SEO and Content Marketing: What You Need to Know

About 64% of the most successful marketers follow a documented content marketing strategy. Meanwhile, 69% of marketers actively invest in search engine optimisation (SEO). Both can help you reach new customers, attract web traffic, and generate leads.

What is the connection between SEO and content marketing? Read on to find out!

After reading this guide, you can improve your entire digital marketing strategy! Learn more about content marketing and SEO today.

Content Marketing vs SEO

Before you can understand why SEO and content marketing work well together, it helps to recognise how they work separately. Then, you can unite these strategies to give your business strategy a boost!

Content Marketing

Content marketing involves creating, posting, and distributing content online. Content includes:

• Articles
• eBooks
• Polls
• Quizzes
• Webinars
• Infographics
• Videos

The purpose of blog writing and marketing isn’t to sell products or promote your brand. Rather, your content should entertain, educate, or inspire readers. Then, you can nurture their curiosity, boost engagement, and build brand trust over time.

Content marketing allows you to build brand trust as you demonstrate your experience and expertise in a specific area. In fact, including elements of EEAT (Expertise, Experience, Authority, Trustworthiness) within your content can boost your credibility. Gaining credibility will encourage new customers to trust your business.

Once they trust your brand, they might feel more inclined to reach out for help or make a purchase from your store. Eventually, brand trust will grow, allowing you to gain and retain loyal customers.

Your loyal customers will tell others about your brand, allowing you to gain referrals. They’ll also make repeat sales over time. Your ROI will improve as a result.

Customers do their due diligence by gathering research before making purchases. They’re more likely to give their money to brands they trust.

Search Engine Optimisation

Search engine optimisation, on the other hand, can help your content rank higher on search engines. Appearing at the top of a search engine result page (SERP) can help more people find your content. Ranking ahead of competitors can help you gain credibility, too.

As people click on your posts from SERPs, they’ll visit your website. Your clickthrough rate and unique visitors will increase. In time, your ranking will rise higher.

An effective SEO marketing strategy involves optimising your website and content. Search engines like Google will then crawl and index your content before determining your rankings. There are four types of SEO:

• On-page (which involves optimising your content using specific keywords)
• Off-page (which involves factors beyond your website, like backlinks)
• Technical (involving the backend of your website)
• Local (involving your Google Business listing and local keywords)

Once you improve your ranking, it can take time for a competitor to take your place, offering longevity. SEO is also cost-effective, boosting your ROI.

Uniting Strategies

When creating content for SEO purposes, focus on quality over quantity. Provide your readers with helpful tips or unique insights they can’t find elsewhere.

Google prioritizes content that’s unique and fresh. It also helps to develop a documented content marketing strategy. Plan to post multiple times a year.

You can target a different primary keyword within each post. With time, you’ll appear on SERPs for a range of search terms, allowing you to appear for more searches.

To unite your strategies:

• Gather audience research
• Gather keyword research
• Create content with a keyword in mind
• Optimise the post with the keyword
• Publish and distribute
• Keep posting
• Analyze the data to spot trends

Personalisation

Personalising your content can help you forge stronger connections with customers. Before personalising, learn as much about your customers as you can. Consider:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Household income
• Marital status
• Buying behaviours
• Online behaviours
• Education
• Career
• Hobbies
• Interests
• Pain points

If necessary, segment your broader audience into smaller buyer personas. Then, create content for each group based on their needs.

For example, a dental office might create content for busy mothers if their focus is paediatrics. A general dentist might segment their target audience to create content for business professionals and parents.

Personalising content can boost your marketing ROI by eight times. Readers will begin to recognise you understand their needs and concerns.

Search Terms

Defining your target audience will help you gather keyword research, too.

Use tools like SEMRush, Google Trends, Keyword Planner, or Ahrefs to get started. Build a list of keywords relevant to your products, services, or industry. Keep an eye out for trending searches as well.

Prioritize longer phrases, which are more precise, allowing you to understand the searcher’s needs. Use secondary keywords throughout the text to avoid keyword stuffing (which could get your content penalised).

When optimising your content, the target keyword should appear in the:

• Page/post title
• URL
• Opening and closing paragraphs
• Body text
• A header
• SEO title and description
• Image file name and alt text

The SEO and title and description will appear on SERPs. Make sure it’s intriguing enough to encourage clicks.

Promotion

Once you’ve created your post, share it!

Reformat your post for social media or share it in an email newsletter to your subscribers. Make sure you have a lead magnet on your site to generate subscribers as well.

Once people begin commenting on your post, respond. Answer their questions or offer more insight to show you’re able to help.

Promoting your content will help you generate more website traffic.

Shared Benefits

Targeting specific keywords will help your content appear in front of people who want or need your offerings. Then, you can attract relevant traffic to nurture your content.

As more people click on your posts, your rankings will approve. Ranking at the top of a SERP can help you gain more brand visibility. As people keep seeing your content, awareness will grow.

Eventually, people will remember your brand.

As part of your SEO strategy, it’s important to improve the user experience on your website. Make sure your site is fast, user-friendly, secure, and mobile-friendly. Improving the UX on your site will boost your rankings and help you generate more leads.

With both content marketing and SEO, you can reach new customers, generate leads, and boost your ROI.

Unite Your SEO and Content Marketing Today

A strong digital marketing strategy needs SEO and content marketing. With both, you can provide customers with information they need. They’ll have an easier time finding your business online as well.

Then, you can generate more leads and sales to grow!

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