Want to Improve Your Site’s SEO? Quality Content is the Answer

Every business owner knows that search engine optimization (SEO) is critically important to the overall success of their website, but few understand the tightknit relationship content marketing and SEO have. If you don’t prioritize the former, you’ll fail at the latter.

The Relationship Between SEO and Content

If you read between the lines and listen to the conversations marketers and business owners are having with one another, you’ll realize that there’s a lot of confusion surrounding content marketing, SEO, and the relationship between the two.

"The crux of the problem is that SEO and content marketing are separated, as if they were two very different things. The truth is, however, that they go together, overlap, cohere, blend,” SEO expert Neil Patel points out.

SEO involves many technical concepts that deal with web design and site structure, but it’s impossible to have a successful SEO strategy without an investment in content.

"Content is one of, if not the most important tool in your SEO toolbox,” explains Marion,a full-service marketing firm that focuses on SEO. "Content creation is a very important aspect of what search engine algorithms take into consideration and what other websites will evaluate in deciding whether to link to your website.”

If you want to see some improvement in your SEO efforts, the answer is clear: Invest in quality content and use it to drive engagement, build authority, and produce conversions.

Using Content to Drive SEO Results

It used to be that savvy businesses could manipulate search engine algorithms and get their pages to rank well by doing things like keyword stuffing and tweaking structural elements to give them a boost. However, as Google (and other search engines) has matured, it’s realized that user experience is everything.

Google recognizes that search results are essentially referrals. If they’re sending people to poorly structured and designed websites, this reflects badly on Google. If they send people to sites that are helpful and well maintained, people come to appreciate Google.

As Google has realized this, they’ve placed an increased emphasis on ranking sites that are both aesthetically pleasing and useful. How does a site become useful to users? It answers questions, provides information, and offers solutions to pressing problems. All of these things can be accomplished through content creation – which is why content and SEO are inextricably linked.

This year, as in the previous two or three years, websites that prioritize semantic search will rise above their competitors in the rankings. And in order to give semantic search the weight it deserves, you must focus on developing content that answers specific questions and issues.

Instead of stuffing keywords in places they don’t belong, you should let your content do the talking. A 1,500-word article explaining a key concept is going to be much more attractive to search crawlers than a 150-word paragraph with specific search terms you’re trying to rank for.

While it’s more time-intensive to focus on content creation over simple website tweaks and optimization, it’s also more valuable in the long run. Keep this in mind and make sure your priorities are in the right place.

Content is the Foundation

Nobody looks at a house and says, "Man, that’s an awesome foundation! I’ve never seen one so beautiful.” Yet, despite the acknowledgment, a dependable and structurally sound foundation is what allows the other features of the house to come together.

Quality content is the foundation of any successful SEO strategy – which directly impacts a website’s visibility and traffic. And while most business owners want to talk about the latest, greatest SEO techniques, the reality is that they need to be focused on content above all else. Without it, everything else will eventually crumble.