SEO And Content Marketing Integration: A Way To Communicate Effectively - Insight From Semalt
A strong brand on the Internet is extremely important, and Content Marketing is a milestone on the way to building it. However, that's not all, apart from that, SEO integration is needed.
The contemporary consumer experiences a strong saturation with various types of content. In defense against worthless messages, he looks for attractive and interesting information. Once that, firstly, he notices, secondly, arouse his interest, and thirdly, benefit him. Content Marketing is the answer to this need.
Today, engaging and unique content reigns supreme, which should reach the recipient in an attractive form. The combination of SEO and Content Marketing provides the user with valuable content and, as a result, increases their satisfaction.
Common goals
In the beginning, it is worth asking yourself if SEO and CM have common goals. Well, they have, and the most important of them are:
- creating original content,
- creating valuable content for the user,
- increasing website traffic,
- increasing brand awareness,
- building brand authority,
- increasing the number of conversions.
SEO and Content Marketing
How does it actually look like?
Keywords / phrases and content
The first, basic thing - SEO includes words, key phrases, content. Content Marketing is talking with the consumer, educating him, and providing him with entertainment using content in various forms. You have to remember that in addition to creating attractive content, you also need to distribute it, i.e. make users find it.
Reaching opinion leaders, promoting in social media, building relationships through branded publications - these are just some of the ways to spread content and get it high in the Google search engine. This, as we know, is essential. What content will rank highly? Above all, those that:
- put the user in the center,
- are unique and engaging,
- are visually attractive,
- are available and easy to find,
- contain added values for the recipient,
- are reliable.
Content structure
The proper structure of the content is very important. Following the rules of web-writing allows you to gather more interested recipients, and thus gain valuable backlinks. Texts that for example contain video materials, links to other interesting sources, are divided into paragraphs or include bullets, achieve much better results than content with a uniform structure.
Text length
It is also worth emphasizing the role of text length here. No iron rule would define a specific number of characters, but longer content is certainly positioned higher. According to the report of www.quicksprout.com, Google values content that is over 2000 words long. What's more, the data also confirms that the first page of the search ranking includes results that link to materials of at least 2,000 words.
So there is a strong correlation between the number of words in the content and the links that lead to it. The content marketing strategy should therefore include the creation of texts, articles, and posts that are not only interesting and unique but also sufficiently rich. Of course, you must not forget about the company's website, which should be effectively positioned, e.g. through appropriate publications.
Attractiveness
Search engines appreciate content that people like. Creating mass copied messages no longer works today. Good content has better indicators: longer page time and lower bounce rate. This is a very clear sign to search engines that the user has received an answer to their query. Better content means more effective SEO, and Content Marketing is the source.
Key phrases and Content Marketing
There is no doubt that keywords are the basis of successful optimization. We use them, search for and track their position in the search engine. The best way to use them is to implement them in your content marketing strategy. Attractive content written for users using key phrases is a powerful positioning tool.
How to check which words consumers are looking for?
As always, a website analyst can help. Google Webmasters Tools (Search Console) and Google Analytics reports show which phrases are the most popular and engaging. One place to keep track of in terms of search terms is "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)" in GA. There, you can analyze the words that received the most impressions, have the highest CTR (click-through rate), and find out what average position in the search results is obtained by the page after entering a given phrase.
The conclusions from the analysis will help to create content enriched with the most frequent user inquiries. SEO optimization of articles should include placing the most important keywords in HTML tags:
- Title (title),
- Meta Description (short description),
- H1-H6 (headers).
There is no definite answer to how many times the key phrases should appear in the content. They are to be placed there. Of course, you must not overdo their saturation, Google perfectly recognizes the unnatural number of words and their variations. Also, search engine algorithms are now much more advanced, they can better understand the context and even link synonyms. Therefore, it is worth considering an SEO optimization plan that will effectively enrich our content with valuable key phrases. Thanks to such actions, a permanent "trace" in Google search results will remain, and at the same time, the recipients will find our content more easily.
Content marketing is the source of valuable backlinks
Good-quality thematic links are, as is well known, very desirable. An important task of Content Marketing is to optimize websites for search engines. Publishing attractive and popular content among Internet users is conducive to building links leading to a given page, and thus, significantly increases its credibility and position in search results.
The best way to collect backlinks is to create truly compelling content that will bring a lot of fans after publication. They, in turn, will share it with other users as a thank you for attractive content. Running an effective Content Marketing campaign will also contribute to effective link building.
What are the ways to get valuable backlinks?
- Be present on Social Media - it's a great source of links; even though most people usually have the "nofollow" attribute, it is a good idea to link to your publications on social media profiles, because you can get many valuable links from other users who can share them, for example on blogs.
- Experiment with podcasts, presentations, publish PDFs with relevant information, given in a graphically thought-out form - this will increase the chance of attracting the reader.
- Contribute to other thematic blogs, websites, and forums - try to make your guest post of high quality, thanks to which you will satisfy the website owner, recipients, and gain a very valuable backlink.
- Give your customers the option to subscribe to the newsletter so that they have access to the latest content all the time.
Run a blog where you will post interesting materials, e.g. webinars - choose a topic that may be of interest to your target group, give the webinar an attractive title, during the presentation, make at least one poll among the participants, thanks to which you will get full data and information on participants. The recorded material may also be of interest to your future customers.
Write articles with tips, trivia, describing the solution to the problem - this will introduce you to the industry as an expert and increase the authority among recipients who will be willing to share the obtained information and become regular readers.
Post your presentation on Slideshare - this is a site that Google treats as a credible source of information. Use it. Slideshare presentations are a way to provide the consumer with valuable content in an attractive form. It is enough to select the appropriate target group and create an original and unique presentation. When publishing, it is worth remembering keywords that will not only attract readers' attention but also help locate the material faster in the search engine.
Set up a group on LinkedIn - 60% of its users are interested in news from industries; the systematic placing of interesting and expert posts in the group helps to gain unique recipients and, in the future, potential customers who will become promoters of your brand.
Promote your content, e.g. with Facebook Ads campaigns. This will allow you to reach the interested group of consumers and will help you achieve a broader range, including sharing, commenting, and linking your content.
What else?
Make your content interactive - add questions, quizzes, contests. All this arouses interest and "convinces" recipients to stay longer on your website. Additionally, you can place an interactive survey on your website that will allow you to gather valuable information. Sample questions:
- What does your audience want to read/watch?
- Would they like to change something on your site?
- Do they have any questions/doubts about the product?
- What types of content are of the greatest interest?
The answers can provide ideas for new and interesting content. Perhaps thanks to them you will introduce changes on the website that are important in terms of usability and readability. All this affects the positive image of the brand, strengthens the dialogue with the client, and contributes to the improvement of the search ranking. A happy user is a happy Google.
As for the links leading to the site, let's make sure they are "dofollow". "Nofollow" does not convey the "power" of SEO and does not contribute to the strengthening of the website, so does not translate into better positions in the Google ranking. Link anchors are also important - there should be key or brand phrases there, but forcing your keywords into them will not bring good results. On the contrary, "money keywords" anchors can be very quickly detected and punished by search engine algorithms.
SEO and CM and User Experience
UX or User Experience is a term that describes the total user experience while using the website. What shows that it is positive? First of all, consumer engagement - time spent on the website, number of conversions, bounce rate. It is related to important factors responsible for site optimization. SEO is, in addition to keywords and links, the use of appropriate tags in HTML or building a helpful site map (sitemap).
These elements have a strong relationship with CM. The introduction of technical changes to the website is aimed at making it easier for the user to find, select, and "consume" content. Moreover, the Panda algorithm keeps a close watch on us. Whether the website is a trusted source of content, it analyzes the number of ads on the website and their invasiveness.
What else?
Google appreciates websites built for mobile, with a fresh, modern design. All of this is to increase customer satisfaction. The bigger it is, the more Google will appreciate it and reward you with a high position on its search list.
SEO and CM integration
A strong brand on the Internet is extremely important, and Content Marketing is a milestone on the way to building it. However, that's not all, apart from that, SEO integration is needed. This will allow you to conduct valuable and effective communication that will result in gaining loyal customers. The combination of Content Marketing with SEO activities will also allow you to maximize the effects of your campaigns, which will translate into ROI growth. So why not take advantage of it?
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