Each and every business today wants to grab the advantage of content marketing. The power of content is being recognized a lot. Most of the professional SEO consultants are banking on the content marketing efforts to rank high on SERPs. Content is the king in SEO and no doubt about it. Many believe that content marketing is SEO. However, one school of thought also says that content might kill SEO. What is the truth behind it? Undoubtedly, content marketing and SEO intersect with each other. But does it bring any good for professional SEO consultants while dealing in digital marketing? Do they harm each other while competing on search engines? Let’s get into the battle of “Content marketing vs. SEO” and “Content marketing for SEO”

Content marketing and SEO – where exactly they stand in digital marketing?

Basic goals of content marketing and SEO

The basic goal of SEO is to build quality backlinks from high authority web domains and rank high on SERPs. In order to achieve these goals, SEO efforts include optimizing a website around keywords that is relevant to the business and related search terms. their site around keywords relevant to their businesses. With more relevant and credible backlinks, business owners try to attract more website traffic and boost brand awareness. On the other hand, the ultimate goal of content marketing is to build a brand and increase the time spent on a website by visitors. Hence, there can be an ultimate boost in sales and website conversion rates.

SEO works towards rankings and Content marketing works towards increasing sales. Here, we can say that considering the ultimate goals, they are not the same. Content marketing is definitely not SEO.

 

Can the content boost ranking of keywords?

SEO is all for ranking keywords. So when someone is searching for a particular search term, based on the keyword optimized website, they can find you on search engines. On visiting your website, if they find the solutions to their challenges, they drop an inquiry. On receipt of the inquiry, you can take it forward and aim for conversion. Content marketing is all for making the visitor stay longer on your website so conversion happens fast. This all happens when your website content is optimized with keywords. So, write content that has the right amount of keywords at relevant places. It should neither be over-optimized nor be under-optimized. That’s when the role of SEO-content writers come into the picture. The website content should be reader-friendly, logical with respect to your products and services, as well as fulfill the entire SEO requirements.

SEO helps you attract the users to your web page. While content marketing keeps them there and makes it easier for you to convert them. Hence, SEO has a structured and technical approach and content marketing has a holistic and practical approach.

What kind of content ranks higher?

Performance of SEO activities done on websites also depends upon the length of the content. Because the longer the length, the more keywords you can include along with maintaining ideal keyword density. On the other hand, users do not really have patience, time and interest to read each and every word you have published on your website. Short, bite-sized and crisp content attracts target audience precisely. Considering this, we can conclude that write blogs and eBooks in long form and make service page and home page content to-the-point. Even while writing long form website content, make sure that it is more engaging, more shareable, and better for SEO. Do not just stuff keywords and avoid clutter. If you are unsure about the ideal content length for your buyer persona, stick to the rule of unique content. Write a content that stands out and looks unique. It is the only best way to survive and thrive online. Google simply loves unique content. Stay away from copycats and articulation. Research well on the topic and write it in your own way. Understand first what you are going to write and then only start drafting. If you cannot understand what is the core message of your content, you can never convince the same message to your website visitors despite the best SEO practices and satisfactory website traffic.

Create an original content that is recognised as unique content material on the Web. Uniqueness provides a good indexing of a website on search engines and boosts your DA and PA as well.

 

Content marketing kills SEO?

Like SEO, content marketing is also not a quick fix. It takes time to reflect the results of your efforts. SEO is a little more technical whereas content marketing is purely creative. Not all, but a few quick fixes are possible in SEO to reflect the results. SEO is done for search engines and content marketing is done for human audience. Hence, the debate of the town is, is content marketing killing SEO? Is it replacing it on a gradual basis? With a solo focus on SEO, there are chances that an ugly website with mediocre content and few links can rank well. But, there is almost a zilch guarantee of conversions of those ranking websites. What all they get is just bounce rates. On the other hand, even if your website is out of top 10 SERPs position, with its unique and engaging content, can fetch better conversion rates. So, to strengthen digital marketing, professional SEO consultants strongly prefer attractive headlines, consistency in publishing web content, writing user-friendly content, and making easy-to-understand infographics over link building activities like classifieds, forum commenting, blog commenting, etc. This fact leads a query in our minds whether content marketing is actually killing SEO?

The fact is content marketing and SEO are two different sides of the same coin called digital marketing. If you do not possess the right SEO skills and expertise, effective content marketing may prove to be a dare for you.

SEO mistakes kill content marketing efforts?

Content marketing does not kill SEO, if done right! Well, many professional SEO consultants are afraid of banking on the power of content marketing. Content marketing efforts can go in vain only when your SEO is not done right. For example, if you have a website content which is stuffed with keywords for better ranking. However, if it lacks the essence of the message from user perspective, here, such SEO can kill content marketing. In case, you are at par with keyword stuffing and have written so far great and unique content, but not optimized for mobile view – again your game is over. Over and above, you have taken care of mobile view as well but loading speed is more than 4 seconds, you are losing a greater pie of your target audience.

In a nutshell, SEO mistakes can harm content marketing efforts. So, all SEO activities like link building, keyword density, speed optimization, etc. should be done properly to support your content readability, searchability and usability.

 

Content marketing and SEO – how can they work together?

Both content marketing and SEO work towards the common goal but in their own unique way. One brings out the best in another. Writing dummy content with keyword stuffing will deem your brand name as untrustworthy. Nowadays, Google also considers “relevant” content as one of the important ranking parameters. Parallelly, writing best-class content ignoring keywords will never ever help you rank on search engines. Here, we can say that SEO and content marketing works best in conjunction with each other. Imagine your website is written with the most exquisite and engaging piece of content that anyone cant skip to read. But, does that well-written content matter if there’s no one around to read and appreciate. Simply creating a brilliant piece of content will not bring your website in the first position in search query results.

SEO can make your content more discoverable. And, content built around keywords can strengthen your SEO efforts to rank higher on SERPs based on the appropriate search results. In all, SEO enhances content marketing and content marketing strengthens SEO.

 

Over to You: Content Marketing + SEO = The best digital marketing strategy for you
Here, we put a full-stop on never ending debate of whether content marketing uplifts SEO or kills SEO with a full-proof conclusion. The bottom line both are integrated with each other and possess a strong positive correlation. Both content marketing and SEO are very important when it comes to digital marketing. They are a match made in heaven. These two do not compete; rather, they complement each other. As a smart and professional SEO consultant, integrate both these strategies in all your campaigns and craft the best digital marketing strategy for your business.