SEO and Content Marketing — the Winning Combination for Outstanding Web Traffic and Sales

Search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing are two disciplines that weigh heavily into how successful an online business can be. It was SEO that first received all the praise and was touted by marketing agencies as the most powerful form of marketing and the best way to dominate Google's Search Results.

In the last decade, however, content marketing was adopted by agencies as an unbeatable tool to increase conversions. Some experts went as far as predicting that content marketing would overtake SEO.

In reality, the two disciplines complement each other and can be used to achieve a well-rounded and profitable online presence. Before we dive deeper into how exactly to achieve that, here are some quick definitions for both terms:

1. SEO encompasses a variety of technical methods designed to help websites attract more quality traffic.
2. Content marketing focuses on boosting sales through high-quality copy that resonates with specific audiences.

In other words, SEO caters more to search engines, while content is human-oriented. In this article, we’ll debunk the myth that one is better than the other. We’ll also show you how technical SEO and holistic, human-focused content marketing can be a winning combination for achieving outstanding web traffic and sales.

1.) Create Content That Is Both Keyword-Rich and Unique

It used to be that content was simply an SEO vehicle. Content creators were more preoccupied with including the right keywords in their copy and less with the quality of their work. Now, SEO is strategically incorporated into content. This SEO-friendly content not only helps a website rank higher but also easily converts traffic into profits.

According to a 2019 BrightEdge report, Organic Search is the largest source of revenue. Most sales start with a person typing words and phrases into their search bar as opposed to clicking on an advertisement.

Here’s how to create content that can help you get discovered online, gain conversions and earn more revenue:

1. Use analytic tools to find out: a.) industry-specific keywords that convert; b.) what your target audience want to learn more about; c.) what type of content and keywords work for your competitors.
2. Create in-depth content on those topics and use your keywords naturally a few times throughout the copy. The word count can greatly impact the search traffic, so consider writing longer content.
3. Analyze data and assess if your old content matches user intent, which is now one of Google’s primary ranking factors. If your ideal audience is typing a specific, long-tail keyword like “climate-controlled storage units in Connecticut,” they are most likely ready to rent one. Your content should help them learn more about how these units work and how much they cost, not walk them through the history of self-storage in America.

2.) Enhance the User Experience

In order to understand what your website is about and to gather more intel about user behavior, search engines deploy an army of robots (called crawlers or spiders) to do the legwork for them.

This is where SEO comes into play to satisfy robots’ and humans’ desire for web structure. The first group uses off-page SEO elements to better index your pages and deem them worthy of being displayed higher in search results. The second group depends on site structure and on-page elements to quickly and seamlessly reach their end goals of purchasing something or taking other actions that could solve their pain points (e.g., downloading a document or subscribing to a newsletter).

A couple of ways to ensure your website is organized for maximum traffic and conversions:

1. Remove broken links and fix error codes.
2. Rewrite URLs to avoid the “spammy” look. Use hyphens to separate words, include keywords and remove any redundant elements. This URL from Americaneagle.com meets all these requirements: https://www.americaneagle.com/expertise/strategy-insights
3. SEO-optimize your metadata. This means including keywords in meta descriptions, meta titles, and ALT tags to increase the click-through-rate (CTR) of your web pages.
4. Use on-page elements like header tags (H1-H6) to help users scan your content and add call-to-action (CTA) buttons to make them easily understand conversion steps.
   

3. Build a Solid Link Foundation

Links are another essential SEO component with significant digital marketing value, but they can only achieve their potential through amazing content.

Each linkback you receive from authoritative sites represents a small SEO victory. In the eyes of search engines, those platforms are “lending” you some of their trustworthiness, which means you are eligible for a bump in rankings.

Acquiring enough quality backlinks requires a lot of research and outreach. You could, for example, reach out to website owners in your industry. A faster, more efficient way is to publish incredibly valuable content that everyone wants to link back to.

Examples of “highly linkable” content include tutorials, resource guides, white papers, infographics, case studies, podcasts, demos, eBooks and listicles.

While these content assets don’t have a direct commercial purpose like your product pages, they support your sales efforts in a variety of ways:

1. By generating more website traffic for landing pages.
2. By increasing brand exposure. The more familiar you are to customers, the higher the chances you’ll become their go-to brand for the types of products you’re marketing.
3. By strengthening your brand reputation. White papers and case studies, in particular, are great at placing yourself as an industry leader. 

Link building is not a one-and-done. Be intentional on weaving together SEO and content marketing and, in time, your diligence will be repaid with recurring revenue.

There’s more to discover about how SEO and content marketing can be used to help your business achieve digital maturity, but it’s better when you have that conversation with an expert. At Americaneagle.com, we have a team of digital marketing wizards who produce tangible results for companies like yours. Browse our full digital services and contact us to set up a winning plan.