SEO and content marketing go together very well. They just work.
For best results, you shouldn’t do content marketing without considering how SEO fits in.
Conversely, you shouldn’t do SEO without understanding how content provides substance and connection to what ultimately matters: your audience.
With content and SEO working together, you’ll find two looks:
SEO generates relevant and targeted traffic from Google – not random people who don’t care about what you do or sell, but prospects who might join your audience and convert at some point. It is so powerful that it boosts SEO 1000% more traffic than organic social networks.Content marketing builds trust, authority and loyalty with these potential customers. If you’ve been paying attention, most modern consumers do diligent research before making purchases, and they want to like and trust the brands they give their money to. 55% of buyers you rely more on content to research and make purchasing decisions than you did a year ago.
To put it mildly, SEO and content marketing have an incredibly symbiotic relationship. Let’s explore how they harmonize.
First of all, what is content marketing?
Content marketing is the creation, publication and distribution of online content (from blogs and videos to e-books and podcasts).
This content is not intended to sell something or promote the brand, but to educate, entertain or empower potential customers. This nurtures their interest, commitment and trust over time, so that eventually become clients.
What is SEO?
SEO, or search engine optimizationis the process of optimizing and improving your website (and your website content) so that it is visible in search results, where people are looking for information, answers, products and services.
It cannot be understated how important it is these days to appear on search engines, especially Google. Google Search, Images and Maps 92.96% of world traffic. If your website and pages have a good position in the search engine, you will earn a good share.
What are the main differences between SEO and content marketing?
SEO and content marketing are different but related.
Let’s put it this way:
SEO is what brings targeted traffic to your site, including your content. SEO includes a set of actions you can take to optimize your website and content to show up in searches. Content is how you keep these people on your pages, nurture them, and eventually convert them into customers. Content can be optimized for specific keyword searches that connect with audiences (i stage of the buyer’s journey) you want to bring.
In short, each supports the other.
But how, exactly? In what specific ways do content marketing and SEO intertwine to benefit brands, search engines, and the users who need them?
How does SEO complement content marketing? (and vice versa?)
SEO and content marketing are very much a yin and yang situation. One improves the other and vice versa.
With both in your strategy, the results will be much more impressive than using either alone.
1. SEO generates relevant traffic to feed content
You don’t write content to be swallowed up by the black hole of the internet. You write content in hopes that some jaded reader will find it and walk away with giant light bulb moments.
They will associate these moments with your brand and your experience. This is formidable.
Content that is not read is useless. If you want it to contribute to your marketing success, you need people to read it so they can do their job of nurturing leads.
One of the best ways to make sure the right eyes are on your content? Use SEO tactics to optimize it keywords your goals are looking.
68% of all website traffic comes from searches. This means that every time someone in the world opens a browser, they start their online session with a search most of the time. SEO helps drive the portion of people who need you to your nourishing content.
2. SEO and content increase visibility and brand awareness
Want more people to associate your name with key industry terms? Start appearing consistently in their searches for these terms with SEO.
Even better, start popping up with amazing content that answers their questions and alleviates their specific, unique pains you it can solve with what you know and what you sell (or, if you’re a marketing or SEO specialist, what your customer knows and sells).
The better you do, the higher your site and content will appear in the results. Ultimately, earning a top 5 ranking in organic (non-paid) results on Google promises the best chance for people to not only see your listing, but click on it.
CTR, or click-through rate, is the percentage of people who visit a web page and click on a specific link. The better CTRs on a search engine results page belong to the first 5 positions.
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3. SEO and content work together to improve user experience
SEO and content aren’t just about ranking in a search engine and generating traffic and leads.
Together, they also help you deliver a better one User experience to your audience on your website.
SEO is loaded rules and guidelines which govern:
How your website should be structured and optimized. How to approach the creation of pages and content. How to link to other sites and to your own. The level of quality you should aspire to. And more
It also prohibits deceptive or manipulative behavior that aims to mislead users or game the rating system.
Following your site and content guidelines not only ensures that you’ll rank better, but also ensures that your audience has a good experience once they find you.
And this contributes to everyone’s goals:
Search engines want users to find what they’re looking for quickly and efficiently, and they want to deliver results that are relevant and useful. Brands want prospects who find them on Google to eventually become customers, and there’s a better chance of that happening. if the brand offers a good user experience: from relevant and useful content to a fast-loading and well-structured site.
4. High-quality SEO content helps your pages rank better
This is no secret high quality content it will help your blogs, articles and even your landing pages and sales pages climb the search rankings.
Content quality is indeed one of, if not the, most important elements that will influence your SEO success the the most important.
How Search Engine Land’s guide to what SEO is puts it:
“Content should be your first priority when thinking about SEO.”
After all, your website content:
Determine whether you are relevant to a user’s search query and whether you will add value to their lives or waste their time. It affects how long they stay on your site (do they read your entire blog? Explore your other content? Look at your “about” page and services/products?). They should provide evidence that they can trust you.
These are essential signals to send to your potential customers, and they all start and end with your content and its quality.
Don’t leave home without both SEO and content marketing working together
We don’t mince words here.
Content marketing set up in a strategy by itself does not have the same power as when combined with SEO.
Content without smart SEO will get much less traffic, less reads, less engagement and less conversions.
SEO without high-quality content equals a thin, uninspiring and useless website that attracts no one and earns nothing.
The secret sauce comes together when you mix the two.
SEO drives traffic and leads. SEO makes a brand visible on a different level. SEO ensures that the user experience meets and satisfies high standards.
Content engages potential customers and keeps them on your site. Content nurtures their interest, trust and loyalty. Content keeps them coming back for more.
Don’t leave home without a healthy mix of both in your strategy.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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About the author
Julia McCoy is the founder of Content Hacker, a 7x author, and a leading strategist for creating exceptional content and brand presence that lasts online. At 19, he used his last $75 to build a 7-figure writing agency that he sold ten years later. In the 2020s, he is dedicated to teaching founders and marketers the strategy, skills and systems they need to build a business through inbound content, so they can create a more lasting impact on the world.
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