How To Create An SEO Content Marketing Strategy

SEO and Content Marketing are two of the most effective (and important) strategies you have as a digital marketer. But you don’t find much talk about using them together. However, we feel that knowing how to create an SEO content marketing strategy can almost guarantee that your brand, site, content, or whatever else will get noticed.

The best digital marketing strategies use a holistic approach involving multiple tactics rather than implementing one or two independent from each other. That’s because each method offers benefits that can enhance the others.

Content marketing is when you create value driven content for your audience. It can boost E-A-T, domain authority, help you build backlinks, and more. SEO helps you further your content by making it appealing to search engine algorithms using strategies like keyword density, that make your content more discoverable. Combine these together and you have a foolproof strategy that will drive traffic to your website or social handles.

We’ll explain everything you need to know about SEO content marketing. And if writing isn’t your forte, no worries — we’ll walk you through how to write high-quality content, too.

What Is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is the process of publishing relevant, valuable, high-quality content to generate leads and conversions. Its purpose is to encourage your website’s visitors to take action, whether it’s subscribing to your newsletter, downloading your white paper, or making a purchase.

An effective content marketing strategy is three things:

  • Relevant
  • Valuable and packed with useful takeaways that benefit readers
  • Focused on building relationships with your target audience, not scoring a sale

Content marketing is equal parts content creation and outreach. When you publish something new on your site, you also need to make sure your target audience sees it. You can do this by posting it on social media — and other channels like Medium — and engaging with your audience. Doing so is a great way to connect with potential leads and gain traction online.

NOTE: Since the purpose of content marketing is building relationships, make sure your content is valuable and relevant to your audience regardless of where they are in the customer journey.

What Is SEO?

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a process to drive higher-quality leads to your website organically from Google, Bing, and other search engines.

Meeting the various SEO ranking factors on your website’s content and pages improves your rankings, so you appear higher in search results. Better online visibility means that more users looking for content, products, or services like yours will find your site.

What Is SEO Content Marketing?

Besides social media, Medium, Blogger, and other platforms, another way to get your content seen is with email marketing. While these strategies are effective, their reach can be limiting. But with SEO content marketing, you have a much higher chance that your content will reach the right person at the right time.

That’s because when people want to know more about a brand, product, or service, they typically use search engines to find information — not social media. SEO increases the likelihood that your content will appear in one of these relevant search results. For this reason, SEO content marketing is critical.

The front page of Google is free exposure. The longer you stay there, the more (relevant!) traffic you’ll get. And when you have that, you’ll also have more chances to convert leads.

You can’t engage with your audience without content, and you can’t reach your audience without SEO. That’s what makes SEO content marketing such a powerful tool. Publishing content based on relevant keywords used by your target audience to search for information drives online visibility. Once they find your content, you can initiate a connection and gradually foster a relationship with them.

SEO content marketing also focuses on the backend, technical aspects of content creation, like readability, meta descriptions, headers, etc. The small optimizations it requires can make all the difference in your content marketing strategy. That’s because it helps you keep content focused on your audience, not on your brand.

How To Write High-Quality Content For Your SEO Content Marketing Strategy

Here’s how to create an SEO content marketing strategy that will boost credibility, online visibility, and conversions.

Step 1: Identify Your Target Audience

Finding your target audience is imperative to SEO content marketing. After all, these are the people who would be the most receptive to your message and brand. Identifying a target demographic helps you determine your audience’s needs and interests, which gives your writing a purpose.

Audience Personas
Audience personas give you a better idea of who you want to target and what their primary pain points and interests are. This will help you narrow your focus. Once you know who you’re talking to, you’ll learn how to tailor your SEO content marketing strategy based on their needs and interests.

You can create buyer personas using data and information from a range of online tools like:

  • Google Analytics
  • Google Keyword Planner
  • Facebook Audience Insights
  • SimilarWeb
  • Answer The People

These will help you identify the demographics of your target audience, such as:

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Location
  • Education
  • Career
  • Religion
  • Income

While this information is only surface level, SEO content marketing requires deeper insights for which you’ll need to analyze psychographics. These are psychological attributes that tell you more about your audience, such as:

  • What their favourite books are, or if they even like to read
  • What experts they follow, if any.
  • Favourite TV shows, movies, etc.
  • Past purchases

Of course, the best way to learn about your target demographic is by talking to them yourself. It doesn’t have to be in-person — interacting with them online is just as effective. Reddit, Google Discussions, and Quora are all places where you can find these in-depth insights.

Step 2: Keyword Research

One of the biggest fundamentals of SEO content marketing is keyword research. It’s how you determine the terms and phrases your target customer uses to search for businesses like yours on Google. Publishing and sharing content around these keywords helps you rank for them and appear to search engine users who fall into your target audience.

The best way to find relevant keywords for your SEO content marketing strategy is by looking at semantic keywords. Google gathers FAQs on subjects and terms your demographic already searches for and displays them as search suggestions at the top and bottom of the results page.

Not only do these search suggestions provide you with context of what your audience is searching for, but helps you create relevant content. This will help you build credibility and improve your ranking.

Don’t focus on terms with high search volume, as they are usually the hardest to rank for. Instead, focus on long-tail keywords as you’ll have a much better chance of ranking. They have a lower search volume, but they’re less competitive and still phrases your target audience uses.

Google Keyword Planner, Moz, SEMrush’s Keyword Magic Tool, and other tools can help you create an exhaustive keyword list. AnswerThePublic can help you find LSI terms and find topics around each keyword for your SEO content marketing strategy.

Step 3: Find Your Topics

Once you have your list of keywords and your target audience, you can brainstorm topics for your SEO content marketing strategy. Think of compelling ideas that would drive someone to click on your post — something useful that could make their life better.

Google and your readers know when you’re writing for the sake of ranking for specific keywords. So not only should the topic be something that would interest your audience, but it should also interest you. There are two reasons for this:

  • Readers can tell when you’re as bored writing your blog post as they are reading it
  • It helps you write in-depth, giving your audience value (and something worth reading)

Step 4: Write High-Quality Content

SEO content marketing only works if people actually read what you write. So your next step is delivering your content in a way that keeps readers scrolling. Even if writing isn’t your strong suit, following the best SEO content marketing practices will help considerably.

Headlines
The headline is the most crucial part of your blog post. It can make or break your SEO content marketing strategy, so make sure it’s compelling. To raise the likelihood that your audience will click, make sure your headline is:

● Tantalizing: It promises to give your reader an answer to a problem.
● Formulaic (in a good way): You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. “How To ___” pieces or List Post headlines catch readers’ curiosity and encourage clicks.
● Tangible: Put yourself in their shoes. Sensory words make your headline stand out and boost relatability. Descriptive headlines also let readers know what’s in store for them.
● Provocative: Use your headline to your advantage. Tease readers with your post’s topic, but don’t give everything away in the headline, or they won’t have a reason to read it.
● Honest: The worst thing you can do is promise a solution in the headline and fail to deliver by the end of your post.
● Concise: Say only what you need to say. Don’t add fluff — it takes meaning from what could be a powerful message.

● Literal: Puns, analogies, and clever writing are great but best saved for the content itself. Even if your target group should know what you mean, you can’t assume readers know what you’re thinking. It must be understandable in any context and should always state a clear benefit.
● Consistent: People like consistency, so give the people what they want. When your audience knows what to expect from you, it builds trust and makes them come back for more. Developing your writing style takes time, particularly when it comes to headlines. But it makes for great content.

The Body
The body is the meat of SEO content marketing. It gives readers the highly-anticipated value they want from your post. Follow through on your promise of a solution.

There’s no secret to successful SEO content marketing — just format your writing in a way that’s easy to read but hard to ignore. Start with an outline, including subheadings and critical points. This prevents meandering and unnecessary information that loses readers’ attention.

There might be hundreds of articles about the same thing you’re writing, but you can still make yours unique. Adding something unexpected will surprise your readers and make your post stand out. SEO content marketing is your chance to challenge your readers and get them thinking — something very few blog posts achieve.

Great blog posts are generous with the information they provide. Even if the goal is to sell something, readers will appreciate your effort to give them a solution to a problem. When you give them in-depth value, they will come back for more, whether it’s a blog post or a paid product or service.

Save your best advice for your first and final sections in the body. When you give everything away in the beginning, it weakens your message. Use the first section to get their attention and reward them with a fantastic idea in the last one.

Keyword density is another goal to keep in mind, as it tells Google what your content is about. Keyword density is an SEO factor that requires you to mention your target keyword about 2% of your content’s length. So if you have a 2,000 word blog, you should include your keyword 40 times.

Of course, you don’t want to fall into the trap of keyword stuffing, since it can take away from the value you’re trying to offer. If meeting the 2% goal is too much, don’t hesitate to lower the bar to 1.5% or even 1%.

You should definitely include your target keyword in the first paragraph (or the introduction), while sprinkling it evenly throughout the body.

Subheadings
It’s easy to overlook subheadings in SEO content marketing. But they’re important because they keep your writing from becoming monotonous or overwhelming. They also act as an outline for readers, guiding through the post, so they readily see the value your content offers.

Treat subheadings like headlines. Their purpose is to spark curiosity, so make them enticing. Avoid using them like labels for different sections or spoiling upcoming content. Also, be clear in your wording and avoid vague or witty phrasing. Each subheading should relate to the headline and follow through on what the title of your post promises.

Additionally, you’ll want to make sure your subheadings follow an SEO-friendly H1, H2, and H3 format and include your target keyword.

Lastly, subheadings need to be consistent and follow a similar format from start to finish. It helps blog posts appear more polished and adds cohesion.

Conclusion
Value is at the heart of SEO content marketing, so your conclusion should reinforce what you have to offer by answering three main questions:

● Does your post provide a solution?
● What do you want your audience to take away from your post?
● Does it motivate readers to take action?

One way to encourage readers to take action is by making them feel good about your message. Put yourself in their shoes and treat your blog as something you wished you’d had when you struggled with the problem. Let them know that with your advice, they can overcome whatever issue they’re facing.

The conclusion is your chance to remind readers of your content’s value, so don’t add any new information. If you have something else that can help them, add another section to the body. The key is to leave readers satisfied with what they’ve read, not add a cliffhanger with new advice.

Step 5: Edit Your Content

Editing makes for good blog posts and even better SEO content marketing strategies. But there’s a right way to do it.

Wait To Edit
Avoid editing your blog post as you write. This practice ruins productivity and creates an inconsistent tone. And never edit your post after you finish writing it. Instead, wait at least a day before making changes.

It’s essential to take a break from your post for several reasons:
● You won’t be as connected to the content. That gives you a better perspective, so you notice things you would like to add, remove, or rearrange.
● Taking a break from your writing gives you a fresh pair of eyes. It puts you in a better spot to notice typos, grammatical mistakes, and other minute errors.

It’s best to leave your post alone for a day or two. But, even taking time for lunch or coffee can make a big difference.

Look at the Big Picture
Editing goes beyond spelling mistakes and individual paragraphs. You look at the post as a whole. You don’t want to spend a lot of time perfecting a sentence that you end up deleting.

When re-reading your post, look for:
● Repetitive or irrelevant information
● Instances that call for more information/context for understanding
● Discrepancies in the order of your sections/paragraphs

Trim Your Content
Word choice is the bread and butter of SEO content marketing. Staying concise forces you to think smarter about your word choice.

So trim things. Start with the introduction, using words that entice and encourage further reading. Delete your first paragraph and see how it changes your post. If your post doesn’t work, add it back. Delete anything that isn’t relevant to your content, period.

Save sentences or phrases you can’t bear to lose in a separate folder to use in later blog posts. Some blogs include information to familiarize readers unfamiliar with the topic. Or to give knowledgeable readers something extra to think about.

Instead of adding excess details, link to other posts, whether yours or someone else’s. It will stop you from unnecessary explanations and boring your audience.

Use Spell Check, But…
Don’t rely on it because it might miss misspellings (U.S.A. vs. USA, etc.), punctuation, words, or other inconsistencies.

Read your post aloud, start from the last paragraph, and work your way to the beginning. When you read the same text over and over, you might gloss over mistakes. This trick slows down your brain, so you recognize errors as they appear.

Don’t Be A Perfectionist
You can change your blog posts after you publish them. Spending too much time editing your work can leave you strapped for time and make you feel burnt out writing. If you use an editing checklist, don’t feel obligated to check off every box for every post.

Step 6: SEO Content Optimization

Content optimization is where you implement the backend aspects of SEO content marketing. It helps search engine crawlers better understand your post and grade its relevance for specific search terms. In terms of SEO content marketing, focus on technical and on-page factors like:

● Formatting: Pages are easy to read, content is broken up with subheadings, lists are used where appropriate, and content is strategically highlighted.
● Engagement: The introduction is compelling and keeps people reading while your content demonstrates a high degree of expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-A-T).
● Title tags: There is one H1 title tag that is no more than 65 characters and includes the target keyword.
● Keyword placement: The target keyword is placed at the beginning of the title tag (or at least the first few words), the URL, and the first paragraph. You should use your keyword throughout your post and have a density between 0.5% to 2.5%.
● Images: Images should include alt tags that include the target keyword and describe the image.
● Meta description: A 125 to 160-word description of your content that includes the target keyword. It should be interesting enough to get clicks and relevant enough to keep people from bouncing. Every post must have a unique meta description.
● URLs: The URL must be readable, relevant to the post, and includes the target keyword. Don’t use capital letters and use hyphens, not underscores.

YoastSEO is a useful plugin that can benefit your SEO content marketing strategy. For an even more thorough list, you can also check out our complete SEO checklist.

Bottom Line

SEO content marketing is a valuable tool for building online credibility, trust, and selling your product, service, or idea. The amazing thing about it is that anyone can learn how to do it well. Like anything else, writing is a skill that you can develop.

If you don’t have the time or desire to write a blog, there are other routes you can take, like hiring a content writer.

The most engaging posts might not be the most well-written ones. But, the best SEO content marketing strategies give the most value, which is crucial for building trust between you and your audience. If your blog’s purpose is getting leads, this will make them more inclined to buy-in.

There are six steps to writing high-quality pieces for your SEO content marketing strategy:

● Identifying your target audience
● Keyword research
● Picking your topics
● Writing your content
● Editing
● SEO content optimization

Altogether, these steps will have you on your way to writing captivating and value-packed blog posts and bringing in new leads with an effective SEO content marketing strategy.

Scroll to Top