How to Combine SEO and Content Marketing (The Ahrefs’ Way)

search engine optimization and content material advertising and marketing are totally different advertising and marketing channels. However you don’t have to decide on between them. They’re complementary.

The truth is, you must mix them for higher effectiveness in your advertising and marketing.

Two predominant causes:

1. Content material advertising and marketing and search engine optimization are like peanut butter and jelly—they work properly collectively

Content material advertising and marketing is the method of making and distributing content material to draw and retain clients.

Right here’s how search engine optimization helps content material advertising and marketing:

• It tells you what your viewers cares about — If you understand what they’re looking on Google, you’ll be able to create the kind of content material they wish to see. This is named keyword research, a key side of search engine optimization.
• It creates predictable distribution — Sparktoro’s study confirmed that 63.41% of all US internet visitors referrals come from Google. Most of our weblog visitors comes from search engines like google too.

SEO is the method of enhancing a web site’s visibility in search engines like google to get extra visitors.

Right here’s how content material advertising and marketing helps search engine optimization:

• It helps you get extra search visitors — If you would like extra search visitors, that you must rank for extra key phrases, which requires you to make extra content material.
• It makes search engine optimization simpler — Thought management content material acquires backlinks, gated content material generates leads, and gross sales enablement converts visitors into gross sales.

2. The identical quantity of funding in effort, cash, and time can generate outcomes for each content material advertising and marketing and search engine optimization

We’re the right instance. Our content material ranks excessive on Google and generates lots of of hundreds of month-to-month search guests:

It additionally attracts hyperlinks and shares on social media as a result of we be sure every bit is exclusive and never simply regurgitation or “AI content”.

Lastly, every bit of content material introduces guests to our product and educates them on how you can use it to resolve their issues. (Carry on studying and also you’ll see it in motion too!)

It hits all content material advertising and marketing and SEO goals at as soon as:

• Acquires search visitors ✅
• Builds thought management ✅
• Attracts hyperlinks ✅
• Generates gross sales (over the long-term) ✅

How will we do what we do? Imagine it or not, there’s a technique to the insanity. Right here’s one line that summarizes our whole search engine optimization content material advertising and marketing technique:

We create and preserve high-quality, product-led, search-focused content material about matters with enterprise potential and search visitors potential.

Let me break down how we mix search engine optimization and content material advertising and marketing:

If you wish to purchase search visitors, that you must goal matters that your potential clients are trying to find.

The best option to discover these key phrases is to make use of a key phrase software like Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer:

1. Go to Keywords Explorer
2. Enter a number of broad key phrases associated to your web site or area of interest
3. Go to the Matching phrases report
4. Filter for key phrases with visitors potential (TP)

Undergo the report and pick the key phrases which are related to your web site. For instance, if I had been an ecommerce retailer promoting espresso gear, this could possibly be a possible key phrase to focus on:

A key phrase’s enterprise potential is how simple it will likely be to pitch your product whereas overlaying a sure matter. It’s our ‘commerce secret’—it’s why we are able to simply introduce our product and its options in every bit of content material we create.

Right here’s how you can rating a subject’s enterprise potential:

So, taking the above instance, the subject “greatest espresso grinder” would rating a “3” (supplied we promote espresso grinders) whereas a subject like “does decaf espresso have caffeine” would rating a “1” or perhaps a “0”.

You need to prioritize matters that rating excessive on enterprise potential, i.e. a “2” or a “3”.

What does the entire jargon imply? Let’s break it down.

Search-focused

Half considered one of being ‘search-focused’ is discovering key phrases that persons are trying to find. Half two is to determine why they’re trying to find these explicit key phrases. This ‘why’ is named search intent.

On condition that Google’s purpose is to all the time rank probably the most related content material, we are able to have a look at the search engine outcomes (SERPs) to uncover search intent. Take your goal key phrase, enter it into Keywords Explorer, scroll all the way down to SERP Overview, and click on Determine intents:

So, we are able to see that searchers on the lookout for the key phrase “greatest espresso grinders” need detailed opinions and knowledgeable suggestions on the perfect espresso grinders. Not solely that, we are able to additionally see that searchers desire a listing that’s recent.

If we’re concentrating on this matter, making it search-focused means matching this search intent—we’ll have to create a listing of the perfect espresso grinders for the present yr.

Product-led

Product-led means guaranteeing you’re not simply creating content material for the sake of it; you’re additionally ‘promoting’ your product. You need to concentrate on which use case, characteristic, or service you wish to weave into the narrative. Naturally, in fact.

Scoring a subject’s enterprise potential would have performed 90% of the work right here. For those who’re creating content material a couple of matter that scored a “3”, then your product pitch could be pure. For instance, we might simply add hyperlinks again to our espresso gear retailer after overlaying the perfect espresso grinders. Or, if we make our espresso grinders, we might pitch them as among the best. (That’s why I say the enterprise potential rating is our secret ingredient.)

The problem comes whenever you’re overlaying matters that rating a “1” or “0”. It’s not not possible, however you’ll should be artistic.

For instance, I lately lined the topic “SEO specialist”. It had a enterprise potential of “1” and was powerful to incorporate a product pitch. Fortuitously, I observed that some job listings requested for expertise with totally different search engine optimization toolsets (together with us.) It was the right segue to introduce our product and certification course.

Excessive-quality

That is subjective. Everybody’s requirements are totally different. However right here’s how we consider high quality:

• Correct — No hype, no mendacity. Each assertion we make must be as correct as potential.
• Clear — No fluff—delete all pointless phrases and sentences. Use jargon solely when wanted. When obligatory, create illustrations to develop on concepts and ideas.
• Useful — Being product-led is necessary however the content material shouldn’t simply be aimed toward pitching. The content material must be targeted totally on serving to guests resolve their issues, whereas creatively weaving our product into the context.
• Distinctive — One option to make your content material distinctive is to have pores and skin within the recreation—conduct experiments, run information research, and write from private expertise. If having pores and skin is tough, then interview practitioners. Give attention to did, not might.

one thing i all the time search for when assessing the credibility of writing:

might/ought to/did

~ might: most writers discuss belongings you, the reader, might do. theoretical. summary. primarily based on no firsthand expertise. ought to most likely be disregarded. prime “content material advertising and marketing”…

— Ryan Legislation (@thinking_slow) December 6, 2023

The deterioration of your content material is inevitable:

• Search-focused — Your rankings might drop due to rivals. Otherwise you didn’t even rank the primary time spherical. Or your goal matter’s search intent modified (e.g., the phrase corona’s search intent modified through the void years of 2020-2022.)
• Product-led — You’ll have new options, companies, or use circumstances to introduce. Or your crew has depreciated sure options or deserted some companies.
• Excessive-quality — Statements might change into inaccurate over time. Or your distinctive thought was so profitable that everybody else copied you (and outranked you.) Otherwise you may need higher methods to reword sentences and paragraphs. Or simply merely the concepts, screenshots, and content material has change into outdated.

That’s why you don’t construct a prepare observe and disappear. It’s a must to actively preserve it to maintain it working. (I’m taking a look at you London tube.) Similar goes in your content material.

The way in which to take care of your content material is to conduct common content material audits. We do that each quarter—Every author on our weblog crew goes by way of their portfolio of articles and selects no less than three items to replace. Every author may select a pair to do a full rewrite.

I extremely suggest going by way of our content material audit template so you’ll be able to see what went fallacious together with your content material and what to do with it subsequent.

Ultimate ideas

search engine optimization and content material advertising and marketing could also be totally different advertising and marketing sorts, however that doesn’t imply that you must do one to the exclusion of the different.

Each channels are extremely suitable and as you see above, could be designed as a complete technique that hits all necessary advertising and marketing aims.