. However, the way an individual blog is set up and the manner in which its content is organised have a great effect on search engine optimisation, both in general and for vertical search results, where visitors are searching blogs in particular.

It probably goes without saying that a blog should have an RSS feed, and this should be as simple to use as possible, preferably requiring a single click on an appropriate button in order to subscribe. If posts are short, readers might like to view the whole of the text via the feed to save them having to visit the website. That might seem counter-intuitive, but the emphasis is on pleasing readers, and no-one likes to be forced into visiting a site.

As blogging platforms are not always as well optimised for search engines as they might be, it is well worth customising them slightly in order to remedy this. The URL usually needs to be rewritten so that it is of a reasonable length and contains useful keywords. There is also generally a default page title, so this will have to be changed to something that is more meaningful.

Links within blogs should not be neglected. It is a wise move to include links back to previous posts within the current one, and to use suitable keywords for link text rather than the ubiquitous and quite useless 'here'.

Maintaining a blog is a commitment, and new content needs to be published fairly regularly in order to build up a following. Persistence is worthwhile, because a flourishing blog is an excellent way to earn links from other sites, with subsequent positive effects on search ratings. Responding to any comments helps to make connections with others, and is also polite. No-one wishes to be ignored after taking the time to leave a comment, and a reply might encourage a reader to return. Relationships with fellow bloggers will necessarily take time to establish and the best guarantee of obtaining links is to have interesting content.

At SearchEngineOptimization.co.uk we know how to create effective and successful blogs to meet your requirements.