10 Types of Blog Posts & How to Use Them Effectively

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When it comes to writing a blog post, there are multiple formats you can use—and it all depends on the goal of your article and what your audience is looking for.

Here are some popular types of blog posts to know, along with examples of how to use them:

1. How-to guides

A how-to post offers a series of specific, chronological steps on how to achieve a goal. It’s typically structured like so:

For instance, this post is titled “How to Choose the Right Words for SEO” and shows you how to achieve that goal through a four-step process:

• Step 1 – Find keywords with search traffic potential
• Step 2 – Create content that aligns with search intent
• Step 3 – Ensure the keyword has “business potential”
• Step 4 – Make sure you can rank for the keyword

We then elaborate on each step by showing you how to execute it.

In the case of step one—finding keywords with search traffic potential—we suggested using keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner and Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer and then elaborated on how each tool works.

Best practices

• When chronicling your steps, be as specific as possible. Consider that your reader may ask, “How? Why?” and then fill these gaps to make your how-to guide substantial.

2. Content hubs

A content hub is an interlinked collection of content about a topic. 

Sometimes, you may have multiple blog posts on your website about a topic—let’s say SEO—but they aren’t housed in one place. That’s where a content hub comes in: It’s strategically built to boost your site structure for more traffic, links, and topical authority.

In simple terms, a content hub comprises three parts:

1. Your hub page – A high-level guide about the overarching topic (e.g., SEO). It usually includes links to subtopics that are sometimes split into chapters.
2. Your subpages – These are in-depth guides about parts of the main topic. Each of these guides is split into yet more chapters.
3. Hyperlinks – These connect the subpages to your hub page. The hub page links to all the subpages, and each subpage links back to the hub.

It may be a little confusing, so let’s take the example of our beginner’s guide to SEO. This is our hub page:

We first give the reader an overview of what SEO is. This is followed by six hyperlinked chapters (with descriptions for each). Clicking on each of these chapters brings you to their respective subpages.

So if we click on chapter 1 (How Search Engines Work), the reader is taken to the subpage—which is split into yet more chapters so that you can easily hone in on a specific subtopic.

We’ve also included a hyperlink for each subpage to connect it back to our hub page.

Best practices

• Map out a structure to ensure your content hub is well organized

• If you have a topic in mind but aren’t sure how to structure it, follow these steps:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Content Explorer
2. Enter your search term (e.g., “link building”)
3. Look at the top results to see how other websites structure their content hubs/guides

More Examples

• The Beginner’s Guide to Link Building 

3. Expanded definition posts

Expanded definition posts are somewhat similar to how-to guides. The difference is they start by focusing on the what before the how—because sometimes, you want to understand a topic in greater depth before getting to the actionable bit (i.e., the how-to).

Here’s how it’s structured:

Our blog post titled “What Is a Backlink? How to Get More Backlinks” is one such example of how this structure can be put to practice:

• Introduction, then table of contents—bulleted summary of what you’ll learn
• [H2] Why backlinks are important 
  • [H3] Rankings (elaborate)
  • [H3] Discoverability (elaborate)
  • [H3] Referral traffic (elaborate)
• [H2] What makes a good backlink? 
  • Elaborate with H3s as above
• [H2] How to check for backlinks 
  • Elaborate with H3s as above; add screenshots where necessary
• [H2] How to get more backlinks 
  • Elaborate with H3s as above
• Conclusion: Your final thoughts

It’s fairly straightforward. Tell the reader what to expect, explain why the topic is important and what they can do with it, then offer some steps on how to achieve a certain goal around the topic.

Best practices

• To build a more compelling piece, use the Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS) formula 

4. Listicles, aka list posts

Listicles—also known as list posts—typically feature one tip, technique, or point per paragraph. They’re often used for non-chronological advice but, sometimes, have a poor reputation because many publications use the format for clickbait stories.

This BuzzFeed article accurately captures one instance of how the format is used:

The descriptions below each subheading are kept short so that readers can quickly capture information in a concise manner without having to stay on a page for too long. Listicles may also be image-heavy.

Despite the poor rep that list posts may carry, they can be useful for readers who are looking for quick answers to certain questions—as in the case of this Search Engine Journal blog post titled “21 Web Directories You’ll Still Want to Use.” This is a good example of how an SEO or marketing listicle should be written:

Best practices

• We recommend not using sensationalist wording in your headline (like this BuzzFeed article). Instead, ensure your headline captures exactly what the blog post is about.
• You can learn more about the best practices of crafting listicles here.

5. Expanded list posts

An expanded list post mimics the format of a listicle. The difference is this format is better suited to more complex topics—so each pointer on the list is beefed up to better explain a tip or idea.

It’s also why we don’t publish all that many list posts on the Ahrefs blog; SEO is a complex topic to unpack when compared to “lighter” content, such as the “best cafes in Singapore.” 

The blog post you’re reading now is also an example of an expanded list post.

Best practices

• Since expanded list posts are lengthier than listicles, use images and H3s (a subsection that sits under your subheading) to break your points up. This very subsection is a H3.

6. News

Newsworthy blog posts contain time-sensitive information that’s relevant to your business and/or industry. This includes industrywide changes or trends that may affect your readers (or be of interest to them), as well as company or product updates.

Naturally, the piece of news you’d like to share should be disseminated as soon as possible, and, ideally, before other publications. This is especially so if you’re covering industrywide changes.

For example, let’s say Apple intends to announce the launch of its Mac Studio and Studio Display via a press release.

That same press release is first shared with multiple publications and kept on embargo (i.e., not to be published until a certain date and time). Based on the information, media outlets can build a story and schedule the news for publication—in the case of “fastest fingers first.”

Being quick to publish a newsworthy story also puts you in good standing with your target audience, who may over time regard your blog as a reliable and credible source of information. To achieve this, you need to be consistent in publishing accurate and timely content. 

Best practices

• Use the inverted triangle so your most important information is up top

More Examples

• Google Page Experience Update – Desktop Rollout Complete

7. Data studies

Data studies are a great way to earn backlinks.

At Ahrefs, we’ve run more than a fair number of data studies over the years—many of which have brought us traction on our socials.

According to our study of 900 million pages, there is a moderate negative correlation between word count and organic traffic for posts longer than 2,000 words.

In other words, the average 10,000-word post gets less search traffic than the average 2,000-word post. pic.twitter.com/Z1a02Epa5u

— Ahrefs (@ahrefs) January 18, 2022

But don’t simply cobble data from multiple sources and claim it as yours. Instead, decide on what you want to first study.

One way to do this is by recreating outdated studies, which you can find using Ahrefs’ Content Explorer:

1. In Content Explorer, enter a search term like [industry] + “study,” [industry] + “survey,” [industry] + “research,” or [industry] + “data”
2. Set the filter to an In title search
3. Set the Published filter to an older date range (e.g., 2010–2015)
4. Sort the results by referring domains

From here, you can identify popular and/or outdated studies to recreate and write about as blog posts.

Best practices

• Create graphs so readers have a concise overview of your findings