There is one thing that will come to mind when you think of SEO VS content marketing. Of course, it is the comparison of the two marketing practices. However, we will be doing more than that in this article. Get ready to take a deep look at the importance of the two concepts.
Have you been searching for a good marketing strategy to promote your business? If that’s true, then you must have come across these two terms: “SEO” (search engine optimization) and “content marketing”.
However, most people are not sure about what they mean. If you’re one of those people, you’ve come to the right place. Here, we will discuss the concept behind both of these tools, compare them, and list the best tips for each.
SEO
First, let’s look at the definition itself. According to Search Engine Journal, SEO is “the practice of optimizing your website and its content in a way that it appears in search engine results more frequently.”
Essentially, you will be adding content to your website such as keywords. This will help your website to rank higher on search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Yandex, etc. In other words, your site or webpage will appear on the earlier pages of search results.
Applying Search Engine Optimization will help the search engine to go through and add more of your pages to its index. The result? Greater traffic!
Content Marketing
The dictionary describes Content Marketing as “a form of marketing in which online material such as articles, posts, or videos are produced for the public and does not openly promote a brand. It stimulates interest in people.”
The concept behind content marketing is to provide your audience with quality content that they can consume without worrying about purchasing your services since the material you provide is going to be free of cost.
Which Is Better?
With the definitions of both covered, let’s list some of the key elements of each. Keep this in mind about content marketing VS SEO: Over 70% of online marketers refer to content creation as their best SEO strategy. You will see the importance of this citation in the conclusion of this section.
SEO:
- Keywords
- High-quality links
- Optimized on-page elements (content, images, meta description, etc.)
Content Marketing:
- Catering to the target audience’s interests
- Market data research
- Set guidelines
Which one is superior? The answer is actually not binary at all. Both of these tools are essential for you and your business to thrive! If you want optimal results, you simply cannot miss out on either of them.
In fact, both of these tools work together in perfect harmony. SEO will get more people to visit your webpage and then it will be your content that retains the audience’s attention and makes them stay!
Tips for SEO & Content Marketing
Now that you know how important both of these types of marketing are, here are some of the best tips for both. For more tips, check out ‘SEO Strategy: 7 Steps to make a detailed plan.
1. Plan well, and make good content
Planning is 50% of your success. So make sure that you do it well. Plan for content that your audience is looking for to satisfy their needs. Then ensure that you can cover keywords with good search volume, but less competitive ones. You can take one of your competitor’s content as a benchmark, or goal. Use SEMrush for analyzing. Lastly, produce better content than the one that has a high ranking based on keywords.
2. Optimize for keywords
Most people know that using keywords is an essential part of SEO. However, you need to optimize your content with the natural usage of keywords. You should not overuse keywords. Remember, your content is for your visitors, not for the search engines.
For help with deciding which keywords to use, read ‘Keyword Research – Understand Your Target Audience’.
3. Link to other relevant sources
Link to other relevant sources in order to make your content more useful to target audiences. Even if the good resources are your competitors, make sure that are linking to relevant ones that have high-quality messages. The goal is to provide the best experience to your audience.
4. Reach out to get backlinks
Reach out to other bloggers in order to get links to your content, but don’t spam on others’ sites. Spamming is not SEO. Rather, conduct blogger outreach. You can find good bloggers with the aid of SEMrush. When you establish contact with them, try to convince them about how your good content can enrich the user experience of their audience. In that way, you will also get to build a community of bloggers.
5. Be Consistent
Consistency is the key to success. In the beginning, be consistent in the practice of creating good content that your target audience would always want to get more of. For example, you should publish content regularly by sticking to a schedule. Simply put, ensure that there is consistency in frequency and quality. Set a high standard and maintain it.
6. Use analytics data
As planning is the beginning, controlling is the end of this cycle. You need to be in control: continue what works; stop what failed. For this, you need to keep your eyes on analytics. Check to see if your content, links, etc. are working on not. Measure your progress in terms of the deadline you set for your goal. For example, you may be looking for X number of visitors within 2 hours of posting the content.
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Conclusion
In looking at SEO VS content marketing, you will realize that both SEO and Content Marketing are among the most effective marketing tools in this digital age. Succeeding in business without these practices is very difficult in today’s world. Utilize them properly in order to achieve the best outcomes.