How to Write a Great Technical Blog that Ranks

 You can be a great developer, and maybe an excellent writer, too... but that doesn't mean your blogs rank well on search engines. The latter requires a great deal of practice, user research, and most of all... trial and error.


Before I teach you how to write great technical blogs that also rank well on search engines... you need to know this:


This blog isn't going to make you a great technical writer, nor is it going to give you a template to rank better for your target search terms. I won't discuss link building or promotion either, that's up to you.


What I will do is teach you how to fine tune your blog topics so that they have the potential to rank well; how to research said topic; and guidelines for how to write about the topic in a way that answers searcher intent.

https://hackmd.io/@alexaa34/HJM52htabx

https://medium.com/@alexharris59600/how-to-write-a-great-technical-blog-that-ranks-04d1ce345cca

Searcher Intent

What is searcher intent? Only the most important thing in your universe, right now. Searcher intent is the driving force behind a search engine query. It could be a problem that needs to be solved, curiosity about a subject, a search for validation... I mean, think about it. Why do you use Google and other search engines?


If you really don't know, take a look at your activity.


Now take one of the last search queries you made, and type that into your browser again. Which one of the ten links did you end up clicking on? (hint: if you're on the same device, it will be purple). Why did you click that link? Did you find your answer there? Or did you click more than one?


Hopefully, you got lucky and didn't have to click anything and you were able to glean an answer from the featured snippet... lucky you.


That's because the page that ranks for that featured snippet solves the user intent concisely and accurately.


In the example above, I wanted to know how much wood a woodchuck could chuck. I didn't even have to scroll down to the search results, because the featured snippet has the answer bolded for me right there.


When you write your own technical blogs, you need to keep searcher intent at the forefront of your mind... and actually, at the forefront of your article. Most featured snippets grab their content from text that is above the fold --that's the content that's within the viewport when you load the page without having to scroll.


Run a couple of searches yourself and see where the featured snippet content comes from. It's most likely at the top of the page, in a short paragraph.


Now, why would you want to answer the user intent like this? If they can get their answer from the search result page, why would they ever click on the link to your site? Isn't this counterintuitive to the whole motivation behind better search engine ranks?


I mean, the whole reason you are interested in SEO is because you want site traffic...


Because if you're writing a technical blog, nine times out of ten your target searchers are going to need more than a single sentence answer.


Choose a Topic

Let's start by choosing a topic. This is actually the hardest, longest step, so take your time and don't be hasty.


You shouldn't be pulling your topic out of thin air, there should be a "need" for this topic. Or as we mentioned earlier, searchers should be asking their search engines about your topic.


If you are writing for work, check your support system. Don't have one? Check wherever you get client feedback.


Already have a topic? Great, let's put it to the test.


All you need is a single word, or maybe a few words, like:


  • DNS
  • Failover not working
  • Secondary DNS
  • DNS not resolving


I work for a DNS hosting company, so I'll be using examples from my own work when I write technical blogs and articles for our website.

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