Last Updated – A few days ago (probably)
Having a high-quality, high-traffic blog in the same niche can significantly enhance the organic rankings of an eCommerce site for commercial terms like “buy football goals.” Here’s how:
- Increased Topical Authority
Search engines such as Google prioritise specific knowledge and expertise. A blog that focuses on football-related topics showcases expertise and builds authority within the niche. This can enhance the credibility of the eCommerce site as a reliable source for football equipment.
If you have 30 excellent, well written, detailed posts about football, then for an array of reasons from topical authority to social shares and backlinks, the eCommerce ‘section’ of your site will tend to rank a lot higher for commercial terms.
Top tip – include your own research and data. People love to link back to statistics. A good example with the NOW Foods 3rd party lab testing of creatine gummies – showing half of them had hardly any creatine in them.
- Internal Linking Opportunities
A well-organized blog provides the chance to link to your product pages (e.g., “buy football goals”) using keyword-rich anchor text. This not only drives traffic to those pages but also indicates to search engines the relevance of your product pages for specific keywords.
- Improved Backlink Profile
Blogs tend to attract more backlinks than product pages because they offer valuable, non-commercial content. These backlinks to your blog can transfer authority to your eCommerce site if you effectively link the blog to your product pages.
- Keyword Coverage
Blogs enable you to target informational keywords like “how to set up a football goal” or “best football training drills,” which may not fit well on product pages. Once users visit these blog pages, you can direct them toward related products, creating a smooth transition from information to purchase.
- Increased Dwell Time
High-quality content keeps users engaged on your site for longer periods. This increased dwell time signals to search engines that your site offers valuable content, which can positively influence rankings across the board, including for commercial terms.
- Capture Users at Different Stages of the Sales Funnel
Blogs can attract users who are in the awareness or consideration stages of their buying journey. For instance:
A post titled “5 Things to Consider When Buying Football Goals” can inform users while subtly promoting your products.
If they choose to buy, they’re already on your site and more likely to make a purchase.
- Use exit intent pop-ups to build an email list – incentivise sign ups with discounts
- Have a sticky banner with a special offer
- Make the brand stand out in images and banners
Brand Awareness!
Anybody can set up a website and sell stuff, and create some ads – but you won’t get direct visitors and people searching for your brand (a HUGE SEO ranking factor) if you haven’t built your brand.
Brand bias is also huge on products – take trainers, football boots and clothes for example. A top quality blog with good content can help build your brand awareness massively.
Establishes Authority & Expertise
Marketing bellends call this “thought leadership” and other contrived BS terms to make it sound impressive. But, at the end of the day, if you read a local PT’s blog about fitness and nutrition and it’s amazing, and references meta-analysis and robust research; you’ll probably be inclined to contact him or her if you are looking for a PT in the future? Especially if they display other EAT – Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness, like a PhD in Exercise Physiology and 20 years experience as a Navy Seal fitness instructor and 10 years as a Premier League Physiotherapy – just to give you a realistic example.
Gives You an Idea of What Your Audience Wants More of
Use search console to see what your blog posts rank for. Take note of any quasi-relevant search terms.
For example, my MMA diet plan, was ranking for Boxing Diet Plan – so I created a new page for this second search term.
In addition to expanding your offerings in terms of content and products, see which are your most popular posts, and if these posts can inspire more content or products. Especially true if the posts related to pain-points of your target audience.