A few things come to mind when you think of improving your content’s or blog’s digital presence, such as improving the SEO of your website or creating quality content. The issue with this approach is that you are thinking of SEO and content as two entirely different aspects.
In order to fetch the maximum potential of digital marketing, you have to combine SEO and content marketing. For an analogy, think of them as a keyboard and mouse. You can operate a computer with only a keyboard or only a mouse. However, when you use both of them, the working of the computer becomes a lot more efficient.
Before we get to the part where we explain how to utilize both of them for blog visibility, let’s revise the definitions of SEO and content marketing.
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization consists of a series of configuration steps that augment both the quantity and quality of online traffic to a website. It is a continuous process that requires you to constantly modify your website or content according to the change in latest trends.
SEO is impacted by various factors, such as:
Keyword Optimization
Content Relevancy
Time spent by users on a site
Backlinks
Mobile Experience
The list goes on. If you want a bit more detailed overview of what SEO is, click here.
What is content marketing
Content Marketing is a branch of digital marketing. It involves promoting an online business or website through content. This content usually refers to written content. That’s why content marketing usually means marketing via articles and blog posts.
The main goal of content marketing is to grab a retained audience by constantly creating valuable and up-to-date content. Blogs are the most effective in this regard.
Blogs are informational journals that are to be regularly updated. They usually provide insights or information about a certain online business. This information contributes to the promotion of an online business or brand.
Now that both SEO and Content Marketing have been briefly explained, let’s move on to the topic of how these two are related.
How does SEO impact content?
Let’s explain it this way. Writing content (to publish on the internet), such as blogs, primarily aims to gather an online audience that reads it. But in order to get that audience, this content needs to appear in search results. Otherwise, it won’t reach any audience at all.
But how do we do that? Yes, you guessed right: through SEO.
In other words, content is used to market things like an online product or a service. In contrast, SEO is used to market that content. You can’t simply write a piece of content, publish it online, and expect it to reach your targeted audience.
You have to optimize that content in such a way that it provides value both to your readers and to the search engine.
Now we will move on to the main focus of this article, which is to explain how to harmonize SEO and Content for maximum Blog visibility.
How to utilize SEO and content marketing to improve blog visibility
When creating a blog, you must keep multiple factors in check to keep its quality top-notch. In the following, we are going to explain some methods to do so.
1. Perform keyword research and integrate them into writing naturally
Keywords are the words or phrases that internet users insert in a search engine to get desirable results. Keyword selection and optimization provide the basis for a successful SEO plan.
75.5% of marketers use keyword research in creating content for consumers and businesses.
Before writing a blog about something, you have to find out relevant keywords. For this keyword research process, you can take assistance from the following tools:
Look for keywords for long-tail keywords that have a decent search volume. Long tail keywords mean specific searches consisting of sentences or phrases.
For example,
- Apple is a regular keyword
- What is an apple? Is a long-tail keyword
Many people do not use long tail keywords, but this means you will have less competition and can easily compete for the top spot.
Now that the SEO aspect is settled, let’s move on to content. How should these keywords become a part of your blog? First, you should know that search engines are very smart and advanced. So, tricks like keyword stuffing or keyword cannibalization don’t work anymore.
To put it simply, add keywords to your blog subtly and naturally. They should not disrupt the flow of your writing. They shouldn’t be too abrupt or forced. Otherwise, they might affect the reading experience, and also your content might get flagged as promotional.
The best technique to adjust keywords naturally is to first create a draft that is written without thinking about keywords at all. In other words, write compelling and relevant information for your audience. Once that is done, analyze your writing and see if there are any areas where there is capacity to add your keyword.
If you choose a relevant keyword, you will find multiple instances where it can be added to your writing. Just make sure that it doesn’t disturb the flow of sentences.
If you think about the instructions above, you will notice that how both SEO and Content can work together to yield desirable results.
2. Write content according to the intent of the topic
In the pursuit of creating search-engine-optimized content, never forget about the topic or the reason for your writing. When a user searches for something and comes across your content, he/she expects to find out the solution to whatever they searched.
If they see a bunch of unrelated keywords that don’t contribute to the problem’s solution, they will leave your site. That’s why you should always have the “Customer First” approach. This means that the satisfaction of your audience should be a top priority.
Given below is a comparison of how you should and shouldn’t write content.
- Let’s suppose you are writing a Blog about “10 Endangered Species.”
Correct outline:
- What are endangered species
- How do species become endangered
- List of 10 endangered species
Some people might find out that “instinct species” is a hot topic right now and make an article outline accordingly.
Incorrect outline:
- Endangered species that are now Instinct
- Species that have gone instinct in the past decade
- List of Endangered/Instinct Species
This is an utterly flawed approach. This might sometimes help you get ranked higher in search results. But your content will be completely irrelevant in those search results. You might even get clicks from some users, but once they realize that your content is not what they were looking for, they will skip it.
As a result, you will provide zero value to your audience, and sooner or later, the search engine will also catch up to the irrelevancy of your content. Once that happens, your blog will get immensely de-ranked.
In order to avoid such drastic consequences, you should always perform proper research prior to writing content. This will help you clearly understand the topic, and you will be able to write relevant and valuable blogs about it.
A good practice in this regard is to surf multiple sources to get maximum information. After that, you can mold that information with your own ideas and create a quality blog.
3. Write original and distinctive content
Google strictly prohibits unoriginal publications and has technologies to detect such content immediately. That’s why, while writing a blog, you have to ensure that your content is unique and original.
Such content can be structured with tons of research. Once you know everything about a topic, you can generate original ideas about it.
A popular term is used when talking about unoriginal or copied content that is plagiarism. Plagiarism is harmful to both SEO and content marketing. Hence, writers should always check for plagiarism before uploading content to any online source.
An effective method for this purpose is to use a plagiarism checker free. These tools are able to crawl the web and find matching content. Here is an example of one such tool showing the plagiarism report of an unpublished article:
As you can see, the article is original for the most part. That’s why it is suitable to be uploaded on the internet.
Because of the saturation of content on the internet, multiple writers or companies portray the same topic differently. In this sea of competition, only those prevail who write notable and distinguishing content.
Impact of originality on content marketing
Let’s think from a customer’s point of view. He might be looking for a solution to a problem on the internet. This means he will research multiple sources. If you have plagiarized or unoriginal content in your blog, the user might recognize it. If the user thinks you have copied someone else’s content, he will consider your work as non-credible.
On the other hand, original content might provide users with new ideas or solutions they haven’t seen anywhere else. Users will value such quality content, and your online awareness will increase.
Impact of originality on SEO
A search engine such as Google has various techniques to determine the authoritativeness and credibility of online content.
For example, if users come across your blog in the search results and spend considerable time there, Google will know that your content is relevant to the search query. As a result, it (Google) might rank your Blog higher in search results.
So, how can you make users spend more time on your Blog? The first and foremost step in this regard is to create distinctive content. Users are more interested in unique ideas and innovative content. Therefore, original content can drive an interested audience that will positively impact your SEO.
4. Solve reader’s query
As we have mentioned several times already, user satisfaction should be the top priority if you want to boost your blog visibility. Some people think that it is unrelated to both marketing and SEO. This is completely untrue.
Just remember that your goal shouldn’t be to appear higher in search results. As a starter, your goal should be to appear in relevant search results. You can only do this if you study your audience’s problems or queries properly.
During your research phase, look for various searches that your audience makes. After that, shortlist some of those searches based on the relevancy of your blog’s nature. Now, research multiple sources that appear in all those searches. This practice will help you get familiar with what your audience is interested in.
Once you are familiar with your customer’s preferences, start writing your blog. This blog should be written in such a way that it fulfills all the requirements of your users. Some additional factors to look for when trying to understand your online audience are:
- Age
- Gender
- Location, etc.
If your writing solves the problems of your users, then it will have innumerable rewarding effects, such as:
- Users might share your blog with others and improve your blog’s visibility. An online source says that 56% of consumers are influenced by posts shared by friends and family. (Content Marketing)
- Google might find out that you provide quality content and improve your ranking in organic search (SEO)
In this way, you bring the best of both SEO and content marketing together to get the most favorable results.
An additional perk of trying to solve a reader’s problem through content is that users might find your blog very useful. As a result, they might become regular visitors. In other words, you can gather a retained audience just by writing relevant content.
Final words
SEO and content marketing might be two different aspects of digital marketing. But when they are combined together, that’s when your online publications, such as Blogs, get the most recognition. That’s the reason why you should always create an online marketing plan that makes use of both SEO and content marketing in harmony.
To summarize, try your best to keep your audience satisfied and also keep track of the technical aspects of your creating content. In this way, you can use SEO and content marketing side by side and have a winning marketing strategy.