Content Marketing vs SEO
As the role of the internet in our lives continues to grow and evolve, it’s becoming more important than ever to ensure you’ve got your digital marketing strategy just right.
Of course, that’s easier said than done when there are tons of digital marketing approaches out there for you to choose from. How do you determine the best one? Do you have to choose just one?
We’ll answer these questions, among others, right here. In particular, we’ll be focusing on two very popular approaches to virtual marketing: content-based marketing and SEO.
Let’s explore content marketing vs SEO at length to get a comprehensive understanding of which one you need – and why both in combination are so great.
Definitions: what are content marketing and SEO?
Before we can dive into what separates content marketing from SEO, we’ve got to lay the groundwork. In this case, that means outlining exactly what both terms describe.
Content marketing
As the name suggests, content marketing focuses primarily on attracting leads and driving conversions using content. In particular, it’s all about creating loads of high-quality content that engages and interests readers, with the ultimate goal of converting more people into buyers.
Here are some of the types of content that this marketing tactic includes:
- Product descriptions
- Long-form blog posts
- Brief blog posts
- Social media posts
- ‘About’ and ‘brand story’ types of sections on a company’s website
- Advertisements
- Emails
- Newsletters
- Videos
- Infographics
- Case studies
- Podcasts
- Customer testimonials
Essentially, more is better with content marketing. However, it’s crucial to note that it’s not about just creating a glut of content with no substance. All content in content marketing should be high-quality and enriching to customers’ experiences.
For example, a podcast that simply says “buy our product” doesn’t count as content marketing. A podcast focused on discussing the features and potential uses of a product, as well as realistic evaluations of the pain points it addresses, would be a type of content marketing – this lets customers understand your product better and shows them why they should buy it.
SEO
Search engine optimisation, or SEO for short, is concerned with helping your web pages rank well in organic search results.
This sounds simple, but there’s really quite a lot to it. Here’s a quick overview of the main aspects of SEO.
On-page SEO
First, there’s the kind of SEO that’s concerned with everything you can see on a webpage, including written copy, images, videos, and the URL. This is called on-page SEO.
You may have noticed that since on-page SEO is concerned with content, it’s got some overlap with content marketing. We’ll come back to this point shortly!
Off-page SEO
This is completely different from content marketing. Off-page SEO focuses on creating backlinks on reputable and high-authority websites, such that search engine algorithms register that your pages should climb in search result rankings.
Technical SEO
This is also disconnected from content, as technical SEO is primarily concerned with ensuring that the invisible parts of your website work perfectly. For example, technical SEO might include optimising your pages’ loading time or ensuring they work well on mobile devices.
Local SEO
Lastly, local SEO is all about ensuring that your business ranks in the top three results for local searches. It involves enhancing your Google My Business page so you achieve that result, allowing your website and company to appeal directly to people searching for products or services close to them.
Differences between content marketing and SEO
Now that we’ve established exactly what content marketing and SEO are, it’s time to consider what separates the two.
Content marketing isn’t always SEO optimised
First and foremost, the two marketing tactics have different priorities. Content marketing strategies are mainly geared towards engaging with and drawing in prospective customers. SEO, on the other hand, involves balancing the interests of customers and algorithms.
As a result, pieces created for content marketing aren’t always SEO optimised.
For example, your newsletters might not contain enough hyperlinks and/or keywords for them to rank highly in search results, even if they’re included on your website. That’s because ranking well isn’t a core goal of content marketing – educating customers is.
SEO includes more than content
While content can certainly be SEO optimised, SEO as a practice extends well beyond content. As mentioned, it also includes local, off-page, and technical SEO, none of which are content-based.
This means that on the whole, SEO is a more expansive strategy that lets you diversify your approach more than content marketing does. Also, with SEO, you don’t necessarily have to create new content. That’s practically a requirement for content marketing.
Content marketing is aimed at humans
We’ve mentioned that SEO has to balance the needs of humans and algorithms. Content marketing, on the other hand, doesn’t really need to concern itself with what the algorithms do.
Sometimes, that even means the content you create has no important keywords in it. To any SEO marketer, that’s just about equal to blasphemy… but for content marketers, overusing keywords – even ones that do fit – would be worse.
SEO is more structured
When you’re working on an SEO campaign, there are set steps that you can follow to get good results. If you’re an SEO marketer by profession, you likely even have a personal plan that you follow every time to make sure you check all the right boxes.
Content marketing doesn’t work like that. You can’t simply create X amount of blog posts and call your content marketing complete – you need to craft the right quantities and types of content. The definition of “right” will vary per company, product, and project. It may even change over time!
Similarities between the two
With all of that said, content marketing and SEO aren’t so divorced as to have nothing in common. In fact, they share two very important similarities, as you can see here.
Both drive engagement
SEO is all about getting your pages seen by more people, as achieving higher search result rankings helps make that happen.
Content marketing is specifically focused on encouraging people to read, watch, look at, and engage with your content.
That means that both of these tactics are great tools to use when you want more people to take an interest in your brand. Without SEO, few people would see your website and engage with it; without content marketing, there’s no incentive for people to stay on your website.
Both establish your brand
When you create a lot of high-quality content that communicates important information to your customers, you’re also transmitting details about your brand identity. From the language to the tone, all written content can communicate a brand identity – and that also goes for visuals.
Meanwhile, SEO helps you create strong impressions in the minds of prospective customers who are interested in your niche. That’s because good SEO work will have you showing up in all kinds of relevant keyword searches, allowing you to establish yourself as a market leader and a brand worth knowing about.
Content marketing and SEO: one unified strategy
The logical answer to content marketing and SEO is that it’s less of a question of one versus the other, and more of a question of combining the two into one holistic approach.
Content and SEO
We’ve mentioned that content can be SEO optimised – so why not ensure that every high-quality piece you produce for your content marketing strategy is able to rank well?
By creating plenty of strong pieces of content, you can ensure that your brand identity is clearly communicated and your prospective clients have enough material to click on.
This lets you incorporate the strengths of both approaches into your marketing tactics.
Backlinks
In order for your web pages to rank highly, other domains have to link to you. It’s a good idea to give them incentive to do so; they probably don’t want to be associated with bare-bones websites that don’t enhance their own site visitors’ experiences.
So, to secure more backlinks for SEO, you need great content.
That content can be linked to directly, or it can be part of a larger effort to enhance the value of your website. If you can turn your site into a hub of information that’s presented in an engaging way and connects with your audience, you can prove to high-authority domains that you’re worth linking to.
Proper targeting
One great thing about SEO is that it mainly lets you target people who are already interested in your niche. You can tell that they’re interested based on the fact that they’re looking up keywords that relate to your business and its niche.
This means that SEO optimisations you make help you appeal directly to people who have already shown you, quite directly, that they care about your products or services.
And with content marketing, you can keep those people engaged.
If someone looks up your products or services and can then immediately read an interesting case study about how you helped an important customer, they’ll be more encouraged to become your customer. Content marketing is great for this.
Plus, it never hurts to answer customers’ questions in the form of well-crafted content – this prevents them from getting frustrated or having to call you to ask questions.
Final thoughts
Everyone needs digital marketing if they want their business to thrive in our increasingly digital world. But just saying that isn’t enough – businesses that want to do very well need to know which types of marketing they should use their precious time and resources on.
Content marketing and SEO are both strong marketing options. Together, they’re even stronger than they would be apart. That’s because they enhance each other’s strengths and let you shape your marketing campaign into a multifaceted effort.
By choosing to combine these two powerful strategies, you can stand out to your customers and rise above the competition. And if you convert interested site visitors into loyal customers in the process, that’s even more of a win for you!