How SEO and content marketing work together

SEO and content are like yin and yang. Because content marketing doesn’t work without the right search engine optimization, and vice versa, SEO is useless if the content doesn’t target what ultimately matters: Your target group.

So when SEO and content marketing are aligned, they are the dream team of a good marketing strategy that will achieve visible success.

We will show you how SEO and content marketing differ and how to use the differences so that they work together optimally and form a successful symbiosis.

Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, involves optimizing websites and your content (content to be precise) so that they are visible in the search results of Google and Co.

The goal is for the optimized website to appear as high up in the rankings as possible. Because let’s face it, how many times have you browsed past the first or second page of your search queries and even ended up on page 3+?

SEO
is therefore important for any website. Because searchers can’t become customers if they don’t see your content in the first place. Even though they would actually be the perfect provider.

A good SEO strategy includes not only technical SEO and off-page SEO, but also on-page SEO. And this is where content comes into play. Good content and constantly optimized content ensure that the target group feels addressed.

Keyword stuffing, i.e. the excessive use of keywords, and thin content, i.e. irrelevant content without added value, are not only not up-to-date, but also do not bring success.

So the goal must be to create SEO content that satisfies users. Appearance Content Marketing.

We should be honest: Technical SEO is the only way to gain a competitive advantage these days. Experienced SEOs have known this for a long time, but beginners are often not aware of it. Information about technical SEO is widely and freely available. Technical SEO is the mandatory program that Google evaluates when creating the top 10 rankings on the search results page. No more and no less!

The real edge over the competition lies in successful content marketing. Ultimately, the content must satisfy the user’s search intent. If this is not the case, a page will quickly fall out of the top 10 search results. A technically perfectly optimized site will not be successful if the content does not satisfy the visitors. With a technically well-optimized website, significant growth is therefore achieved primarily through successful content marketing.

Content marketing
is the creation, publication and distribution of online content. This can be anything from blog posts to videos to podcasts that can be found as content on the Internet.

The goal of content marketing is not to sell anything. First and foremost, the content should inform, advise and/or entertain. The promotion of a product or service takes place discreetly in the background.

Good content accompanies users on their customer journey and provides relevant information at every step. This is how interest is aroused, commitment is brought about and trust is gained. Only then do users become customers.

There are different directions that content marketing can take in its engagement with users. To do this, the company must set its personal goal. Is the content meant to entertain and thus make the company better known? Or should it be advisory and informative content?

Now we know what SEO and content marketing stand for in detail. They are different, yet there is some overlap. But before we go into how the interplay between SEO and content marketing works, let’s explicitly outline the differences:

• SEO attracts targeted traffic to a website. Means that with the help of SEO exactly those users arrive at a website who have also searched for its offer.
• Content keeps a user on the page, informs them and thus turns them into a customer. However, content marketing is not necessarily about showing sought-after content. Entertaining content, for example, has often not been actively searched for, but has definitely generated interest.

These differences are exactly where SEO and content marketing can support each other to achieve impressive success.

At the beginning of this post, it was said that SEO and content marketing are like yin and yang. So where do they intertwine? What can you do to ensure your content is SEO optimized and your SEO includes relevant content? We give you the most important tips.

There’s no question that high-quality content – whether it’s your blogs, articles, landing pages, or sales websites – gives you a distinct advantage in search results.

The quality of the content is undoubtedly one of the decisive factors that make the success of your SEO measures, if not the decisive one.

Whether you are relevant to a user’s search query and whether you are making a valuable contribution to their life or just taking up their time.

• How long users stay on your website – do they read the full blog?
• Are they combing through your other content?
• Do they visit your “About Us” page and take note of your services/products?

Your content should also prove that you are trustworthy.

All these crucial signals you send to your potential customers stand or fall with the content of your website and its quality.

No one who deals with SEO content can avoid keywords. Keyword tools like SEMrush, SISTRIX or Google Search Console help to find the best keywords. It is important to define a main keyword that the text will deal with. In addition, you should select some secondary keywords that might be equally relevant to the search and complement the main keyword. Content can be optimized based on these keywords.

Here the main keyword should be mentioned:

1. in the H1 and other subheadings (but not too often)
2. in the introduction
3. in the metadata
4. in the alt text of images and videos

First and foremost, the keywords provide the relevant traffic. Ensuring that users find your content, click on your website, and ultimately take advantage of your offer.

So your content should contain enough keywords to be visible. The art of good SEO content now consists of ensuring that the content is also interesting and offers the user added value.

Due to the abundance of content and offers floating around on the Internet today, most consumers do very thorough research. This means that potential customers don’t buy the first thing they see just because the website is high up in Google search results.

While a good ranking is very important, it is far from a buying decision. 55% of all buyers rely on the content of their search queries and base their purchase decision on them.

Now that your content has landed as high as possible in search results and has been clicked on by users, the next step is to keep them on the site. For good SEO content to inform, advise and entertain, it should meet the criteria of content marketing.

Of course, these criteria should also be used wisely. The goal should be to build holistic content.

Holistic content is content that deals with a topic holistically and in detail. To do this, you first need to put yourself in your target group’s shoes and find out what information is important to them. What are the problems to be solved?

Extensive research is absolutely necessary for this. Look at what the competitors write and search for relevant information…. An intensive research saves time and work later.

The text structure of holistic content should also be holistically structured. In practice, this means:

1. Clear structure
2. adequate headlines
3. sensible sections
4. Listings
5. bold words
6. an appealing design with the help of pictures, graphics or videos

Your content should have a pleasant reading flow that is in no way interrupted by keyword stuffing. Through well thought out and written content, you will meet the criteria of content marketing and possibly even make your website the go-to site for your industry.

It is also important for users that good content on your website is not a one-hit wonder. To build trust and authority, you should regularly publish high-quality and relevant content. This way, users know that they need to visit your website when they are looking for information.

This includes optimizing existing content on a regular basis. Some topics don’t become obsolete, they just need a little refreshing from time to time. You should ask yourself questions like: Are the right keywords still included? Has my target audience changed, if applicable? Has my written content developed into an additional topic in the meantime? And should this be merged into the existing text or is it worth its own post?

Google wants to present its users not only high-quality content, but also up-to-date content. So use your content marketing to optimize your website for search engines.

It is also important for users that good content on your website is not a one-hit wonder. To build trust and authority, you should regularly publish high-quality and relevant content. This way, users know that they need to visit your website when they are looking for information.

This includes optimizing existing content on a regular basis. Some topics don’t become obsolete, they just need a little refreshing from time to time. You should ask yourself questions like: Are the right keywords still included? Has my target audience changed, if applicable? Has my written content developed into an additional topic in the meantime? And should this be merged into the existing text or is it worth its own post?

Google wants to present its users not only high-quality content, but also up-to-date content. So use your content marketing to optimize your website for search engines.

A snippet is the short summary of a website that appears on the search results page (SERPs) of Google and Co. It is the preview of the website, so to speak, and most importantly, it is the first thing users see of your website. Before you can convince with the content of your website, the snippet must make the user curious and show that you provide the answer and solution to his search.

The snippet should already answer the following questions for the user:

Your task is to answer these questions clearly using the URL and metadata, i.e. title tag and meta description. You should note that the text length is limited: For the title you have 50 to 60 characters including spaces, for the description 140 to 156 characters including spaces.

URL: The URL is composed of the domain and the main keyword. It is important to determine the main keyword, otherwise a cryptic string of numbers will take its place. And that doesn’t inspire much confidence.

Title tag: Here you show the reader what to expect on your website. So, you should summarize the theme of the website in a few informative words. Also, the main keyword should definitely be mentioned here.

Meta description: The meta description is about summarizing the content of the page again for the users and at the same time arousing their curiosity with just a few words. Show here what makes your company special.

Our tip:
Work in the meta description with selected special characters and emojis that fit the topic. How to draw attention to your snippet

Content marketing and SEO are different and are usually considered separately, but those who understand how the two work together have found a real recipe for success.

So to market your business and website as successfully as possible, you should always consider the dream team of SEO and content marketing as one. Use a good SEO strategy to optimize your website and content and make it visible to your target audience. And develop a content strategy that delivers relevant topics to this target group and ensures a distinctive customer journey.

The most important thing should always be: Think about your users. Inform them, solve their problems and thus turn users into customers.