It has been said that you can’t have one without also having the other: content marketing and SEO. Why is that exactly? Utilizing successful SEO tactics and techniques, content needs to be of high quality and provide value to the reader while also, and by natural inclusion, skillfully connect the reader to the business with words employed to strike at the core of the product or service the business offers. The goal, of course, is to entice the purchaser that whatever the company is selling is absolutely essential for the reader to have.
High Quality Content
Content that is of high quality and value to the reader is the most sought-after arrangement in the global world of marketing today. It is important to search engines, most notably Google who has, in the past, offered many updates to how web sites are scored and ranked in search results. Google’s Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird algorithm updates strive to make high quality text the winner every time in search-based results that want to be organic. After several years of “keyword stuffed” fluff and filler articles, the current mainstream endeavors to provide the highest value content to the consumer.
The Importance of SEO
While the practicing of stuffing as many keywords as possible into text (blogs, articles, etc.) has long been seen for what it is, that is not to say that keywords are not still useful; they are. Keywords play a fundamental role in optimizing your web page to help drive relevant traffic to your site, as well as on-page optimization which helps determine page rank.
The Hummingbird Algorithm
This release from Google addressed page rank requirements beyond the use of keywords. While it is true that greater emphasis is now placed on conversational and organic searches, the practice of targeting keywords is still seen as beneficial. While keywords should not be the sole focus of a content marketing strategy, they should necessarily be blended with titles, URLs, internal links, meta tags, etc.
Successful marketing efforts will incorporate the use of SEO keywords and optimization, along with high quality content text. This integrated effort is more likely to capture the attention of your target audience.