SEO & Content Marketing…are like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
By Franisha Hayes, March 17, 2023
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or also called SEM: Search Engine Marketing is the process of implementing techniques that will contribute to your website content rank on search engines. As we stated in the last article, SEO or SEM is a marathon not a sprint; it requires regular attention from the person maintaining your website.The effects of your SEO efforts can be seen as soon as a few weeks to six months or more to achieve front page rankings, it all depends on the foundation your organization is starting with.
- SEO drives targeted, relevant traffic from Google – not random people who won’t care about what you do or sell, but rather prospects who could join your audience and convert at some point. It’s so powerful, SEO drives 1,000% more traffic than organic social media.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is the process of creating intentional content from publication to distribution of your online content. (blogs, social posts, podcasts, etc) Usually the content created should not be created with intent to sell to a consumer but should be focused on meeting Google’s E.E.A.T standards. By meeting these guidelines your content will be educational, spoken from an expert standpoint, shows authority in your industry and that your organization is a trusted source for information.
- Content marketing builds trust, authority, and loyalty with those prospects. Most modern consumers do diligent research before making purchases, and they want to like and trust the brands they give their money to. 55% of buyers rely more deeply on content for researching and making purchase decisions than they did a year ago.
Differences
SEO & content marketing are different and used for different reasons but are still very much related:
- SEO is what brings targeted traffic to your site, which includes your content.
- SEO is a set of actions you can carry out to optimize your website and content to show up in searches.
- Content is how you keep those people on your pages, nurture and eventually convert them into customers.
- Content can be optimized for specific keyword searches that connect to the audience (and buyer’s journey stage) you want to bring in.
Why It Matters To You
No matter the differences between the two they support each other like bff’s. With both SEO & content marketing in your strategy you will see results faster than letting one work alone.
As the title suggests SEO & content marketing are like a well made peanut butter and jelly sandwich and it is just as controversial. Some people like their sandwich with one or the other and some like an even spread of both; it seems to be the same with SEO.
From my professional experience, most organizations want to focus on SEO only without considering how the content on their website will play a role in their SEO efforts or vice versa. SEO is the Ying to Content Marketing’s Yang. They can exist without one another but in order to achieve perfect harmony in your content eco system you should utilize them both when building a new website, adjusting, updating or consolidating content, or even focusing on your search engine rank.
Benefits
- SEO helps drive traffic to specific content that is relevant to your users search query.
- SEO & content work together to boost visibility, improve user experience and brand awareness.
- Quality SEO & content helps your pages rank higher in search results which helps the right customers be more likely to find your site.
In closing, if you are going to make a PB&J sandwich you need enough of both the jelly (content marketing), and the peanut butter (SEO) to really make it work. You don’t have to like it but it is good for your business.
