Beginners Guide to Writing Blogs
How to Write SEO Optimised Blogs for Your Website (10 min read)
Introduction
Blogs remain one of the most effective tools in digital marketing when they are written with purpose. A well planned blog builds visibility, trust and long term web traffic; whilst supporting your website’s Search Engine Optimisation strategy. This beginner friendly guide breaks down blog writing into practical steps so you can publish content that works harder for your business!
At Cold Banana we see blogs as performance assets. When written well and with intention, they attract the right audience, answer real questions and quietly support growth across search, social and sales.
But before we begin… what is a blog? And why are they important for your business?
What is a Blog?
A blog is a regularly updated section of your website that includes regularly updated pieces of written content. Blogs are typically educational, informative or opinion led and are designed to answer questions your audience is already asking. Unlike sales pages, a blog focuses on value first.
Why are Blogs Important for Business’ Websites?
Blogs help your website stay relevant and discoverable. Each blog creates an opportunity to appear in search results for new keywords, attract first time visitors, and build authority in your industry. Over time, a strong blog library becomes a compounding asset that supports brand awareness, lead generation and development of customer trust.
For businesses, blogs also create content that can be reused across email marketing, social media platforms, and in sales conversations.
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimisation is the practice of improving your website so it appears prominently in search engine results. This includes optimising content, structure and technical performance so search engines understand what your pages are about, and when to show them to search engine users.
How Can SEO Optimisation Benefit Your Business?
Optimising your website’s SEO helps drive high intent traffic to your website. People using search engines are actively looking for answers, solutions or providers, with higher SEO ranking websites appearing higher in SERPs (Search Engine Results pages). As a consequence of good SEO practices, your website pages will rank higher; with high ranking pages resulting in your business being more visible at the reader’s moment of need. Blogs play a major role here by targeting informational searches that lead users into your wider website ecosystem.
Blog production on your website primarily focuses on on-page and off-page SEO developments, with blogs being a part of SEO strategy where development of high quality backlinks and authoritative brand mentions is concerned.
As a quick aside, the four pillars of website SEO include the following:
- Technical SEO: Improving website speed, mobile usability, security, and crawlability
- On-page SEO: Optimizing content, titles, meta descriptions, headings, and internal linking.
- Off-page SEO: Building high-quality backlinks and authoritative brand mentions
- Local SEO: Enhancing visibility in local search results and Google Maps listings
How Do I Write a SEO Optimised Blog for My Website?
Research is key! Every effective blog starts with research. Before writing a single word, you should understand what your audience is searching for, how competitive those searches are and what intent sits behind them. Keyword research tools and search engine results pages are your best starting point.
Where Can I Find High Performing Queries Relevant to my Blog Topics? - Answer the Public
Search engines are increasingly driven by questions. Look for who, what, why, where, when and how queries that are related to your topic. These queries often surface in social listening tools like Answer the Public, on user generated content focused platforms like Reddit, and directly in search engine suggestions. Structuring your blog around these questions helps you match real user intent.
Use of Queries for SEO and AEO Optimisation
Including clear questions and concise answers within your blog supports both Search Engine Optimisation and Answer Engine Optimisation. Search engines and AI driven answer engines favour content that directly addresses specific queries in a clear and structured way as this reflects closely the exact question / response structure found in AI generated responses (with this being presented at the forefront of Google searches above the #1 position of the search engine results page.
What is Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)?
Answer Engine Optimisation focuses on making content easy for AI powered systems to understand and surface as direct answers. This includes clear headings, natural language questions and precise responses. Blogs that are written for humans first but structured clearly tend to perform best here.
What Are Some Examples of Blog Templates That I Can Get Started With?
The Classic List Post
A list post presents a series of tips, ideas or tools in a clear and scannable format. These blogs are easy to read, easy to share, and work well for beginner audiences. They are particularly effective for SEO because each list item can target a related subtopic.
The Detailed Case Study
A case study blog explains how a result was achieved using a real example. This format builds credibility and shows practical application rather than theory. Case studies are powerful for businesses because they demonstrate expertise while remaining educational.
The Product Showdown
A product comparison blog evaluates two competing products side by side. This saves readers time, and positions your brand as helpful and unbiased. These blogs often rank well for high intent searches from users close to making a purchase decision thereby capturing high value traffic.
Things to Do After "X"
This format provides a step by step plan following a specific action. It is an effective blog template for increasing scroll depth on your blog because it anticipates the next question your reader will ask. By guiding them forward, you keep the reader engaged, deliver real value, and signal to search engines that your content is engaging and relevant.
The Beginner’s Guide
Beginner guides break complex topics into clear first steps. They provide high performing, evergreen content for your website as they become reference content for readers, reducing overwhelm and attracting links and shares. This blog itself is an example of that approach!
How They Did It
This format explores how a person or organisation achieved a specific outcome. It reveals process and thinking rather than just results. Readers are drawn to these blogs because they offer insight and inspiration at the same time.
The Myth Debunker
Myth debunking blogs challenge common assumptions. They perform well because they spark curiosity and discussion. When done well, they also position your brand as knowledgeable and confident in its expertise.
Blog FAQ's
What is the 80/20 rule in blogging?
The 80/20 rule suggests that a small number of blogs often drive the majority of traffic. Focus on creating high quality evergreen content rather than chasing volume. A good release cadence we work towards here at Cold Banana is 2 blog releases every month.
What are some common blogging mistakes?
Common mistakes include writing without research, cramming in as many keywords as possible into your blog instead of focusing on high value keywords that are relevant to human readers, publishing inconsistently and failing to promote content after publishing. After all, it’s much easier to direct traffic to a blog if you have an existing audience on social media!
What are the four different types of blogs?
The main types include informational blogs, opinion pieces, case studies and comparison posts. A healthy blog strategy often includes a mix of these formats, and from these types you can build blogs using the aforementioned templates. This makes for up to 28 different combinations of blog types based on blogs covered in this guide alone!
Is it still worth having a blog in 2026?
Yes. Blogs remain central to SEO, AEO and content marketing. They support visibility, trust and long term growth when approached strategically, and provide a means to communicate long form pieces of content to your target audience that might not otherwise be suitable for social media.
How regularly should I update my business’ blog?
Consistency matters more than frequency. Publishing one or two high quality blogs per month is often more effective than frequent low value blog posts. A good release cadence we work towards here at Cold Banana is 2 blog releases every month.
Conclusion
Blog writing may have once been seen as simply filling space on a website, however now it acts as a vehicle for your business’ marketing and communications strategies. Blogs allow you to answer questions, build authority and support Search Engine Optimisation and Answer Engine Optimisation in a measurable way even when your sales or marketing representatives are off the clock. With the right structure, research and intent, blogs become one of the most reliable digital growth tools available, allowing readers to better understand the services your business provides at their convenience.
Do you need a web development and performance marketing agency to refresh your business’ website? Here at Cold Banana, we bring together SEO optimisation, content strategy and technical delivery to turn websites and blogs into real business assets. As your website content marketing provider, we focus on clarity, performance and results that scale. To learn more, get in touch with us right here! 👇
https://www.coldbanana.com/contact
At Cold Banana, we've been helping businesses like yours thrive since 2015. Our expertise span across custom web development, seamless integrations and user-friendly platforms.
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