SEO and content marketing are equally important for better organic results because they work together to drive traffic and leads to your website. SEO strategy improves the visibility of your website in SERPs while content marketing attracts and engages your target audience.
While SEO can help your website appear higher in search results, it is the content that visitors see and interacts with once they're on your website that will matter. Visitors may leave and never return if your website has an excellent SEO content strategy but poor content. In the same way, if your website has quality content but poor SEO, your target audience may never find it.
What you will learn
- What should be your ultimate goal for SEO
- What should be your primary focus in content marketing
- Know the difference between SEO and content marketing
- How you can use SEO in your content marketing strategy
What is search engine optimization?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website's structure, existing content, and keywords in order to improve its visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs).
This is done by adhering to numerous search engine recommendations and best practices in order to boost the relevance, authority, and trustworthiness of the website.
SEO's ultimate goal is to increase organic traffic to a website while also enhancing its overall performance.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is a strategy that you use in creating and sharing valuable, relevant, and consistent content in order to attract and keep your target audiences.
Its ultimate goal is driving profitable customer action like purchasing or signing up for your products.
Content marketing vs SEO
The main difference between SEO and content marketing is their primary focus. While SEO strategy focuses on optimizing the website and its content to rank higher in SERPs, content marketing concentrates on providing value to the target audience through relevant content.
For example, a web development company wants to promote its services using a blog post as its content marketing strategy to inform and engage its potential customers. Then, the company would use an SEO strategy like keyword research to improve the ranking of its content for keywords related to its services, such as "e-commerce web design" or "mobile responsive design."
Is content marketing part of SEO?
Content marketing is not part of SEO, but it can help and improve SEO strategy by creating high-value content that draws and engages target audiences, generating inbound links and social shares, and improving website authority and relevance for search engine queries.
How to use SEO in content marketing
SEO should be part of your content marketing strategy if you want to create content that reaches a wider audience and generates organic traffic to your website (Source).
One of the major benefits of SEO is its ability to help you efficiently reach your target audience by identifying the keywords and phrases that your potential customers are searching for on search engines such as Google and Bing. Through keyword research, you can optimize your content to appear in their search results which increases the likelihood of your content being seen by users who are actively seeking information related to your industry.
To incorporate SEO into your content marketing strategy, consider the following essential tips:
Publish content for search engines
Publishing SEO content tells search engines what your content is about, making it easier for them to understand and categorize it. As a result, your SEO content is more likely to appear at the top of SERPs for relevant keywords and long tail keywords making it discoverable to potential customers.
According to Up Inc.,
the first organic search result is 10x more likely to get clicked with an average CTR of 27.6%, and the #1 result in Google receives 34% of organic traffic. Source
So, when your content appears on top of Google, it could mean higher engagement, and eventually more conversions and sales.
The opposite is true for unoptimized content. It may not appear in search results, reducing your visibility and reach significantly. This means that potential customers may never learn about your company, products, or services, resulting in lost opportunities for your company.
But you can improve your article’s chances of ranking by covering semantically relevant keywords. This will tell search engines that your SEO content is comprehensive and relevant to the topic, increasing the likelihood that it will rank higher and capture long-tail search traffic.
Conduct on-page SEO
On-page optimization improves the relevance, value, and structure of individual web pages, allowing your website to rank higher in search results and reach users.
And, you can help search engines better understand the context of your own content by optimizing these 4 key areas for on-page SEO:
- Page title and H1 > this informs search engines about the topic of your page and serves as the H1. Put your main keyword here and make it read like a title. Try to keep it within 60-70 characters, so that it doesn't get truncated in search engine results pages (SERPs).
- Header tags > make sure your page has well-formatted headings and subheadings in the H2-H6 tags. Don't repeat the primary keyword from H1. Instead, include variations and secondary keywords to help search engines understand the page better.
- Metadata > make your title catchy but relevant, and it should include one or two of your target keywords. Similarly, your meta description should be a brief summary of your page's content, and should also include one or two of your keywords. Make it around 155 characters long and write it in a way that encourages users to visit your website.
- URL structure > Use keyword-rich, descriptive URLs that accurately reflect your page's content. Use short, simple URLs without extraneous parameters.
Cover topical map
Topical relevance is important for search engines because it informs them about your website's authority and expertise. It will help them identify if your content matches the user's search query and if it aligns with the overall topic of your website.
For example, if you run a food blog and a user searches for "quickest breakfast recipes," your blog post on "breakfast recipes" will be considered topically relevant to that search intent and can appear in search results.
This is because search engines like Google use advanced algorithms to evaluate the topical relevance of websites and web pages. These search algorithms look at various factors like keywords and content relevance and evaluate their quality and comprehensiveness, as well as how well it corresponds to the user's search intent.
That being said, publishing content without a focused strategy will not help you establish yourself as an authority figure in the eyes of Google. As a result, you'll face difficulties establishing your site as a trusted expert in your niche, affecting its ability to drive traffic.
The opposite is true when delivering relevant and informative content on related topics, it indicates your site's expertise and comprehensiveness. It will position your site as an authority, thus, building your brand and attracting more visitors and leads.
So, to reap the benefits of ranking and traffic, you must cover the topical map of a subject with your content marketing strategy. And to ensure your website or web page is topically relevant, you must conduct keyword research to identify the topics and long tail keywords your target audience is searching for.
Establish thought leadership
Building thought leadership via content marketing is a strategy used by brands to establish themselves as authoritative sources on topics that their target audiences find useful. Thought leadership is a method of differentiating oneself in social media, search, and other channels by providing value to audiences.
Providing complete and clear answers to your audience's most pressing questions through blog posts, social media updates, podcasts, and other content formats can help you establish your brand as a reliable source of information. This, in turn, can encourage other websites and bloggers to link to your content, creating valuable backlinks that can enhance your search engine visibility and make it easier for potential customers to discover your brand online.
You can establish your brand as a trusted authority in your industry by consistently delivering high-quality content that addresses your audience's needs and interests.
As you establish yourself as a thought leader in your field, you may be invited for a guest posting on other websites, speak at industry events, or participate in interviews or podcasts. These opportunities can help you increase your share of voice and reach, allowing you to build a loyal following of customers and prospects and increase brand awareness.
Eventually, you become more visible and recognizable to potential customers who are more likely to recall your brand and think of you when making a purchase leading to higher conversion rates.
Use E-E-A-T
Google looks for E-E-A-T indicators in your content to determine credibility, and here's our suggested approach:
- Experience > demonstrate that your content is created by someone with first-hand, real-life experience with the topic.
- Expertise > give indications that the author of your blog post is knowledgeable about the subject under discussion. For example, licensed professionals for health, law, and finance-related topics.
- Authority > show signs of authority like thought leadership and a good reputation in your niche or industry. This can include links and citations from other respectable websites.
- Trustworthiness > display the credibility of your website using customer reviews, ratings, and testimonials.
By following the E-E-A-T guidelines, you can help your site establish itself as a reliable source of information in the eyes of both users and search engines.
Create evergreen content
Evergreen content, as opposed to topical or news-related material, is content that remains relevant and valuable over an extended period of time, often years.
The advantage of creating a single piece of evergreen content is that it can continue to attract traffic for months, even years after it is published. This is because it is intended to be timeless and relevant, providing value to readers regardless of when they come across it. Evergreen content can also save you time and resources in the long run because it can be reused and repurposed.
Some examples of evergreen content are:
- Ultimate guides blog post
- Checklists
- Common mistakes or lessons learned
- Glossary
- Case studies
- Resources
- History
Online reputation management
Search engine optimization (SEO) can be a great tool for owning conversations about your brand when you're creating content for your target audience that highlights your brand's unique value and expertise. This is referred to as "ownable conversations," which are editorial perspectives that distinguish a brand from its competitors.
So, here are some ways you can utilize SEO to own brand conversations:
- Create Versus Pages > use a web page to position your brand as the superior choice over your competitors.
- Create How-To Pages > feature thorough instructions, videos, and other useful resources that help users understand and use your product on these pages.
- Target Branded Keywords > include your brand name and product names in your target keywords.
While affiliates and partners can certainly help promote your products, customers should also hear from you directly.
Direct brand communication can help you address customer concerns, answer questions, and provide practical information about your products and services. This can help increase customer loyalty and even advocacy, as well as create a positive image of your brand in the minds of potential customers.
Key takeaways
- SEO and content marketing are two vital aspects of digital marketing that you can pair up to boost the visibility and organic traffic to your website.
- SEO optimizes the technical parts of your website, whereas content marketing focuses on providing high-quality and engaging content that attracts and keeps your audience.
- By combining these two strategies, you can develop a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that increases organic traffic, engagement, and conversions.
- Integrating SEO and content marketing can help you develop a seamless user experience, which is important for growing brand loyalty and establishing your brand as a thought leader in your industry.
Conclusion
It's evident that combining SEO and content marketing strategies can be a game-changer for driving organic traffic and increasing visibility in search results. By conducting thorough keyword research, creating high-quality content, optimizing it, and promoting it on various platforms, businesses can expand their reach, establish credibility, and engage with their audience, ultimately leading to more conversions.
Combining SEO and content marketing is a powerful approach that can help businesses achieve their marketing goals and stay ahead of the competition.
