Content marketing has changed dramatically in the last few decades. Search engines like Google are now the first place consumers turn for information about products and services they might purchase. For content marketers, this is a great opportunity! SEO Content Marketing allows marketers to reach consumers more directly by steering them to the content they need. Review the tips below to help ensure your success in SEO marketing:
- PRIORITISE HIGH-QUALITY WRITING
By far the most important component of SEO content marketing is strong writing. Many marketers will attempt to scatter keywords throughout an article and disregard all the material between; this is a mistake! The top priority is to keep your reader engaged; engaged readers, in turn, are more likely to become engaged consumers. Try to go beyond creating simple, straightforward blog posts on the keyword topics and get creative with the content. There is a lot of content out there, but a lot of it is low-quality, so keeping your writing at a high standard will set you—and the products you are promoting—apart. A further incentive is that Google now penalizes businesses that consistently produce low-quality writing. This is significant because it can impact your SEO ranking, which ultimately will make you less effective. - INCLUDE KEYWORDS IN YOUR HEADLINES
While you do need a strong foundation in content, keywords do matter—so make sure to practice thorough keyword mapping. Keywords especially matter in headlines. If you can predict what consumers are searching for, try to match that as closely as you can in the header. Remember that your job as SEO content manager is to answer consumers’ questions effectively; understanding the users’ keywords and using them in your headlines will allow you to do this most efficiently. This, in turn, will often improve your site’s reputation because users will look to your site as a worthwhile and valuable resource (this improves your rating). Make sure you don’t use too many keywords, either—use a few, targeted terms that are specific to your product or service, and repeat them throughout the article. - UNDERSTAND—AND WRITE FOR—YOUR TARGET MARKET
This tip is related to the keyword advice—before you can come up with compelling and targeted keywords, you need to make sure you have an in-depth understanding of your target market. Think psychologically about what kinds of questions or concerns your consumers might have. Then use this foundation to come up with content and keywords that are tailored to answering these questions. Don’t overthink it and keep it simple, though; some of the best SEO marketing content is written around simple questions that consumers consistently search for. - KEEP YOUR CONTENT FRESH
Information is always shifting and needs to be updated consistently. One of the fastest ways to lose an interested site visitor is to neglect to update the site—consumers will not want to turn to a resource that is outdated. Some blog subjects are more conducive to “timeless” posts, which could theoretically continue to bring in site traffic indefinitely, but this is rare in the fast-paced world we live in. Most sites need to be updated monthly, if not weekly. This also sends the message to consumers that you are up-to-date on all the latest information. - INCLUDE BACKLINKS
Make sure you include links (also known as “backlinks”): in-text references to other content on your own or other websites. This technique has been shown as a highly effective mechanism for bringing in more traffic. These days, this is the primary method used by websites to increase traffic to their sites. Search engines do check for a number of factors when reviewing in-text references, including topic relevance, the popularity of the site providing the references, and a website’s “trustworthiness,” so make sure you are linking to more high-quality content.
