Blogging your way to discoverability (SEO)

For Mobilizing Generation 2.0, I wrote a passage about the search engine advantages related to blogging. My editor smartly cut it out, but I think there was a ton of good information there that still may be useful. So below, you'll find the original (un-edited) passage.

In the movie, Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner stands in the middle of a cornfield dreaming about building a baseball diamond. A spectral presence whispers to him “If you build it, they will come.” Costner’s character goes on to construct the field of his dreams and it proceeds to attract thousands of players and fans from around the world. This phrase has become both mantra and mockery across the spectrum of occupations. Applying the principle to web software has led to rare successes but primarily to overbuilt and underused applications. In the case of blogging, it can be said with some certitude that ‘if you build it, there’s a much better chance that they will come.’

 

A blog rich with content and well connected to the blogosphere stands a very good chance of attracting new supporters. Typically, organizations will recruit supporters by going out to the places where they congregate. A blog reverses the model by seeding the Internet with sign posts that point back to it. This process hinges on reciprocal linking agreements with other bloggers and on a concept called “discoverability.” In this section I’ll discuss discoverability, leaving blogger relations for the upcoming section on the blogosphere.

 

Discoverability refers to the quality of being discoverable. In Internet terms, this self-reflexive definition translates into a high-ranking position on a search results page. Most people navigate the web by typing keywords into a search engine such as Google. Although a typical search generates many pages of listings, most people never go beyond the first page. In fact, most people don’t even read all of the results on the first page. One study has shown that the 1^st result is fourteen times more likely to be clicked than the 10^th.[1] A top ranking can make the difference between obscurity and thousands of daily visitors.

 

Although Google is the most well known search engine, many others exist. In the world of blogging, Technorati is king. Search engine providers like Google and Technorati protect their search algorithms with an Area-54 like secrecy. Except for a few insiders, no one is exactly sure how to obtain one of the top listings. Dozens of speculative books have been written on the subject and an industry of search engine optimization consultants attempt to help organizations navigate their way to a top listing. Each specialist offers a combination of science and black-art, but most agree that the following factors are critical to a high ranking:

1) Keyword density

2) Keywords in page titles

3) Inbound links

 

If your organization operates a blog, you’ll address all three factors without making any special effort. Keyword density refers to the number of times a short phrase or word appears in the text of a web page. For example, if your blog focuses on homeless shelters, it’s likely that the phrase “homeless shelter” will appear frequently. You’ll use the term in your posts as will the people who leave comments. The term may appear dozens of times on any given blog page. These pages will exhibit a high keyword density for the phrase “homes shelter.” When a searcher types this phrase into the search engine, your pages will score highly on the keyword density factor.[2]

 

You can further improve rankings by putting strategic thought into the keywords that are most relevant to your organization. By developing a list of about 50 keywords and using them frequently in blog posts, you can focus your search engine rankings around the topics that attract your target audience. Keywords in a web page’s title carry the most weight with search engines. By design, blogging software automatically converts the blog post title to the web page title. Sprinkle keywords into your blog posts titles and you’ll be well on your way to higher rankings.

 

[box: Since the debut of search engines, people have tried to “game” the system – or improve rankings by fooling the algorithm. Many gamers created pages that consisted of a single keyword repeated thousands of times. Search engine providers grew savvy to this ploy and have developed sophisticated methods to prevent bogus results. Pages that have a high, but natural distribution of keywords seem to achieve best results.]

 

In addition to analyzing keywords, search engines count the number of links to a page as an indicator of its relevance. Google describes their algorithm thusly:

 

“[It] relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B.”[3]

 

By operating a blog, you create many additional opportunities for inbound links. If you write pithy, original, interesting, or controversial posts, it’s likely that other bloggers will link to them. You can grow the number of inbound links by actively pursuing relationships with other bloggers. See the section on ‘Managing the Blogosphere.’

 

The three factors discussed in this section are not comprehensive. Search engine optimization has many facets and can consume days of research, implementation, and analysis. Without doing any of this work, blogging will improve your search engine rankings. You’ll achieve even better results if you put a small amount of effort into optimization, such as using strategic keywords.

 

You can improve your discoverability even further by pursuing blog-specific optimizations. Most blogging software will give you various options to accomplish this objective. For example, when you post an article, your blogging software will inform search engines such as Technorati that you’ve published new content. In blogger terms, your blog has pinged Technorati. Informed of your recent post, Technorati will load your post into its database so that it can be found the next time their search algorithm decides that it’s a match for a search term.[4]

 

Some search engines ask for help in categorizing posts. They allow you to tag your post. A tag is a word or short phrase that describes a unit of content. If I were to tag this section of the book, I might use “blogging, young people, recruitment, discoverability.” If a searcher typed any of these phrases, this piece of content would have a better chance of a high ranking.

 

Finally, you can improve discoverability by ensuring that your blog is available as a feed. In addition to making your blog accessible to people with feed readers (after they’ve discovered it), feeds convert your blog content into a format that is preferred by search engines. They’ll do a better job of categorizing your writing.

 

By improving your search engine rankings, you’ll begin to attract people who have already expressed an interest in your organization’s issue areas (this fact has driven the extraordinary growth of search engine advertising). Instead of casting a wide net to people who may or may not be interested in your issues, blogging entices your target audience to come to you. For young people who are skeptical of pitches, marketing, and hard-sells, discovering your blog of their own accord pre-disposes them to engage with your organization.

 

[box: tips for getting discovered]

• optimize      for search engines
• ping      blog aggregators
• tag      your posts
• use      feeds

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[1] http://www.jimboykin.com/click-rate-for-top-10-search-results/

[2] Good reference on keyword density: http://aarronwalter.com/2007/01/16/search-engine-optimization-part-1-creating-keyword-density/

[3] http://www.google.com/technology/

[4] Tips for pinging: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/internet/page5509.cfm?cg=searchterms&sg=blogosphere

Comments

[Chris Baggott]

Great Post,

If you are a company, there are only two reasons to blog that are measurable. The first is SEO and the second is conversion.

We encourage our clients to create blogs for as many employees as possible..basically if you get a business card you get access to blog. Now not everyone does this well, but by opening up you generate a ton more relevant content that will dramatically increase your organic search reach.

Conversion also go up when you do this. Searchers like human beings and they trust employees more than they trust C-level 'thought leaders"

Here is a clip from a Dallas Morning News article the other day:

"It's clear that when it comes to traditional authority figures – whether they're chief executives or heads of state – people trust them less," says Mr. Edelman. "Employees are the new credible source of information. We have data that shows an employee blog is five times more credible than a CEO blog – and I say this as a CEO blogger."

Pretty strong statement. To see the whole post, http://blogging.compendiumblog.com/blog/blogs-in-business/0/0/people-dont-trust-ceos-they-trust-employees

Best,

Chris Baggott
CEO
Compendium Blogware
www.compendiumblogware.com

[henrry134]

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