Blog & SEO: Why and how can a blog improve organic search ranking?
Discover why your blog is a major asset for your business, and how to optimise your articles to boost your SEO.
Far from being just a space for self-expression or traditional blogging, a professional blog is a true growth driver for your organic search.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to all the techniques used to optimise a website to improve its visibility in search engine results.
Objective: to improve a site’s organic ranking in order to attract more traffic, without advertising, as opposed to paid search (SEA – Search Engine Advertising), by responding as effectively as possible to the expectations of users and algorithms.
Today, a blog has become a central pillar for improving your website’s visibility. But why exactly is it important to invest time in content creation to improve your sales? And more importantly, how can you create content that maximises your organic ranking?
Why create a blog to improve your organic ranking?
Integrating a blog into your digital strategy meets two complementary and interdependent goals: boosting traffic to your website while also growing your business. One fuels the other: by offering valuable content that meets your visitors’ needs, you naturally improve your ranking on search engines.
Here are the main benefits of a blog for your SEO:
Optimising internal linking and increasing qualified traffic
Internal linking is a key element of SEO: it helps to bring “SEO juice”, in others words, authority and traffic to specific pages of your website. And because each new blog article is a new gateway to your website, every piece of content you publish multiplies the visibility opportunities of your strategic pages.
By intelligently linking your articles to each other and to your service or product pages, that is to say, by inserting links that redirect to these pages, you guide visitors through their purchase journey while strengthening the authority (credibility in Google’s eyes) of your commercial web pages.
Targeting long-tail keywords and driving conversions
Long-tail keywords are very specific search queries, such as: “easy gluten-free molten chocolate cake recipe thermomix” rather than simply “chocolate cake”.
A blog allows you to create content targeting these precise queries. And because there is far less competition on these searches, you have a much higher chance of ranking on the first page!
By answering users’ questions at each stage of their buying journey, you demonstrate your expertise in the sector. You are not only selling your product or service, you are providing answers to your customers’ questions. In the end, you don’t just generate traffic: you guide your prospects towards conversion.
Expanding your semantic field and strengthening your brand image
Your main site is optimised for your services and products, but there are many related topics you cannot cover on your commercial pages. A blog gives you this freedom: to address peripheral themes, answer your audience’s questions, showcase your news or behind-the-scenes content…
TThis semantic expansion enhances your presence on a variety of queries and allows you to reach a wider audience. You can cover more topics and attract new visitors while diversifying formats: guides, tutorials, images, videos, infographics, etc.
By expanding your scope, you also build your brand image. The topics you choose to address, the tone you use, and your angle of approach help shape your identity and create a relationship of trust with your audience, while differentiating you from competitors.
A blog aligned with your values becomes a true ambassador for your brand, encouraging closeness and loyalty.
Earning backlinks and amplifying your presence across all channels
Backlinks are inbound links, meaning links pointing to your website from another site.
High-quality content naturally attracts inbound links. When you publish informative articles, detailed tutorials, or exclusive data, other websites are more likely to cite you as a source. These backlinks increase your domain authority and send a positive signal to Google about your site’s credibility.
A high-quality blog article also has a very long lifespan. It can be shared on social media, commented on, republished, and continue to generate traffic months, or even years, after publication.
Each article should be seen as a long-lasting asset fueling your digital ecosystem: newsletter, social media, press… The result: your visibility and customer proximity are strengthened over the long term.
How can I optimise my blog’s ranking?
Have we convinced you to start your blog? Discover our 10 tips for choosing the perfect domain name for your blog 💡
Now here are some tips for building a SEO-friendly blog with well-written, visible and high-performing articles.
A solid content strategy
1️⃣ Create useful content aligned with search intent
Quality always outweighs quantity. Each article must address a specific search intent. Before writing, ask yourself: what does my reader really want to know or achieve? Provide a clear and complete answer, prioritising substance over form.
To do this, target long-tail keywords and integrate them naturally into your articles. Use tools such as Google Search Console or Answer The Public to identify the questions users ask and their variations, and thus identify the terms they actually use.
Do not copy/paste content that already exists on your site or elsewhere, or replicate a competitor’s article structure. Google penalises duplicate content that brings no added value.
Also avoid covering a topic already addressed on your blog or website to prevent content cannibalisation. When two similar pieces of content compete, Google gets confused. Instead, focus visibility on a single page.
2️⃣ Write fresh and comprehensive content
Search engines appreciate “fresh” content: regularly published or updated content indicates that your site is active and maintained. An article published two years ago can enjoy a second life if updated with recent information, new statistics, or fresh examples.
In addition, don’t forget to cite your sources when mentioning statistics, studies or verifiable facts. This strengthens your credibility, reassures your readers and… Google.
Indeed, Google values content that meets E-E-A-T criteria (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness): a complete, in-depth article with reliable sources and clear expertise is generally ranked higher on the SERP than a superficial 500-word text.
Add share buttons to your articles to encourage readers to share your content across their social networks. Also think to share them yourself across your channels (social media, newsletters, professional press) to encourage diffusion.
By creating original content that is worth citing, you increase the chances of it being shared, thus generating more traffic and potentially more backlinks.
Technical optimisations
A well-structured article improves both user experience and SEO. Use hierarchical headings to organise ideas, bullet points and formatted text to enhance readability, and visuals (images, infographics, videos) to illustrate your points and maintain attention. Google values clear, airy, and easily scannable content.
Tags are your best allies. Your title tag (your page’s title) is the most important SEO element. It must include your main keyword, be appealing, and stay within 60–70 characters.
Your Hn tags (H1, H2, H3,…) structure your content and help Google understand the information hierarchy. Each page should contain only one H1, and subheadings should incorporate semantic variations of your keywords.
Finally, do not overlook text formatting and keyword emphasis, prioritising <strong> </strong> (used more for semantics) over <b> </b> (used more for formatting), to help Google better understand the important elements.
2️⃣ Fill in the ALT attributes of images
When adding visuals to your articles, it is essential to complete the “ALT attributes“. These attributes correspond to the alternative text of an image and help Google understand what the image represents, allowing it to detect keywords and rank you in Google Images.
Describe precisely what the image shows: a well-written alt attribute improves both your pages’ accessibility and your ranking.
3️⃣ Optimise URLs and page formats
Choose short, descriptive URLs that contain your keyword. Avoid meaningless character strings or unnecessary dates. A clear URL like /blog/optimise-blog-seo is far more effective than /blog/?p=12345.
Regarding the format of your pages, loading speed and mobile responsiveness are ranking criteria confirmed by Google. Compress images, use an optimised theme, enable caching, and ensure your blog displays perfectly on smartphones and tablets: today, most searches are carried out on mobile.
4️⃣ Link your blog intelligently to your main site
As explained at the start of this article, your blog should not be an isolated island: it exists to create bridges between your articles and the strategic pages of your website (services, products) using links or call-to-action buttons.
But for even more optimal linking according to your SEO strategy, you must also consider where your blog is hosted. You have three options:
- The blog in a subdirectory:
monsite.com/blog/In this case, your blog is fully part of your main domain. All SEO benefits (authority, backlinks) are shared across a single site. Your blog and your website form one strong entity with a solid internal linking structure.
- The blog on a subdomain:
blog.monsite.com
If you choose a subdomain, Google treats your blog as a separate website. This option offers technical independence, useful for using a different platform, managing separate access, or creating a distinct visual identity. SEO authority is therefore built completely independently. - The blog on another domain name:
monblog.com
You can also create a completely independent site with its own identity under a new domain name, using an domain extension such as .COM, .FR or even .BLOG!
And tomorrow?
With the rise of conversational artificial intelligence, the number of daily searches on LLMs such as ChatGPT or Claude is exploding. A new question is emerging in the marketing world: what optimisations are required to appear in LLM search results? We are talking here about GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation).
These AI models don’t simply display your content: they read it, analyse it, and synthesise it to answer users directly. The good news? The fundamental principles of SEO remain fully relevant for GEO: LLMs favour high-quality content with clear definitions and accessible explanations; credible content, with reliable sources and examples; and expert, unique content that stands out from generic information.
One thing is certain: GEO rules will evolve and become more specific over time. But by creating high-quality, structured and well-sourced content today, as we have seen throughout this article, you are already building strong foundations for any effective visibility strategy that will be able to adapt to future changes in search.
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