A traffic safety solutions provider was looking for a boost in website traffic. I put together a Search Egnine Optimization (SEO) plan, part of which was the utilization of blog posts to gain traffic. In this example, a simple, informative post ended up in the top 3 search engine rankings for their specific terms and increased site traffic by 23%.
Blog Posts Can Help SEO?
Yes, good content can significantly help improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Blog posts allow you to target specific keywords and phrases your audience is searching for, and regularly publishing content helps you rank for a wider range of long-tail keywords. It improves your website authority, which can attract helpful backlinks from other websites. Blogs also enhance user engagement. Important internal links can be added. And posts give you a chance to answer user questions.
How I achieved SEO Success
First, research.
In this instance, my client wanted to gain more traction on the traffic signs they sell. So I looked over some search engine results on “traffic signs.” As you can imagine, that’s a pretty broad subject, and there are countless traffic signs for sale on the internet, all shapes and sizes, really so many that a vague post about “signs” wasn’t going to get much traction. And frankly, it wouldn’t be very informative.
So I drilled down from “traffic signs” to a specific product: “stop signs.” Though, that’s a pretty broad subject, as well.
I had to dig deeper. What were users actually searching for in regards to “stop signs”?
Some common internet searches:
Stop Signs for sale.
Cheap stop signs.
What sizes do stop signs come in?
How tell do they have to be?
How far away from the road do stop signs get posted?
What can I do if a tree blocks a stop sign in my community?
I decided not to go after those searching for an immediate sale.
Instead, I focused on those searching for answers about stop sign requirements. This is a bit of a longer game, as users reading the post aren’t necessarily ready to purchase a sign; they just want information on sign requirements. For example, they may already have a sign but want to know how tall it needs to be on the sign post.
There were 3 points to this tactic.
1. A post about requirements is informative. Users will spend actual time reading it, thus improve SEO through increased engagement.
2. This also shows those pesky search engine bots that we are an expert and knowledgeable on the subject.
3. Users are likely to return when they need to purchase a sign.
Blog Post Content
With the research done, and specific subject matter set on, I then had to put the content together.
When it comes to traffic signs, there actually is a national manual on requirements that cover ALL traffic signs and everything from sizes to placements (called the MUTCD). It’s a large document. What my blog post did was gather information on rules and regulations for stop signs and condense it for those searching for just that: stop sign rules. I made it brief and to the point, while also sprinkling in some internal links to their products related to signs.
See an excerpt below:
This is an excerpt from the blog post that I am referencing. Read the entire post here.
Successful Blog Post Results
In 2024, per Google Analytics, this post ranked in the top 3 for the search terms “MUTCD Stop Sign Placement,” “Stop Sign Dimensions,” “Stop Sign Placement Regulations,” and a few other key search terms.
This post was originally published in 2022, so it’s still doing it’s job.
This post was part of an overall increase in site traffic of 23%.
It helped our website rank higher in other areas, as well.
We allowed comments (with moderation, of course) on this post, which also helped boost the SEO through user engagement and building authority. But I must caution: allowing users to comment on posts does have disadvantages. If you allow comments on your posts, make sure there is a moderation so that you have to approve the comment before it is published. There is so much spam…it’s maddening how much spam is out there.
Believe it or not, there are some SEO agencies that still practice spamming comments on others posts with backlinks to their own website. Not recommended.
Allowing comments is going to have to be a risk versus reward discussion, and if you, or someone else, has the time to moderate all of the spam.
