The Google algorithm can be tricky to figure out especially after large updates named after cute black and white animals.   One thing never changes though “Content is King” – thanks business school.

A blog is a place to put a heaping pile of content for Google to root around in, but SEO is not the only reason blogging is essential.  That is why SEJ says, “You must blog and blog smart in 2013.”

Are you one of those people who hears a song on the radio and says, “This is my favorite song!” and then says the exact same thing about a different song 10 minutes later?  So is Google.  Google wants everything: Quality content, links to content, pictures, videos, a low bounce rate, fresh content, and more…  A blog allows you to serve up all of these things like a mix tape of Google’s favorite songs ever.

Fortunately Google isn’t the only reader out there looking for your content.  So you can’t write your blog just for the algorithm.  That’s not a wise move anyway because Google gets upset if you give it too much of what it wants (see Over Optimization Penalties – OOPs).

You need to create a dependable blog that addresses the reader in a conversational format.  Consumers want to have a conversation and they do not want to be talked at.  A blog personalizes your business and makes it more desirable and approachable to your target consumer.

Search Engine Journal says, “SEO, social media and content marketing are all rolled up into one big complicated ball.”  That couldn’t be truer, and a blog is the thread holding that ball together.  A blog helps to drive social media.  They both drive, and are driven by, content marketing.  All of this affects your SEO, and the higher you rank in search engines the more people will be driven to your blog and social media channels.

All of these things are the most important because, like a mix tape of your favorite songs, they’re really not distinctly separate or rankable.  You can’t live without any of them.  They all come together to paint a picture of who you are, and you can write on the label “Digital Strategy 2013”.