Tips for SEO blogging and the importance of incorporating a mobile-friendly SEO strategy: 'Evergreen marketing insighter' ▲▲▲ by Gloria Buono-Daly

All too often blogging for search engine optimization (also known as SEO) gets put to the bottom of the marketer’s priority list because it can be very tedious and difficult to measure results.


A little less than a year ago (September 25, 2012) I posted this article and wanted to post an updated version a bit earlier for the sake of planning (September is crucial and when not only budgets but SEO planning and development for the following year are due). Updates from last year have been incorporated in the respective section below. Many revisions mostly pertain to the latest in mobile strategy.

Photo right, Blog Button with Definition of Blog



Photo credits: photographed by Stuart Miles, courtesy FreeDigitalPhotos







Don’t let SEO slip away again come this January 2014. September/October is an excellent time to not only finalize on your budgets and campaign programs for the upcoming 1 - 2 years but to also fine-tune your SEO programs and synchronize them to your future projects and campaigns including mobile strategy.

Very important to note that SEO strategies for mobile are not the same as pc (laptop + desktop).

Especially with “Googlebot-Mobile,” an algorithm produced by Google in February 2012, which was designed to provide smartphone users with a geo-targeted user search by interfacing with a mobile’s GPS.

Many marketing professionals are unaware of the latest strategies for SEO mobile concepts. For example, did you know that RWD (responsive web design) is the best way to for creating web content and SEO? The user experience (UX) across all different platforms (e.g., desktop, mobile, tablet, etc.) are improved simultaneously because the RWD designed website eliminates the need to have a separate site optimized for mobile versions. All web content and display versions -- desktop, tablet, mobile, etc.,-- are creatively aligned consistently with the respective website. Conveniently, you only revise the content once and don't have to create separate sites for the other devices. The main concern with RWD is the length of time and expense to rebuild a main site; RWD is faster and less expensive when building a new web site from scratch. More information about the pros and cons of RWD is at The Moz Blog titled "The SEO's Guide to Building a Great Mobile Site" by Kristina Kledzik.

Marketers still confuse "blogging for SEO" with traditional blogging; However it is entirely different.

An important factor for a Web site’s success is generating organic Web traffic (search results), and blogging for SEO is a great social media program to incorporate into your company’s integrated marketing program.

Search engines (e.g., Google, Yahoo, etc.) will pull up a site more frequently when links and content are added or updated frequently.

This holds especially true for blogs. Keeping in mind the importance of incorporating a mobile-friendly strategy, which will require the use of different algorithm, keyword, and search behavior for mobile (besides pc) and the use of responsive web design, below are helpful tips to get your blogs to the optimal, SEO level (pc and mobile):

• Be interesting, relevant and concise. Storytelling comes in all sizes, shapes and fashions. Forget the “fancy-schmancy” words to prove your Columbia School of Journalism credentials. While longer blogs are acceptable, writing a shorter blog (from 150 to 300 words) almost always guarantees your blog will be entirely read.

• For blogs that are on direct Web site (i.e., not on Google Blogger or WordPress) make sure the content links to external Web sites as well as the blogger’s URL. Link building is crucial for an effective blog post since search engines are more likely to index a site loaded with links to external sites than to a site with multiple links directed to one Web site.

• Be mindful that if a blog is on WordPress or Google Blogger, multiple, relevant links should be included on the respective Web URL.

• Remember that rules are made to be broken. If there is something interesting to write about but it’s not exactly relevant to your/or your client’s blog, go ahead and blog. Although many experts would say to target a respective industry only, it is actually effective to digress once in a while with interesting content. It’s more important to keep on blogging than to not write from writer’s block.

• For more information regarding mobile-friendly SEO, visit Sonny Sharp's "SEO mobilized: How strategies differ on mobile and desktop search."

• According to an seomoz blog post, “21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic,” by randfish “It's easy to build a blog, but hard to build a successful blog with significant traffic.” This applies for both traditional and blogging for SEO.

• Here is a great "SEO Cheat Sheet: Anatomy of a URL" you may find handy

Does your marketing program include blogging for SEO and do you incorporate a mobile-friendly strategy?

Do you have any questions or any SEO blogging tip to share?

Here’s a quote to help put blogging into perspective:

“A blog is only as interesting as the interest shown in others.”
~~ Lee Odden, Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing."

Tips for SEO blogging and the importance of incorporating a mobile-friendly SEO strategy is part of the evergreen marketing insighter ▲▲▲ series by Gloria Buono-Daly

This article has been slightly updated from the earlier post on the AllThingsDigitalMarketing.com blog on September 25, 2012 and Examiner.com on September 17, 2012 titled "Helpful tips for blogging for search engine optimization”