What’s online content, especially product pages, landing pages, and corporate website pages, without SEO optimization ? Remember that any content shared online with the goal of attracting more readers or selling products and services must be optimized, otherwise it will fade into internet obscurity.
- For those who don’t know: what is SEO?
- What is the relationship between content marketing and SEO?
- How do you apply SEO strategies to your content?
- Conclusion
A wise old man once said that
if you want to hide an unspeakable secret, just put it on the second page of Google results. The reason behind this statement lies in the fact that
less than 1% of users visit the second page of results when performing a search. Consider that only 9% scroll through all the links on the first page of Google. Let’s say that only the first three results fare well; the others are completely ignored.
And that’s why, if you want to attract more users to your website, to your online content, you need to make sure it appears first in Google search results. To do this, SEO is the answer .
1. For those who don’t know: what is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization . This is the literal meaning of the acronym, but what does it mean?
DEFINITION It is a set of techniques and strategies used to improve the positioning of a website on search engines, with the aim of increasing visibility and the amount of traffic to the site.
If a website isn’t well-positioned in search engines, users are less likely to find it, and therefore, it’s less likely to generate traffic and convert users into customers . As we mentioned earlier, it’s important for a website to rank high in search results so users can find it and click on it.
Sites that succeed in this endeavor have higher conversion rates . Of course, you shouldn’t waste all your resources trying to appear first in search results while neglecting the site’s content.
Attractive graphics, well-crafted texts , photos that are not too heavy and consistent with the content, and a smooth navigation experience are elements that increase the chances that a user will remain on a site and, after a while:
- you buy a product
- perform an action that the site owner wants
But this is not the place to delve into the ways in which users convert.
We want to focus on the relationship between content marketing and SEO, why these two concepts go hand in hand, and how to make your content easily discoverable and of interest to users.
2. What is the relationship between Content marketing and SEO?
A mutual and cooperative relationship. SEO helps make content perform better , and content marketing helps a site rank higher in search results.
SEO can help improve content marketing by providing insights into which keywords are most searched for and which topics are of greatest interest to users, which can help guide content creation.
Optimized content appears more prominently in search results , increasing the likelihood of a user clicking on it. If traffic to the site increases, it can move up the Google SERPs and end up in the top positions.If this happens, the site gains authority, is cited by other blogs according to a backlink system and SEO improves even more.
It’s a very positive vicious circle. Content marketing, on the other hand, is one of the most creative SEO strategies. It creates highly indexed content to increase the chances of users landing on our site somehow.
We’re talking about articles here, but what about media content like videos and photos? Let’s answer with an example. According to some research, in the coming years, Google won’t be the only platform for searching and getting information. Do you know who could take that lead?
2.1 Social networks
If you use TikTok , you’ll have noticed that the search bar features suggestions that appear as you type your query. Does this sound familiar? Yes, Google. TikTok doesn’t rely on SEO like search engines, but uses an engagement-based algorithm to determine content visibility.
However, even TikTok is beginning to harness the power of keywords to direct users to a series of results that can answer their questions and also increase the benefits of the social network itself (let’s always remember that social networks are nothing more than companies that earn money through the actions and visibility of their users).
1 Discover new brands through social media
More than half of consumers—55% to be exact—learn about new brands on social media.
2 Interact with brands and companies
68% of consumers agree that social media allows them to interact with brands and businesses.
3 Discover new products
A full 43% of consumers have increased their use of social media to discover new products in the past year.
You’ve probably come across a product video and searched for it on Amazon shortly after. We’re not just talking about TikTok here. Social media has become an important source of information for many people, who use it to research products, services, and companies before making a purchasing decision. Furthermore, social media also offers the opportunity to seek advice and opinions from your networks, making purchasing decisions more informed.
All content marketing, not just that relating to corporate website pages and blogging, is imbued with SEO, even on social networks . If you’re involved in this activity, you must always keep in mind the relationship between the two concepts.
3. How do you apply SEO strategies to your content?
We think you’ve now understood the importance of developing a well-optimized SEO content marketing strategy. How do you put this lesson into practice?
3.1 Keywords, the basis of SEO
Good keyword research is the foundation of any professional content marketing strategy. Keywords help you identify topics and terms that are relevant to your target audience and search engines.
Keyword research, therefore, allows you to understand which topics are most searched for in a certain market sector and how exactly users search for them on Google or other search engines.
EXAMPLE:
For example, if we know that in our market segment people search online for how to reduce their home energy consumption and we install solar panels, our keywords will probably be: “solar panel installation Milan”, “How to reduce home costs”, “How to reduce consumption”, “Reduce consumption” etc.
To understand which keywords your users use online and their browsing habits, it’s a good idea to precede the keyword research phase with a thorough market and potential customer analysis. This is useful not only for understanding which keywords you’re using for online searches, but also for creating content, which must be tailored to your target audience, in line with their language, expectations, concerns, and so on.
Careful and professional keyword research is performed using keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Keyword Tool to identify keywords . These tools are packed with features that greatly facilitate the work of content creators and SEO copywriters. Simply specify a topic, a term, or a niche to discover all the keywords used by users to perform online searches.
But this isn’t the place to delve into the use of SEO tools. Let’s move on to content creation.
3.2 Planning and quality
Keywords are important for content marketing because they help identify topics and terms relevant to your audience and search engines. However, simply identifying them and randomly inserting them into content isn’t enough.
Content marketing isn’t just about writing online content, just as SEO isn’t just about keyword research . It’s important to keep in mind that search engines today use a variety of factors to determine the quality of content and its ranking in search results. Therefore, it’s important to create high-quality, useful, and engaging content that answers users’ questions and meets their needs.Planning a content marketing strategy is essential to creating effective content that achieves your business goals and generates a return on investment.
Once you’ve identified your target audience and identified the most popular topics and keywords in your niche, you need to plan a content marketing strategy. To summarize, as this topic requires a lot of words, we can say that planning is based on these steps:
Defining the objectives of online communication
Which could consist of increasing brand visibility, generating leads or increasing sales.
Choosing the most appropriate distribution channels to reach the target audience
Such as a company blog, social media, email marketing, etc. In fact, you don’t necessarily have to be present on all channels, as your niche might use one in particular. If, for example, you’re targeting a teenage audience, it’s probably easier to find them on TikTok than on Facebook, so it doesn’t make sense to spend money and resources on ads on Zuckerberg’s social network or on organic posts.
Create an editorial calendar
A fundamental tool for planning content releases, establishing publishing frequency, and tracking progress and goals achieved. Without an editorial plan, you risk not maintaining consistent publishing and not having a roadmap to follow to ensure your strategy is effective.
Enter the formats you want to focus on
Your editorial plan should also include the formats you want to focus on. On Instagram, for example, you can include reels and carousels; on your blog, you can include short guides, news, reviews, and so on. Each format has its own effectiveness and is best suited to a specific topic, so it’s a good idea not only to offer a variety of content, but also to focus on the ones that best showcase a particular theme.
3.1.2 The quality of the contents
Quality content is essential for attracting and retaining audience attention, generating engagement, and increasing brand visibility. By quality content, we mean posts, articles, emails, etc. that are professional and relevant to the target audience.
Quality content is original, interesting, and responds to users’ questions and needs. Content shared in written form online, such as blog posts, is well-structured so that topics are addressed in a logical and useful way.
This is where SEO work is most evident:
- The main keyword is usually present in the title , not only to attract users’ attention, but also to improve the positioning of the content;
- The article is formatted, divided into paragraphs, and enhanced with bold, italicized words, and bullet points—all elements that help improve the content’s readability. Google also analyzes the presence of care in formatting and rewards easily readable content;
- The length is not excessive, but not under 300 words either, usually;
- There are images;
- The keywords are inserted with care and balance.
On the social media side, content is published frequently and is visually memorable, with quality photos or videos. Users are now accustomed to seeing online media produced by vloggers and influencers equipped with all the tools to make the images more captivating. Therefore, they have become much more demanding and often “skip” posts that attract less attention.
When it comes to email marketing, the messages you send should be useful and engaging to keep them from ending up in spam. Carefully craft text and graphics to encourage users to open your emails.
4. Conclusion
This discussion would require a wealth of manuals. You’re currently reading the Moonify blog; we’re a company that specializes in content marketing . If you’d like to chat, book your first hour of free consultation, email business@moonify.it , or use the contact form.
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