Owen Cutajar has multiple blogs including Ugh!!’s Greymatter Honeypot where he writes about all things technology related. This is his view of SEO in being a successful blogger. Click here to follow Owen on Twitter.
Yesterday I was party to an email conversation where a colleague of mine was explaining to a potential new blogger about how he should be inserting keywords into the titles of his posts, using H1 tags for post headings, and worrying about SERPS and Page Rank. Well, most traffic comes from search engines and if you become a Search Engine Ninja your blog will be successful. Right?
Wrong!
In my opinion, a blogger should focus predominantly on the content his blog is being used for. This is what adds real value to his blog and is what will make his or her readers subscribe to the blog’s RSS feed and come back for more juicy goodness. Relevant, timely content is the lifeblood of every blog and without this your blog will wither and die. And if you’ve run out of things to blog about, spend your time on social networks, talk to people and if they find you remarkable enough, they will check out your blog and join your network.
What you REALLY should be focusing on is producing content that is unique, readable and interesting. Blog about subjects you are passionate about, subjects you’re an expert in and subjects that other people want to read about. You should only be thinking about SEO if you are writing on a blog targeted at readers interested in SEO. I’m not saying that your blog should be a mess; SEO should be considered when building a theme for your blog, in the same way that accessibility and design should be considered, but this is usually the realm of the theme designer and not that of the blog owner.
Blogs implicitly have the sort of content that search engines look for. There’s a personal element in there, which coupled with the frequency of updates places blogs in a much more favourable position to other sources of content. Focusing on SEO may help push you from position 500 to position 499 on a search engine’s list, but it won’t help you build relationships with other bloggers, readers and other internet denizens who have the ability to make your blog proper and flourish.
What are your thoughts on SEO and being a successful blogger?
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My name is Steven Sanders and I'm a Professional Blogger, Izea Insider, Web Designer, Social Media Enthusiast, Dad, Husband, and Friend.
I couldn’t agree with you more Owen! The relationships that you build with blogger pals and the advice that you gain along the way definitely trumps the #1 search engine placement. Good reminder on why we bloggers blog
[...] you’ll enjoy this book. Ajax Optimization? Covered. Optimizing CSS? Continue to read more… Being A Successful Blogger Isn’t All About SEO – steven-sanders.com 12/10/2008 Owen Cutajar has multiple blogs including Ugh!!’s Greymatter [...]
I cannot help but conclude that the emphasis on SEO for bloggers, particularly newbies, is an unfair distraction. Blogging is about content.
First of all, discover yourself, what you are good at, what you are passionate and opinionated about…what you can easily become an expert on. As a Pastor, I made the decision to focus on inspiring and motivating people to achieve personal success and fulfilment. I discovered I could write endlessly on this and never run out of fresh ideas and perspectives….it just keeps flowing. I’ve been blogging now for less than 3 months and now search engine traffic accounts for more 5% on my site, and rising daily. I’ve hit front page on google, yahoo and other search engines out of millions of results on several of my key concepts.
Long term strategy of authenticity, originality, and relevance will ultimately triumph over short-cuts of superficial content.
This post is timely…but reflects a growing awareness in the blogosphere. Thanks for posting it.
WD Favours last blog post..The Easy Way To Abundance and Wealth
I think the real area you want to rest in is somewhere in between.
True, the real “meat and potatoes” that search engine spiders look for is original content- so that WILL prove to be your best bet.
But I think it is also important to optimize your site correctly if you’re looking for search engine traffic. If you’re just looking for referred and social networking traffic then I guess you don’t have to worry about it.
But again, I agree with you that quality, original content is best for readers and the overall success of your blog.
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I launched a blog 2 weeks ago and didn’t bother with SEO all that much, in fact the headings were kinda useless for search engines, but low and behold, the search engines still found the content and so far, 90% of the referals are from Google…go figure
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[...] 6 . Being A Successful Blogger Isn’t All About SEO [...]
Agree, content is king. A seo all in one plug in will take care most of the SEO needs.
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Thanks for your comments guys
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