If your company has a website, you’re likely familiar with the term SEO. SEO, short for Search Engine Optimization, essentially refers to your performance on search engines in relation to various keywords and phrases within your industry. While there are multiple ways that you can increase your SEO performance, enhancing your content marketing strategy is one of the most effective. Read on to learn more about how content marketing helps SEO.
How Do SEO and Content Marketing Relate?
Content marketing and SEO are closely related, even if it may not appear so on the surface. Your SEO strategy, in general, is aimed at any action or procedure put in place to increase the organic traffic you receive from search engines. Content marketing, on the other hand, is the process of creating content that will bring traffic to your website. See the links?
Both SEO and content marketing are ultimately focused on increasing your internet traffic. But how do they do that? Through content. Within your SEO strategy, you can integrate keywords into your copy and get a bit more organic traffic. You can take your efforts a step further, though, when you include content marketing tactics such as promoting your content on social media.
Content Marketing Maximizes Traffic
One of the major ways that content marketing can increase your web traffic is by exposing new audiences to your business. When you’re focusing solely on SEO, then you’re getting the majority of your traffic simply from search engines. Content marketing, though, goes far beyond Google and helps you to bring in audiences from all around the internet.
Once you create a blog, for instance, you can share those posts on social media and build a following there, securing audiences you may not have reached in the past. On top of that, creating relevant blog posts about industry topics can bring in new audiences on search engines, even if they aren’t searching for your specific product yet. Simply getting the word out about your business through content marketing will help to naturally increase traffic with minimal extra effort.
Discover More Keyword Opportunities
You likely already have a few top keywords that you’re targeting through your SEO strategy. But when you integrate content marketing as a part of your overall approach, you can unlock even more keywords for a more tailored experience. Instead of simply integrating keywords into your product descriptions, for instance, you can also bring those keywords into blog posts and how-to guides for your products.
Additionally, one major concept of content marketing is keyword research. By looking closely at the keywords that are most common in your niche, you can see which phrases you’re already ranking for and where there’s room for improvement. On top of that, you can identify gaps in competitors’ strategies and aim to fill them, both with your content and your on-site web copy. This strategy can be immensely powerful when it comes to improving your SEO performance.
(image from https://www.hubspot.com/hubfs/State-of-Marketing%20(2).pdf)
Increases Time on Page
You may be familiar with the term “bounce rate,” which tracks how long a user spends on your website. If someone clicks on your site, views one page, and leaves without exploring any further, that’s a bounce. A high bounce rate isn’t great when it comes to SEO. So, how do you get users to stay on your website longer and reduce your bounce rate? Content marketing.
By developing relevant and helpful content, you can not only help users stick around longer, but you’ll also be providing useful information that gives your customers a better experience. It will be easier for users to navigate your website, and they’ll have the means to research more thoroughly, helping them make the best purchasing decision. There are all kinds of benefits to increasing a user’s time on your website, and when you combine SEO and content marketing, the process all comes together seamlessly.
Create Completely Unique Content
When a potential customer visits your company’s online presence, they want to learn something new. If you’re offering the same information and offerings as a competitor, what’s stopping that customer from going to them instead? While you’re creating content ideas, you can produce brand-new content that no one has done before, intriguing your audience and increasing your traffic.
When you write something totally unique, you’re showing yourself as an industry authority. You’re bringing a unique perspective to the table, and audiences are sure to start talking and engaging with your new ideas. Plus, search engines often look for unique content and prioritize it over duplicate content, helping to boost your SEO rankings at the same time.
Content Marketing and SEO Best Practices
If you’re new to the world of content marketing, there are a few quick tips that can help you get off on the right foot. To begin, do your research. Work to expand your list of keywords, incorporating more specific phrases or even location-specific keywords to bring in more local audiences.
Keep in mind that search engines prefer longer content, which is why starting a blog is a great idea. While you likely have shorter chunks of copy throughout your website, creating longer blog posts (think 1,000 words or more) will help you rank more highly in Google’s eyes.
Finally, you can use content marketing not only to attract new audiences but also to establish your reputation as a trustworthy and reliable company. Interact with users on social media and reply to their comments on your blog posts. By humanizing your business, you’ll build genuine relationships with your customers and will have a better chance at securing business for life.
Improve Your Content Marketing Strategy with SEOArmy
Now that you know how content helps SEO rankings, it’s time to put these tips into action. But if you’ve never delved into content marketing before, the prospect can be a bit overwhelming. SEOArmy is here to help. We’ve spent the last decade helping customers from around the globe create content and perfect their content marketing strategies to bring in more business and improve their performance overall. To learn more about all of our content marketing services, contact the SEOArmy team today!