Much to our chagrin, SEO and content marketing go hand in hand. We’re writers, so we don’t love being hemmed in by keywords. But with a little knowledge and the right attitude, SEO can be an important guide on your way to content marketing success. 

If you don’t do your research first, you’ll be flying blind when it comes time to put together your editorial calendar. So let’s spend a little time answering common questions about the relationship between content marketing and SEO.

Common questions about SEO and content marketing

What is the difference between SEO and content marketing?

I’ve come across people who think content marketing is nothing more than SEO… but they are wrong. Very wrong. SEO is just one thing you need to consider when creating and executing your content marketing strategy. 

Content comes in many different forms — blog posts, videos, white papers hosted behind registration walls, etc. Those white papers won’t get you much attention from search engines, but convincing people to give you their information is still an integral part of moving people through the content funnel (and converting them to customers). 

Importantly, if you’ve got an SEO expert on your side, you can surface in search results without actively content marketing at all. With well-written web copy, optimized headlines, and good metadata, you can forego the blogging altogether. However, you may not be giving the people what they really want and you certainly won’t cultivate an engaged audience.

How does content impact SEO?

While SEO doesn’t necessarily rely on content marketing, creating content sure does help! 

Not only does creating regular content show search engines that you have an active web presence — and reason to index your site regularly — but it gives you many more opportunities to answer the questions people are asking. As our friends at Centori taught us — the most important thing in SEO is that your content is relevant. The more content you create around a particular topic, the more chances you have to be seen as an authority in the eyes of Google. It’s as simple as that.

Can I learn SEO on my own?

There are many resources and tools out there that can help you learn SEO, but the reality is you probably don’t have the time. If you’re a small business or a startup with a lean team, SEO can feel like its own full-time job. It’s important to be honest with yourself about time constraints. If you’re trying to master SEO and create content regularly, you will likely never have the time to do it right. Get off to a good start by hiring a professional. (Need help finding one? Here’s some advice on how to find a freelancer who is a fit for your team.)

Best practices for SEO and content marketing

Now that we’ve cleared up a couple of misconceptions about the SEO/content marketing relationship, let’s talk a bit about how to balance the need for SEO with the task of creating compelling content.

• Do your research — SEO research isn’t just about finding the hottest keywords in your industry and trying to rank for them. Quite often, competing for those keywords is nearly impossible. Instead, find the niche topics that others are ignoring. Ultimately, it’s better to rank high on more niche topics than it is to be buried deep in the results of more popular search topics. (Don’t neglect customer research — they can tell you exactly what they need more of!)

• No keyword stuffing — In the early days of SEO, it was enough to just jam a bunch of keywords on your page, or into the metadata, and call it a day. But search engines got more sophisticated and they are onto the keyword stuffers! 

• Authority matters — These days, Google is concerned with surfacing authoritative content that actually answers questions so it’s important to make sure your content meets those criteria. Linking to reputable sources from your content can help, but just creating good content goes a long way to achieving the goal of authority.

• Optimize the structure of your content — Subheads matter. So does your metadata. It’s not sexy, but optimizing these aspects of your content gives you a leg up with search engines whose bots are trying to understand what your content is about. (For more on this check out our “Evergreen SEO Tips for Small Businesses.”)

If you keep these tips in mind while creating content, you will efficiently and effectively marry SEO and content marketing to help move up through the search engine rankings.