By now the advantages of blogging are undoubtedly well-established. Statistics show that:

  • Businesses that blog get 67 % more leads than businesses that do not
  • Marketers that prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to get a positive ROI compared to marketers that don’t
  • Companies that blog get 97 % more links compared to companies that do not blog
  • Websites with a blog are likely to have 434 % more indexed pages.

However, if you don’t have an SEO strategy for your blog, you are most certainly missing out. Research shows that SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate[1], compared to a 1.7% close rate through outbound means.

In other words, it is not enough to blog. You need to make sure your blog ranks in the search engines. The following basic tips will help you optimize your blog for search engines:

  1. Employ the use of breadcrumbs

Take a look at the screenshot below — from an article on the Writers in Charge website:[2]

You’ll notice the section underlined in red? That’s breadcrumbs.

You can also see this implemented on all Search Engine Watch articles, including this one you are reading.

Using breadcrumbs has two main advantages:

  • It helps Google and other search engines understand the structure of your blog. Using clickable paths, it makes it easy for search engines to see how your blog is structured. It also helps your blog’s internal linking — making it almost impossible for content on your blog to be undiscoverable by search engines.
  • It improves the user experience of your blog. It makes it easy to

Read more from our friends at Search Engine Watch