A Guide to Content Marketing – SEO and Visibility

5th August 2024

One of the best things about introducing written content, such as blog posts, articles and copy, into your marketing strategy is the SEO advantages. SEO and content marketing work beautifully together to generate more traffic, increase conversions, and broaden your online visibility. 

It’s a match made in heaven, really. Wouldn’t you want to incorporate content if it can aid your SEO performance and help you get your name in front of people actively searching for what you do? For the second post of our content marketing series, let’s get into the nitty-gritty and talk about why content marketing is the perfect opportunity to leverage your SEO.

SEO and content marketing

To start with, we’ll give a brief overview of this juicy marketing duo. 

What is SEO?

If you weren’t sure, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. This marketing strategy is the process of optimising your website, both onsite and offsite, to boost its ranking position in search engine result pages (SERPs), like Google and Bing. 

The goal with SEO is to increase your site’s visibility and bring in more organic traffic by reaching the top of those results pages. It most likely goes without saying, but the top spot will get the lion’s share of clicks, so that’s where you want to be.

What is content marketing?

Content marketing involves creating valuable content that engages and informs audiences. The aim is to build trust with your audience and authority within your industry by proving yourself knowledgeable in your area of expertise. If done well, content marketing can widen your reach and create a loyal audience of brand advocates.

What’s the difference between SEO and content marketing?

Although they’re the best of friends, don’t be mistaken in thinking that the two are synonymous.

SEO is more technical. When using an SEO strategy, you’re optimising both the visible and invisible elements of a website (which is what we mean when we talk about ‘onsite’ and ‘offsite’). Content marketing, on the other hand, is all about visible content. 

Another key difference is the approach. Content marketing doesn’t really have a set path to success; strategies can wildly vary from brand to brand. Meanwhile, SEO is very structured (though with nuances from brand to brand), with steps that should be taken and an almost checklist-like structure. It’s more rigid, with best-practice rules to reach successful results.

How can content bolster SEO?

Content is a fantastic way to pad out a strong SEO strategy. Let’s talk about why. 

Search engine bots

It is key to understand that while content should be written for humans, search engine bots are going to have a look, too. Content can be crawled by these bots for information by search engines like Google and Bing. Bots are clever bits of software called ‘spiders’ or ‘crawlers’ that read your content and ascertain where you deserve to be in the search engine results. Content that isn’t optimised for SEO tends to be ranked poorly by bots. So, why is this?

Well, bots are like us, really. They want to digest information quickly and can get bored fast. This is why content needs to be well-written, interesting, and relevant. Otherwise, just like humans, bots will just get bored and stop reading, and, as a result, they won’t rank you as the top result to answer a search engine query. 

SEO optimisation

To get your content in a place to be loved by the crawlers, you need to optimise it. You can do this in many ways, including by adding keywords. For example, if you have a list of keywords from your SEO strategy, you can strategically write those keywords into content, almost like leaving little crumbs for the hungry bots to pick up. 

Though this seems like an easy thing, it’s important to remember that bots are smart. If you write something irrelevant (heck, even relevant) and shove as many keywords as possible into it, the bots are going to notice something is up. This is called keyword stuffing and should be avoided if you want search engines to favour your content. Be smart with your keyword placement, and don’t try to cram them all into one post. Content, like SEO, is a bit of a long game; multiple posts, each focusing on different keywords to topics, is a stronger approach than stuffing.

Online reputation

What do SEO and content have to do with reputation? Good question! Google’s latest algorithm roll-out focuses on bringing genuine, helpful, and quality content further into the light. In order for search engines to recognise you as a decent source of information, it is essential that they (the bots) see your content. If a search engine doesn’t deem you fit, you won’t be chosen for the top spots in the SERPs, meaning less visibility, which can lead to a stagnating reputation.

Combined with other marketing approaches, SEO and content can give you a leg up in the SERPs and increase digital footfall (visitors to your website). Relative to the search volumes behind your biggest search terms, more people will find your business when using search engines, widening your visibility and getting you more leads and recognition.

Driving traffic and conversions

Tying in with improving visibility and SEO performance is content marketing’s ability to improve conversion rates. As stated before, SEO can improve organic traffic to your website and digital platforms, but once a user lands on your site, then what? You need to ensure that your efforts to get people onto your website are of real value. If your content is engaging enough, it can work to turn that precious traffic into real-life conversions.

If what you’re showing your visitors is strong enough to encourage a choice or sway an opinion, you may see an uptick in conversions like sales or services (people calling your business for work, for example). Quality blog posts that answer questions, helpful videos about your products, articles that inform and teach, and much more can be utilised to gain trust. When you’re trusted, you’re more likely to become the answer they’re looking for when they start their search.

Aligning your content with your audience is key to increasing conversions, which is why developing a proper content strategy is key. Digital marketing agencies such as ourselves (hiya) can do this for you. Give us a call today at 01603 859007, and we’ll discuss how we can strategise content marketing and SEO to work for you.

Case study: Fuelsource

Our fab client, Fuelsource, is positive evidence of SEO-optimised content marketing in action. These guys are experts at fuel management and delivery, keeping businesses operating, and it’s our job to keep them operating in turn. Well, in the online marketing world, anyway. We use a strategy heavily involving SEO and content marking to get their business seen by the right people.

Fuelsource’s growth is a success story. Since October, when they started with us, the Fuelsource team has seen visibility and organic traffic grow by 48.72%, in part due to regular blog posts optimised with carefully chosen keywords. They’ve also moved up in the rankings, with one blog post currently sitting on page one of Google for one of their top keywords. As of writing this post, Fuelsource has also secured a knowledge panel on Google.

The content marketing and SEO partnership

These two digital marketing approaches were made for each other. Like Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, these two elements have their own strengths, but together, they’re a powerhouse. With Google’s March core update focusing so heavily on quality content, having content that is relevant and knowledgeable as well as optimised for search engines is a huge benefit for your online visibility. 

We are reaching a point in the digital marketing age where not having content is becoming unadvisable. If search engines are looking for solid content and you don’t have it, where does that leave you? More and more online businesses are turning to blog posts and articles to get in Google’s good graces, so don’t get left behind. It is no longer a question of ‘should I use content marketing’ but ‘when can I start’.

We happen to love content marketing here and respect the value it has on its own and when paired with SEO efforts. If you’re interested in boosting your brand or business through a bit of written content, don’t hesitate to give us a call. Whether you’d like content marketing combined with a digital marketing package or just content marketing on its own, we can make it happen for you.

Chat with our lovely team on 01603 859007, through our website’s live chat, or by using our simple enquiry form.