One question we get often when talking to business owners is. Should I invest in SEO or content marketing?
SEO VS. Content Marketing
The impressions seems to be that you have to make a choice between one or the other. Though SEO & local SEO was a booming business for many years, today it may be ineffective and dangerous, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. Google has been clear about SEO practices and tactics that violate Google guidelines. Google is constantly adjusting it’s algorithms so bad practices like buying links will actually do more damage than good. Yes, you can actually be blacklisted from Google.
Content Marketing is the creation of educational content for a specific buyer persona that moves a potential customer through the buyers journey or buying cycle.
The truth: Both content marketing and SEO are equally important in any marketing strategy. If there is a gap in one area, then you need to fill it with the other.
Content marketing is about brand building and creating ongoing quality educational content to support marketing and sales objectives. Doing it correctly means focusing on optimizing the quality content so it increases our chances of being found in search engines.
SEO plays an important role in content marketing by interpreting topics (keywords), content organization and messaging context to achieve rankings. When extended to the broader notion of content and optimization, it means furthering the goal of converting website visitors into customers – i.e. the analytics or performance of the piece of content as a marketing asset.
The Truth: The web is a very dynamic and competitive place. Having an integrated and combined approach of SEO and content can win.
Although producing quality content requires a different skill set than SEO does, it doesn’t mean you need to work with two separate companies. Make sure your go to internet marketing agency has the talent to produce engaging content and possess the proper knowledge in SEO to get you ranked.
By combining content production efforts with SEO efforts, you’ll be able to increase qualified search traffic at a faster pace.