Brands prioritize content more than ever. For The Drum’s Content Marketing in Focus, Connor Cohen (SEO & Content Executive at The Drum) explores why SEO is such a key component of content and how it can be integrated into a brand’s content strategy.
Content marketing has seen significant growth as brands produce creative content strategies that drive traffic, leads and conversions, while also growing their brand in different countries, through different channels, on different platforms.
One of the key pillars of building a content marketing strategy for the future is search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is crucial to a content marketing strategy because it helps people find your content on search engines, increasing its visibility.
Here we look at why SEO is important, how you can combine it with your content strategy, and our top five tips for creating a solid SEO strategy in 2023.
What is SEO and why is it important?
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SEO is the process of optimizing a website to improve its ranking on Google and increase the quantity and quality of traffic from search engines. This process is multifaceted: it includes various elements such as technical audits, link building, keyword research, content optimization and more.
The goal of SEO is to improve the visibility of your site; therefore, it is most important for brands looking to increase the amount of traffic to their website or those who want to position themselves as authoritative and trusted sources in their field or industry.
Why you should combine your content and SEO strategies
While SEO itself is an important distribution channel, it also plays a crucial role in improving the visibility of content on other channels. Here’s how some key elements of SEO can feed into your overall content strategy:
Keyword research
Before creating content, you need to recognize how a user will find your content. Keyword research is critical to understanding what terms your target audience searches for and how often they search for them.
Combining your SEO and content strategies can provide you with a list of keywords that you know your target audience uses to find similar content. You can then include the keywords from your research as hashtags on social media, in the descriptions of your video content or in the copy of your long-form blog posts.
Search intent
Along with understanding which keywords are used, incorporating SEO into your content strategy also allows you to determine the intent behind the keywords.
By understanding the user’s search intent, you can position your content to be most relevant.
For example, for informative content such as blog posts, finding the most relevant keywords with the correct search intent can give you the advantage over less optimized content, because Google’s goal is to present the user with the most relevant result for the query.
Content format & structure
Creating content in an optimized format and structure is another reason you should incorporate SEO into your content strategy.
Not only does SEO give you an idea of what content format is likely to yield the best results, eg guide, review, video, etc. to see your content.
5 key tips to creating a successful SEO content strategy in 2023
With 90% of marketers using a content marketing plan, brands are finally starting to prioritize content marketing and spend more on content creation across a variety of channels and platforms. With more competition, brands need to optimize their content to gain as much visibility as possible. This is why SEO optimization is essential.
Here are five tips that brands should consider when creating their SEO content strategy and aim to get more eyes on their brand.
1. Create video content
There are a number of reasons why video content marketing rules and how it has become one of the most effective forms of content to engage your audience. Short-form video is extremely effective on social media platforms and is one of the most important ways people consume content. This is why short form video has the best ROI compared to all other media formats and why social media platforms are focusing on the medium and investing heavily.
Consumers use video platforms both as a source of education and entertainment, and as search engines. Therefore, brands not only need to create video content that resonates with their target audience when they watch it, but they also need to prioritize SEO optimization to ensure that their content is easily found among a sea of other videos.
2. Optimize for voice search
The introduction of Siri and other voice assistants has forced brands to adopt innovative strategies to take advantage of new opportunities. With 27% of the global online population using voice search on mobile and over 4 billion voice assistants in use on devices around the world, brands that refuse to optimize their content for voice search are leaving a significant opportunity on the table.
There are several key aspects to voice search optimization, but one of the most important SEO elements when optimizing for voice search is Featured Snippets; a search result at the top of the search results page, specifically chosen by Google as the best answer to the user’s query.
Optimizing for Featured Snippets is good SEO practice in general, but the added importance of Featured Snippets for voice search means that brands that don’t optimize their content in this way are missing an opportunity to make their content more visible in people’s homes and on- movement.
3. Repurpose your content for different channels
Repurposing content involves recycling the content and transforming it for use on different channels. For example, converting a long form video into short videos or snippets for social media channels. It is a creative way for brands to create new content and helps reach different audiences who prefer different formats to consume media.
Other content ideas include turning a blog post or article into a video or social media thread, transcribing podcasts into blog posts, turning presentations into infographics, etc. Since there is an abundance of options, brands must ensure that they adapt the content. Style on the channel they are looking to use.
Some best practices when managing content include:
Prioritize popular, evergreen content.
Timing the release of repurposed content with trends, news and events.
Use visuals to give your content the best chance of being shared.
4. Optimize your site and improve user experience (UX)
Creating a successful SEO content strategy is built on the fundamentals of SEO, which is why it’s important to optimize your site.
Some of the most important SEO optimizations that brands should consider include:
Stemming from these optimizations are two key SEO principles to ensure a good user experience on your site and to make content as accessible as possible on mobile devices.
Mobile accounted for nearly 60% of global traffic in the first half of 2022 and is expected to be more popular than desktop for the foreseeable future. With social media and entertainment becoming so mobile focused, people are now consuming media on their mobile devices more than ever before. So, as the use of mobile devices continues to grow, a seamless mobile experience will be crucial in 2023.
5. Keep up to date with Google’s algorithm updates
Google is constantly updating its algorithms to deliver the best results for a search query. Most of these updates are minor, but major updates can have a significant impact on SEO and content strategies.
Google’s ‘Helpful Content Update’, released in September 2022, is a prime example of this. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) content has grown in popularity as it has allowed brands and writers to streamline the content development process. Google’s response to this was the ‘Helpful Content Update’ designed to devalue automated content and prioritize people-first content.
We don’t know what algorithm updates Google has planned in the future, but make sure you stay up to date as it can help you understand why your content isn’t performing as you expected.
Key takeaways
Visit our Content Marketing in Focus Hub for more news, insights, and strategies around content marketing.
With SEO tools, you can see what new and existing keywords your competitors are ranking for. You can then add these terms to your own list, use the tools to identify related keywords, and even consider expanding into new markets. SEO tools like SEMrush are capable of generating thousands of keyword ideas at once.
What improves SEO?
Follow these suggestions to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) and see your website rise to the top of search engine results.
- Publish relevant, authoritative content. …
- Update your content regularly. …
- metadata. …
- Have a link-worthy site. …
- Use alt tags.
What are the three stages of ranking?
The three stages of ranking are: discovery, relevance and authority.
How many stages are there in the Tour de France? Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists of 21 stages, each day long, over the course of 23 days, including the Bastille Day holiday. It is the oldest of the Grand Tours and generally considered the most prestigious.
How many stages are there in the Tour de France 2022?
There are 21 stages: 6 flat stages. 7 hilly stages. 6 mountain stages with 5 summit finishes (La super Planche des Belles Filles, Col du Granon, Alpe d’Huez, Peyragudes, Hautacam)
How long is the 2022 Tour de France?
The Tour de France 2022 is 24 days long. There will be one stage per day and three remaining days will be contested.
How many stages do you need to win the Tour de France?
This is the easy part: The famous yellow jersey. The individual rider who has the lowest combined time over the course of the 21 stages wins the overall race – the General Classification (GC). Each stage is started from start to finish, and essentially every kilometer counts towards the final prize.
Who won stage 3 of the Tour de France?
Dylan Groenewegen wins the 3rd stage of the Tour de France; Peter Sagan angry.
Who won today’s stage of Tour de France 2022?
| data | 7-7 |
|---|---|
| start â finish | Binche à Longwy |
| Results | read more |
| winner | Pogacar |
| leader | Pogacar |
Who won the 3rd stage of the Tour de France today?
Dutch sprinter Dylan Groenewegen took victory in stage 3 of the Tour de France on Sunday, pipping Wout van Aert to the line, but the Belgian retained the race’s yellow jersey.
Who won stage 4 of the Tour?
Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar) edged out Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Dylan Teuns (Israel Premier Tech) to win stage four of the Tour of Britain from a four-man breakaway.
What is stage 3 of the Tour de France?
Stage 3 brings the 2022 Tour de France to Jutland – a large peninsula that is home to mainland Denmark – for another stage that is expected to end in a field sprint.
What is the toughest stage of the Tour de France?
Of the three, stage 17 is most likely the hardest, with more climbing, fewer kilometers, and a tough summit finish in Peyragudes. The stage begins with a long false flat that grinds to the base of the first climb of the day, the category 1 Col d’Aspin (12km @ 6.5 percent).
What does stage mean in Tour de France?
The modern editions of the Tour de France consist of 21-day long segments (stages) over a 23-day period and cover approximately 3,500 kilometers (2,200 mi). The race alternates between clockwise and counter-clockwise circuits of France. There are usually between 20 and 22 teams, with eight riders in each.
Where is stage 3 of the Tour de France?
Tour de France 2022: Stage 3 (Vejle > Sønderborg)
Why is SEO important for business?
SEO has great benefits for websites and can lead to long-term exponential growth. Brands that invest in SEO can build credibility and trust with audiences, making it a pivotal part of a digital marketing strategy.
How does SEO affect your business? How does SEO affect businesses? Search engine optimization affects businesses by improving your ranking in relevant search results. With a high enough ranking, such as on page 1, your company can use SEO to bring qualified traffic to your site, which can lead to more leads, sales and revenue for your business.
What is SEO & Why is it important?
SEO stands for search engine optimization – the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. The ultimate goal of SEO for businesses is to generate organic traffic – searchers who click on your website from a search engine results page (SERP).
What is SEO and why do I need it?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In the simplest of terms, good SEO optimizes your visibility online. This means that the more people see your website, the more your online traffic will increase, and the better your chances of offering your product or service to a larger number of people.
What is SEO checklist?
On page SEO checklist. On-page SEO is the process of optimizing the actual content on your page. It includes optimizations for searchable content and content in the source code. Let’s see how to do it.
What is SEO on-page checklist? On page SEO checklist. On-page SEO is the process of optimizing the actual content on your page. It includes optimizations for searchable content and content in the source code.
What is technical SEO checklist?
Technical SEO is an integral part of any SEO strategy, therefore the site must meet all the recommendations of search engines. The technical audit checklist includes various aspects to analyze and rank the technical parameters of website content and structure.
Quels sont les 3 piliers du SEO ?
This strategy is based on the 3 fundamental pillars of SEO, which are technique, content and notoriety.