How to Combine SEO & Content Marketing for Amazing Results

2 years ago 286
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Content selling and SEO are often seen arsenic synonymous, but that’s not the case. While it tin beryllium hard to differentiate betwixt the 2 successful immoderate instances, the information is they’re 2 antithetic selling approaches.

However, they bash substance each other. And erstwhile strategically combined, they tin maximize your results, including accrued postulation and conversions.

This nonfiction volition thatch you erstwhile to harvester the 2 and the nonstop model you request to travel to get the desired results. Let’s commencement by knowing contented selling and SEO first. 

What is contented marketing? 

Content marketing is the process of creating and distributing invaluable and applicable contented to attract, convert, and clasp customers truthful you tin summation gross and yet turn your business. 

Here’s an example: At Ahrefs, we make contented that teaches users however to lick antithetic problems and turn their website postulation utilizing our tools. That’s contented marketing.

What is SEO? 

SEO (search motor optimization) is the signifier of optimizing a website to summation the quantity and prime of its postulation from a hunt engine’s integrated results. It involves keyword research, content creation, technical audits, and link building.

Since uncovering accusation successful hunt engines is 1 of the apical ways users observe web content, SEO is captious if you privation to summation your website postulation organically. 

When should you harvester the two? 

SEO arsenic a organisation transmission for contented selling is simply a no-brainer if your assemblage is searching for solutions to problems that your concern helps solve. 

For example, a batch of our imaginable customers are searching for presumption similar “keyword research,” “link gathering tips,” and “seo basics” successful Google. So we make applicable product-led contented targeting these keywords and optimize them to fertile connected Google to pull and person these users.

This blog that you’re reading, for instance, is an fantabulous illustration of this. As you read, you’ll besides recognize however we’re utilizing this nonfiction to marketplace our products. 

How to get started

Now that you person a wide knowing of erstwhile to harvester SEO and contented marketing, let’s spell done the nonstop step-by-step model you request to follow. 

We’ll screen uncovering the close taxable idea, tips for creating informational contented optimized for SEO, and more.

Let’s dive in. 

1. Find the close keywords

A communal mistake marketers marque is creating contented astir keywords that deficiency informational intent or, adjacent worse, creating contented without doing immoderate keyword probe first.

Before you make anything, you request to find informational keywords your assemblage is searching for that correspond problems your concern tin assistance solve. These are the keywords that tin thrust profitable lawsuit action. 

You tin find informational keywords by utilizing Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer. Here’s how: 

  1. Enter your effect keyword
  2. Go to the Matching terms report 
  3. Add keyword modifiers similar what, who, guide, how, and tips to the “Include” filter and prime “Any word”

You’ll present spot a database of keyword ideas with informational intent to perchance make contented around. 

1-matching-terms-report

2. Analyze and lucifer hunt intent

Writing a adjuvant nonfiction oregon a usher targeting a peculiar keyword is not capable to rank. You request to analyse hunt intent and lucifer it. While often overlooked, this is captious to SEO. 

For example, erstwhile radical hunt for “bounce rate,” they privation to recognize what bounce complaint is and however to measurement it.

However, erstwhile searching for thing similar “reduce bounce rate,” users already cognize what bounce complaint is and are looking for precocious tips connected reducing bounce rate. 

Hence, the contented format and the space request to beryllium antithetic successful each case. 

An effectual mode to lucifer the search intent is by analyzing the hunt results for what we telephone the 3 Cs of hunt intent:

  1. Content type
  2. Content format
  3. Content angle

Content type 

Content benignant refers to the wide benignant of contented successful the hunt results. You’ll usually spot blog posts oregon videos erstwhile it comes to informational keywords.

For example, erstwhile we hunt for “email marketing,” the results are blog posts:

2-google-serp-email-marketing

On the different hand, a hunt for “how to enactment up a shelf” yields mostly video results:

3-google-serp-put-up-shelf

Content format

Content format refers to the wide format of the apical hunt results. It’s usually the following:

  • Listicle
  • Guide
  • Comparison
  • Review

For example, guides are the ascendant format for “content creation.”

4-google-serp-content-creation

Content angle

Content space refers to the unsocial selling constituent of the content. Since it mostly depends connected the topic, it’s hard to “bucket” into a fewer types arsenic we did for benignant and format.

To recognize the contented angle, you should analyse the apical results. 

For example, the ascendant space for “content strategy plan” focuses connected improvement steps. 

5-google-serp-content-strategy-plan

3. Prioritize according to “business potential”

To pull the close assemblage and thrust engagement, you request to absorption connected keywords with “business potential.” In different words, keywords that correspond problems that your merchandise oregon work helps to solve.

For example, we precocious wrote a usher connected “keyword cannibalization” due to the fact that the taxable has some postulation and concern imaginable for us. The keyword gets 600 monthly searches, according to Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer, and the occupation of keyword cannibalization is 1 that our instrumentality helps to solve.

6-keyword-overview

So erstwhile we saw that searchers were looking for how-to guides explaining however to lick keyword cannibalization, it became wide this was a precocious “business potential” taxable for us.

7-serp-overview-for-keyword-cannibalization

Here’s the standard we usage to people topics astatine Ahrefs: 

8-business-potential

4. Craft invaluable product-led content 

Now that you’ve identified a large contented idea, the adjacent measurement is to commencement moving connected it. A large portion of contented is relevant, original, product-led, and resonates with your people audience. 

For those unaware, product-led contented strategically talks astir the merchandise and uses it to marque an argument, lick a problem, oregon assistance readers execute a goal. 

In our opinion, 3 indispensable elements marque a portion of contented great.

Authority

Whether you’re creating contented in-house oregon with the assistance of outer agencies, you request to guarantee that contented is being written by idiosyncratic who’s an adept successful the niche and has a bully knowing of your product.

Without that, it volition beryllium intolerable to weave your merchandise oregon marque compelling arguments successful the article. 

Here are a fewer utile tips for adding credibility to your article:

  • Collaborate with antithetic radical similar the merchandise and tech teams wrong your enactment to get unsocial perspectives and summation knowledge 
  • Talk to influencers successful your niche and get their insights by connecting with them implicit email and LinkedIn (example)
  • Never hesitate to constitute your ain opinion, arsenic you don’t needfully request to hold with everybody (example)

Create in-depth content

Your contented portion should absorption connected answering each the questions a scholar whitethorn person erstwhile searching for a peculiar topic. 

You tin find important subtopics to see utilizing Ahrefs’ Content Gap tool successful Site Explorer. Just paste successful a fewer top-ranking pages for your people keyword and permission the bottommost tract blank. You’ll past spot the keywords those pages are ranking for:

9-content-gap

In the illustration above, we participate a fewer of the top-ranking pages for “mobile SEO.”

A speedy glimpse astatine the study shows these posts speech astir the pursuing subtopics:

  • Mobile SEO strategy
  • Mobile SEO champion practices

These are astir apt worthy including successful an nonfiction astir mobile SEO.

Weave your merchandise successful the content 

The astir important portion of immoderate contented selling strategy is to thrust profitable lawsuit action. Writing in-depth guides oregon blogs that don’t speech astir your merchandise until the decision won’t thrust the expected engagement oregon conversions. 

Hence, you request to absorption connected penning product-led content.

In our articles, you’ll ever find aggregate instances of america talking astir however our instrumentality tin assistance you lick a peculiar occupation (as you indispensable person seen aggregate times successful this article). 

A nonstop payment of this is lawsuit acquisition and retention. 

Remember that the thought is not to oversell the merchandise but to amended users connected the imaginable ways to lick a occupation (with oregon without your product). 

5. Update contented arsenic your merchandise evolves 

To get maximum engagement and conversions from your contented pieces, it’s important to update them according to your merchandise improvements and diagnostic additions. 

Depending connected however drastic the alteration is (whether it’s a merchandise update oregon a implicit merchandise revamp), you whitethorn need to:

  • Update step-by-step instructions connected utilizing the instrumentality for a peculiar use case.
  • Add caller merchandise screenshots. 
  • Add a caller conception explaining a caller feature. 
  • Update a merchandise tutorial video.

While these whitethorn travel crossed arsenic tiny changes astatine first, doing truthful consistently volition assistance you widen the beingness of your champion blog contented and summation the results it gets you over time.

For example, let’s look astatine our beginner’s usher to nexus building, which was archetypal published six years agone and has been updated regularly since then. 

If you cheque the page’s integrated postulation implicit clip successful Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, you’ll announcement determination has been a gradual summation successful postulation since 2020: 

10-site-explorer-overview

In fact, the blog ranks #6 for the word “link building.”

However, this maturation would person been intolerable if we hadn’t updated the contented with the latest trends and covered however our caller features could beryllium leveraged for nexus building.

6. Build an owned assemblage done email opt-ins

Even if you fertile #1 connected Google and thrust tons of integrated postulation to your content, the world is astir readers won’t motion up for your merchandise oregon work close away. If they aren’t acceptable to decide, nary fig of pop-ups oregon banners tin power them.

But you tin promote them to subscribe to your newsletter oregon play blog updates. At Ahrefs, we person a simple, non-intrusive signifier successful the sidebar. There, our readers tin participate their email addresses to get our play contented updates. 

11-ahrefs-sidebar

This method allows you to physique an owned assemblage done SEO-focused contented marketing. 

In turn, you can now:

  • Drive postulation to your caller contented pieces instantly. 
  • Nurture readers earlier they go customers. 
  • Conduct surveys that tin beryllium leveraged to amended your content, get caller contented ideas, and summation insights for data-driven studies. 

Final thoughts

Leveraging SEO arsenic a organisation transmission for your contented selling efforts is simply a astute determination if radical are searching for topics with “business potential.” It’s the breadstuff and food of our contented selling strategy present astatine Ahrefs, and it’s worked good for us. 

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