Do you know that song by Frank Sinatra that goes, “Love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage”? Well, it might not rhyme as nicely, but you can definitely replace the love and marriage part with SEO (search engine optimisation) and content marketing. Like love and marriage, there’s often a lot more hype around the first part (SEO) and the second part (content marketing) is not as popular. But SEO and content marketing work together, and “you can’t have one without the other”. Let’s take a look at exactly how these two key digital marketing tactics work together.

How SEO and content marketing work together

It’s pivotal these days for all businesses to have a strong online presence and a solid digital marketing strategy in order to survive and thrive. As most of us know, one of the main aims is to make sure our businesses are ranked as high as possible on SERPs (search engine results pages). In order to make that happen, there needs to be a significant investment into SEO, i.e. optimising business websites in such a way that they rank as high as possible on the likes of Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. But it is, in fact, equally important to invest time and effort (and it does take a lot of time and effort) into content marketing. As we go into more detail about SEO and content, we’ll also discuss how your business blog, website and keywords play a role in the relationship too.

SEO

SEO is a bit of a technical process that essentially strives to increase traffic to your website. This is done by focussing on matching the keywords that people are searching for with the keywords that make sense for your business. For example, if you’re in the business of fixing swimming pools then you should be making sure that keywords linked to that are what you are bidding for, but also what you’re integrating into your website content. So, yes, the most important thing to establish is what keywords your target market is using and then making sure you capitalise on those keywords.

There are basically two ways to try to get higher on the search results list. The first way is to pay to make it happen, i.e. paid marketing. Services like Google Ads are making it super simple for all businesses to rank a little higher. What’s great is that there are a number of different options to cater for different businesses and budgets. The other way is to focus on organic marketing, which is spending time making sure that all the content on your website matches what your target market is looking for. That way, when search engines like Google search the world wide web they will see that your website has content that closely aligns with what the person inserting the search query is looking for.

Are you beginning to see how SEO and content marketing work together? Yes, SEO is necessary to keep your website ranked as high as possible, particularly in the short term, but in the long term, quality content will be as effective as a digital marketing tool.

Content

There’s a saying that gets bandied about in digital marketing circles: content is king! It’s true. Content marketing is about putting traditional marketing on its head. So instead of running frantically after your target market and shouting at them, you focus on quality content that is relevant to your target market. The idea is that instead of going to your target market, they come to you. It’s about adding value and building long-term, profitable relationships rather than short-term, expensive encounters. Content marketing is also referred to as inbound marketing, which refers to the target market coming in. You don’t have to go out to find them.

When it comes to content, quality is fundamental. Keyword stuffing has absolutely no place here. The better the quality of your content, the higher your website will rank. All of the content on your website pages and blog should be solving something for your target market. Is your business the solution/answer to their problem/question?

Blog

The first thing that people typically think of when thinking of content is a blog. It is indeed one of the most important ways for businesses to publish content, so it needs a lot more attention than perhaps most businesses give to it. You may have heard that having a blog will help your business, but you’re not sure how. Well, the contributions that you make to your blog will, over time, increase your website’s credibility as a solution to search queries. But don’t just start a blog, add one or two articles and expect it to make a difference. You need to constantly be adding to your blog, which, in turn, should constantly be adding value to your target market. You need to put a content strategy. So what content will your blog have and, of utmost importance, what keywords will your blog be focussing on?

Keywords

Your keywords are just that – words that are key to your business. If you are struggling to come up with a list of keywords then try doing a bit of a mindmap. Start with one or two keywords that are core to your business. For example, if you’re a sweet shop then obviously one of your keywords would be sweets. What sweets? Candy, chocolates, ice cream, nougat, etc. Once you start, you’ll find it easy to come up with keywords and link them all together. Google even helps you by giving you suggestions. Don’t try to deviate too much and remember to always put yourself in your target market’s shoes. Keywords are key when it comes to SEO and content marketing, so spend a bit of time making sure you’re focussed on the right keywords.

Website

While your blog absolutely must integrate as many keywords as possible, it is just as important to make sure your blog content is consistent with your website copy content. Consistency and quality are what you need to be striving for. As tempting as keyword stuffing is, the easy way out never results in success at the end of the day. Your website and blog should work together to provide the target market with solutions. They should definitely not be seen as entirely different entities.

Conclusion

So now you see, SEO and content marketing really do work together. As Frank’s song goes: “Try, try, try to separate them; it’s an illusion.” Don’t kid yourself into thinking you can do digital marketing without SEO or without content marketing. You need both. Share your thoughts and don’t delay in getting in touch if you think we can help you with your SEO and content marketing.