Content Marketing vs. SEO – End the Debate!

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If you’ve been engaged in online marketing for quite some time now, then you’ve surely heard the content marketing vs. SEO debate before. In fact, you may have heard it more than a few times and just like many people, you may also have gotten confused. The biggest reason for this confusion is that many people look at these two concepts as completely different and separate from each other. This is why we often put vs. between them.

The truth is that the content marketing vs. SEO debate shouldn’t even exist in the first place. There should be no argument because these two concepts go together. Or, at least, they should if you really want your online marketing strategy to succeed. They fit together like two peas in a single pod. For one thing, both concepts are aimed towards helping people find the kind of information they are looking for when they conduct online searches.

If you are a content marketer, then you most probably espouse the importance of always creating high-quality content so people will keep coming back to your site for information. You would be right. A website filled with high-quality content does encourage people to keep visiting it and even to recommend it to others. But how do you let people know that such a site exists in the first place? In order to catch the attention of your target audience and get the chance to convince them that yours is the kind of site they’re looking for, you have to get good search rankings, and for that you need SEO.

If you are an SEO specialist, then you most probably espouse the importance of designing websites such that they’re deemed SEO-friendly, using the right keywords in such things as URLs and title tags, and ensuring that all the technical details of a website is properly optimized. You would be right. A properly optimized website stands a good chance of getting top search rankings and therefore has a great possibility of getting seen by its target audience.

But when an online user clicks on a search result and is brought to a site that has poor content, do you really think he/she will linger on that site? And do you really think there’s still a chance that he/she will return to that site or recommend it to others? In order to reap the benefits of a good search ranking, you need to provide the kind of information people are looking for. This means you have to make sure your website always has fresh, well-written, highly relevant, and interesting content.

So, you see, instead of asking whether you should focus more on content marketing or SEO, you should be asking how you can effectively make them work together. How do you use SEO tactics to enhance your site content’s authority and get search engines to consider your site an excellent source of relevant information? Here are some tips:

1. Use the right keywords

All SEO professionals begin their work by identifying the best keywords to use. Every individual who conducts an online search does so by entering a series of words into the search box. If your site content has those words, you’ll be more likely to get top ranking for that particular search. By incorporating the right keywords into your content, you can maximize the potential of your content and reap the benefits of a solid SEO strategy at the same time.

2. Phrase tags properly

When someone conducts an online search, what appears in search results are only the title of the relevant content as well as the Meta description associated with the content. The searcher then decides which particular link to click by reading those two tags. This is why you have to make sure every piece of content you publish is properly represented by your title and Meta description. You should also make sure these two tags are written in a way that will appeal to your target audience.

3. Engage your audience

You may not be able to engage your audience on your website in the same way you do on your social media pages, but you can still keep them on your site for more than a few minutes by making sure your content captivates their minds and encourages them to share your content with others. The best way to do so, of course, is to make sure every piece of content on your site is informative, entertaining, up-to-date, and relatable.

Yes, there are differences between content marketing and SEO. But these differences don’t mean you should choose one over the other. Rather, these differences can help you use both to create a strong online marketing strategy that is sure to help you achieve all of your marketing goals. Forget about content marketing vs. SEO. Start focusing instead on content marketing and SEO.