Building a Better Blog: Google Offers Some Blogging Advice

Building a Better Blog: Google Offers Some Blogging Advice

A useful blog post once a week is better than low-quality content published daily.

Last week, Google released an helpful SEO Guide [PDF Book] that discusses factors which are often responsible for improving the rankings of your websites in Google and other search engines.

Now there’s a new document from the same Google Webmaster Central team that offers tips on how bloggers can improve their blogs.

It suggesting publishing full feeds, using tags and getting readers though comments on other blogs. If you have a blog, you probably know all of this already but for those in a hurry, here’s a quick summary:

1. Provide full-text RSS Feeds: Rich, full-content feeds make users happy because they can view your content with minimal effort. They may result in a short-term decline in visits to your actual blog, but the long-term gains of increased readership and mindshare are typically worth it.

2. How often should you blog: A frequently updated site encourages people to return – as long as your content remains relevant and engaging. A useful post once a week is better than low-quality content published daily.

3. Leave thoughtful comments on other blogs: Visit these blogs, comment on posts, and participate in the discussion. Thoughtful comments with useful information will make readers more likely to visit your site.

4. Use Categories & Tags in your blog: Labels and tags are a great way to organize your content, and encourage users to browse your blog.

5. What should your write about: A great idea is to search Google for subjects of interest in your field. If you can’t find a good answer, create a blog post about the subject – chances are that other people are searching for the same thing.