There is no reason to doubt the fact every webmaster and online marketer dreams of achieving high organic traffic through SEO. Indeed, search engine optimization has always been the puzzle that many have tried to crack through the years, with arguably less success than failure (no thanks to Google’s staunch practice of keeping the function of their algorithms a secret). Nonetheless, they do release official guidelines that webmasters need only to stick to in order to adhere to the said algorithms, and in turn, enjoy high rankings in the SERPs.
Most of them, for one, would advise you to ensure that your content is highly relevant to your niche and engaging to your target audience. Content – that is the keyword that pretty much generates the innate synergy between general SEO and content marketing. Of course, in order to establish a deeper connection between the two, it’s vital to gain a clear definition of what content marketing is.
What Exactly is Content Marketing?
Defined in brief, content marketing is a type of online marketing that is centered on creating and distributing content that would immediately cater to the needs of your target audience. It’s important to emphasize the phrase “cater to”, as it readily underscores the need to ensure quality in any content that you choose to share with your visitors. It is concerned more with identifying what your current customers need rather than exercising efforts to create a new interest for them.
It is no secret that a lot of webmasters only ever focus on the technical aspects of SEO to try to rank a web page, disregarding the quality of its content. Mind you, a lot of them do succeed. However, their triumph is bound to be brief, as evidenced by the number of businesses that have been blasted to SERP oblivion simply due to a recent algorithm update.
Websites and online businesses – at least, the ones that are serious in establishing a good reputation and raising brand awareness – realize the value of content marketing, which, through its focus on value, is able to effectively:
- Increase and diversify a site’s audience base.
- Help it gain a following of loyal users.
- Boost its brand awareness.
- Aid an online business in increasing profits.
- Save on future costs.
A Union between the Two is Lovely (and Near Perfect) in Google’s Eyes
After all, what could Google possibly ask more from a website that is built on the premise of providing consistent, high-quality content to its users? In fact, many experts even go so far as to say that they are actually the same. Indeed, this may not have been the case in the past, but the lines separating the two are surely becoming blurred, especially when one is to consider the direction Google’s algorithms are evidently headed.
Most on-page factors (e.g. site architecture, page titles, descriptions, visual content, relevance, to cite the most important) that you should pay attention to can all be covered if you are able to successfully plan and execute an excellent content marketing strategy.
Additionally, SEO’s narrower, more technical approach greatly complements content marketing’s more holistic methods. These seemingly contrasting qualities actually provide a balance for a webmaster’s actions in the long run and undoubtedly give long-term goals more clarity. In the end, their marriage is nothing short of necessary, since how can content marketing strategies ever succeed if they’re not guided by SEO principles and applied with SEO methods in mind? In the same way, SEO campaigns can never truly acquire the direction they need without the focus that content marketing brings to the table.
Content Marketing Helps You Understand Your Audience Better
This is pretty much another important aspect of this kind of marketing that makes it invaluable and indispensable in nearly any SEO campaign (at least, the ones that actually lean more towards long-term, sustainable rankings). After all, it also focuses on finding out just who your audience really is. It helps you gain a clear definition and understanding of their needs and wants. When it comes to the content that you create for them, not only is content marketing an important aspect of on-page relevance and engagement, but it would definitely be crucial in boosting conversions as well.
Content Marketing Helps You Plan Your Content (and SEO) Better
As said above, content marketing basically serves as the driving hand of SEO, especially when it comes to on-page factors. Once you become familiar with your audience, it would be easier for you to start creating content that would resonate with their needs. Should you opt to include more videos and infographics? Do they prefer to have podcasts and Q&A’s?
Keeping your audience engaged and making sure that your site is properly optimized in all its on-page SEO aspects are but two of the primary aspects that should be integrated in your plan. Of course, the chances of your success can also be raised by introducing innovations that stand out from the competition. And, the more unique and special your site’s content becomes to your audience, the more value Google and other search engines would certainly place on it.
Google’s Rapidly Evolving Algorithms Dictate That Combining the Two is the Wiser Choice
Google’s perception of a site’s value (based on content) is fast-becoming a primary gauge of relevance to search queries, which would in turn directly influence its ranking. In fact, the rise of content marketing redeems the earlier discarded notion that content is king.
Even as of this writing, it has become readily apparent that Google’s algorithms are becoming sophisticated enough to place more importance on a site’s appeal to humans (again, based on its content) rather than relying solely on robotic, technical SEO to bring short term (and ultimately, shortsighted) results to those who employ them.
Are you disciplined enough to settle for nothing less than the best when it comes to content? This is but one of the many questions that you need to answer, for in the end, the challenge would surely lie in your ability to create consistently highly attractive and fresh content that your audience (and Google) would always love.