13 Must-Have Elements Of An Exceptional Blog Post

These 13 elements are essential to a great blog post.

One in five bloggers says their blog has strong marketing results – 222%.

This is it. The percentage has been steadily decreasing over the last three years.

This can’t be true.

Why is it that blogs are not producing strong marketing results?

My theory is that the content marketing industry is full of too generalized advice.

“Write for users, and not Google.”

Google rewards high-quality content

It’s all about the search intent.

Okay, but What is high-quality content?

The standard is high. This article will reveal you how to get your content the respect it deserves. It will break down 13 key elements that make a great blog post.

1. Compelling Topic

Your audience must be interested in the topic.

There are several places you can start if you don’t know what your audience is interested in.

In Google Analytics, find which pages are most supportive of your business goals.

Ask your sales staff what questions potential customers most often ask.

You can also search your site to see the products and services people are searching for.

Social media channels for your industry allow you to interact with your audience members.

These are great places to find content topics that will be of interest to your audience.

2. Search-Friendly URL

Google suggests that URL structures be as simple and concise as possible.

Avoid using long ID numbers in URLs. Also, avoid using time-specific elements like date and year. Complex URLs are harmful to crawlers and unhelpful for humans.

This is an example:

https://www.example.com/blog/2022/06/thirteen-elements-of-a-good-blog-post-that-delivers-results/

This can be:

https://www.example.com/blog/elements-of-a-good-blog/

Your URL should be clear so that anyone who views it will know what to expect.

3. Add an Author

A blog article concerning the author will have more credibility, context, authenticity, and credibility.

You can link the author’s name and photo to a profile page. This allows readers to browse other articles written by the author, making it feel like they are reading something from someone honest.

This will encourage readers to interact with your brand on social media sites like Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

4. Table of Contents

A table of contents placed at the top of each post organizes your content, making it easier for bots and users to navigate.

Your readers can quickly find the data they need by using anchor links within a table of contents.

A table of contents is a great feature for search engines! Although it’s unlikely, they are often pulled up in Google searches and displayed as website links.

5. A powerful headline

A strong headline will attract your audience to your blog and increase page views.

A blog post that does not have a catchy headline is doomed to be lost in the sea of the internet.

Make sure you have a catchy title (heading) that will grab readers’ attention and encourage them to read your article.

SEJ offers 12 tips for turning a boring headline into something that grabs attention and gets clicks.

6. An Interesting Introduction

A good headline can attract clicks to your website, but the introduction converts a site visitor to a reader.

To make an introduction resonate with readers, they need to be able to comprehend what you are talking about and take the time to listen to what you have to share.

It doesn’t matter if you answer right away, but just enough information to make them feel cared about.

SEJ offers seven ways for you to create blog introductions that your readers and Google will love.

7. Compelling Subheadings

Headlines and subheadings highlight key elements of the topic, making it easy for readers to skim and leading them through the content.

Search engines can identify content by using keywords in subheadings. This allows search engines to inform the reader about the article’s key points quickly.

However, this does not mean that keywords should be forced into subheadings. Keywords should make sense and sound natural.

The title tag hierarchy should be used for subheadings. This is why you should use smaller heading formats.

You don’t need H2s for most articles. However, if you have to separate H2s with lots of content, H3 can be used.

Use header tags as directed by this SEJ article on best practices.

8. Length

Studies often claim that articles should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words in length.

It doesn’t matter.

The content length will vary depending on the topic and the audience.

A good blog will be as long and informative as you want it to be.

To see how far readers are reading your blog articles, you can use page depth (scroll) and track in Google Analytics (or Hotjar).

You can hide a subsection answer in an accordion so users can interact with it. This event can be tagged to determine whether users stay engaged long enough to read the article.

9. Attractive Visuals

Visual data is processed and responded to better than text.

60,000 more quickly than the rest.

Visualization is a crucial component of how the brain processes complex information.

Using charts and graphs to explain complex data is more accessible than reading through large amounts of text.

10. Conclusion

Your reader might have forgotten some of the points that you made in your article by the end.

A blog post that is well written will sum up the main points of the article and help the reader decide what they should do next.

Your goal is not to repeat your points but to help your readers draw practical conclusions from your blog posts.

It would help to decide what action your blog readers want to take. Perhaps you want them to sign up to your email list, follow you on social media, or visit your website to learn more about a product or service.

This is where the goal is to motivate your reader to take the desired action.

11. Useful Links

The internet would not be a well-organized mess without links. It would be tough to navigate the internet and find what we are looking for.

A well-written blog post makes navigation easy for users and search engines.

Internal links allow you to connect with related search engines and offer further research that might interest the reader.

John Mueller explains in an After Hours video

“…internal link is vital for SEO.

It is one of the most crrucial things you can do for a website.

External links can be used to cite sources or act as endorsements for high-quality content.

12. Schema

Schema Markup is a crucial element of a great blog post as it allows search engines to identify your page instead of product pages or other content.

Some schema markup types apply to blog posts, articles, and news.

You will also find FAQ, How to, Breadcrumbs, Speakable, and other helpful information.

13. You can suggest related blog posts

You now have a well-structured post on your blog that covers the technical aspects of ranking pages and engaging copy that informs and entertains.

You want to increase the likelihood of your visitors staying on your site and hopefully convert at the end.

Display a few (maximum three) related blog articles at the end of each blog post.