Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process by which a website is optimized to perform better and rank higher in relevant searches. Content marketing, on the other hand, is a subset of inbound marketing that involves moving a website visitor through the sales funnel by offering them helpful, interesting, or convincing content pieces.
Although these two may seem like night and day, it is possible to create a content marketing strategy for SEO—that is, a content marketing strategy that helps your website rank better, for more keywords, and reach more customers.
As Google’s algorithms have developed and changed, they have started to favor many of the elements of a good content marketing plan—for example, fresh content of a certain length, with good keyword targeting, and on specific pages. In fact, a solid SEO strategy now involves content creation just as much as it involves classic, more technical factors.
CONTENT KEEPS USERS ON THE PAGE LONGER
Let’s say someone comes to your website from search, can’t find what they are looking for, and leaves right away (without visiting any other pages). This is called a bounce, and the percentage of people who do this on each page on your site is factored into your bounce rate.
Google can factor metrics like bounce rate into your site’s overall SEO profile. If a page has a very high bounce rate, that’s typically a sign that there is something wrong with it—and Google certainly doesn’t want to continue ranking it highly if it’s sending all its visitors right back into the search results. Sometimes content can help you combat a high bounce rate and solve problems like this, especially if it’s done thoughtfully.
UNIQUE CONTENT CAN HELP YOU ACHIEVE NEW RANKINGS
Finally, there’s one thing that SEO and content marketing often have in common: they focus on finding something that hasn’t been done before and trying to rank highly for it.
By combining keyword research—one of the crucial skills you should learn to improve your SEO—and your content marketing program, you can focus not just on creating a content marketing strategy for SEO gain, but on creating unique, never-before-seen content that exposes your business or website to visitors searching for “long-tail” keywords where you have a far better chance at ranking in the top spot.
Additional Benefits of Content Marketing
Although you can absolutely improve SEO with content on your website, the benefits of content marketing go far beyond increased rankings and search engine visibility. In fact, your main goal with establishing a content marketing program shouldn’t necessarily be to improve your SEO, because your site content may not necessarily have a substantial impact on it.
Content marketing has a number of other benefits to your potential customers and leads. It fills gaps in your sales funnel, exposes your business to additional audiences, and creates feelings of goodwill among those visiting your site.
Create a Unified Content Marketing Strategy for SEO and Your Visitors
Now that you’ve learned about the ways that content marketing can improve your SEO, you may be looking to create a content marketing strategy that both helps your visitors and your site. That’s where we come in.
We can build you a completely custom plan to incorporate content like long-form articles, blog posts, infographics, motion graphics, and whitepapers into your website. Reach out to us today to find out what we can do for you!