"What is the role of SEO in content marketing?" Usually this question is followed by another question that sounds like: "How can SEO and content marketing work together to achieve success."
When SEO is one thing, the other would be content marketing. SEO should be viewed as something that reinforces content marketing. While the two can benefit each other when working together, things may go wrong if they don't follow the same thought.
This is because SEO and content marketing that share the same philosophy, but have different character.
Talking about those two, they are like two different traits that lie inside one person. They don't often line each other by much because they think they have the best strategy around. But the thing is, the two correspond each other.
Having the two to work together can result a marketing success. This is because by working seamlessly, they can create a better strategy than when they're working on their own.
But if they're left without proper guidelines, there is a chance that they will turn a good strategy into a cumbersome failure.
Working Together, As Early As Possible
Yes they're different. But they share the same strategy. And what is that strategy?
SEO should participate in content marketing, even before the decisions about content creation are made. To eliminate their differences, putting the two together can create a campaign that should work well by combining their common strategy, aimed towards one common goal.
First up is SEO. It's not just about keywords research and optimization. It's also about researching about potential audience and the competition. Content marketing on the other hand, is not just about the way for creating a compelling article. It's also about other forms of online contents that evolve around popular keywords.
Now we know that keywords is something they have in common, it's time to put it into a good use.
Research with the aid of analytics data, SEO and content marketing will give the ability to answer the following:
- What keywords can best describe a website and its pages?
- What are the strategies and chances to get good results using those keywords?
- How are the potential visitors? What are their demographics?
- What do they want? What are they searching for?
- What search engine do they use?
- What do they have in common? Anything specific?
- How do they behave when browsing?
- What attracts them the most? Can the answers be delivered this way?
- What psychology approach can affect them?
- What are their problems? How can they be solved?
- What are the answers? Can they be provided?
- Are there any untold questions they may not want to ask?
- How can they relate their question to the given answer? How well will they accept those answers?
- Are those people willing to give their trust?
- Who are the competitors? How good are they in the business?
- Etc..
Related: Turning Your Available Data To Create A Powerful Content Strategy
Analysis To "Read" Their Minds
SEO is one and content marketing is another. Having the two to work closely together in a smart way, can create the illusions that will make customers believe that you can read their mind. This is because you can give them the exact thing they want.
While "mind reading" seems to be magic, the magic you're making is logical: it starts brewing by the time you create and compile your analysis data. It all comes down to personalizing experience based on the data you have.
Using SEO, you’ll understand what keywords are typed into search engines as this will reveal people's intentions. With the information, you can then use your content marketing strategy to tailor your content plan and build your base upon it. Long-tail keywords provide more granular information that allows contents to be more specific, relevant and tightly focused on delivering answers.
With SEO and content marketing together, you can predict their questions and answer them before doubts pop up in their minds. By having predictions based on keyword research to uncover customer intent, you can incorporate the element of psychology into your content, which will certainly impress and delight your customers.
Like for example by putting some fun factors in your contents.
The smart way of making SEO and content marketing to work together is by analysis. With this, you can create a typical user profiles and populate them with data of their behavior, needs, interest and problems. The data that comes out will ease you in creating your future marketing strategy.
In short, you are able to know what your customer wants, and tailor your content to meet their needs.
Creating Relationship With Contents
Your content can cover a broad term of subject. It can be a sophisticated piece of art, or a compelling one with the ability to go viral. Either one, you shouldn't just be pleased with that.
Your content should cover keywords that you want to target in a certain density. Using a proper writing and knowledge about a given subject, your already attractive content must be able to bridge communication in a manner that resonates to a deeper level.
What this means is that your content that answers people's questions, should also be able to guide them along the path that adds value, advice and assistance. It should have the power to built confidence, trust and assurance by showing empathy and acknowledgement to their given problem, even before they're explicitly answered.
Here we understand that customers' needs come first. Everything you have to provide should benefit them, and not yourself.
All that are aimed for one ultimate goal: making a content that is both remarkable and memorable that you audience could not afford to lose or ignore.
Further reading: Inbound Marketing To Approach People Even When They're Not Expecting You