Small Business SEO and Content Marketing often considered two separate marketing concepts.
Search engine optimisation, a scientific approach to achieving high rankings in the results of Google, Bing, and other search giants, seems to contrast the more artful approach of content marketing, a technique meant to attract visitors to your site through quality content.
But in reality, the two concepts are interconnected.
If you want to successfully market your small business online, you need your SEO and content marketing efforts to integrate and work together. The two are made for each other, in more than one way.
Why SEO and Content Marketing Are Made for Each Other
The Myth: Content Marketing is the New SEO
Most marketers believe in the above dichotomy, which states that content marketing and SEO are mutually exclusive. Search engine optimisation requires building your site’s infrastructure around specific keywords and phrases, while content marketing relies on high-quality content that your audience will find relevant.
As Google continues to curb more traditional Search Engine Optimisation efforts that it considers ‘gaming the system’, a plethora of ‘experts’ consider the concept to be dead and content marketing to be overtaking it as the most reliable way to gain website visitors. That statement, however, is a myth. The two concepts are alive and well, not just coexisting but relying on each other for success.
The Differences Between Content Marketing and SEO
The reason the two concepts are so interconnected is surprisingly simple: they share a single goal, which is to bring visitors to your website. That doesn’t mean, however, that they are identical; Search Engine Optimisation and content marketing have their differences, which can best be summed up as such:
- SEO is more technical than content marketing, and needs to be integrated into your website’s structure. It also has a narrower focus of gaining exposure specifically through search engine results.
- Content marketing is more holistic than SEO, seeking to draw in visitors not just through search engine results but other channels, as well. High-quality content matters just as much as high traffic, as content marketing is often used as a means for lead generation.
And yet, despite these differences, the two concepts are closely related. In fact, as the next two sections will show, their mutual success depends on each other.
Driving Small Business SEO Success Through Relevant Content
If the goal of your small business Search Engine Optimisation efforts is to drive visitors, content marketing can help you get there. As mentioned above, Google has spent years trying to optimise its algorithm to prevent marketers from gaming the system. Its goal is user experience, which means showing content not because it’s optimised for a key phrase but because it’s actually relevant to a search term.
That’s where content marketing enters the equation. Google takes metrics like social shares, links to your page, and average length of time spent on your page into account when calculating page relevance, which means that content which engages your visitors will rank higher in search results. If you’re optimising your website for specific keywords, it needs to include high-quality, relevant, and current content.
Driving Content Marketing Success Through SEO Strategy
The same success dependency is true the other way around, as well. To successfully engage your audience and convert visitors into leads, your content marketing needs to be strategically driven. Writing about topics that your audience is interested in through a unique lens and angle is a sure-fire way to get your audience interested in your website.
But how can you get there? Ultimately, using your SEO insights helps. Keyword research may reveal that most users search for a specific topic within your industry, which gives you direction on what your next blog post or long-form white paper should be about. As an added bonus, writing on that topic also improves your SEO.
Integrating Search Engine Optimisation and Content Marketing
In short, small business Search Engine Optimisation and content marketing are inextricably linked. Both are necessary for the other’s success, providing both strategic direction and the ‘meat on the bones’ to successfully rank highly on Google and engage your target audience with your content.
To be successful in one, you need to prioritise the other. And to integrate both, you need a professional partner that can both build you an SEO-friendly website, and provide you with the content marketing framework to power it on a consistent basis.
As you can see Small Business Search Engine Optimisation and Content Marketing are really made for each other.
Once you’re ready to integrate your SEO and content marketing efforts and maximise your digital brand exposure, contact us.
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